Angel and the Assassin 3: Sins of the Father

back to his car.
    Paid.
    The conversation he’d had with Angel in his mum’s kitchen came back to him as
    he drove. “I’m not even a proper grown-up yet. I don’t earn any money. You must feel like you
    adopted a kid.” His boy wanted to impress him by working and earning money. It was
    Kael’s own fault that this had happened. Maybe he should have let Angel take that
    busboy job and not been so damn controlling all the time.
    Twenty minutes later, he knocked on Conran’s front door.
    “Good grief, to what do I owe this honor?” Conran ushered him down the hall to
    his study. Inside he indicated an armchair and poured Kael a whisky without bothering
    to ask if he wanted it. Kael tossed it back and thrust the tumbler back at him.
    “Did you phone Angel this afternoon around five o’clock?”
    Surprised, Conran sat down behind his desk while Kael remained standing. “No.
    Why would I do that?”
    “To send him on a job.” Conran’s brow creased in confusion. “Probably a security
    detail.”
    Shaking his head, Conran said, “Angel does not work for SIS. He is not even close
    to being properly trained, even with you giving him private instruction. And aside from
    that, you’d do some serious harm to me—without my permission. What’s happened?”
    Kael smiled at Conran’s acknowledgment of his own masochism. “He got a phone
    call this afternoon from someone imitating your accent well enough to fool Angel into
    getting into a black Rolls-Royce.”
    “Good God! You don’t look terribly worried,” Conran said.
    “I’m not. I know who it is, and he wouldn’t dare hurt my boy because he knows
    I’d hunt him down and kill him.” The confusion on Conran’s face proved he had played
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    no part in this. “Romodanovsky’s got him, and he’s probably flying to Russia with him
    at this minute.”
    “Why on earth would he kidnap Angel, even if Angel doesn’t know he’s being
    kidnapped?”
    “To lure me. He wants me to work for him. He asked me several times to go to
    Russia with him to see what he has to offer me. Angel is perfectly safe with him. But
    he’s not going to give him up until I go and fetch him. I’ll go in the morning.”
    “You’re taking it all very calmly,” Conran said. “That’s not at all like you.”
    “Don’t be fooled.” After his mother’s story about the man who had fathered him,
    he was close to certain that the brilliant, aristocratic, ruthless Russian was his father.
    Aside from the physical similarities, it was his mother’s words that had convinced him.
    “He was so quick and so strong.” Words that mirrored exactly those of the maid at
    Dorneywood. Had that man raped his mother, and was he the result of that rape? No
    wonder he was a cold-blooded killer.
    Like father, like son.
    “I’ve arranged a psych assessment for you at the private hospital we use. You’ll
    see a psychiatrist who works for MI6. You’ll be phoned with the appointment date,”
    Conran said cautiously, looking incredibly relieved when Kael took it in stride.
    “I will not go to a psych assessment, so don’t bother.” He spoke very calmly. “I
    know exactly who I am.” My father is a rapist . With that he walked to the front door,
    Conran following him.
    “Do you look at the news?” Conran asked as they stood on the step in the cold
    night air.
    “Never,” Kael answered.
    “Check Sky News when you get home.”

    * * * *
    Fyn Alexander | Sins of the Father

    214

    Something smelled delicious when Kael opened the door, and even though he
    knew Angel was halfway to Russia by now, he half expected to find his boy rushing to
    the front door to wrap his arms and legs around him. His mum came out of the kitchen
    as he was hanging his jacket in the hall cupboard. “Where is he?”
    “He lost track of time. I said he could stay over with his friend.” He followed his
    mum back into the kitchen, where the table was set for three. She removed the third
    place setting and began to serve the food.
    “I’m glad you’ve taken my advice and eased up on him a bit. He’s a good boy.”
    “Yes, you were right.” Kael brought his laptop from the bedroom wardrobe and
    set it on the counter. “Mum, I have to leave for Russia in the morning. I have to
    translate.”
    “The places you go.” She smiled at him, always so impressed by the things he did.
    “No wonder you’re such an expert at speaking Russian. You started teaching it