Angel and the Assassin: Be Brave

moved
    out.”

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    Kael gave a little chuckle despite his ribs. “Ding-dong, the witch is dead.” He
    took his jacket and felt in the pockets. Predictably the mobile was gone, but tucked
    into the inside breast pocket was the little pair of cuffs. He held it up. “My good-luck
    charm.”

    * * *
    It was three o‟clock in the morning when Kael stood barefoot in Freddie‟s front

    hall with Angel beside him and Ekaterina clinging to his waist. Half a dozen bottles
    of Lucozade and some food had helped him feel a bit better, but he was so tired and
    sore he could hardly stand up. He desperately needed his bed, and he wanted a
    shower more than he had ever wanted one in his life. He was filthy.
    Freddie and Adam, wearing matching dressing gowns, looked at the trio with
    obvious concern. “Come through.” Freddie led them into the living room. Kael sat
    down on the nearest chair. “What the hell has happened? Kael, you look like you‟ve
    had the shit beaten out of you.”
    “I have. And I can‟t tell you anything about it, Freddie. Maybe in a few
    months, but not at this moment.”
    “Who‟s this?” Adam asked gently, looking with soft, kind eyes at the little girl.
    “This is Ekaterina. You can call her Katya. She‟s Russian, and she can‟t speak
    English. Can you look after her for a while? You speak Russian pretty well,
    Freddie.”
    “Not too bad,” he agreed. “Who is she?”
    “I can‟t give you any details right now. To be honest, I don‟t know much about
    her, but she was trafficked.”
    “Good God. You mean, for sex?” Adam looked horrified. He reached out a hand
    in a small gesture of comfort, but Ekaterina shied away and wrapped her arms
    around Kael‟s neck. “She‟s attached to you, Kael.”
    “Daddy rescued her,” Angel said.
    “We all did.” Kael looked at his boy. Angel was also exhausted. God knows
    what he had been through, especially when he was alone with Dudek, but he
    seemed determined to give Kael all the credit. “I need a couple of weeks to recover.
    I‟m exhausted. Can you keep her, just for a while? I‟ll find out if she has any family
    she can return to. But right now she‟s got no one except me, and I‟m hopeless with
    kids.” He spread his hand. “Anyway, look at the state of me.”
    “Of course we can keep her.” Adam looked at his husband. “Freddie?”
    Freddie‟s furrowed brow showed his concern. “We‟ve got two kids already.
    They‟re such a handful, and you don‟t know what she‟s seen and been through.
    She‟ll need help.”
    Adam couldn‟t take his eyes off Ekaterina. He looked as if he wanted to snatch
    her up and hug her. He‟d shown himself very insightful and loving with his own
    daughters, and Kael knew Adam could give Ekaterina far more than he could, and

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    that Adam would give slowly and carefully. “Freddie, it‟s temporary. We can‟t turn
    her away. Poor little mite.”
    As if he was waiting only for Adam‟s encouragement, Freddie said, “No, of
    course we can‟t. And we have an extra bedroom.”
    It took twenty minutes of tears and gentle persuasion to convince Ekaterina to
    relinquish Kael and go with Adam upstairs. Kael promised over and over that he
    would come back to see her soon. At last, barely able to stand with exhaustion, he
    got back into the car with Angel, and Mattie drove them home.

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    Chapter Seventeen

    “Daddy, should I get the door?”
    “No, you get that crumble on the table because I‟m dying to taste it,” Kael said
    as he headed down the hall. There was nothing Angel loved more than praise for his
    cooking, and Kael knew his boy had a huge grin on his face at that moment. At the
    door, he looked at the CCTV. Conran . Kael pushed the button that released the
    lobby door and stepped outside to watch the lift doors open.
    It was Sunday, and Conran was wearing brown corduroy trousers and an
    argyle sweater over a denim shirt. He looked like a complete twit, but Kael couldn‟t
    hold back an odd surge of affection when he saw him. Familiar things and people
    meant a lot after captivity, even one as short as eleven days. “It‟s been four weeks
    since I got back, Stephen. I thought you‟d have come over with flowers before now.
    Come in.”
    “No, you didn‟t.” Conran followed him inside. “But you were always rather
    vain, so I thought I‟d let your face heal before I viewed it. According