Drake Sisters 03 - Oceans of Fire

no sense of humor and I think a person has to have a sense of humor or they just don’t have fun in life. I want to have fun.”
    Jonas looked confused. “Reginald?”
    “Aunt Carol is dating old man Mars,” Abigail confided in a solemn whisper.
    “He’s a lovely man.”
    Jonas had a coughing fit. Hannah helpfully slapped his back. “On that note, I think Aleksandr and I are going to push off,” Jonas declared. “We have to go get Mason back for Sylvia. Not that I’m certain he isn’t better off where he is. That woman may genuinely love him, but she’ll never change her ways. If they have a fight, he’d better look out.”
    “You can’t go,” Abigail said, clinging to Aleksandr. “You said yourself Prakenskii had to have let her escape. They’ll be waiting for you. They’ve laid a trap for you and you can’t just walk into it.”
    “I’ll be with him,” Jonas pointed out.
    Her eyes flashed, going a deep blue-green, turbulent and stormy. “How arrogant. I should have expected it. The contract is out on Aleksandr, not you, Jonas. Just how do you think you’re going to keep him alive?”

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    Aleksandr bent close to her, brushed a kiss along her temple. “ Baushki-bau .” His voice was low and intimate, touching her nerve endings and sending little butterflies swirling in the pit of her stomach. “You worry far too much. This is my field of expertise. I don’t walk into these situations blindly. We cannot leave this young man to his death.”
    She balled her fists. “For all you know he’s already dead. Why would Prakenskii keep him alive? And they wouldn’t stay in that barn. They’ve moved him. You know they have. They’ll have a sniper waiting to kill you and Mason will be dead anyway.”
    “Actually, Abbey makes a very good point,” Jonas agreed unexpectedly. “Why would they keep Mason alive? If they need a mule for anything, they have Chad. If Mason isn’t a part of this, why not put a bullet in his head and be done with it?”
    Hannah shivered and Carol made a small sound of dismay. Abigail glared at him. “You said that deliberately, Jonas Harrington. You wanted us to see a very vivid image of Mason with a bullet in his head. I see an image of Aleksandr or you lying on the ground dead.”
    Abigail was trembling and Aleksandr drew her into his arms and rocked her back and forth, murmuring soothing phrases in his own language to her. He tried not to be too happy over her concern for him. She was obviously distressed and rather than wanting to reassure her, his first reaction was elation that she cared enough to be worried about him. “I’m too mean to die,” he said, nuzzling her ear. “You know that.
    And Jonas has my back. It isn’t like we’re going in there without checking things out first.”
    “I just don’t like it, Sasha. Something stinks about the entire setup. I think you’re getting too close to whatever it is they want to hide and this is a way to draw you out where they can get rid of you,” Abbey insisted. “Does it make sense to you that Prakenskii would let her go? He has to move Mason. If Sylvia goes to the police—and how could he know she wouldn’t?—the police would simply surround the barn and get a negotiator. He’d lose.”
    “Prakenskii doesn’t lose.”
    “My point.” She pounced on that. “He doesn’t. They want you dead and he’s finding ways to lure you out into the open where he can kill you.”
    “Maybe,” Aleksandr mused, “but for me, it still doesn’t add up. Prakenskii just isn’t a man to play games. He’d be more likely to walk right up to the front door and shoot me than do something like this.”
    He glanced at Jonas over Abigail’s head. “I know him. This isn’t his way of doing things.”
    “We’ll be careful, Abbey,” Jonas added. “Jackson will come along with us and you know what he’s capable of with a rifle. I’ll have him covering us.”
    “I’m g-going too,” Hannah announced.
    Jonas snorted. “Not a chance in hell, so don’t even think about it.”
    Abigail pulled out of Aleksandr’s arms. “Hannah’s right. Prakenskii works with magic and the three of you can’t possible combat that.”
    Hannah lifted her chin. “I can.”
    “I don’t give a damn what you can do.” Jonas pointed a finger at Hannah, his gaze a dark warning. “You Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter,