Drake Sisters 05 - Safe Harbor

and support. He went from wanting to viciously beat something with his bare hands, to being choked up. The Drake sisters. His family. Hannah. The love of his life. Who could be luckier?
    "Are you all right?" Sarah asked gently.
    He nodded, wanting to ease the concern on their faces. "I lost it there for a minute."
    He glanced back toward the kitchen. "I made a mess, Sarah, I'm sorry."
    "Tell us what's upset you."
    "Boris Tarasov went after Hannah to draw me out. I'm the real target. He'll try to kill her because she matters to me. He might try to kill all of you."
    Joley frowned. "I don't understand. Why would a Russian mobster want to kill you?
    That doesn't make any sense, Jonas."
    "Duncan Gray is my old boss and he asked me to do a little job for him, nothing dangerous, or at least I didn't think it would be, but we caught Petr Tarasov on tape murdering an undercover agent."
    Ilya Prakenskii made a small noise at the back of his throat. There was silence, as if by that one small sound, everyone instantly understood the chilling repercussions.
    "I was shot in the ensuing battle and went to a clinic. I had a picture of Hannah and me, one I always carried with me. Tarasov's crew must have found the picture, and in order to bring me out into the open, they attacked Hannah using an innocent family to do so. My guess is, we'll find that the mother has ties to Russia and that's how he chose her. She would know his reputation and believe absolutely that he would kill her daughter if they didn't do what he said."
    Joley's hand moved defensively to her throat. "Is that true, Ilya? Would someone be so convinced they'd kill another human being?"
    Ilya stroked a caress down her hair, a gesture of comfort. "Unfortunately men like this exist, Joley, very evil, and yes, those who know of him would do whatever they could to spare their loved ones the brutality of his chosen executions."
    "Then you have to stop him, Jonas," Sarah said. "We all do."
    "Do you know where this man is?" Joley asked Prakenskii.
    Rare expression rippled across Prakenskii's face. "Joley, these people…"
    "Want to kill my sister, Jonas and possibly us. Do you know where they are?"

    He pushed away from the wall. "I'll take care of it."
    Jonas shook his head. "This is my fight, Prakenskii. He did this to my woman, not yours. Where is he?"
    Prakenskii swore in Russian. "You cannot arrest such a man, Harrington."
    Jonas lifted an eyebrow and remained silent.
    Prakenskii swore again. "He's on a yacht with several of his crew."
    Jonas nodded. "We'll need Duncan to get the necessary warrant to board. We'll have to strike fast before he has a chance to launch another attack. Can you girls give us the weather we'll need and help from here?"
    "Of course, Jonas, tell us what you need," Hannah said. Prakenskii shook his head and walked out. Jackson hesitated a moment and then followed.

    THE Drake sisters may have overdone the fog, Jonas decided as he approached the boat where Duncan's grim-faced men waited.
    "These people play for keeps, Jonas," Jackson warned softly. "If you leave Tarasov alive, he'll keep coming at you—even from jail."
    "I heard Prakenskii, same as you," Jonas snapped. "Where the hell is he, anyway?
    You'd think he'd want in on this."
    "He didn't show, but then, with Duncan Gray running the operation, I can't blame him too much." Jackson flashed a small grin. "Gray thinks Prakenskii's both a spy as well as the world's best hit man." The smile faded. "You know Duncan's going to want to take Boris into custody. It would be the biggest international arrest of the decade. It isn't going to matter that Boris is after you and your family. We have to get to him first."
    "I know." Jonas leaned down to examine his gun for the hundredth time to avoid looking at Jackson.
    "I'll take him out, Jonas," Jackson said.
    Jonas shook his head. "It's my responsibility, Jackson, I'm not laying it on you."
    Jackson didn't bother replying. He'd already had a long conversation with Prakenskii—well, as long a conversation as two men like Ilya Prakenskii and Jackson Deveau needed when protecting a friend. Jonas had the courage to charge hell with a bucket of water, and he never walked away from a fight or a fallen comrade, but he didn't have the makeup for the kind of extermination job they needed to do. Jonas had been raised to revere life, in the same way the Drakes had been raised, and had far too much compassion in him to live comfortably with what needed to be