Chapter 8
?
Andrea walked out of her bedroom and into the kitchen and announced, “Just so you know, I heard all that.”
Oakley shrugged. “It’s still a valid question.”
“Why?” she asked, her tone cross.
“It’s obvious, isn’t it? Because he’s on our team and because I need to know if he’ll be more worried about you versus the job.”
“Oh, ouch,” she muttered, staring at him intently. “That goes right along with that negative persona I see in you.”
He frowned at her. “Nope, nothing negative,” he countered, “but I am a plain talker, and I really prefer to know where people stand when it comes to the chips falling.”
“Where and when are you expecting these chips to fall?” she asked, staring at him. “And when it comes down to it, I would not want Hayden to do anything other than his job.”
“You might not want him to, but that doesn’t mean that what you want is what’ll happen.”
“I don’t think I like you,” she snapped, scrunching up her nose.
Oakley burst out laughing, and so did Hayden.
“It’s okay,” Hayden told her. “He’s not trying to be difficult. Oakley’s very passionate when it comes to his job.”
“This seems to be something that comes to him really … naturally. It seems harsh though.”
“Actually it’s a defense system,” Oakley clarified, with a drawl. “We’ve been in circumstances many times where not everything was as it seemed and not everything was as it should have been. And I would just as soon know who’s on what side and who’s looking after what.”
“My father would say that I come first,” she noted, with a shrug. “And, while that’s not true, I understand his viewpoint. I am his only daughter after all.”
Oakley frowned, while nodding his head. “So your father may or may not know what kind of trouble you’re actually in.”
“Did you guys tell him?” she asked, her eyes wide.
“I certainly didn’t,” Oakley replied, gazing at her intently. “Not my job.”
“Good,” she snapped, glaring at him. “It’s not your job to tell him anything at this point.” And then she turned to Hayden. “Did you tell him?”
“I haven’t had any contact with your father,” he began, “so how could I?”
“I don’t know.” Her glare turned to a frown. “Now you’ve got me worried.”
He smiled. “It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not fine. You don’t know what he’s like. He’ll come in here and take over, ship me home, and my life will never be the same again.”
Oakley suggested, “Unless of course you prove to him that you’re capable of handling your business on your own. And that this was a minor blip.”
“Right,” she scoffed, “and how will I convince him that it’s a minor blip, when apparently this entire case has gotten even more difficult than I ever would have thought possible?”
Hayden asked, “Did you even consider any repercussions from digging into these missing students?”
“No, but I knew something was going on, and I wasn’t about to let these people get away with hurting my classmates,” she explained. “And I still don’t think I did anything wrong.”
Hayden snorted. “And that’s the part that your dad will have trouble understanding,” he pointed out.
“Yeah, he’ll flip. But that’s too damn bad because I’ve already got other things to deal with,” she snapped. “So, if he gets mad at me, oh well.” But as it was, she looked more than a little upset and frustrated.
“Maybe you should just call him,” Hayden suggested.
“And what good will that do?”
Hayden explained, “While Mason has spoken to your dad, the fact that you didn’t call him yourself and tell him that you were okay would definitely give him cause to be very worried.
I don’t know how much he’s even been told.
It wouldn’t be from us,” he repeated, looking back to Oakley, who was digging into a sandwich, totally ignoring them both, “but Mason has to talk to him. So maybe it would be a good thing if your dad heard from you directly. Then maybe he wouldn’t worry quite so much.
He’s probably been calling your main phone number all this time, not getting any answers since the bad guys have that phone. ”
She frowned at that. “Maybe. I’ll think about it.” With that, she picked up one of the sandwiches and munched away.
He handed her the plate that still had another one on it. “This second one is for you as well.”
She nodded, and, without even thinking about it, walked over and sat down at the table beside Oakley. She looked over at him and asked, “Do you think I should phone my dad?” Oakley wasn’t giving either of them any attention. She repeated her question. “Do you think I should call my dad?”
His eyebrows shot up, and a smile played on his lips. “I thought you didn’t like me.”
“What’s that got to do with anything? I still don’t like you, but at least you won’t play games with me.”
“Correct,” he confirmed, “that I would never do. Should you call your dad? Not necessarily. Would he appreciate it, you know, as a father? Yes. Would he want to take control? Absolutely. Unless you can make it clear that he isn’t needed, he won’t leave you alone.
… Fathers are like that. For all you know, he’s already on his way here, and he’ll come storming in to find all of us sitting here. How will he handle that?”
“Not well,” she replied. “I mean, really not well. He will not appreciate that at all.”
“Then maybe,” Oakley added, “you should take the path of least resistance and call him, find out if he’s upset, determine what you can do about it, and see whether it’s really a bad thing or he’s calming down because somebody has already talked to him.”
“I can do that,” she muttered, her tone thoughtful.
“If he thought you had been kidnapped, then I would think that somebody has already let him know that you’re safe. But that doesn’t mean that, as a father, he’s not on the first plane over here, in which case he would have been here already. Or maybe he’s chewing off a few heads first.”
“Yeah, he could be doing that too. Damn,” she muttered. She finished her second sandwich, then picked up her secondary phone.
Hayden stared at her, then over at Oakley, who just shrugged as if to say he didn’t know anything about it.
And then a brisk, hard voice came over the phone. “What?”
“Hey, Dad.”
Amir Galanis exploded with questions and angry tones, demanding to know why she had another telephone number.
She just held her phone and waited until he wound down. As soon as she got a chance, she said, “I love you too, Dad.”
Dead silence came from the other end. Then he groaned and whispered, “I love you too, sweetie.” Followed by more silence. “Where are you?” Amir asked. “What the hell is going on? And why didn’t you call me earlier?”
She glanced over at Hayden and then at Oakley and admitted, “I wasn’t sure whether calling you would be the smart thing to do or not.”
“The smart thing to do?” he asked, his tone dangerously quiet. “And whose advice did you follow to make that decision now?”
“Two of the men who rescued me.”
This point of silence lasted a few moments. And he repeated, “Rescued you?”
“Yes, and you’re not allowed to get mad at them.”
Another silent moment passed before he sternly stated, “I need to talk to these men.”
“You can,” she agreed, “but only if you treat them nicely. They’re here doing their job, and they did it very well, even captured the guy.”
“Who was he?”
“He’s …” she stammered.
*
Hayden heard her father snapping out questions even from the other end of the call.
“Just let me talk to them. I need to know,” Amir yelled again.
She looked at Hayden, who held out his hand.
He took her phone and quickly identified himself. “She is now safe. We’re in a safe house, and my men are watching her apartment as we speak. In fact, a female undercover officer is living in her space as a decoy. Just in case these guys want to make that attempt.”
The look of shock and outrage on her face at that news made him smile inside, but he also knew she would make him pay for keeping her out of the loop on that decision.
“Why?” Amir asked.
The question was simple, but Amir’s tone was more of a bark.
Hayden explained that the man they had caught wasn’t the actual kidnapper, just the guard from whom she had escaped.
And since he died in custody overnight, her safety was also a cause of concern.
“We assume that his bosses are cleaning up loose ends,” he shared.
There was a harsh sound on the other end and then a big sigh. When Amir finally spoke, his tone was mildly better. “She can really get into trouble, can’t she?”
“She sure can,” Hayden agreed, with a note of amusement.
“And how well do you know my daughter?”
“I know her quite well,” he shared, cheerfully ignoring Andrea’s frantic arm waves in front of him. “I knew her years ago, when we both lived in London for a time. I think I was part of her early arts degree exploration.”
“When was that?” Amir’s tone was instantly suspicious.
“About five years ago, but I have not been in touch with her since then, until I found her creeping around the warehouse district when I came to pick her up. She had escaped from this one man and was looking for a hand.”
“And you helped her.”
“Of course I did, sir. It’s part of my job.”
“Right? Of course it was.” Just enough confusion and uncertainly filled his tone. “Who do I talk to about all this?”
“Who did you speak to the last time?”
“I last spoke with somebody named Mason.”
“He’s our boss. You can contact him again, or you can continue to talk to me. She is sitting right beside me obviously.”
“And she’s free?”
“Yes, she is free. And, yes, she could leave if she wanted to, but she’s being …”
Amir snorted. “She’s being difficult, isn’t she?”
Hayden chuckled, ignoring the eyeful he was getting from her. “She’s definitely making decisions that aren’t necessarily easy on the rest of us.”
“Of course she is,” Amir muttered, followed by a sigh. “Let me talk to her again.”
After that, the phone passed back-and-forth several times. When it landed back with her, Amir announced, with a finality in his tone, “I’m coming to New York.”
“I wouldn’t do that right now, sir,” Hayden interrupted, leaning closer, “not until we have everybody in custody.”
“And why is that?” he snapped.
“Because we don’t want to give them another reason to come after Andrea,” he explained.
“Right now they’re cleaning up loose ends.
So, if they know that you are right here and that you care about her that much, then they’ll also know that you would be willing to pay a great deal of money to keep her safe. ”
“And that’s what they’re doing?” he asked in a lazy voice.
“Yes, that’s exactly what they are doing to various college students with family members who are powerful and influential people. They are targeting whoever they can get their hands on.”
“Good God. And here I thought that the university would be the least of our issues.”
“In some ways, it is the least of the issues,” Hayden noted. “Give us a couple days, and we’ll see how much further along we are on this battle. And she can call you back to let you know when it’s safe to visit her.”
“Now you’re worried about me?” Amir asked, his voice rising. “I’m coming to look after my daughter.”
“And by doing so, you’ll just complicate our mission,” Hayden pointed out. “We have one target, one goal—to keep Andrea safe. And, with you coming, you’ll give the kidnappers two targets, doubling my work. So please do not come here. We will contact you as soon as it’s safe.”
After her father argued a little bit longer, Hayden interjected, “I’m handing you back off to your daughter now because I have other things to do.”
As soon as he did that, her father went off on a tirade, regarding that young man.
“I want to know everything there is to know about him. He won’t have his job after talking to me like that.”
She groaned. “Dad, will you just shut up?”