Pussycat in Peril (Pussycat Death Squad Book 3) (16 page)

Fortunately Kaeden was right and they didn’t have to go much farther to locate their ship. It was a 120-foot fishing vessel of surprisingly recent vintage. Many of the boats docked there and taking on passengers didn’t look seaworthy, even for such a short passage. Theirs was a welcome exception. Boarding was easier than she’d anticipated considering they were carrying a pre-pubescent girl who was covered in blood. Astaria didn’t want to spend too much time considering the implications of that. People were rushing to board the ship, and most were single men. Astaria eyed them warily noticing that Kaeden did the same.

“I’ll go find the captain. We’re going to need some privacy,” he said looking down at Ravia who was still shuddering with sobs.

Astaria was sure more money changed hands, but they got a cabin down below. It was tiny and had only a single bed, but at least they didn’t have to make the thirty-hour trip to Sicily on the top deck like most of the passengers.

Ravia had stopped crying, and they looked through their bag to find the child a change of clothing. The postage-stamp sized bathroom had only a toilet and sink, but she was able to help Ravia get cleaned up and changed to fresh clothes.

Anticipating the long journey, they’d eaten a large breakfast and weren’t hungry, but they gave the children water. Abdullah, who was normally a livewire, was unusually subdued, and they were able to get him settled down fairly easily, though they knew it was only temporary.

“I’m sorry you lost the information about your father’s archaeological dig,” Kaeden said in English. Dula didn’t speak English at all and while Ravia was learning it she wasn’t yet proficient. Ravia was reading, while Dula was playing an electronic game. She was sitting on the bed with the children, while he occupied the room’s only chair.

“What?” Astaria asked looking up from a book she’d just read to the children. The cabin was already quite warm and it wasn’t even the heat of the day yet. She’d removed her hijab and Kaeden had done the same with his shirt, wearing only a muscle defining t-shirt. It was hard not to stare, it had been days since they’d last been intimate and she missed it.

“The pendant you threw to Al Hakam. Didn’t it have the information about your father’s work?” he asked with a frown.

Astaria rolled her eyes. “You know it did. You went out to the site with me.”

“It fell into the bay. You’ve lost it. I don’t think we could find the site again without it.”

Astaria shook her head. “Unlike Al Hakam, my father was neither a madman nor an idiot. He sent me photos, maps and the GPS coordinates a long time ago in a Google doc. He didn’t want IJIWO to destroy the ruins, but he wanted to come back to them someday. I have his paperwork back home in the States. Al Hakam obviously saw too many Indiana Jones movies. I knew he would assume there was only one map. Amateur,” she scoffed. 

Kaeden chuckled. “Diabolical. That’s what I love you about. You know that?”

“Of course. It’s one of my better traits,” she said smiling back at him. “What are we going to tell Lelia and Patrick when we get to Sicily? How are we going to explain the children?”

“I work for the government, I know what I’m going to say. What children?” Kaeden said with a grin.

“Somehow I don’t think plausible deniability will work in this situation.”

“You’d be surprised at what plausible deniability will let you get away with.”

*****

“Now that was a strange phone call,” Patrick said as Lelia entered their bedroom wearing nothing but a towel after her shower. The stress of the past few months since Kaeden left had been hard on both of them. And to make matters worse they’d had several other crises to cope with as well. It seemed the whole world had run amok at once. He was looking forward to the Fourth of July holiday weekend alone with his wife. He leaned back against the padded headboard of their king-sized bed.

“What? Who called you?” she asked, taking a seat on the side of the bed. She began rubbing moisturizer on her legs.

Mesmerized by his wife’s movements, Patrick didn’t answer right away.

“Patrick?”

“Hmmm?”

“Who called? You said it was strange?” she asked with a concerned frown. He knew she was thinking the worst. Good news was hard to come by these days. What little information they’d managed to acquire about the situation in Laritrea was consistently bad.

“Oh yes. That was Colonel Brown. She was calling to advise that Homeland Security had a request to admit Kaeden, Astaria and their two children.” He smiled as Lelia’s face immediately lit with joy and she whispered, “Allah be praised,” before she closed her eyes for a moment of prayer. He leaned back against the quilted headboard to await her expected response.

Her eyes popped open. “
Two children
? What?”

He shook his head as bemused as she was, and he’d had several minutes to process the information. “I have no earthly idea. Kaeden is a master of plausible deniability. Can’t imagine why he told Homeland Security he had them. Then again, I have no idea where they got two kids in the first place.”

“Will Colonel Brown allow them into the country?” she asked. They’d done many favors for the high-powered Marine Corps officer over the years, and Patrick had long been her go to guy in difficult circumstances, but this was a lot to ask.

“Yes, she will, but she had a lot of questions.”

“Don’t we all?” Lelia said.

Epilogue

“Dula, come back here you little monster!”

The sound of running feet from above was deafening as Astaria and Kaeden sat across from each other enjoying an early morning coffee. The breakfast nook right off the kitchen was her favorite room in the house, having a picture window looking out onto their diminutive back yard. The meticulous landscaping had been a major selling point of the house. Dula had obviously been in Ravia’s room again, more to bedevil the girl than from any actual interest in being in her room. It had been two months since they escaped from Laritrea and buying a house had been on their immediate To Do list. They’d closed the week before and the children loved having their own rooms. Or at least Ravia did.

“Before Dula runs down here to escape the maiming I’m sure he deserves, I have something for you,” Astaria said picking up a gift-wrapped package she’d left on the sideboard that morning. She handed it to Kaeden.

“I’d wondered what this was. I thought it was for the kids,” he said ripping off the festive paper to remove the gift. He smiled as he removed the baseball cap. Like the one he’d given her it was nondescript dark gray and black camouflage, but for the phrase emblazoned on the front in official U.S. Marine Corps scarlet and gold, “Quick Stick.”

Kaeden’s laughter rang out in the quiet breakfast room. “We’re a matched pair!” he declared, putting the cap on his head.

Astaria smiled in return. “Always
habibi
,” she said as she leaned forward to accept his kiss, but just when it was getting interesting he pulled away. She raised a brow in inquiry. Kaeden rarely stopped a kiss if he could help it.

“Marry me,” he said.

“What now?” Astaria said.

“Marry me.”

“But Kaeden as you’ve told everyone on at least two continents we’re already married,” she said. What on earth could the man be about.

“Yes, but that’s not a real marriage.”

“What? But you’ve always insisted—”

“You didn’t choose me. You married me because you had to,” he said.

“Right,” she nodded unable to deny the truth of his words. “But I wouldn’t have married just anyone.”

“Still, you didn’t have a choice. Now I’m asking you to marry me because you want to.”

“Actually you didn’t ask me. You
told
me. It was a declarative statement.”

Kaeden palmed his forehead as though in pain. “Truly I must be out of my mind.”

“What do you mean?”

“Only a crazy man would want to marry such a contrary woman,” he said shaking his head.

“I’m not contrary, simply making a point.”

“Marry me!” he yelled.

“See, there you go again. How can you say you’re giving me a choice when you’re ordering me to marry you?”

The children came charging down the stairs. Dula was only a hairsbreadth from sudden death as he escaped from his sister by making a running leap at Kaeden who fortuitously grabbed the boy in midair. After giving Astaria a frustrated look, he tucked Dula, who was still in his pajamas, under his arm like a football and stormed out the house.

Ravia stopped short. Her delicate gold ballet slippers looking only slightly incongruous with her blue and white striped pajamas. “What’s wrong with Ami Babba?”

Astaria had a moment to worry if she’d pushed him too far. “Nothing. Nothing’s wrong. He probably just went out to get some pastries for breakfast. Why don’t you go back upstairs and get dressed. We have a few errands to run today.”

Ravia gave her a curious look, as though she wanted to question her further, but went back upstairs easily enough.

Astaria resumed her seat at the breakfast table. Why on earth hadn’t she simply agreed to marry him? Everything had been so great since they returned to the States. Both had taken some time off work to help get the children acclimated to their new home. They’d exhausted pretty much every child-related activity in the area and had an absolutely awesome time doing so. But his obsession about giving her a choice was absurd. Regardless of how they’d come together, it was the best decision she’d ever made.

She looked up when Kaeden and Dula came back through the door. Kaeden was carrying a huge bouquet of flowers, and Dula had a similar, but much smaller bouquet. She stared at them as they crossed the kitchen to stand in front of her. Both sank to one knee, Dula looked so focused she knew they’d practiced the movement.

“Astaria Ibrahim, love of my life and certain to be my death, will you do me the honor of marrying me?”

“Amati will you marry us? Please say yes or Ami Babba will cry,” the little boy said with an earnest expression on his little chubby face.

She smiled and rose to her feet and picked Dula up into a fierce hug. She loved this little boy with all her heart. Over the child’s head she leaned forward to give Kaeden a lengthy kiss. “Of course, my love. All you had to do was ask.”

Did you miss the first two books in the Pussycat Death Squad series?

Pussycat Death Squad

Pussycat Death Squad The Lion in Russia

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