Passion Punch

by Tricia Leedom

  “I wouldn’t talk, Mr. Lose-Your-Kid-In-Jamaica-Ostergaard.”

  “Come on now. That was before I was her step-daddy.”

  Jonas chuckled. He’d forgotten how much he missed these two knuckleheads.

  His brothers stared at him perplexed for a moment, probably because they hadn’t heard him laugh in years. The expressions on their goofy faces made him laugh harder, and then they started to laugh, too.

  Phillip Linus entered his study escorted by two heavily armed guards. “I didn’t know this was a party, but I’m glad the three of you are enjoying yourselves.”

  Jonas and Anders sobered instantly, but Jimmy never knew when to quit. “Hey, pops, why don’t you untie us and we can make it a dance party?”

  Linus’ upper lip curled in a sneer. “You’re delightful as always, Mr. Panama.”

  “I aim to please.”

  “The other one,” Linus said to the guard on his left. The young, baby-faced soldier immediately moved around desk to stand beside Anders. Linus took a cell phone out of his pocket and held it out to Jonas. It was the phone they’d stripped off of him earlier when they’d frisked him for weapons. “Call my daughter and tell her to bring the PRIM.”

  Jonas clenched his jaw. “And if I refuse?”

  Linus glanced at Babyface and nodded once.

  The guard withdrew his Glock and pressed the business end to Ander’s temple.

  “Your choice.”

  What a choice? If Jonas gave Linus the PRIM, he’d potentially be putting hundreds, or possibly thousands, of innocent lives at risk. Not to mention, he’d set back a decade-long investigation and let an international arms dealer go free.

  Was all of that worth one man’s life? His brother’s life.

  There was only one obvious choice to be made.

  Jonas took a deep breath and exhaled. “Dial the number.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  At 6’4”, Carly Calhoun was a formidable lady in her stocking feet, but strap on a pair of glittery gold platform heels and doll her up in a fabulous red sequined gown, and a blonde bouffant wig, and you got the fiercest bodyguard April could ever ask for as well as the best diversion.

  Juanita Bonita was in full drag too, wearing a black, lacy belly dancer costume adorned with gold coins and a black veil. He wore a long, straight black wig and giant false eyelashes, which he fluttered at April when she glanced over him for encouragement.

  “You got this, Mama Kitty.”

  April smiled at him then she titled her head back to check on Carly. “Are you ready?”

  Carly shifted the oversized purse on her shoulder. “As I’ll ever be.”

  Juan’s crossbody purse wasn’t as large as or obnoxious as Carly’s but both contained the tools they needed to make April’s plan work. She prayed no one thought to search their bags.

  “Let’s do this then,” April said.

  They stood outside Casa Linus’ main gate. When April pressed the button on the speaker, she was greeted by a voice she didn’t recognize.

  “It’s April Linus. My father’s expecting me.”

  As the gates slowly parted, she smoothed out the nonexistent wrinkles in her green bohemian style mini sun dress. The deep V-neck showed off a distracting amount of cleavage and a good portion of her back. Her four-inch wedges matched the cream-colored floral print on her dress but, more importantly, they were easier to run in if the situation got dicey.

  April led the walk up the drive flanked by two very intimidating glamazons.

  “Werk it, ladies.” Juan pressed play on his cell phone and lip-synced along with the chorus of Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger.”

  “Shut that off,” Carly hissed. “This isn’t a joke. We’re rescuing little Archie.”

  Juan switched off the song. “I thought we’re supposed to create a distraction.”

  “Not yet.”

  Juan pouted. “You’re no fun.”

  “Sophie is trying to listen in, remember?” April gently reminded him. Captain Tom had given her a listening device disguised as a wristwatch.

  As they approached the steps, the front door opened, and April shushed them.

  Her father’s joyless assistant Elenore stood in the open doorway. She rarely visited the house. “You were told to come alone.”

  “My father has his bodyguards, I have mine.”

  “Those… creatures are not bodyguards.”

  Juan tsked. “Don’t be throwing shade, just ’cause you ain’t gotta body worth guarding,”

  “Where’s my father? I’ll only speak to him.” April crossed her arms to emphasize she meant business.

  “She will only speak to him, Cruella. Okaaay.”

  “I’ve got this, Juan.”

  “I know you do, Mama.” Over his veil, he mimicked zipping his lips.

  “I’ll take you to him, but they’ll have to wait outside.”

  “No, they’re coming with me.”

  “You’re not in a position to make demands.”

  Anger boiled inside of April. How dare Elenore stand there on her doorstep, in the home she grew up in, and think she had the right to tell her what she could or couldn’t do? April took a step forward, intending to put the nasty woman in her place, but Carly grabbed her arm and held her back.

  “Let me,” she said. Strutting up the steps, Carly towered over Elenore. “I don’t know who you think are with that thrift store pant suit and your hair pulled back so tight it’s making my tuck wince, but you’re gonna let us in, or I’m gonna have to pick you up and physically move you aside. And in these heels, bitch, I can’t guarantee I won’t drop you.”

  Elenore’s stern expression faltered and then she huffed and stepped aside. “Mr. Linus is on the lanai.”

  April led them though the dining room and a sitting room to the enormous lanai attached the back of the house. Rage boiled inside of her as she spotted her father sitting in a lounge chair reading a newspaper. One guard was stationed in the room, but April didn’t doubt there were several more nearby.

  She inhaled deeply to steady her nerves. “Father.”

  He took his time folding the newspaper and tucked it under the side of his plate. “Hand the PRIM over and you and your, uh—” he did a double take, “friends can be on your way.”

  “I’m not leaving without Jonas, Jimmy, and Anders.”

  “You’ve got to learn to pick your battles, kitten—”

  “Don’t call me that. You don’t have the right to call me that. Uncle Donny told me the truth.”

  “I think I’ll just slip out and use the little girl’s room why y’all work this all out,” Juan said.

  April didn’t glance at him. “Through the living room, down the hall, and to the left.” She stared into her father’s eyes waiting for him to deny what he’d done to her mother.

  “Stay where you are,” Philip snapped when Juan moved toward the door.

  “Unless you want me to piss all over your carpet, Papi, you might want to let me go. My bladder is still bruised from the beating it took last week.”

  “How far can he go dressed like Manta Hari?” Carly added in a more reasonable tone.

  When Linus didn’t object, April nodded, encouraging Juan to go.

  Elenore followed hot on his heels, throwing a major kink in their plans, but April had faith Juan would figure it out.

  Her father stood and went behind the small outdoor bar to pour himself three fingers of bourbon. “What kind of lies did Donovan Mika tell you?”

  “He said there was no brain tumor. And before you deny it, I saw the autopsy report. Mama died of complications from arsenic poisoning.”

  Her father threw back the contents of the glass and sat it on the bar with a thunk. “There’s an explanation for that. Your mother was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and the disease promised a slow and agonizing death.” He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose before he went on. “She took the poison on her own. By the time I found out, it was too late. The da
mage had been done.”

  “Why would Uncle Donny say you killed her?”

  “He was jealous of me. Donovan was—is a recluse. Your mother was kind to him, and he took it the wrong way. He was delusional. He thought they were going to run away together. When she got sick, he blamed me.” Her father looked down and away.

  “Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?”

  “Hope made me promise not to tell you. She didn’t want you to think she was a coward.”

  April swallowed hard and moved closer to him. “You’re lying. You killed my mother because you thought she cheated on you, but you were wrong and you’ve had to live with the guilt ever since.”

  He raised the glass of bourbon to his mouth and took a sip. “Don’t be so melodramatic, kitten. I didn’t kill anyone.”

  “What about Vera Velez?”

  His eyebrow quirked in feigned innocence. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “You made her disappear just like you did to my mother.” The anguish of losing her mother twisted April’s insides all over again. She steeled her heart against the pain, but it hurt too much. “You murdered her” She lunged for him, but Carly’s strong hands held her back.

  Philip shook his head. “That’s nonsense.”

  “What about all of the other crimes you’ve committed? Were they nonsense too?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Why did you take Archie?” She shrugged free of Carly’s grasp.

  “Because I need the PRIM back, and I think you’ve brought it to me.” Her father turned to the second guard who’d been standing off to the side keeping a low-profile. “Bring the boy here and notify the pilot I’ll be ready to depart shortly.”

  “You don’t have the PRIM yet.”

  “I know you, daughter. You’re a people-pleaser. You have no self-worth. You brought it with you because you can’t stand the thought of displeasing me.”

  “The only reason I came here was to retrieve my son and rescue my friends,” April said, but his harsh words took chucks out of April’s thin skin. She wanted to rail against him and tell him he was wrong, but his brutal assessment left her raw. All the times she wanted to say no, but said yes flashed through her mind. The countless bad ideas she went along with in high school just to be part of the in-crowd. When her step-mother bought her implants for her eighteenth birthday. When her father asked her spy on her friend Sophie. When her friends needed help and she went to her father for money even though that was the very last thing she wanted to do. Even Jonas said she needed to learn how to put herself first.

  “Hey, wait a minute.” Carly shuffled to block the bodyguard’s path. “I know you. You’re one of Terrance’s flunkeys.”

  April’s head snapped up, and she really looked at the man in front of her. His sharply angular features and pale blue eyes were difficult to forget.

  “You tried to kill my friend Juan.” Carly jabbed him with a white gloved finger. “Did Lil’ Phil here put you up to it?”

  “What are you saying, Carly?”

  “I’m saying Terrance and the gay mafia have been working for daddy dearest all along.”

  April glanced at from father’s beet red face to the body guard’s blasé expression, and her stomach fell. “Carly’s right, isn’t she? You knew if my friends were being bullied for money, I’d come to you for help. Why did you manipulate me like that?”

  Carly huffed. “Because he thinks he’s Geppetto. Honey, the last strings you’re gonna be manipulating are the threads on a tacky orange jumpsuit.”

  “Enough!” her father roared, and everyone went still. “Sergey, go. April, if you want to see your son, I suggest you tell your friend to close his mouth.”

  “Her.” She and Carly said at the same time. Their eyes met and Carly gave her a reassuring nod.

  April took a deep breath to calm her trembling nerves and faced her father. “We have a trade to make. I’ll tell you where the PRIM is, but not before you give me my son back and set my friends free.

  Her father chuckled. “What makes you think your friends are still alive?”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Babyface took his guard duties very seriously. He stood just inside the office door, not batting an eyelash at Jimmy’s attempts to provoke him. Jonas didn’t know the guy, but then, he hadn’t recognized most of the guards he’d seen today. They weren’t the run of the mill rent-a-cops hired to patrol the grounds of a respectable businessman’s family home. They were Albatross’ men. Soldiers of fortune willing to do whatever needed to be done as long as the job paid well.

  Jonas had worked the ropes around his wrists loose, and he was pretty sure Jimmy had, too. Now they either had to figure out a way to get their babysitter to leave the room, or they had to create a distraction that wouldn’t get them shot. And they had to do it before April arrived, because the Ostergaard brothers would be worthless to Linus once he had April in his clutches again.

  There was a knock at the door. When the guard stuck his head outside to speak to the visitor, Jonas turned to Jimmy. “Are your hands loose?”

  “Yeah? Yours?”

  Jonas nodded. “I have a knife in my boot. Tip the chair, I’ll take him out.”

  Babyface left and a new guard took his place. This one was thin and gaunt. Dressed in a black t-shirt and black skinny jeans. He didn’t look like the others. A black baseball hat was pulled low over his eyes. He took the knife from his utility belt and came toward them.

  It was now or never time.

  Jonas’ hand was on the hilt of his knife when the guard pulled his hat up and batted his

  ridiculously long eyelashes at him.

  “Jimmy, abort,” Jonas said, stopping Jimmy a split second before he flipped the chair and caused a ruckus that would’ve undoubtedly drawn attention.

  “Lookie what we have here,” the guard said. “Three hot studs all tied up with no one to blow. Be still my heart.”

  “What. The. Hell?” Jimmy said.

  “It’s all right.” Jonas started sawing at the ropes binding his feet. “He’s a friend.”

  “There something you want to tell me, brother?”

  “Not really.” Jonas broke through the rope and then crouched beside Jimmy to cut his feet free. “Juan, start on Anders’ ropes.”

  “Hey, man, love is love,” Anders said to Jimmy.

  Juan crouched by his feet. “Talented, tasty, and tolerant. You get the rose, Big Fella.”

  “How did you get in here, Juan?” Jonas moved him aside to finish the job, while Jimmy searched through the desk drawers.

  “I came with Carly and April. They’re downstairs talking to her father. He’s kind of cute, if you go for older, distinguished, itty-bitty megalomaniacs.” He held up his fingers to demonstrate how small he was talking.

  “I meant how did you get in the room? Did you do something to the guard?”

  “Honey, the best way to sell a role is to own it. He thought I was his relief. Which reminds me, we have to go before his real relief shows up.”

  Jonas went to the door to listen for voices. “Have you seen Archie?”

  “No.”

  “We should call the police,” Anders said, reaching for the phone on Linus’ desk.

  “No,” Jimmy said, “No cops. If it was that easy, Albatross would be behind bars, and I’d be kicked back beside my pool with a frosty longneck.” He reached into a desk drawer and pulled out a Beretta and an extra clip. “We’ve got to do this on our own.”

  “Jimmy’s right.” Jonas moved away from the door. “Did April figure out an exit plan?”

  “Captain Tom and Sophie are standing by with a boat, but Sophie may or may not be downstairs right now.”

  Jimmy came around the desk. “What are you talking about? You didn’t mention my wife was here too.”

  “She’s standing by incase April needs backup. Oh, and she’s dressed in drag pretending to be me.”

  Jimmy’s s
tern expression dissolved into a grin. “I’d pay good money to see the Duchess in drag.” He winked at Juan and then paused to check the clip in his gun. “Let’s blow this popsicle stand.” Snapping it back in with a click, he went to the door, opened it carefully, and slipped out into the hall.

  Juan fanned himself. “OMG, it’s like he just invented a new euphemism for sex. You get a rose too, honey,” he called after Jimmy. He glanced at Anders and batted his eyelashes. “I guess you boys will simply have to fight over me.” Then he grabbed the golf club leaning against the wall and strutted out of the office.

  “He’s bluffing,” Carly said, moving even with April. “He’s trying to rattle you.”

  April wasn’t so sure, but she had to stay strong for Archie’s sake.

  “Your friend, the harem girl, is taking too long.” Her father turned to the guard who took Sergey’s place. “Go check on the situation.”

  The guard started for the door.

  “Mr. Linus?” the pilot called from the other side of the lanai screen. “I found this woman sneaking around the pool.”

  “You’re an idiot.” Linus said. “That’s a man in drag. Bring him in here and get that helicopter started.”

  “Yes, sir!” The pilot pulled open the door and shoved Sophie inside. She stumbled into the lanai dressed in exactly the same costume Juan wore. The black veil hid the lower half of her face and extra-long false eye-lashes disguised the differences in their eyes. The guard who was about to go in search for Juan returned to his position against the wall.

  Through the veil, Sophie gave April a brief triumphant smile, but April wasn’t so quick to celebrate. She hadn’t seen Archie yet, and she had no idea if Jonas and the others were alive. She would know if something bad had happened to Jonas. She would feel it, wouldn’t she?

  “Mommy!” Archie came running onto the lanai ahead of Sergey and dove into April’s arms.

  Joy flooded her heart as she bent to pick him up. She kissed his temple and squeezed him tight.

  The helicopter in the backyard whirred to life and whined as it built momentum.