by Beth Abbott
“Then who were you thinking of?” JT asked, still grinning at Hannah’s ridiculous assumption.
“Much as I hate to throw his name in the ring, I think Zach is probably our best bet.” Tuck shrugged. “Sacha will probably kill me for suggesting it, but he’s perfectly qualified. Apart from his size and natural strength, he’s been working with Candy for years. He’s almost as skilled in Krav Maga as she is.”
“He’s not far off the same age as me.” Danny pointed out. “Forty-one, maybe forty-two? If I’m too old, isn’t Zach?”
“Danny, nobody is thinking you’re too old, or not fit enough, even if Hannah would kill us all for saying that.” Tuck grinned. “But where your fitness in recent years comes from running and gym weights, Zach’s fitness has always come from combat style training. He’s possibly the only man I know that could walk in the ring at a minute’s notice and be fight-ready.”
“Maybe so, but does he have the aggression for this sort of fighting?” JT asked. “Since he’s been with Sacha, the guy has softened quite a lot. He’s a family man now, not a warrior.”
“Try making some comment to him about someone hurting Sacha or Rocco and see just how much he’s softened!” Tuck warned. “I’d wait until there was a lot of distance, or at the very least some steel bars between you before you do.”
“Do you think Sacha will agree to this?” Hannah asked doubtfully. “She has as much say in this as Zach does.”
“She won’t be jumping for joy, that’s for sure.” Tuck grimaced. “But hopefully she’ll see it’s for the greater good.”
“If we don’t put a team in, the deal is off altogether. Not only will the weapons be in the wind, but we won’t get access to Lebedev’s bank account.” Drago pointed out. “We just need that first account to get access to all his money.”
“Is it really that simple?” Tuck asked.
“It’s not quite as simple as Drago makes it sound.” Hannah smiled. “There’s a lot more to it than just finding out one account number, and of course there’s the possibility that it could be an isolated account. But, realistically, it won’t be isolated, because Lebedev is hardly likely to physically go into the bank to make a cash withdrawal every time he wants to take his money out. The second an electronic transfer is made between accounts, I can start following the money trail, and I have no doubt that my computer programme can track it through his entire network.”
“And that’s the purpose of this mission?” Yuri frowned. “To relieve this guy of his money?”
“Pretty much.” Hannah nodded. “Lebedev works on a very delicate web of smoke and mirrors. He’s managed to stay ahead of his suppliers for years, paying them off from the deposits for his next shipments. It’s almost turned into a mini Ponzi scheme. If we time it right and disrupt his cash-flow right at the point his cargo is at its most vulnerable, we could take him completely out of commission, recover a lot of illegal weapons, and turn him over to the Russians to get him to roll on his former business partners. These are potentially very big wins in a huge game of chess. And as much as I hate to admit it, Drago’s fight plan is essential to getting us our first move.”
Tuck stood up wearily.
“I’m gonna have to fly back to Philly to speak to my nephew and niece in person.” He sighed. “If Sacha is gonna freak out, it’s only fair she gets to do it with me right in front of her, so she can slap me senseless if she wants to for suggesting Zach in the first place.”
“If Sacha wants to come over here with Rocco to be closer to the action, so to speak, tell her we’d love for her to come and stay with us.” Hannah smiled. “Adam will be thrilled to have Rocco visit with him.”
“Actually, if it does go ahead, I might bring Candy and Dylan over for a few weeks.” Tuck nodded. “Family vacation of sorts. Marcus and Brandon can hold down the fort in Philly.”
Kellen watched as Tuck, JT, Hannah and Danny wandered out of the conference room, heading off to make whatever plans were necessary.
“Have you met this Zach?” Drago asked. “Do you think he’s up to it? He’s kinda old.”
Kellen snorted as he stood up.
“You see the size of me?” He waited for Drago to nod. “Well add another two or three inches in height, and maybe seventy-five pounds of muscle, and you’re getting close. We refer to him as Gigantor. Plus, as Tuck pointed out, he’s trained in hand-to-hand combat and Krav Maga. Yeah, he’s up to it.”
“In which case, I’m glad he’s gonna be on our side.” Drago snorted. “I wouldn’t want to go up against him.”
“It’s not Zach we need to worry about.” Kellen grinned. “Believe me, Tuck’s got the hardest job here. He’s gotta go up against Sacha!”
Yeah, he thought, not an easy task. If it came to it, he’d prefer to take on Zach any day.
Chapter 9 – Zach
Zach lay on his back staring up at the ceiling, a half-smile playing on his lips.
Morning sex was one of his favourite things, but when it came with an empty house, and a leisurely Sunday morning to themselves, it probably couldn’t be topped.
He grabbed another pillow and tucked it under his head, making a mental note to send flowers to Candy as a thank you for taking Rocco for a sleep-over on Saturday night. They’d have to take Dylan next weekend to return the favour.
Zach glanced over toward the bathroom door, waiting patiently for Sacha to return.
They’d made love slowly this morning, even before the sun was up, and then fallen back to sleep before waking up to something slightly more vigorous.
Sacha had excused herself to go to the bathroom, and Zach had watched her pad across the bedroom carpet, her long dark hair tumbling messily down her back, the beautiful curves of her bottom swaying sexily with each step.
Zach smiled as he waited for her to return, marvelling at how he’d ever managed to catch the eye of the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
He grimaced at the memory that he’d once tried to push her away, thinking she was too young and inexperienced for him.
If he’d succeeded, it would probably have earned him the title of ‘Biggest Jackass on the Planet’.
If Sacha hadn’t been so persistent, he might not have spent the last five years making love with the sexiest woman he’d ever set eyes on, and boy, didn’t that thought make him break out in a cold sweat, every time it entered his head.
He glanced at the clock, realising that his wife had been missing for almost ten minutes.
“Baby? Are you coming back to bed?” He called, lifting his shoulders and propping himself up on his elbows. “I’m getting lonely out here.”
He waited for Sacha to open the door and throw back a sarcastic response, but there was nothing. No noise at all.
Zach slid off the bed and made his way to the bathroom, listening through the door for any noise.
Ha-ha! The shower was running. Maybe that was an invitation?
Sunday morning shower-sex was a very close second best to Sunday morning bed-sex, so he was definitely gonna take that as an invitation.
He opened the door and slipped inside, spotting Sacha immediately in their oversized triple shower cubicle. The glass was misted up, so she’d obviously been waiting for him a little while.
Zach slid the door open and slipped inside, noticing that Sacha was standing at the far end, hot water cascading down over her head and shoulders.
“Baby, you could have given me a clue if you’d wanted me to join you.” Zach grinned. “I wouldn’t have waited so long.”
The first alarm bell rang when Sacha didn’t reply. His wife was always the first with a witty come-back, so silence was definitely out of the ordinary.
He stepped forward and ran his hands over Sacha’s shoulders.
“Everything Ok, sweetheart?” He asked quietly, moving his body closer to Sacha’s.
He barely felt the heave of her shoulders before Sacha collapsed, almost folding in on herself.
“Sacha!” Zach reached for h
er just as she fell, and he managed to scoop her up in his arms, backing out of the cubicle.
The sound of Sacha’s first few sobs cut through him like a knife, and he all but ran into the bedroom with her, placing her on the bed like she was a piece of delicate porcelain.
When she curled into a ball, he climbed up onto the bed with her, pulling the comforter up and around them, holding her cocooned in his arms.
“It’s Ok, sweetheart.” He pushed the hair back from Sacha’s face, so he could kiss her cheeks, her eyes, her forehead. “Everything is going to be fine. We just have to have faith.”
Sacha’s sobs grew stronger, but he didn’t try and stop her. This was what she’d needed, and he should have seen it coming.
Eight weeks was a long time to keep the pain of a miscarriage inside, especially when it was the second miscarriage inside a year.
Damnit, he shouldn’t have listened to her protestations that she was Ok.
He’d known she wasn’t Ok. Hell, he wasn’t Ok with it, so how could he expect his beautiful, sometimes fragile wife to be coping?
Zach did the only thing he could, and just held her.
He held her through the first round of sobbing. Then he held her while she whimpered quietly.
Then he held her tighter while the second round of sobbing ripped through her, accompanied by a kind of impotent rage that told him just how badly the miscarriage had affected her.
When she finally quietened, he realised that Sacha had fallen asleep, and he gently lay her head on the pillow as he took a moment to reach over and grab his shorts.
Zach slipped them on, and picked up his phone, heading back into the bathroom and pushing the door almost closed.
He turned the shower off and sat down on the toilet seat.
He wanted to call Candy, or even Tuck, but he couldn’t.
They didn’t know.
For some ridiculous reason, Sacha had sworn him to secrecy over this, and as she’d been barely ten weeks along on both pregnancies, nobody had even been told that she was pregnant yet.
Sacha had wanted to wait for the magical twelve-week mark before telling people.
Zach closed his eyes and dropped his head forward.
Yeah, twelve weeks was magical alright, but only if you could get there.
He called up his contact list and dialled the one person he could talk to about all of this.
“Zach? Is everything Ok?” Mama Francesca’s voice was so much like her daughter’s it made him smile.
“Hi mama, how’re you doing?” He asked.
“Never mind me! What’s wrong? Are Sacha and Rocco Ok?” Yeah, Sacha got her bossiness from Francesca, too.
“Rocco is with Candy, so he’s fine.” He said quietly. “Sacha isn’t so good, mama. She just lost it, sobbing and shaking for over an hour. I couldn’t get a word out of her.”
“Oh, Zach!” Francesca sighed. “That’s a good thing, sweetheart. She needed to get it all out of her system. She’s been so quiet this time, I was almost expecting something like this.”
“She wouldn’t talk to me about it.” Zach rubbed his eyes. “I guess I fooled myself into thinking that as she’d been through it before she could handle it better. How stupid does that make me?”
“Don’t beat yourself up, honey.” Francesca reassured him. “You’re a wonderful husband, Zach. Nobody could take better care of my baby girl than you do. But unless you’re a woman who’s been through this, you’ll never properly understand it, and nobody would expect you to.”
“Have you been through this?” He asked, something in her tone making him ask.
“Once, just before I had Sacha.” Francesca admitted. “It was tough, but I already had a house full of boys to take my mind off it. Sacha has you and Rocco, but she also has a lot of time on her hands to sit and dwell on what might have been.”
“Should I have been keeping her busier?” Zach wasn’t sure what he should or shouldn’t have done.
Francesca chuckled.
“No, Zach. I don’t think that would have helped.” She admitted. “Now she’s got the tears out of the way, possibly she’ll be ready to talk about it. Just make sure she knows how much you love her. Maybe try and persuade her to go back to the doctor to get some tests done. For it to have happened the same way at the same time on each pregnancy, it could be there’s a specific cause.”
“I’ll try and talk to her about it when she wakes up.” Zach nodded.
“Ok, sweetheart.” Francesca agreed. “Maybe you could explain to her how losing the babies hurt you too, hmm? You’ve been acting like a typical ‘guy’ about it, pretending it’s all about Sacha. But Sacha needs to know that you hurt just as much as she does.”
“I will, mama.” He promised. “Thanks.”
Zach disconnected the call and stared at his phone.
Francesca was one smart woman.
He tapped out a message to Candy explaining that Sacha had woken up with a migraine and gone back to bed. He asked if he could pick Rocco up after lunch to give her some time to shake it off.
Before he’d had a chance to put the phone back on the charger, Candy’s reply came in telling him she’d drop Rocco back at about five o’clock, as she was going to take the boys for an ice-cream sundae as a treat for being so good.
Zach smiled at the phone.
Candy probably thought they were having a weekend in bed.
Zach climbed back up next to Sacha and pulled her into his arms again, carefully pushing her hair back, so he could see her face.
Compared to him she was so small, and yet he’d often thought her the stronger of the two of them.
That had been his biggest mistake, and one he was never going to repeat.
He lay quietly, trying to absorb some of Sacha’s grief and give her his strength in return.
Francesca had been right when she’d alluded to his pain at the loss of their babies. He’d been absolutely gutted.
But at least he’d only suffered emotionally. He hadn’t had to go through the physical trauma as well.
What he found hardest to get over was the loss of possibility that those miscarriages represented.
The loss of maybe another son to play water-pistols with Rocco in the garden. The loss of a daughter he’d teach self-defence to, so she could kick the ass of any boy who got fresh with her.
He felt the wetness on his cheek and brushed the tears away quickly.
As fast as he wiped one away, another appeared, and another, and Zach lost count as he tried to wipe away the tears.
“Stop.” Sacha’s voice was barely a whisper as he felt her fingers wrap around his hand, preventing him wiping away the evidence of his pain.
Zach stilled, the tears running down his cheek unchecked as he stared into Sacha’s face.
“I’m sorry.” She whispered. “I didn’t mean for you to see me like that. I know how much it upsets you to see me cry.”
“Sacha, you have nothing to be sorry for. I just need you to stop hiding how much you’re hurting.” Zach insisted. “I wish you’d have talked to me instead of letting all the pain build up. Seeing you hurting like that kills me.”
He watched her look down, her mouth open like she wanted to say something but didn’t know where to start.
“Talk to me, Sacha.” He urged. “Say whatever is on your mind, because we both know you need to get it all out. I need to know how to help you.”
Sacha looked up and he could see the tears were back.
“It’s my fault we lost our babies.” She whispered. “There’s something wrong with me, and it killed them.”
Zach couldn’t have been more shocked if she’d slapped him.
He pulled himself up to a sitting position and grabbed Sacha’s robe from the end of the bed.
“Put that on.” He instructed, noticing her confused expression. “We need to talk this out, face to face, and that’s not gonna happen with you naked!”
Sacha pulled the robe on and tied the belt bef
ore Zach pulled her back down to sit opposite him.
“Firstly, let’s get something straight…” Zach took Sacha’s hands, so she couldn’t pull away from him. “You are not responsible for anything bad happening to our babies. Blame fate, blame Karma, or blame God! But you will NEVER blame yourself, do you hear me? You are not responsible for this, any more than I am.”
“But it was my body that rejected them. Not yours.” Sacha argued passionately. “Of course, it’s my fault.”
“Honey, if your body rejected them, it’s because there was something wrong. Nature does things like that sometimes. It’s your body understanding when something is too fragile to survive and doing something about it.” Zach rationalised. “It’s not something you have any control over, so how can you be blamed for it?”
“It’s my fault that there’s something wrong with them in the first place.” Sacha insisted. “My body did that. Maybe it’s what I eat, or the way I live?”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Zach almost yelled at her. “You live the healthiest lifestyle of anyone we know. Haven’t you noticed that our boy is bigger than all the kids in his playgroup? That’s because you feed him so well.”
Sacha stared at him with her mouth open.
“You don’t think that might have something to do with genetics, maybe?” Sacha pointed to Zach and looked him up and down. “Like possibly he takes after his daddy?”
Zach watched the slightest of smiles appear on Sacha’s lips.
“Ok, maybe that’s true.” He grinned, wryly. “But you have to look at this whole situation from the outside, instead of taking all the blame for this on yourself. If this had happened to Candy or Sara, would you blame them? Say that it was their fault?”
Sacha watched him closely, as though she was looking for some sign that he was just trying to placate her.
“Sacha, you’re the best mom our son could have. And you’ll be an amazing mom to however many other kids we’re blessed with. And there will be others, sweetheart. When the time is right, it’ll happen, because why else would God make you the most wonderful mother in the world, and not give you a houseful of kids to love?”