Page 111 of Shielding Instinct

“You? All six-feet-three of you?” she asked.

“Six-feet-four. But that’s right. All of me will be standing next to, if not in front of, all of you.”

Petra nodded slowly. “I made a mental note of what you just said. I’m folding it up and sliding it into a memory pocket to go back and read again later. It was probably very romantic and gallant. I’m too focused on a child in danger to appreciateit fully at this moment. What I want you to hear me say is that your standing next to me, Hawkeye, would be much more dangerous,” Petra told him. “Look, Rowan et al. are waiting for the two kidnappers to split forces so they can free the Johnsons. I don’t want this guy to go sprinting home and endangering people. I think he’s the only one with a gun. So, having said that, my plan is that you and Cooper hide as backup. I wait until they drive in and settle.”

“Ifthey drive here and settle.”

“If they don’t, I was wrong.” Petra said, “My lips are buzzing with adrenaline—the helpful kind. The kind that turns up the volume on my senses and makes me feel bigger and stronger.” She licked her lips.

Hawkeye felt the adrenaline coursing through his body, too.

“While I’m waiting for them to show or not show, I’ll try to figure out where else they might have gone. My thoughts as of now: I think they want this over with. I think they’ll take Herb out as soon as the guy is reasonably sure that the club is closed and everyone drives home. Remember, they want their cake and to eat it, too. They plan to get on their boat and head out tonight so they can deliver the Johnson Family to wherever it is they’re supposed to deposit the family. Send the pictures to the Prokhorov Family. The Prokhorov Family pays them and checks the task off, so these two guys don’t go on a Prokhorov Family hit list.” She held up a finger. “Okay, I’ll tell you that one in a second. Back to this scenario. I think the kidnapper will go to the club because he’s doing a scary new thing, and the club is a known and comfortable site.” She took a breath. “Okay, in my plan, you’re in place. I drive into the parking lot and roll down the window.”

“From inside the SUV?” Hawkeye asked.

“Yes.”

“Could you park so the engine is between you and them?” Hawkeye asked.

“Sure. I can do that. I pull in, park so my engine is between us, roll down my window, and turn on my interior lights so they see I’m alone. I yell, ‘Hey, Herb I need to talk to you about your daughter for like half a second. She’s in the hospital.’”

“Just like that. ‘Hey, Herb.’”

“I know his name. I know where he is. I’m not being an aggressor. I mentioned his daughter—who is missing, and they think she’s dead—”

“And this so shocks them that—”

Cooper started whining when Petra pulled her hand back.

“No begging, Cooper,” Hawkeye said. “We’re on a mission. Working.”

The whines immediately stopped, and Cooper scrambled to sit up in his seat, gaze scanning. Hawkeye would laugh if this wasn’t such a crazy-as-shit plan and if he wasn’t about to agree to it.

“This is the place?” Hawkeye asked, as a car pulled out from the side and turned south.

“That’s it.”

“So, you yell, then what?” Hawkeye asked, driving a hundred yards farther, then sliding off the side of the road to park in the shadow.

“From there, we wing it,” Petra said, undoing her belt. “My presence there is going to be a bit of shock and awe. Head scratching for sure, possibly a flight response. If the kidnapper flees, he may take Herb, or he may abandon Herb in order to get back to Jenny and the kids and warn his cohort. But I’m going to start talking right away. My voice is going to be so laissez-faire, so ‘everything’s fine’ that—like that mama bear story I was telling you about—it won’t occur to either of them to do anything other than tell me what’s wrong with the girl. I say thank you.Maybe a little finger wave. I roll up the window and drive off. Once I’ve driven off, I’ll wait for you and Cooper right here with my lights off. It’s far enough but not too far.”

“And Herb?” Hawkeye asked.

“Herb isn’t my mission. The girl is my mission.”

“You held up your finger,” Hawkeye said.

“What?” Petra canted her head.

“You held up a finger and said, ‘Okay, I’ll tell you that one in a second.’”

“Oh, another place we might be able to get the information. But that one, I think, would be more dangerous. It’s if they evade Rowan’s team and are running for their boat. I might be able to scream toward the boat that I need to know about any medicines the girl takes, and Jenny might try to scream the information back to me. Fetal microchimerism being a thing. I think she’d try.”

Hawkeye shut his eyes and shook his head. “No idea what you’re talking about.” He opened his eyes and held up a hand. “I don’t want to know.”

“Fair enough.” She climbed out of her side of the car and scooted around the front to take his place in the driver’s seat.

“I hate this,” Hawkeye exhaled. “I care about you. You’ll use every cell in your brain to stay safe, right?”

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