Chapter 18
When Kahlan pulled up to their rendezvous, Hotch got out and walked up to an SUV being driven by Felix, and Felix laughed. "Really, Jackson, you let your wife drive you around?"
Hotch smiled. "That's her baby. I wouldn't drive it if I had to. She's pretty possessive of her stuff."
Cody, in the passenger seat, laughed. "What the lady wants?"
Hotch laughed. "Yep."
"So you'll follow us," Felix told him. "I would say 'make sure you can keep up', but with a car like that I don't see it being a problem."
Hotch shook his head. "Nah. I don't think it'll be a problem," he told them and headed back to Kahlan.
Kahlan waited for them to pull out and started to follow them. "Thank God Emily wasn't here," Kahlan told him as she drove down the road.
"Why is that?" Hotch asked.
"Brody was on the roof. He's keeping watch to make sure no one is following us," she told him as she glanced at him.
Hotch wanted to turn around and look, but he thought better of it. "Damn. I didn't even see him."
She reached over and patted him on the leg. "Don't worry about it. I almost didn't see him."
"Cody and Felix were the only two in the SUV."
"Yeah. I guess the others are already there."
"Yeah," Hotch said and tried to relax himself.
"Put your phone in the glove box now, Hun, so they don't see you put it in there."
Hotch opened it and saw that hers was already in it. "So Emily can trace this car?"
She smiled. "When I let her."
Hotch looked at her questioningly. "When you let her?"
"I have to turn the signal on," she told him as she looked at him. "Don't give me that look. I don't want them thinking they can get close or anything." He shook his head. "They were already positioned along the route to the rendezvous," she told him and he could hear the anger in her voice.
"What?" he asked in shock. "We told her to stay away until we called them in."
"I'm sure it was Clyde's doing. There were a few cars, and they will only be able to tell them the direction we took, and with all these turns, they won't be able to find us without the signal."
Hotch shook his head. "How did you do it?"
She looked at him. "What?"
"Work like this? I've only done it for a little over a day and I hate it already."
She laughed. "Very rarely did I ever work with another group."
"I can see why."
"I don't think Clyde really means anything by it. He just wants this to go down the right way and he hates that he's not the one calling the shots."
Hotch huffed and reached over and took her hand off the gearshift and held it. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For being you. If you weren't here, and they had talked me into doing that, I'd probably be dead right now."
She winced.
"What?"
"Don't talk like that."
He chuckled. "Oh, another one of those jinxes?"
Her shoulders dropped. "Well, now it is."
He laughed as he shook his head.
After twenty minutes, Kahlan looked at him. "I think they lied about how far out this is."
"They probably did that on purpose to throw off anyone who might be following us. Should I let Emily know?"
Kahlan bit her lip as she considered it. "I wouldn't."
He nodded and got a little more worried. "What do we do if we get out there and there are no kids, and this is just a set up?"
She shot him a dirty look. "Would you stop!"
"I'm serious, Babe," he told her and she could hear fear in his voice.
She knew his fear was for her because he would never fear for himself. She took a deep breath. "Then we fight to get back in the car and get the hell away."
He studied her. "This isn't a normal car, is it?"
She smiled. "Back up can come in many different forms," is all she offered.
He started to study the car and reached up to the instrument panel.
She grabbed his hand to stop him. "Careful, you might hit the ejector button."
His head snapped to her and he couldn't tell if she was joking or not. She focused on the road.
XXX
They pulled onto a dirt road. "Here we go," Kahlan told him and took a deep breath.
Hotch studied her and he couldn't tell if she was nervous or not.
"Shit!" she exclaimed. He looked at her, and she shook her head. "We didn't think about it, but if the children are here, there are bound to be other men, right?"
He rubbed his forehead. "Probably, they would have to have a guard or something on them."
"And enter another vehicle," she said as she saw a car approaching from behind in the rear view.
Hotch glanced behind them. "Shit!"
"If they try to box us in, do not get out of the car," she told him seriously.
"Right," he nodded as the acid in his stomach churned.
They finally pulled up in front of a couple houses and a couple of outbuildings. Kahlan surveyed the scene quickly as she pulled up beside Felix's SUV. She held her breath as the SUV coming up behind them pulled over to the other side of the house. She let it out with a smile. "Maybe they don't suspect anything," she offered quietly.
Hotch nodded. "We're good?" he asked as his hand went toward the handle.
"Yep," she told him and he got out.
He went around to her side, opened her door for her, and extended his hand to help her out. "M'Lady," he offered with a grin.
She giggled and got out. "Thank you, M'Lord."
Cody, who had approached them, laughed. "You two are sweeter than fresh honey. You make me sick," he joked.
"You just wish you had a beautiful woman like I do," Hotch told him as they followed him to the closest house.
"Maybe one day," Cody mused and then stopped in front of the door as Vicktor, Adrian, and Ethan came out of the house.
Kahlan turned a little as Felix, Brody, and Stephan walked up behind them. Where and the hell are you Sebastian? She quickly surveyed the men and realized that several of them were armed. "So, where are the children?" she asked with a nice smile.
"Inside," Vicktor told her. "But you'll have to excuse us for wanting to search you."
"Do we get to search you?" Hotch asked as he fixed the man with his stare.
Vicktor appraised him. "This is our place. Visitors do not have the luxury of having a weapon inside."
Hotch didn't move as he appraised him. "You expect us to trust you? I haven't known you long enough to even consider that."
"You can have them back as soon as you leave," Adrian told him.
Hotch looked at Kahlan. She shrugged and looked at Cody. "You better keep your hands professional."
Most of them laughed as Cody made his way to her and Adrian searched Hotch. Hotch tried to keep his eyes off Kahlan. He didn't want to put too much attention on her, but he was worried that with so many people watching that she would get caught trying to hide the other weapons she had. Adrian reached in and took Hotch's pistol out of his holster on his hip. Adrian appraised the gun with a grin. "Nice." Hotch shrugged.
Cody whistled as he pulled the pistol out of Kahlan's shoulder holster. "Pretty and can shoot, too. That's my kind of woman," he told his friends and they all laughed as he handed Felix the gun and searched the rest of her.
Adrian was done by the time Cody was and Hotch looked at the men. "Satisfied?"
"Of course," Vicktor told him and then motioned to the door.
Kahlan went to her husband's side and smiled. "Let's go see them," she told him and basically pulled him into the house.
The men laughed again and followed them in.
Hotch had steeled himself to what he thought he would find. He was expecting all kinds of horrors, as every case involving kids had come to his mind, but he was shocked by what he saw. They entered a room with a wall made out of what he knew was a two-way mirror. On the other side of the mirror, he quickly counted ten kids of various ages. They all looked healthy and even if they weren't all exactly happy, none of them looked scared or hurt. There were also two older women in with the kids. He didn't hide his shock as he looked back at the men.
"I told you they were good kids," Cody told him as he came up beside Kahlan. "See one you like?"
Kahlan shot him a look and then looked back at the kids. "Can I go in there?"
Cody looked behind him, and Hotch saw who gave him the approval, and he smiled mentally. I knew it! "The women take care of them?" Hotch asked them.
"Yes, but they only speak Spanish," Felix started and Hotch looked at him questioningly. "We wouldn't want them to discuss things with the children, would we?"
Hotch chuckled. "I guess not." He squeezed Kahlan's hand. "Can she go in?" he asked Cody.
"Sure," Cody said and opened the door for her. Kahlan gave Hotch a smile and then went in. The children and the women quickly looked to see who was coming in the door, and Hotch noticed several of the younger kids smiled brightly at her.
Hotch turned to the men. "Quite the set up you have here. I must confess I am impressed."
"All of our ventures are equally impressive I assure you, Mr. Jackson," Adrian told him.
Hotch heard a high pitched giggled and turned to see Kahlan tickling a little boy. Hotch couldn't help it, he smiled.
"Seems like she's drawn to the lad," Ethan told him.
Hotch studied his wife as she turned to grab a young girl. "Maybe not," he offered as he turned back to them.
"Still set on one, or are you going to wait until she comes out of there?" Cody asked him.
"It'll be up to her. So how does this work?" Hotch asked as he stuffed his hands into his pockets.
"Half now and then half tomorrow when you come back to pick it up," Vicktor told him.
Hotch mentally cringed again at a child being referred to as an 'it'. "You can get the paperwork done that quickly?" he asked and let them think that he was impressed.
"You want it to actually be yours or adopted?" Felix asked.
"Depends on which one she wants," Hotch told them as he looked at his wife again. The little boy had climbed into her lap. He chuckled and then turned back to the men. "So what else can you all offer me?"
"That depends on what you are asking about," Adrian told him.
Hotch smiled. "I might be in the market for some other things that can't be acquired in the traditional sense."
Adrian looked at his brother and then looked back at Hotch. "Weapons?"
"Possibly," Hotch told them cryptically. "Depends on what you have to offer." I hate this round about, never say what you mean shit! Why can't I be the one in with the kids? Kahlan would have these guys eating out of the palm of her hand!
Cody put his hand on Hotch's shoulder. "Come on out to the barn and we'll show you," he told him with a smile.
Shit! He looked back toward Kahlan and she was making her way back to the door. Thank God! He opened the door for her with a smile. "So?"
She smiled as she appraised him and knew he had done something they hadn't discussed. Damn it, Aaron! Stop trying to be super spy! You aren't trained for this shit! She took a deep breath and looked back through the mirror. "I like Liam," she told him and pointed to the little boy.
"Knew it," Ethan injected.
Felix nodded and grabbed a laptop off a side table and opened it up. After several moments he handed it towards Hotch, but Kahlan took it first. She looked at the screen and realized it was a wire transfer site. "Oh, you can use your account, Dear," she told Hotch as she handed it to him.
Hotch's heart skipped a beat as she saw her insert something into one of the USB drives as he reached for it. Jesus, Babe, are you trying to get us killed? He took it and typed in some account numbers and then looked at the men. "How much?"
Kahlan held her breath as she studied the men and kept her husband in her peripheral view.
"Two hundred-fifty," Vicktor told him. "Today," he quickly added.
Hotch looked at him as he quirked his mouth and then looked at Kahlan. Her eyes were pleading him to behave, but he looked back to Vicktor. "Seems a little high," Hotch told him as he eyed him.
Vicktor's eyes shifted from Hotch for just a second. "The quality calls for a higher price."
"True, but some of your competition offers relatively the same quality for a lot less," Hotch told him as he lifted his chin.
What the hell are you doing, Hun? Kahlan wanted to scream. She studied him as she tensed in case things got out of hand. A devilish smile played at the corners of his mouth. You may not like the spy game as a whole, but you sure do like playing it, don't you, Hun?
"Let me guess? You did a little research?" Felix asked him.
Hotch shrugged. "Have to know the going price to see whether or not I'm being swindled."
Kahlan studied the men and realized they were uneasy. She could tell by their looks and their body language that they were indeed trying to charge way too much. How the hell did you figure that out, Aaron? You didn't do any research. She noticed that Brody's hand moved toward the inside of his jacket as he focused on Hotch. Not today, asshole. Her hand slowly made its way into her jacket as well.
Finally Vicktor laughed. "We had to see if you were gullible," he confessed.
Hotch raised his brows as he waited for the next price.
"It's two-fifty total."
"So half now?" Hotch asked as he started putting in numbers.
"Yes," Felix told him.
Hotch finished on the computer and then closed out the internet and handed it back to Felix.
"What did you do?" Felix asked as he looked at the screen.
Kahlan tensed again. Hotch looked at him. "I'm not leaving my info on the screen for you to see. Go back in. You'll find the money already there."
Vicktor and Adrian looked at each other and then looked at Felix. He was nervous as he started to type. Vicktor looked at Adrian and then they started talking in Russian.
Hotch couldn't understand what they were saying, but he could tell the conversation wasn't a good one. Oh shit! All of the men drew close together and started talking in hushed tones.
Kahlan moved closer to Hotch. "Start an argument with them," Kahlan told him quietly.
He shot her a look. "What?"
"Start on argument and then take it outside!" she said a little more forcibly but still quietly enough that they didn't hear her.
"You can understand them?" he asked but then shook his head. Of course you can.
"The shit is about to hit the fan. Get them outside!" she told as she glanced at the mirror.
He nodded. "Is there a problem gentleman?" Hotch asked them as he got closer to them. He noticed the women taking the children out of the room.
"You've done something to the computer!" Felix demanded as Brody pulled a pistol.
"Whoa!" Hotch yelled as he held his hands out to the side.
Kahlan's heart skipped a beat at seeing the pistol pointed at Hotch. She bit her lip and decided she had to do something. "Just forget it, Dear," she told him and grabbed his arm as she started for the door keeping herself in between him and the gun.
Before Hotch realized it, she had him out the door and the most of the men quickly followed. "Just hold it a second!" Cody yelled as he pulled a pistol. They all flinched when a shot ran out in the house.
Kahlan and Hotch both lunged for their guns still sitting on a barrel along the walk.
Cody and Brody both fired as the other men scattered.
Hotch pushed Kahlan down as he ducked and another couple shots rang out as he reached the guns. He threw hers to her, and she caught it and turned. Cody and Brody lined up for another shot as Hotch and Kahlan both fired.