Chapter 19

Halfway through lunch in the small café in Barcelona, Garrett’s cell phone began beeping. “I’ll be right back, Cass.” He said before walking to the area near the restrooms to answer. “Garrett Spencer, and this better be good.”

“It’s good,” Nathan Spencer replied. “I have a little bit of information for you… Aidan Callahan was conveniently disposed of for us by Grace Kincaide.”

“Yeah, and?”

“Yeah, and our dear head of the IMF thinks she works for us. So we just killed the successor. Your mother’s… well, she basically disowned Gavin, and he finished the job nicely for her, and that leaves you.”

“I can watch my own back, thank you.”

“Not *just* you. You’ve got a wife now. Which means a chance at having two whole generations ready to replace me… and he knows you’re married, he knows who she is. That’s why they crashed the party in the first place.”

Garrett turned his back on the restrooms to face the table. “Fuck.” He said, looking around the café. “Looks like your warning’s a bit too late.” Garrett snapped. She had been right there, and he let them take her while his back was turned.

“We’ll get on it on this end. Do what you can there, which I know isn’t much. I expect we’ll be seeing you soon.” There was a pause. “And for the love of God, watch your back. Your mother’ll shit if you kick it too.” Nathan hung up.

~*~*~*~

Gavin eyed the caller ID, not sure whether or not to pick up the phone, but eventually he did. “What?”

“Is that any way you should be treating your father? Or answering the phone for that matter?”

“Fuck off. What do you want?”

“Cassidy’s been kidnapped. We know it’s Callahan behind this, in light of recent events.”

“And poor Garrett’s got no one to screw? Sorry, not interested.”

“I was calling to inform you, and give you a heads up. If Callahan decides that you’re a threat too, and takes Grace….he won’t kill Cassidy, but I’m positive he’ll kill her.”

“Right. Right, thanks,” Gavin said, actually meaning it. He hung up the phone. “Grace?”

“Hmm?” She seemed to snap out of her daze and look up at him. “Yeah?”

“I need… you’ve got to be careful. Cassidy was just kidnapped – mind you, they’re in *Spain* nowhere near Callahan – Callahan has decided to fight fire with fire and he wants rid of any chance at future little Spencers. That means me, you, and Garrett are walking around wearing targets until we get Cassidy back.”

Grace looked at him blankly. “He wants to kill Garrett before he can have any sons because I killed Aidan.”

“Basically. Aidan was all set to get the IMF when Bryce retired or kicked it. And that’s where Garrett’s standing, except replacing my father of course. I’m only a bleep on the radar screen because my family and I don’t much get along, but if Garrett has kids they get the organization after Garrett, who inherits it from my father.”

“I should’ve shot him when I had the chance. I ran.”

“You got one out of the way, and that’s better than we’ve done in a while. Don’t worry about that, just watch yourself. If he *does* get Garrett, then I’m next, and that’ll mean you.”

“Why didn’t he just kill Garrett? Why did he even bother with Cassidy?”

“Because if Cassidy’s pregnant, it becomes a problem. As it stands right now, Garrett can’t have kids because he’s not with Cassidy and he can’t get married again because she’s still alive. So the trick is to keep Cassidy alive until he can kill Garrett and make sure to do it properly.”

“But if Garrett’s dead…what would that mean for you? He’d go after you next.”

“Yeah, theoretically. But because my mother basically disowned me he’s got to make sure to cover all the bases with Garrett first.”

Grace nodded, sitting down onto the couch. “And what if she’s already pregnant?”

“He kills her once Garrett’s dead. But he can’t kill her before or Garrett’s not married anymore.”

“And if he killed them….then your father’d have to leave the organization to you…he hasn’t got any more sons, has he?”

“No. Garrett and I were the only kids. If Callahan kills me, then he’s accomplished what you did in about thirty seconds for us. Guess Mom should be glad, seems like I’m good for something after all.”

“But…what would happen if I got pregnant?”

Gavin nearly choked. “Excuse me?”

“If you got me pregnant….there’d be a little Spencer kid running around…what would happen?”

“Callahan’d have to take care of that too. Since we’re not married, it’d definitely be a last-ditch attempt to find someone to take over, but it’d still be my kid so it’d be entitled to run things. But he doesn’t have to be as picky as to who he kills off first, because theoretically I could marry anyone at any time.”

“Oh.”

“I don’t know when we wound up with more rules than European Royalty, but life is screwed up like that.” He paused. “Come on, let’s go to HQ… we need to see if we can help find Cass.” Suddenly he stopped again. “Wait. *Are* you….”

Grace stood up and looked at him and shrugged. “I don’t know. Just an idea.”

Gavin wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that answer.

~*~*~*~

Cassidy woke up and immediately wished she hadn’t.

“Good morning, Mrs. Spencer.”

“Good morning, Agent Shithead.”

“That’s not a very nice thing to call your captor….I may just forget to feed you for a few days.” Bryce Callahan said snidely.

“Yeah, up yours. You need me alive.”

“We have ways of keeping you alive…even if your body stops functioning.”

“In your valiant quest for the holy grail here you seem to have forgotten that my husband’s family has already one-upped you. You really wanna be the next one in a six foot long box?”

“Apparently you don’t even know the whole story, Mrs. Spencer. It wasn’t anyone in your husband’s family. It was your sister.”

“It was your daughter. Funny how when you don’t do that kindly parent thing your kids don’t turn up quite how you’d like, isn’t it?”

“She killed my only successor, and now the Spencer family is going to pay. Your baby brother was the first to pay for yours and your sister’s mistakes.”

“Like I said, you need me alive. I know how the rules work. You can’t kill me until you’ve killed him. And since that’s not going to happen, I think I’m safe.”

“Well…as long as you’re alive…we’ve already taken care of the spawn of yours.” Bryce handed her a shoebox. “I think you might find what you see interesting.”

“What?” Her voice was almost a whisper.

“Open the box.”

“I’m not opening anything!” She cried in semi-alarm. She didn’t like where this was going…

Bryce ripped it out of her hands and took the cover off. “What’s the matter, Mrs. Spencer? Don’t want to say goodbye to your firstborn—rather—dead son?” He forced her to look at the contents of box.

She looked away. ‘It’s not true, you weren’t having a baby, it’s not…’ a voice began, but another one replied, ‘You’d been away for almost a month with your husband, it’s not like you two were innocents before you got married… not only is it possible, but it’s very, very likely.’ She forced back the bile that was threatening to choke her.

“What do you think? A suitable wedding present for your husband?” Bryce asked.

“Get away from me,” she forced out after a moment.

He looked at her for what must’ve been the longest moment. She really didn’t know she’d been carrying a Spencer child…a boy nonetheless. He smiled cruelly. “I won’t cut off the air circulation into this room if you behave.” He said, taking the box and leaving the room.

She listened until his footsteps had faded before she started to cry.

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