"You pissed at me?" I asked Alex as we entered the outskirts of the city.

"Maybe. You could have warned me you were going to execute the asshole before you did it, saved me the problem of trying to stop a coronary not to mention all the work finding a spot to ensure he wouldn't be found."

"Why take all the fun out of it? Kidding, sorry 'bout that. Just couldn't help myself, all I could see were the faces of my daughters and knowing he was part of the assholes who were doing harm to them."

"What do you want me to do next? I have good contacts in the states but not extensive enough to penetrate a ring as sophisticated as Beckmann's."

I cracked the window even though the A/C was on and lit a cigarette. I realized it was the first one I'd smoked since we'd sat outside the place waiting for Max. Maybe doing this would break the habit. I doubted it, the tension in this business was getting higher by the minute. I nudged the shoulder holster under my arm, the feel of the weapon giving me slight comfort.

There was a new sheriff in town. Kinda like the old one but this one was a lot meaner and hungrier. And this one was more likely to kill an asshole at a drop of a hat than the older one. My girls were out there somewhere with the bad guys once again and that thought was driving me insane.

"Use what you have Alex, any help would be appreciated."

"You're not planning on going cowboy on me are you?"

"Cowboy? I guess I'm out to try and get my girl's back any way I can and if I have to kill a shit load of towel heads along the way, well... so be it."

Alex looked at me, a frown across his forehead, the cold eyes even colder.

"You're out to get yourself killed if you go off tilting at windmills. These guys are very smart, they stay at least two steps ahead of anyone on their tails. Max's disappearance won't go unnoticed and they'll put two and two together, you know that."

The hotel underground parking loomed directly ahead as Alex sped into the lot though a security gate and parked in our designated spot. We both looked cautiously around drawing our weapons as we exited, half suspecting to see several armed gunmen waiting for us.

"Clear," he breathed sliding the automatic back into his holster as I returned mine. "What next, we head back to Paris in the morning?"

Today was Wednesday. I'd told the young girl across the way from my apartment I'd be back Friday.

"No, we've got a day to kill. Besides, you still have to let me know how you get past the gates of Budapest's youngest."

"The kid? You old reprobate, you can take the pussy away from the pedophile but you can't take the pedophile away from the pussy, huh?"

"Something like that. What do you say we tag team Hilda and the squirt?"

"She's only four-years old man, that's way too young for us, isn't it?"

The hesitation at the end of the question told me the old geezer had already contemplated the ménage à trois plus one. That was fine but I wasn't sure I wanted Hilda-beast anywhere near my cock with her teeth. Besides, the kid was closer to five-years old than she was four anyway. ......(cont)