The Defender Read online

  “We’re losing light.”

  Lev nodded as he stared at the truck. “I have an idea.”

  He darted across the road, and she quickly followed into more forest. Lev lowered his pack to the ground. Before she had time to ask what he was doing, he stealthily walked to the vehicles and proceeded to look inside each one. It wasn’t long before he opened a door and pulled out a pair of boots. After comparing the size to the bottom of his foot, he closed the door and moved to the next car.

  Reyna knew that his feet must be killing him in the dress shoes, but he hadn’t said one word about it. She was exhausted, and she had on hiking boots.

  When Lev returned, he had a change of clothes in hand. He shot her a knowing grin and dropped the bundle to the ground to pull out his shirt from the waist of his pants.

  She didn’t want to seem as if she were ogling him—though he certainly wasn’t shy about showing off his body—so she removed her pack and dug into it for a protein bar. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his bare chest, and the scar that ran down his left side near his heart.

  But it was the only glimpse she got before he tugged on the ragged, stolen shirt that was a muted blue from so many washings. Reyna sat and finished off the bar before stuffing the wrapper into the outer pocket of her pack. When she looked up, it was to see Lev bent over, removing his tuxedo pants.

  She couldn’t remember ever seeing an ass quite so fine before. Reyna hastily looked away and tried to pretend that she wasn’t insanely curious about his body. She’d felt enough of it when they clashed at the theatre, but seeing it now in a more favorable light was vastly different.

  Lev put on the pilfered pants and boots then looked at her. “Rest here. I’ll be back.”

  “Rest?” she said, offended. “I’m perfectly capable of continuing on.”

  He stared at her for a heartbeat before saying, “No one is questioning your ability. I plan on going into the bar, getting a drink, and seeing who is driving the transport truck to learn which way they’re headed. Since it would be better if I went in alone, I thought you could take the opportunity to rest. Especially since I’ll be doing the same inside.”

  “You could’ve just said that to begin with,” Reyna retorted.

  “I’ll remember that for next time.”

  Then he was gone.

  Reyna settled back against the tree so she had a good vantage point to see the road as well as the forest they’d recently traveled through. There was a chance that someone could come up behind her, so she made sure to hide herself and their packs well.

  As the minutes ticked by and the sky darkened, her eyes grew heavy. She let them close, but she didn’t fall asleep. It was enough to rest her body and eyes for what little time they had. No doubt they’d be hoofing it through the night to stay ahead of the Saints.

  She wouldn’t be there now if she’d killed Lev at the theatre. Even knowing that, she still didn’t regret her decision. When she looked down the barrel at him, she’d known in that instant that she couldn’t pull the trigger. She didn’t know how or why, only that she couldn’t.

  The only thing that irked her was not completing her mission. And it wasn’t as if she had anything to go back to when she reached the US. The Saints were everywhere. They’d find her eventually.

  But she’d known that when she joined them. It was the chance she’d taken to get close to them and learn their secrets in order to bring them down.

  Unfortunately, she hadn’t comprehended just how massive the organization was. She had known it was big, but she hadn’t realized just how large. One person could only do so much against a group with their fingers so deep in everything.

  Yet she had found out quite a bit in her five years with them. If she could find the right people to trust, her knowledge could do some damage to the Saints.

  Especially after someone within the Saints had secretly directed her down a certain path that had given her more than she could have hoped for.

  She heard something and opened her eyes to see Lev walking into the trees. A look at the sky told her he’d been in there for over an hour. She hadn’t realized that she’d been resting her eyes for that long.

  “Come on,” Lev said as he gathered his pack. “We’ve got a ride.”

  She smiled. “He’s headed in our direction?”

  “Yep. He’ll be another hour or two, which will give us time to rest. We’ll have to jump because he’s headed to a border crossing.”

  Still, that was over forty miles they wouldn’t have to cover on foot. And the idea of getting some sleep sounded too good. Reyna got to her feet and lifted her pack. She and Lev quietly hurried to the truck and slipped beneath the heavy tarp that enclosed the back.

  “You sleep first,” he said. “I couldn’t rest now if I tried after having those shots of vodka.”

  Reyna chuckled and lowered herself to the bed of the truck. She used her pack as a pillow and laid down. Within seconds, she was asleep.

  Lev stretched out his legs before him and leaned back against the hard seat. He shifted until he got comfortable and then folded his arms over his chest and crossed his ankles. His gaze kept going to Reyna.

  He wanted to know her story. What had brought her to work undercover against the Saints? Or who?

  They had traveled a considerable distance that day, but they still had the entire country of Poland to cross. It wasn’t going to be an easy passage, and he’d be surprised if they actually made it without being caught by the Saints.

  He wondered if everyone in Texas thought he was dead. He would in their place. Had they told Sergei? That thought soured Lev’s stomach. He needed to find a way to contact Callie and the others.

  Two hours later, Reyna woke and motioned for him to sleep. He didn’t balk. His mind was full of all the different scenarios for how the Saints could capture them. He needed to clear his head, and the best way to do that was sleep.

  He laid down and, right before his eyes closed, he looked at Reyna. She smiled and took the seat he’d occupied.

  It was during Reyna’s second rotation of sleep that the engine roared to life. Her eyes snapped open. Lev was sitting beside her, his pistol drawn just in case. But nothing happened. The truck rolled out of the area and onto the road.

  She exchanged a look with Lev. “That was easy.”

  “We should be okay for the next thirty-five miles or so.”

  “Can you count miles?” she asked, joking.

  He lifted his wrist to show what looked like a watch. “It’ll keep track of it. I’ll need to buy a burner phone to get in contact with the rest of my companions to let them know I’m alive.”

  “We can do that in Poland.”

  They bounced along in the back of the truck, each lost in thought. Reyna had set up this escape path within months of being assigned to Ukraine. Her specialty in the CIA had been languages. She picked them up easily. First, it was Spanish and Russian, and then Ukrainian and Belarusian came next. In all, she spoke eight languages.

  When she had made the route for her escape, she’d thought she would be doing it alone. Not once had she considered that there would be someone with her. But if she were honest with herself, she’d never expected to have to use the plan.

  The Saints trusted very few. It didn’t matter how high up in the organization a person was, the Saints constantly listened in on conversations, followed people, and had spies trying to turn them away from the Saints.

  “Why did you join them?”

  Reyna jerked at Lev’s question that pulled her out of her thoughts. She met his bright blue gaze and pulled out a small photo from her pack. The edges were worn and curled from being handled and shoved into her pockets.

  She glanced at the picture. It no longer pained her to see Arthur’s face smiling back at her, but the memories of their time together, the bond that had developed and turned to love, would always remain.

  Reyna handed the photo to Lev. “That was my partner, Arthur. We were often sent into
situations where we posed as a couple. During an op, Arthur stumbled upon information about the Saints. He told me, and we did some investigating. Before we got to share the intel with our superiors, the Saints sent someone after him. He was gunned down on the way to get us breakfast.”

  Lev stared for a long time at the picture before he looked back at Reyna. “You loved him.”

  “Yes.”

  “So, you went after the Saints for revenge.” He handed the photo back to her.

  She ran her finger over the picture before tucking it back into her pack. “It was mostly for Arthur, yes. Yet, during the few days we dug into the group, we found so much more. Then, when the CIA brought me home after Arthur was killed, their questions made me wary.”

  “Because they were Saints.”

  Reyna nodded slowly. “I took some leave, and during that time, I quietly dug into the Saints more. After I returned to work, I made sure to find those who I believed were part of the Saints organization and said all the right things. In less than six weeks, I received an anonymous package on my doorstep. It was tickets to Kiev with a note that simply said, ‘join us.’”

  “And none of those at the CIA knew what you and Arthur found out about the Saints?”

  “They asked me a dozen times in a dozen different ways, but I said that Arthur had been very secretive of late and refused to share anything with me. I hated lying.”

  “But if you wanted revenge, you had no choice,” Lev said.

  She raised her chin. “Just because I’m leaving doesn’t mean I’ve given up on getting my retribution.”

  Lev’s stare intensified. “Good.”

  8

  “Ready?” Lev asked as he and Reyna perched on the back of the truck, ready to jump.

  She shot him a look and nodded. “Ready.”

  They tossed out their packs since it would be easier to jump without them.

  “Now,” he said.

  They both leapt, landing hard and rolling to absorb the impact as the truck drove away. Each quickly got to his or her feet and retrieved their packs before hurrying off the road.

  After ducking behind a tree, Lev looked around for any movement. He knew the Saints were out there, waiting. No doubt the bastards would let him and Reyna believe that they were about to get away before they swooped in and killed them.

  Lev had known for a while that he’d die violently, but he would do it fighting for Sergei, not out in the wilderness battling a group that never should have been able to gain such power to begin with.

  “Clear,” Reyna said after looking to her side of the forest.

  He adjusted his pack on his shoulder. “Same.”

  Reyna pulled a map from her pack. It had been folded and refolded so many times that the edges were worn. She then cracked a glow stick to shed some light in the darkness. Lev saw the red marks added to the map along the border of Poland and Ukraine, which must be the checkpoints.

  “We’re here,” Reyna said and pointed at the map.

  It put them farthest away from the busiest border crossing, but closer to one of the smaller ones. “If I were the Saints, I’d have very few of my people at the crossings. Instead, I’d station them between the checkpoints to hide.”

  “I would, as well,” Reyna agreed.

  “Which means, in order for us to get across, we need to find those waiting.” He didn’t say to kill them, because it was understood.

  Contrary to what many in Sergei’s employ thought, Lev didn’t enjoy taking anyone’s life. Each death was a mark against his soul, but he willingly bore the weight because of Sergei.

  “The mountains will help us,” Reyna said as she tapped the paper, indicating the location.

  Lev studied the map before he nodded. “I agree. There is a forest, as well.”

  “True, but it won’t be much use. Both governments took down trees and anything someone could use as cover about twenty feet on either side of the border.”

  That would leave them exposed when they crossed. Prime opportunity for a sniper to take them out as soon as they showed themselves. But what choice did they have? They had to get to Poland. Everything hinged on them locating the Saints first.

  Reyna looked at Lev. “There’s no other way.”

  “We’ll get through.”

  “Your confidence reminds me of Arthur’s,” she said as she folded the map and returned it to her pack.

  Lev raised a brow at her. “Is that a compliment?”

  “Definitely. Arthur never saw anything he couldn’t do. Except end the Saints.”

  “He isn’t to blame for that. Neither of you understood how far-reaching they were.”

  She twisted her lips. “I’m not sure if that would have stopped Arthur, to be honest. He hated injustice of any kind. It’s why he got into the CIA. He loved the idea of protecting his country. Arthur was very much a patriot. He never shied away from doing whatever it took to keep America safe, and our people free.”

  “He sounds like a good man. I’m sorry you lost him.”

  Reyna shrugged nonchalantly as she zipped up her pack. “It’s part of the job, right? We knew what we were getting into.”

  “Perhaps, but I doubt you expected to fall in love.”

  Reyna stilled and slowly lifted her eyes to his. “No, I never expected that.”

  Lev had never been in love before. He thought he might have come close once, but that had been a long time ago. Besides, a Brigadier really couldn’t allow themselves to have that kind of connection with anyone. It gave his enemies something to use against him.

  He was good at his position because the only one he cared about was Sergei. And it would stay that way.

  Reyna gave him a nod when she was ready to set out. They began walking, keeping to the trees to stay out of sight. He was glad he’d found some boots. They not only helped him with traction as they began the ascent up the mountain, but they also supported his feet.

  “How did you come to be here?” Reyna asked after nearly twenty minutes of silence.

  Lev wanted to refuse to answer as he usually did, but something stopped him. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the time he’d spent with her, or if it was because he felt as if she deserved to know something after what she’d shared with him.

  “I’m not a spy by trade,” he said.

  She moved ahead of him on the narrow path and glanced at him over her shoulder. “You do pretty damn well. What do you do?”

  “I work for a Russian mob boss.”

  Reyna halted and looked at him. “In the US?”

  “That’s right.”

  “That’s why your Russian was so good.”

  Lev shrugged one shoulder. “My father was Russian. I learned the language early.”

  “You have no American accent, and when you speak English, you have no Russian accent.”

  “A product of learning both languages at the same time.”

  She gave a short whistle. “Impressive. And I thought I had a knack for languages. You understood my Ukrainian, didn’t you?”

  “For the most part. I’ve not spoken it in ages. How many languages do you know?”

  “Eight.”

  “That’s remarkable.” And damn if he wasn’t impressed.

  Reyna flashed him a quick smile and started walking again. “Everyone has a skill. That’s mine.”

  “Obviously, you had other strengths. Otherwise, the CIA wouldn’t have made you an operative.”

  “I suppose. What are your skills?”

  “Killing.”

  She didn’t so much as glance his way when he stated the fact. Somehow, that made him feel a little better. It didn’t absolve him of his many sins, though. Not that he expected such a thing. He, more than anyone, knew what awaited him when death came for him.

  “What do you do for your boss?” Reyna asked.

  “I’m a Brigadier.”

  “My time in Kiev gave me an up-close and personal look at the mafia. Do you do the same functions in the US as th
e Brigadiers do there? Here, they’re in charge of a small group of men and give jobs out to the Boyeviks, the warriors.”

  The path widened so that Lev could come even with her. He was surprised when Reyna slowed to let him catch up.

  “Actually, things are a bit different for me,” he explained. “My Pakhan, the boss, came over from Russia. He wasn’t part of any mafia while he lived there, but his uncle was. He learned a lot, and when he came to America, he took what he knew and used it to create his own mafia.”

  Reyna looked at him as if she were seeing him for the first time. “You care a great deal for your Pakhan.”

  “He’s more of a father than my own ever was.”

  “That’s nice that you have that relationship.”

  Lev wasn’t sure why he’d shared that with her. He’d never told anyone else before. “I may be the Brigadier, but I also carry the job of the Two Spies.”

  Reyna’s eyes widened before she looked forward once more. “Support and security for your Pakhan. That must keep you busy. Why doesn’t your boss fill one of the other roles?”

  “Because I get the jobs done properly.”

  “I see,” she murmured.

  Lev caught her quick glance in his direction. He wished he knew what she was thinking.

  Reyna asked, “Did your Pakhan send you here?”

  “He wanted in the fight against the Saints, yes.”

  “And you didn’t?”

  He shrugged. “It’s not that I didn’t want to fight them. My job is to protect Sergei and everything he’s created. I can’t do that from here.”

  “You’re worried about him.”

  It wasn’t a question, so he didn’t treat it as such. “I know fighting the Saints is important, but my first duty is to Sergei.”

  “I think I’d like to meet him.”

  “He’d like you.”

  Her head snapped to him as her lips turned up in a smile. “You think so?”

  “He’s always had a thing for strong, intelligent women.”

  Reyna’s smile grew, making her eyes twinkle in the moonlight that fell through the trees. “I think that was a compliment.”