The Defender Page 6
“It was.”
The smile was still in place when she looked ahead. “How did you come to work for him?”
That was a story Lev had never shared before. No one had dared ever ask. That was his own doing. He made sure no one wanted to know because he didn’t want to talk about it.
“Forget I asked,” Reyna said when he didn’t reply.
He shook his head. “It’s just that I’ve not spoken about it in years.”
“It’s fine. You don’t need to tell me.”
“When my father arrived from Russia, he went to work for Sergei. He lived hard and drank harder. He expected a lot from me, and no matter how well I did, it was never enough. The simple truth was that he went to the US for a better life, but he hated it. He hated everything about America. It didn’t matter that my mother loved him more than life itself. It didn’t matter that Sergei took him in and gave him a job.”
Reyna licked her lips. “And your mother?”
“The gentlest woman I’ve ever known. One time, when my father was drunk—though not too drunk—he told me that’s what drew him to my mother. He loved her. In his own way. He just couldn’t find happiness where he was.”
“Even with your mother’s love?”
“Apparently, love doesn’t fix all things,” Lev replied.
Reyna tucked her hair behind her ears. “Was it the connection of your father that brought you to Sergei?”
Her question brought memories of that time straight to the forefront of Lev’s mind. “I knew Sergei, of course. He was always nice to me back then, but no, I was going for my medical degree.”
“To be a doctor?” she asked, her brows shooting up on her forehead.
“I was drawn to it. It was the one thing my father approved of. I was in my second year when he died of liver failure. He’d always said it would be the alcohol that took him. I was finishing up my final year, getting ready to do my residency when I got word that my mother had been attacked on her way home. Witnesses told authorities that it was a group of men. They beat her so badly that she never regained consciousness.”
Reyna stopped to face him. “I’m so sorry.”
He looked off into the distant darkness as he halted next to her. “The police took too long to bring the group to justice. When they finally did haul one man in, he confessed to doing all of it. And when I heard his connections to a rival mafia, I knew it was in retaliation for something my father had done. If only they’d come after me. Not my mother.”
Lev snorted and slid his gaze to Reyna. “I went to the Pakhan of that mafia and demanded the men who had attacked my mother. I wanted my revenge.”
“Did you get it?”
“It turned out that my mother’s death was just a ploy to get to me. I was their target. More than six of them came at me. I deflected as many hits as I could, but suddenly there was a rope around my neck.”
Reyna’s gaze darted to his neck exposed by his shirt.
There were no scars there, at least not externally. “That’s when Sergei and his men stormed in. He not only gave me my life, but allowed me to take revenge on the men who murdered my mother. I followed Sergei back to his home and never looked back.”
9
Learning Lev’s history helped Reyna understand him better. His roots in the Russian mafia explained a lot. She detected the similarities, as well as the differences, between him and those in Russia.
Reyna waited for him to start walking. His retelling of how he’d nearly died was too smooth. No doubt there was much more to the story. She knew how long it took someone to die by strangulation. How long had Lev had the rope tightened around his neck before Sergei got there? She had a suspicion that it was a long time.
To know that Lev had walked away from a career as a doctor to serve Sergei told her so very much about him. He hadn’t said that Sergei forced him to serve, which meant that Lev had decided to do it on his own.
“Do you regret being a spy?” Lev suddenly asked.
She thought about it for a moment before she said, “No. I regret some of my decisions and not always listening to my gut. This job isn’t for everyone.”
“But it suits you?”
She looked over to find him staring at her. “The CIA recruited me right out of college. I honestly thought I’d be behind a desk translating languages, and I started out doing just that. But they needed someone on a quick mission during my eighth month. My first mission was sitting at a bar in a hotel in Moscow, pretending to be a prostitute while spying on a known KGB spy.”
“And you were hooked after that?”
Reyna chuckled softly. “Actually, I was terrified. There were plenty of others who spoke Russian, but apparently, I fit the bill more as a prostitute. Not sure what that says about me.”
“That you’re beautiful.”
His words surprised her so much that she nearly tripped over a root. “Thank you. But I was happy to go back to my desk. A couple of months later, they requested that I join another mission. About once a month, I was being pulled to go on one op or another, and the next thing I knew, I was no longer going back to my desk.”
“Is that when you got teamed up with Arthur?”
She glanced up at the moon to see it was just a thin slice in the sky. “I was on my own for nearly three years before Arthur.”
“You liked it?”
“Every day was different. There was never a boring day.”
Lev pulled a bottle of water out of his bag and drank deeply. “I can see how that would appeal to some people.”
“I missed my desk sometimes,” she confessed. “I missed being able to talk about work. My family knew I worked for the CIA, but I could never tell them anything. I missed many holidays with my family. I barely made it to my mother’s funeral.”
“Do you still work for the CIA?”
She shook her head. “When I used the plane ticket the Saints left me, my status within the CIA was removed.”
“So, you weren’t fired?”
“No.”
“Hmm,” Lev said. “I wonder if that means you could return there.”
She snorted loudly. “Why would I want to, knowing the Saints have a connection there?”
“The Saints are everywhere.”
“Exactly. Have you even thought about what you’ll do when we reach the States?”
Lev gave her a quick glance. “I’m going to Sergei, and no doubt we’ll meet up with my companions to continue the fight.”
How could she have forgotten about that? Just because she was on her own didn’t mean that everyone was.
“You could join me,” he offered.
Reyna was about to tell him that she didn’t need his pity when she realized that she did need it if she wanted any chance of survival so she could keep going after the Saints. “I think I will. If your companions are still alive.”
Lev merely laughed. “You don’t know my friends.”
“Who are they?”
“The Loughmans.”
That drew her up short. “The Loughmans? As in Orrin Loughman?”
Lev stopped a few paces away and turned to look at her, his brows drawn together. “You know him?”
“I know his name. I saw it in a document that I found recently. I thought he was dead.”
“It was close, but he’s alive. It’s because he fought back against the Saints when they sent his team to Russian to collect the bioweapon.”
She grunted. “Ragnarok, right?”
“Yes. He went missing along with the weapon, so the Saints called his three sons back home—after murdering their aunt and uncle as a reason for them to unite.”
“Are his sons anything like him? Because from what I read in Orrin’s file, he’s a badass.”
Lev gave her a flat look. “I’ll deny it if you ever tell them, but they’re even better than he is.”
“That’s who you’ve paired up with?” she asked, suddenly feeling as if she might actually succeed in her mission.
She smiled and inhaled deeply. “It’s just about that. And right now, I’ll take anything I can get.”
They continued on in silence until they reached the top of the mountain. There they paused, and each drank some water. Lev removed his pack and pulled the knife from the sheath at his wrist.
“Going hunting?” she asked.
He nodded. “Stay here.”
“As if. I can hunt myself.”
It was hard to make out every detail of his face in the dark, but she didn’t miss the frustration. It had been a long time since anyone had acted as if she needed to be taken care of. She wasn’t offended by it, though.
In fact, it was sort of sweet. Not that Reyna was looking at Lev with any kind of warm and fuzzies. Her mind was focused entirely on getting to her boat and then making it back to the States.
But she could appreciate a gorgeous face and a fine body. And Lev certainly had both.
“I have no doubt you can take care of anyone, but I was thinking of him,” Lev said and pointed behind her.
Reyna’s head swiveled to find what he was pointing at. She saw the flare of a cigarette in the darkness, the reddish-orange light highlighting the man’s bearded face.
She felt something nudge her. When she looked, Lev was holding out his other knife. The blade was slightly smaller than the one he’d chosen, but no less dangerous.
“The border is just over the rise,” she told him.
He held her gaze. “We go together. I’ll meet you back here.”
She nodded and silently lowered her backpack beside his as he slipped away. With her eyes scanning every shadow, she began quietly making her way toward the man. He was focused on his cigarette and nothing else.
That didn’t mean he was alone, however. There was a good possibility that someone else was near. Reyna’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness, but she could only see so far in the night.
Reyna reached the man, coming up behind him as he finished his smoke. He pushed away from the tree and snuffed the cigarette out on the bark before tossing away the butt. She didn’t give him a chance to turn around.
She reached up and around his neck, slicing his throat with one cut. He was a good foot taller than she was, and while she would’ve preferred to let him fall, she couldn’t afford to. She sagged under his weight as she lowered him to the ground.
The moment she stood, she stepped left and felt something brush against her face right before she heard the thud of something slamming into the tree. Reyna glanced over at the blade sticking out of the bark.
Her head snapped back to follow where it had come from to find a giant of a man coming for her. His face was mottled with rage, his meaty hands fisted.
Reyna yanked the knife from the tree and threw it at him. She’d never been very good with knives, so it was no surprise that it missed him by a foot. Then he was before her.
She ducked his hand and slashed his thigh with the blade Lev had given her, but it didn’t seem to faze the giant. Another hand came at her. She dodged that one as well, but the third caught her on the side of the head, dazing her.
The next thing she knew, she was being held up against the tree by her throat, her feet dangling inches from the ground. She still had a hold of the knife and used it on the man’s arms, but once more, he didn’t react.
It was easy to panic in such situations, but Reyna didn’t. She sank her weapon into the man’s chest above his heart and kicked his nuts. Suddenly, his hand on her throat loosened, and he fell to one knee. She landed on the ground and pushed his hand away so she could take a deep breath. As she did, she spotted Lev’s longer blade sticking out from the giant’s back.
Then Lev came walking out of the shadows like some kind of savior. She’d told him not to be a hero, but it seemed he couldn’t help himself.
“Come on,” he said as he retrieved their weapons and they ran to their packs.
She slung hers onto her back. “Thank you.”
“You would’ve done the same for me.”
They said no more about it as they raced from the safety of the forest into the open area and crossed into Poland. They didn’t slow for another five hundred yards.
Reyna was breathing heavily when she looked back over her shoulder. “They’ll know this is where we crossed when they discover the bodies.”
“That’s why we need to keep out of sight of anyone so they don’t know which direction we take.”
“This way,” she told him as they set off again.
10
Lorraine stared down at the dead body as the mountain swarmed with Saints poring over the scene. She was in a foul mood. Not only had Reyna somehow managed to escape, but she also continued to elude them.
And to make matters worse, Lorraine actually had to don boots. Not her designer stiletto boots, but hiking boots. And she was in jeans—a piece of clothing she usually avoided at all costs. But when the director ordered you to a scene, there wasn’t time to do more than grab necessities and hop on a chopper.
She grasped the strand of pearls at her neck and ran her fingers back and forth over the beads as her gaze lifted toward the Polish border. Reyna was out there.
Along with Lev Ivanski.
The fact that both had gotten away was a black mark against Lorraine. And she simply couldn’t allow that to happen.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?”
She stiffened at the sound of Anatoli Kozel’s deep voice, heavily accented. She’d thought—and hoped—that she wouldn’t run into him again. But working for the same organization and having the same rank meant that was impossible. Still, she’d managed to avoid him for years. What the hell was he doing here now?
Lorraine turned to face the Ukrainian. It wasn’t fair that he didn’t seem to age. He still sported the same full head of blond hair, the same broad shoulders and trim build. The same gorgeous face. There were a few more laugh lines around his eyes, but he didn’t look anywhere close to his forty-six years.
While she had a costly regimen of facial creams and serums that she used religiously every night to keep her face from showing any signs of aging.
Anatoli’s blue eyes crinkled at the corners. “Surely, it isn’t so bad to see me. After all, there was a time when you wanted me around.”
No matter how many years passed, he wouldn’t let the fact that they had once been lovers go. The one thing she would never share with him or anyone else was that he was the love of her life. But she’d chosen her career.
And she hadn’t regretted it.
“And I was the one who left,” she reminded him. “You always forget that part.”
The teasing left his eyes, and they turned as cold as the frigid winter. “Trust me, Lori. I’ve never forgotten how you snuck out of our bed in the middle of the night. All you ever cared about was climbing the ranks.”
It rankled that he used the pet name he’d given her. “You did, too.”
His nostrils flared. “But I would never have chosen them over you.”
“That’s the difference between us.”
“That’s not the only one,” he said, jerking his chin to the bodies. “Look at what you’ve done to get your position. I went about it another way. Yet we’re still equal. I wouldn’t have underestimated Reyna Harris.”
The dig was one Lorraine felt keenly. “You wanted her on your team, but I was the one who ended up getting her.”
“You’ve also lost her. Along with the American,” Anatoli stated.
“I’ll find them.”
He knelt beside the body that separated them. “Reyna is very good at her job. Even better than you were.” Anatoli glanced up at Lorraine. “I tried to warn you about Ivanski.”
“Oh, please,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “You think because you were notified about Lev leaving the States first that you have some kind of dibs on him?”
“It simply means that I know mor
e about him than you do. You kept your focus on Reyna, but I was doing my homework on those who’ve helped the Loughmans recently.”
Lorraine wished she could say that Anatoli was bad at his job, but it would be a lie. He was damn good. It came easily to him. Much easier than it did to her. If she had allowed her heart to rule, he would have climbed the ranks within the organization while she was left behind. And she couldn’t have that.
“I looked into them, as well,” she replied. “I know about Lev.”
Anatoli straightened and shook his head as he met her gaze. “If that were the case, you never would have allowed him to reach the theatre.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Are you telling me that you knew Reyna and Lev were going to team up?”
“What I’m saying is that allowing him in the theatre was your first mistake.”
“I had a plan.”
“How is that working out for you now?”
She lifted her chin and stared at him defiantly. “You doubt my ability?”
“I think you’ve let your confidence outweigh your judgment. The Lori I used to know never would have let her quarry get away. She certainly wouldn’t be standing here now looking at dead men.”
Anatoli walked away, but his words rattled around in Lorraine’s mind. The fact was, everything had gone badly from the moment Lev had arrived in Ukraine. If she had ordered Lev to be taken out before the theatre, then she wouldn’t have scanned the CCTV footage when his body hadn’t been recovered, and she wouldn’t have seen Lev and Reyna drive away together.
At first, Lorraine had believed that Reyna was taking Lev into custody, but when she never called, Lorraine had known her prized agent had another agenda.
She’d decided to go to Reyna’s apartment in Kiev after pinging her phone. When Reyna didn’t answer the door, Lorraine had one of her men open it. There wasn’t a trace of Reyna.
That’s when Lorraine decided to dig into Reyna’s life as a Saint. Everything had seemed on the up and up—almost too much. Lorraine went through tapes, recordings, and everything she had on Reyna.
Reyna hadn’t taken a single misstep. Or so Lorraine had thought until she was flipping through some pages and happened to catch sight of documentation showing Reyna visiting the Saints’ headquarters in Kiev.