The Return (Butler Ranch Book 6)

by Heather Slade

  “He’s an agent. Retired, actually. Former CIA.”

  “That’s it?”

  For the second time today, Merrigan’s eyes filled with tears, and this time she couldn’t blame the chloroform. How could she explain who Doc was to Mac when she didn’t understand their relationship herself?

  “He’s someone I care about.”

  “I’d like to meet him someday.”

  She couldn’t help but smile. “I’d like that too. Before you go get them, tell me about your kids.”

  The conversation she and her brother had was reminiscent of those she’d overheard when Kade took her to meet his family.

  “Bronagh is just three last month. She follows her big brother and sister around everywhere. Like you did with me.”

  “Do they hate it as much as you did?”

  “More, I think. Rowen tolerates her more than Kevin does.”

  “I didn’t realize you named your son for Da.”

  “It’s his middle name. His first is MacGregor.”

  “Ah, right. I remember now.”

  “Rowan’s middle name is Rielle, for Ma.”

  “How nice. And is Bronagh named for Mary Pat’s mother?”

  Mac shook his head. “Her middle name is Merrigan.”

  “Excuse me a moment,” she said as she tried hard not to bolt in the direction of the loo before tears threatened.

  Mac grabbed her arm and wouldn’t let go. “Don’t flee, Mer.”

  She was too choked up to speak and couldn’t look at him. “I’m sorry,” she finally said. “I don’t know why I’m so emotional.”

  He pulled her back down in the chair. “It’s good to see you, Merrigan.”

  “You too,” she murmured, wishing they’d been reunited under different circumstances.

  —:—

  Kade stayed awake while Paps and Razor slept on the flight back to the States.

  The more he turned what they knew about Animus over in his head, the more he believed there was a possibility it could be Leech. However, some of what had been done was sloppy, and even though his former mentor wasn’t a technology whiz, he would certainly know better than to allow his IP address to be traced.

  Also, his father had been the one to bring the intel to them. If he had any inkling whatsoever that Leech and Animus were one and the same, he would’ve said so.

  “What are you thinking?” asked Paps, stretching his arms over his head.

  “It doesn’t make sense.”

  “I hear you.”

  “It was the internet traffic that led you to believe Leech is Animus?”

  “Primarily, but there’s more.”

  “For example?”

  “You don’t believe his behavior has been odd?”

  Maybe so, but the man had spent two years held prisoner. Kade shrugged rather than answer.

  “She rescued us,” he murmured.

  “What’s that?”

  “Fatale. Orlov has her and instead of getting her out, I’m flying home to figure out if a man who has been my mentor—practically a second father to me—is ultimately responsible for her abduction.”

  Kade closed his eyes, picturing Merrigan in bed next to him, her face flush with pleasure, and her sapphire-blue eyes looking deeply into his. He longed to cover her lips with his own and feel her skin flush against his.

  He shook his head. If he was going to get her out of Orlov’s grasp, he needed to focus on who Animus was, and not on missing the woman who held his heart.

  “What about Lena’s accident? She could’ve died.”

  “We’ve talked about that,” answered Paps. “Could’ve been UR sending a warning.”

  “They’ll answer to me.” Kade had promised them everything they wanted, including delivering Calder. In return, they gave their word that Lena and Quinn would be untouchable. If they didn’t honor their side of the bargain, there were plenty of things the agency had promised that would no longer be delivered.

  —:—

  Orlov arrived just as Merrigan, her brother, and his family were finishing dinner.

  “Settle your anxiety,” he murmured when she took her dishes to the kitchen. “Your family will think you don’t want to be with them.”

  “If you lay a hand on any of their heads, I will ensure you die a slow and very painful death,” she seethed as quietly as she could.

  She wanted to slap him when he only smiled in response.

  She returned to the dining room and watched her nieces and nephew, marveling at how the two oldest reminded her of her and her brother when they were young. The other thing that struck her was how openly affectionate her brother was with his wife.

  Their family had never been demonstrative, and seeing him so, was stunningly brilliant. Part of her hoped that, one day, she’d have the same kind of relationship, while the other part knew it would be next to impossible. Whether she was with Kade or not, she doubted she’d ever be able to lower the walls she’d built with the type of work she did.

  “Are you going to kill them?” she asked Sergei on their drive back to Brodick Castle.

  “Why do you so quickly question my motives, Fatale, when you should be thanking me?”

  It wasn’t necessary for her to answer the man who had for years been the hired gun of whoever was the highest bidder.

  When he attempted to take her hand in his, Merrigan jerked it away.

  “So unappreciative,” he muttered, his eyes growing dark. “You’ll improve your attitude if you want to see the good doctor ever again.”

  “Who are you threatening, Oruzhiye, him or me?”

  “So many tiresome questions for which you already have answers.”

  “Me, then.”

  The haunted smile she’d seen frequently since they’d reunited in Glasgow returned. “Nyet, Fatale. Ya lyublyu tebya.”

  “Kill me and let my family go.”

  Sergei shook his head and remained quiet the rest of the ride back.

  “Goodnight, Sergei,” she said in a syrupy sweet voice when they arrived at the top of the stairs of the cottage.

  “Nyet again, Fatale,” he said, pushing his way through the bedroom door. “We have things to discuss.”

  “I’m not having sex with you, Sergei,” she said once the door closed behind them.

  Orlov got a distasteful look on his face. “Don’t be crass.”

  “Call it whatever you want, but it isn’t happening.”

  “As I remember it, I made you very…happy.”

  Merrigan folded her arms and stood with her back against the wall.

  “Sit, Fatale. We’re going to talk not fuck.”

  “Who’s being crass now?”

  Sergei walked to the door and said something she couldn’t hear to one of the guards, and then came back and sat down. Less than two minutes later, Merrigan heard a knock at the door.

  “I’ll get it,” he said.

  As if she were going to offer?

  He came back in with a tray laden with another bottle of vodka and the requisite accoutrements.

  “You drink too much, Sergei.”

  He waved his hand and poured despite her protest.

  “Tell me what you know about this woman the doctor was married to.”

  Merrigan was surprised Orlov knew about her, but she shouldn’t have been. “She’s Leech Hess’ daughter.”

  “Thank you for telling me something I could easily find on the internet. What else?”

  “Why?”

  “I’m asking questions. You’re answering.”

  “She dyes her hair and wears too much makeup.”

  Sergei made what sounded like a growl. “You’re testing my patience.” He waved his arm again, this time around the room. “Do you prefer your previous accommodations to these?”

  She shook her head. “Tell me what you want to know about her.”

  —:—

  Kade, Paps, and Razor hadn’t been off the plane more than five minutes before they received a messag
e from Mercer, asking them to contact him prior to going to Casa Carrizo.

  “What’s up, Eighty-eight?” Kade asked.

  “You asked me to find out what Lena had to do with Animus, and I think I’ve found something. Meet me at the Harmony house.”

  “Roger that,” answered Kade.

  “Think he found a connection to Leech too?” asked Paps.

  Kade shrugged. “On one hand, I hope so, on the other…”

  “I hear ya.”

  Before they got halfway to Harmony, Kade received another message, this time from Leech, telling him it was urgent he speak with him.

  Where are you? Kade messaged Leech and waited.

  “Pull over,” he told Paps. If Leech wanted them to meet him in Montecito, he didn’t want to get any further north.

  “I’ll let Eighty-eight know that we’ll give him a status update in a few,” said Razor.

  Lifeguard stand 27, Leech replied.

  He showed Paps the message.

  “Change of plans. Leech has requested a meeting,” Paps called Mercer and told him.

  “I see,” he answered. “Level of urgency?”

  “He’s asking us to meet him at the beach in Montecito, so somewhere without ears.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  “What do you think this is all about?” Paps asked Kade after he hung up.

  “Eighty-eight must’ve found proof, and Leech must know it.”

  19

  Merrigan and Orlov talked until after midnight. What had initially felt like a chess match between them, morphed into the familiar witty banter she’d enjoyed with him years ago. There were times it was difficult to remember that he was a trained and very lethal assassin, although, so was she.

  While they didn’t stay on the topic long, Merrigan got the impression that Sergei’s line of questioning about Kade’s ex-wife was somehow tied to Animus. He shot down every one of her questions that would tell her enough to know for sure, which only convinced her she was on the right track.

  “What do you plan to do with my family?”

  Merrigan raised her eyebrows when he answered, “Perhaps I’m evening the scale.”

  “Not in the way you’re thinking,” he added. “And if tomorrow you repeat the words I’m about to say, I may not continue to be so magnanimous.”

  She nodded.

  “I know why you betrayed me, Fatale. If it were me, I would’ve done the same. In fact, in my current state of intoxication, I will admit that I admired you for it.”

  She didn’t apologize. She couldn’t. She wasn’t sorry for what she’d done. Yet still, Sergei looked at her with what she could only describe as pride.

  “Someday you will believe I truly loved you,” he said and stood.

  “I believe it now,” she murmured.

  He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Goodnight, Fatale,” he said and walked out of the bedroom.

  When Merrigan woke, her mouth felt as though it was filled with cotton, but this time it wasn’t because of chloroform. Instead, it was due to the amount of vodka she’d consumed the night before.

  She filled the claw-foot tub she hadn’t taken advantage of the first night she’d stayed in this room, and sunk into the warm water. While it didn’t have jets, the bath reminded her of the last night she and Kade had been together.

  He’d carried her body, limp from the pleasure he’d forced from her, and gently set her in the tub that had been big enough for both of them.

  She could still feel the way her body had felt, nestled into his, and the way his lips had trailed kisses across her back and up the side of her neck. Imagining the love bites he’d scattered on her body made her shudder.

  He’d used his powerful hands to knead the muscles of her body, and his fingers to pleasure her over and over again.

  Merrigan moaned as she remembered the way his hardness had felt when she rose, turned around, and straddled him, resting her sex against him until, once again, he filled her in a way no one ever had.

  Being with Kade eclipsed every other lovemaking experience she’d had in her life, and she knew that no other man would ever touch her body in that way again. Kade was it for her, no matter what happened. If they didn’t end up being together, she would remain celibate for the rest of her life.

  —:—

  As much as Kade would’ve preferred to wait until Mercer arrived before talking with Leech, he could see the man waiting near the lifeguard stand.

  “I’ll go. You two and Eighty-eight join me when he arrives.”

  Paps and Razor both nodded.

  The farther he went in the sand, the heavier his legs felt to him. It was as though he was carrying a boulder that grew bigger with every step. That Leech wanted to meet somewhere like this was as telling as it was worrisome.

  When he approached, Leech turned away from him and looked out at the ocean.

  “Talk to me,” said Kade.

  “I’ve always tried to do my best for my country and my family, you know that, right?”

  “Yes. I do.”

  “There have been times when I’ve been blindsided by things I never could’ve predicted happening.”

  “All of us have.”

  “Not to the same degree.”

  Kade wished Leech would get to the point, but he could hear the agony in the man’s voice, and waited for him to be ready to confess whatever he was here to say.

  “There hasn’t been a day in the last twenty-two years that I haven’t wished I could go back and undo the events of that night.”

  Kade nodded, knowing he was referring to the night Calder raped his daughter.

  “The decisions I made set so many things in motion. Devastating things.”

  “You had no control over what happened. It would’ve been worse if you’d allowed Calder to continue.”

  “Yes. I agree. More of our agents would’ve been in jeopardy, even killed, if I’d allowed him to continue.”

  “What have you done, John?” Kade asked. This was not a time for code names. This was a conversation between two men who meant a lot to each other, regardless of the work they did.

  “It isn’t me.”

  “Who, then?”

  Leech’s voice caught, and Kade waited for him to continue.

  “My daughter.”

  —:—

  Merrigan was still in the tub when she heard the bedroom door open and Orlov walk in.

  “Get out and get dressed,” he snapped, his eyes roaming over the nakedness her bath water did little to hide. “We’re leaving.”

  When he left the room, she climbed out and dressed quickly. Within a couple of minutes, he returned.

  “Come with me,” he said, taking hold of her arm.

  “What’s going on?” she asked.

  “No questions.”

  Sergei led her out to the upstairs landing and blindfolded her while one of his men cuffed her hands.

  “Be grateful no chloroform,” Orlov grunted.

  Someone, probably the same person who’d cuffed her, threw her over his shoulder and carried her down the staircase, through the house, and then into the garage.

  “Back to the dungeon,” she muttered.

  “It’s for your safety,” Orlov answered.

  When he removed the blindfold a few minutes later, she saw they’d arrived in the room she’d occupied previously.

  If Sergei’s tone of voice hadn’t made his present mood obvious, the set of his face would’ve.

  “What have you done with my family?” she whispered, not wanting to provoke him, but she had to ask.

  “They are safe for now, Fatale,” he said before leaving without another word.

  This was different than when he’d met with Kade. He was almost mercurial then; now he seemed anxious. The contrast to the man whom she’d shared a bottle of vodka with last night was part of what made him so dangerous. She knew better than to ever get comfortable with Oruzhiye.

  —:—

  “What has
Lena done?” Kade asked.

  Leech put his head in his hands. “I don’t have proof…”

  “I do,” said Mercer, who had walked up with Paps and Razor.

  Leech startled. “When the hell did the two of you get here?”

  “Just now, sir,” answered Paps.

  “What have you got, Eighty-eight?” Kade asked.

  “I brought the laptop.”

  Kade looked at Leech. “Can we go back to the house?”

  “There’s something else I need to tell you first,” he answered.

  “What?”

  “Barbie’s gone, isn’t she?” asked Paps.

  Leech nodded.

  Kade gripped the back of his neck with his hand and walked a couple of feet away. “When?”

  “I went to check on her this morning, and she wasn’t in her room. I thought maybe she had a doctor’s appointment, but when Quinn came downstairs, she said she hadn’t known of one,” he told them.

  “The nurse is gone too?”

  “Affirmative,” he answered.

  When they met back at the house, Kade asked Mercer if he knew where Quinn was.

  “She’s upstairs. I’d say she’s worried about her mom, but the woman has disappeared from her life so many times she’s become numb to it. I’m sure she’s feeling hurt, though.”

  “I need to talk to her. Excuse me, gentlemen.”

  Quinn was standing in the doorway of her bedroom when Kade got to the top of the stairs. He opened his arms, and she walked into his hug.

  “How are you?” he asked.

  She shook her head, and he could feel the dampness of her tears on his shirt. “My mom…she faked all of it.”

  “You saw her that night, Quinn. While we don’t know exactly when her condition began to improve in earnest, we both know she didn’t fake the accident.”

  “Mercer told me he was watching her.”

  “How do you feel about that?”

  Quinn shrugged. “I’d been watching her too. When we brought her here…well, I wasn’t convinced she was as bad off as we thought.”

  “We have reason to believe your mother has gotten mixed up with some very dangerous people. What we’re trying to ascertain right now is how deep and what kind of trouble she’s in.”