In the Shadow of Malice Book 3

by Nancy C. Weeks

  The last several hours had yanked Adam completely out of what he understood about the world and into something he wasn’t ready to accept. Yet Calista didn’t seem to have any trouble believing the impossible. How could she accept what was happening to them so easily?

  He took a step backward. “My mother is dead. There has to be another explanation, maybe something she watched on television…a movie…”

  “You can’t explain this because what she’s doing defies explanation. She’s speaking in your head, Adam. Deal with it and start listening to what she is trying to tell you.”

  “I have to get her away from all of this. Dear God, how do I ever erase the violence…Rina deserves better than this. I can’t break my promise to her.” He eased Calista into him, needing her near him. “I’ll find a safe place for both of you. I promise you that.”

  “And you may just destroy any chance you have of a real life with your daughter.”

  “You expect me to…”

  “Not me. Annija, your mother.” Calista fisted her hands on his chest.

  Adam shut his eyes and allowed a tear to slip over his cheek. He was a seasoned soldier who had seen enough destruction to last him multiple lifetimes. None of it compared to what jolted through him at that moment in the darkness of a forgotten cellar.

  Anna and Annija.

  If he allowed himself to accept the possibility his mother was still there for him, it would contradict everything he ever allowed himself to believe.

  He wrapped his arms around Calista, something real, it centered him. He could feel her rapid heartbeat through her T-shirt.

  “I don’t know what to do. How is this possible, and where did it come from? How do I protect Anna from whatever the hell this is?”

  “You don’t have to protect Anna from your mother, Adam. She’s protecting you; that’s her right as a mother. It’s an enormous gift.” Her lips covered his in a soft, sensual kiss that almost brought him to his knees. Quickly, she broke away and stepped out of his hold. This time, she took his face in her hands.

  “You have been in fight mode since Anna’s first contact. Ludis may have left, but he’s not done with any of us. As you said, your brothers have your back.” She teased the hair at the back of his neck. “I don’t know how to deal with this anymore than you do. Pete always told me that things kind of fall into place after a good sleep. You are no good to anyone until you rest. Can we just get out of here and then decide what comes next?”

  Robert barged into the cellar holding Anna.

  “We have to go. One of your grandfather’s men said Emil is in bad shape.”

  Adam took Calista’s hand and raced out of the cellar into the tunnel. Once upstairs, he drew his gun and kept Calista behind him.

  “Robert, can you keep Anna away?”

  “You deal with Emil and I’ll take care of Anna.”

  Remembering the condition of the room he left just minutes before, he paused and said to Calista, “You should stay here with Robert.”

  “No, I’m with you.”

  A deep sadness edged into her eyes. Instead of wasting time convincing her to stay back, he reached for her hand and headed toward the sitting room. At the doorway, he eased her behind him and entered.

  Emil sat on the floor with his back against the sofa. Reese held pressure on a wound that was inches below Emil’s heart. As soon as Emil noticed Adam, he gasped, “Ludis?”

  Adam knelt and placed two fingers on his grandfather’s neck. He waited for a pulse to bounce back against his skin. It was slow and unsteady. He met Reese’s stare.

  “Stomach wound. I can’t stop the bleeding. His blood is thinned from the steroids he is taking. I called 911.”

  Adam searched the room for the portable oxygen tank he noticed earlier. He set it down next to Emil and placed the mask over his grandfather’s face before delivering the bad news. “Ludis got away. I’ll worry about him. You need to relax and just breathe.”

  Emil closed his eyes and tried, with pain in every feature. Perhaps there were enough pieces of the pills that Ludis hadn’t ground to provide some relief. Adam crawled over to that spot in the carpet and dug out several of the larger chunks. He reached for the water on the end table, and then brought it to his grandfather’s mouth. “Here, take this. It will ease some of the pain.”

  Emil swallowed a small sip that was enough to get the medicine down. Then he squeezed Adam’s hand weakly.

  “I wanted more time. So sorry.”

  When did Adam start caring about a man he hated as much as Emil Vasnev?

  Reese cleared his throat. “You can’t be here when the police arrive. Too many questions you don’t want to answer.”

  Adam clung to his grandfather’s hand. Each pulse grew weaker than the one before. “No, I’m staying.”

  “Think of Anna. You need to get her someplace safe, then take care of Ludis.”

  Grief stuck in Adam’s throat. He didn’t know what to do. He sought out Calista. Tears filled her eyes as she nodded. “We have to go. Now.”

  “You keep him alive, damn it. Understand?” He growled at Reese.

  “He’s dying, Adam. You’re a soldier. You know what a wound like this can do.”

  He could only nod as the sirens in the distance grew closer.

  Reese clamped his other hand on Adam’s shoulder. “Take the car. My driver will get you back to the small airport. Ludis will be searching for the disk. You need to get to it before him.”

  “What the hell is on that disk?”

  “I have no idea. Whatever it is, Ludis wants it bad enough to go against Emil.”

  “Where do I start?”

  “How much time did you spend with your mother?” Reese asked.

  “A few weeks every year until she died?”

  “Then you know her better than you think you do. Start there.”

  “Adam,” Emil said in a pain-filled whisper.

  Adam lowered his head to his grandfather’s lips.

  “My Annija raised a good man.” He pressed Adam’s hand and his eyes floated to the back of his eyelids. The lids closed and he gasped out a groan.

  As the sirens grew closer, Emil Vasnev’s head tilted to the side and he took his last breath.

  Adam leaned in and placed his lips on Emil’s forehead. He tried to pray, but his mind froze. Robert rested a hand on his shoulder and Adam met his gaze. The priest was back, and Adam had never been so happy to see him.

  “I don’t know how to… what to say… what to ask for.”

  “I do.”

  Robert removed a small canister from the inside of his pocket and placed a thin stole around his neck. Calista, holding Anna to her side, knelt next to Adam and took his hand in hers. Tears spilled onto Adam’s cheeks and he let them fall. He cradled his daughter and Calista in his arms.

  Robert dipped his hand into the blessed oil and placed the sign of the cross on Emil’s forehead. He bowed his head and said a prayer of forgiveness. When he was done, he rose. Adam and Calista did the same. “We should go. He’s in God’s hands now.”

  Adam took Calista’s hand and headed toward the door. He paused and looked at the man he had hated for sixteen years.

  “It’s okay. Go,” Reese said. “All Emil wanted since the day he found out about you was your safety and well-being. He worked hard and planned well for that.”

  Adam could only nod while Calista tugged on his hand. They raced down the stairway to the foyer. Moments later, they were driving away. Several ambulances and police cars passed them on the road to the airport. They were in the air ten minutes after boarding the plane. Calista sat next to Adam while Anna and Robert faced him.

  Robert broke the silence. “What’s the plan?”

  Adam began to speak but Calista interrupted. “He is going to sleep until we land.” In response, he settled his head on her shoulder. He didn’t have the energy to argue with the determination etched in her every feature. Just as he closed his eyes, he said, “Robert, you know tha
t prayer thing you do so well?”

  “Yes.”

  “Can you ask... I need Emil at peace so he can be with Annija.”

  Sixteen

  Shut down, sleep, stop thinking.

  Calista couldn’t close her eyes for longer than an instant. Her lids would jolt open, and Adam was sound asleep in the seat next to her, his head resting lightly against her shoulder, his herbal musk scent surrounding her. He hadn’t stirred since the plane took off. He’s a career soldier, Father Anthony explained. Fight until the threat was over, and then dead sleep for the next battle.

  So much had happened in the last few hours, but she couldn’t process the kiss. Day and night, dreaming about what it would be like kissing a man like Adam had become her normal. It was too quick to be classified as mind-blowing, but it still vibrated through her system hours later. But it wasn’t a “I was worried about you” brotherly kiss. Everything but. Adam kissed her in that chilly, dusty cellar like she really meant something to him.

  The man had a way about him that could set her on edge from across the room. Up close and personal, he was lethal. The jerk may have just ruined all men for her… for life.

  There was such unleashed emotion in him that he sealed behind a thick wall. How many people in his life recognized the man behind the harsh exterior? Father Anthony? His brothers?

  At the diner, customers kept their distance from him. That hurt Calista, though he rarely reached out to them with even a friendly nod. At the time, that lonely, isolated life he forced on himself seemed so unnecessary. Now, she questioned every assumption she had about him.

  The diner, Pete—it all seemed so distant. The last twenty-four hours had been such a turbulent rollercoaster ride that Calista couldn’t keep it all straight in her head. What she did know was that she adored Anna, and her father was growing on her like a Kudzu vine. Pressing her other hand over his, she couldn’t help murmuring, “Love it, hate it, it still grows on you.”

  “Did you say something, Calista?” Father Anthony asked quietly from the seat across from her.

  Heat rose in her cheeks. “Just talking to myself.”

  “Can’t sleep?”

  “It’s been a tough few hours. Hard to shut down.”

  The priest studied her for what seemed like a lifetime before he spoke. “He’s worth it, you know.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Adam, he’s a good man. Hard life, but a good man underneath it all.”

  Calista glanced at Adam. “I know.”

  A grin spread across the priest’s face. “What gave it away?”

  She couldn’t help but look at Anna, who sat curled up against Father Anthony. She also fell into a deep sleep as soon as the plane was in the air. The sweet girl latched onto Calista’s heart in such a short time. When Adam left, Anna would go with him. Somehow, she had to move forward without them.

  “No man can love and care as deeply as Adam and not be a good man.”

  “That is an astute observation.” He paused again, as if he were collecting his thoughts. “I would like to ask something of you, Calista.”

  “Anything.”

  “Don’t let him shut you out of his life. He needs you.”

  Her heart drummed between her ears, blocking out all sound for an instant. “Adam’s life… we don’t really…”

  “I know his life scares you, and that fear is justified. You have been through hell yourself since Hanna’s death. That kind of violence leaves deep scars. What I’m suggesting is you give him a chance.”

  The moment the front wheels of the plane hit the tarmac, Adam would be out the door without a backward glance. Someone had to stop Ludis, and no one was more capable than Adam. Ludis was blind to it. He took what he wanted, and anyone in his way died, even his own sister. But that wasn’t Adam. He was a protector, and Ludis would lose in the end. Calista’s proof was his daughter. That was the explanation Adam failed to see, but he will, soon. As for her, their lives would never fit together—the soldier and the cellist? How could that ever work?

  Pete taught her that her life partner had to be a man she didn’t want to change, because she never would be able to change him. One thing stood out about Adam Blake. Her heart might not survive him, but she wouldn’t change a hair on that stubborn, obstinate, drop-dead gorgeous head.

  “A chance is all I’m asking, Calista.”

  “I’ll never give up on Adam, but I can’t promise he will be around long enough to notice.”

  “He’s noticed.”

  The heat in her cheeks flared. To keep from having to figure out a reply, she took the chicken way out and closed her eyes. If she couldn’t sleep before, she damn well wasn’t falling to sleep now.

  The roar of the engines from the jet as it braked and taxied off the runway yanked Adam out of a dream-filled sleep. He shot up and gripped his armrest.

  “Bad dream?” Calista asked.

  Bad dream didn’t even come close to what the few minutes of shuteye put him through. His eyes scanned the inside of Emil’s private plane. Robert sat with Anna curled up next to him, fast asleep. Her stuffed elephant rested on her lap.

  His heart hurt with how much he loved his little girl. Anna kept him from crossing over so many lines. She made his life worth living and gave him new purpose.

  Anna deserved better. He couldn’t even call himself a father. Thomas McNeil was a father. Nothing came between him and his children. That was what Adam wanted for Anna.

  His world was consumed with violence. Could he shift gears, ridding his heart of revenge and live in Anna’s and Calista’s world? Emil gave him a front row seat of what his future would be like if he was incapable of change.

  Images of the dream from his restless nap were too real. Rina haunted him relentlessly, repeating, “Keep Anna safe.” With each pass, her voice was more piercing than the one before. And then Ludis ramming the barrel of his weapon into Calista’s right temple, as he screamed at Adam. The fog absorbed the sound, but Ludis fired his weapon and Calista dropped to the floor like a lifeless doll.

  “Adam?” Calista touched his arm. “It’s going to be okay.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “It has to be.”

  “It’s never that simple.”

  “I’ll put money on it,” she said with a sweet grin.

  “How much?”

  Calista dug into the pocket of the jeans she had been wearing since leaving the diner and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill. The old trucker left it on the counter in front of her, right before Pete came out of the kitchen. That was the moment Adam should have turned his back on Calista. He would never forgive himself for what he put her through.

  “Big spender. You never, ever, never put your last bill on a bet. It’s a surefire way to lose your shirt.”

  “Okay, if you want to play shirts, I’m game.”

  A laugh caught in his throat and he let it go. Damn, he loved her wit. “I’ll take that bet.”

  Calista held her hand out. He took it, shook it gently, and wrapped his fingers around hers.

  The crew opened the door and lowered the stairs onto the asphalt. Adam rose and checked his weapon. Then he reached for Anna, cradling her against his chest. She woke, smiled at him, then rested her head on his shoulder.

  Calista glanced out the small window. Her eyes widened as she said, “Where are we? I thought we were returning to Maryland.”

  “We can’t go anywhere Ludis knows about.”

  “And this is?”

  “It’s a municipal airport west of Morgantown, West Virginia.”

  Adam pointed out the window. Two men leaned against the brick terminal. “Jared and Noah will take you to a cabin I own, about fifty miles from here in the mountains. You and Anna will be safe there.”

  “And you?”

  He shook his head.

  “You told me you were going to allow your brothers to help you…”

  “This is them helping me. I can take care of Ludis. What I need mor
e than anything is to know that you and Anna are safe from him.”

  “You don’t even know where Ludis is.”

  “All I have to do is get the disk, or make him believe I have his disk, and he will find me.” He reached for Calista’s hand and brought it to his lips. “I keep my promises and always pay my debts.”

  Calista turned to Robert. “You are going with him, aren’t you?”

  “Not this trip. He’s better off by himself.”

  Adam positioned Anna’s backpack on his shoulder and moved toward the plane’s exit. Once they were down the steps, Jared took Anna and gave her a hug. She clung to her uncle like they were old friends. It lightened Adam’s heart knowing that Anna was comfortable with his brother.

  Jared held out his hand and Adam took it in his. What he thought was just a handshake among friends turned into a hug―a brother hug.

  Noah pulled him into his embrace too, and said, “You look like shit, bro.”

  “The last twenty-two hours haven’t been much fun. Thanks for coming.”

  “That is what brothers do. We help each other out,” Noah added.

  Adam scrubbed a hand over his face. “I need…”

  Jared pressed his palm on Adam’s shoulder. “I’ll watch over Anna and Calista like a mother hen. You do what you need to do. We’ll be here when you are done.”

  “We?”

  “The rest of our siblings are on their way here.”

  “Shit. I guess they know.”

  “Yep. Jason wants to slug you.” Jared grinned.

  “Emma, too,” Noah added. “But no worries there. She still hits like a girl, no matter how many times I tried to teach her how to punch.

  “And Mac’s good as long as you let him play with all your cool surveillance equipment at the cabin.” Jared again pulled Adam into him for a hard hug before taking a step back. “It’s a long drive. I better get little sweet pea in her booster seat.”