by Grant, Donna
“It’s the truth.”
Suddenly it didn’t matter that she was becoming a human popsicle. She was with Maks, who said he wanted her, and only her.
He halted and faced her. “You believe me?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“I have a surprise for you.”
She raised her brows. “You found us a beach?”
“Nearly as good. Look,” he said and glanced to the side.
She followed his gaze and spotted the roofs of houses that made up a village. Her eyes teared up. “Really? We’re here?”
“Ready to get warm?”
“Do you even have to ask that?”
He chuckled as they set off to the village. Maks took them around to the back of some businesses and brought them through narrow alleys. His gaze moved constantly, and she knew he was searching for Saints. The problem was, they could be anywhere.
“We’ll only be here a little while,” he told her.
“As long as I can get warm.”
“And hopefully get a secure connection.”
That brightened her day. “That would be fabulous.”
True to his word, Maks found them a small house on the edge of the village that looked as if it hadn’t had occupants in over a month. There was a fine coating of dust everywhere. While she set down her pack and removed her coat, Maks checked around inside the house.
“You want to make use of the shower while I check around outside?” he asked.
As if she would refuse that. Eden wanted to take a long shower, but she made it a quick one. It warmed her and allowed her to get into clean clothes. She hurried back downstairs to find Maks waiting for her.
“I feel like a new woman,” she said with a smile.
He winked at her. “Everything is good here. I’m going to get us some food. I’ll be back shortly. You need anything?”
“I can do some work with the files we have printed.”
“Lock the door behind me. I’ll knock three times, pause, and then knock once more.”
He gave her a quick kiss, then was gone.
Eden locked the door and went to her pack, where she took out the files on the Saints. She took them to the sofa and spread them out on the floor before her. She was missing something, but she couldn’t figure out what it was. She needed to see it a different way, but she wasn’t sure how long they’d be here. She needed to be able to gather everything together quickly.
Still, she pulled out a piece of paper and began to list what she knew in order of when it happened. She was on the third sheet when the knock startled her. Eden jumped but counted the three knocks. There was a pause, then one single knock.
With her heart pounding, she got to her feet and went to the door to unlock it. She opened it an inch to look outside and saw bright blue eyes staring at her. With a sigh, she opened the door.
“Everything all right?” Maks asked as he walked in.
She closed and locked the door after him. “I was just immersed in work, and you startled me.”
“Sorry about that.”
That’s when she smelled the food. She hurried to the kitchen after him. “What did you get?”
“As much as I could. Help yourself,” he said as he took packages out of the bag.
Eden was famished and began eating the first thing she opened. She had no idea what it was, and she didn’t care. All that mattered was that it was food and not another protein bar, though she was thankful for them when they would’ve starved.
“Did you see anything concerning?” she asked.
Maks shook his head. “Not at all, which means I need to be worried.”
“The Saints are everywhere.”
“That they are. I paid a young boy to get the food so I didn’t have to go into the store.”
She nodded, impressed. “Great idea.”
“It’s getting late, so we might be able to stay the night, but we should probably only stay a little while.”
“Where are we headed, exactly?”
He shrugged as he finished his food and set the empty container aside. “I have no idea. I’m just trying to stay ahead of the Saints to give you time to work.”
She took another bite, wondering how long they could keep it up.
“What is it?” he pressed.
Eden shrugged one shoulder. “Not only do I need a secure internet connection, but I need time to work, to spread this out and look at everything in multiple ways.”
“Which you can’t do with us moving constantly.”
She twisted her lips as she wrinkled her nose. “No. Sorry.”
“Internet means a city with reliable service. I had thought Oradea was a last resort, but it might be exactly what we need.”
“How far is that?”
“Not far if we take a car.”
And by take, he meant steal. Eden didn’t like taking things that weren’t hers, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
“The earlier, the better?” she asked.
He nodded and wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. “The good thing about these small villages is that they don’t have CCTV cameras.”
“That you know of.”
“Sometimes people see more than cameras. Trust me, I know how to keep my head down. You finish up here. I spotted a few vehicles that could be what we need. I’ll find us one and come back for you.”
Eden followed him to the door, locking it once more as she returned to her meal. As she finished eating, she put on her boots, hating that they were still cold from their mountain trek. At least this time they would be in a car. Hopefully, one with a functional heater. Either way, she wasn’t walking in the snow, and that made her night.
She finished packing away the food and making sure everything was in the same place it had been when they arrived when Maks knocked on the door with his code. She let him in, and they gathered their belongings before they climbed into the stolen car. In moments, they were out on the road.
“Do you think someone will notice the vehicle is gone?”
He shook his head as he drove. “It’ll be a little while. We’ll change cars before then.”
“Oh.”
And just like that, she found that living a life of crime wasn’t as bad as she’d thought it would be. Of course, she wasn’t really living such a life. She was just trying to survive by doing whatever she could.
29
Loughman Ranch
Texas
Callie rubbed her tired eyes and closed them for just a moment. They felt like sandpaper, but she’d already tried to sleep. Wyatt had been happy to be woken up for sex, but not even that could help her get some rest.
She lowered her face into her hands as her elbows rested on the desk. Stressed didn’t begin to cover what she felt. When Wyatt asked what was causing such an emotion, she couldn’t pinpoint it. It was just a feeling from the overwatch she’d been doing around the world.
The problem with that was there was so much. They had all believed that the Saints were everywhere, but to realize they truly were everywhere left her sick to her stomach. Everyone at the ranch was actively working on ways to expose and bring down the organization. The problem was that they didn’t have anything concrete to go on. It was all circumstantial.
And since they couldn’t put faces or names to those who ran the secretive group, they were shooting in the dark.
At least Maks was out there looking, as well. If only she’d heard from him again and knew he was all right. It was ridiculous, really. Maks was perfectly capable of taking care of himself as he had for years. But he was part of their family now. He’d risked his life to help them, and she wanted to make sure he didn’t need help now.
“You can’t keep doing this,” Wyatt said as he came into the room.
Callie jerked her head up and found him holding two cups in his hands.
“Don’t get too happy,” he told her as he handed her a mug. “It’s herbal tea. You’ve had enough caffeine.”
She shot him an annoyed look, even as she knew he was right. “Thank you.”
“You’re going to make yourself sick if you keep this up.”
“I can’t help it. I know there’s something big coming, but I don’t know what.”
His dark brows drew together as he lowered himself into the rolling chair next to her. “You haven’t mentioned anything like that.”
“I don’t know.” She shook her head and set aside the mug. “It’s just a feeling. I shouldn’t have put it in those words because I have no context. We haven’t heard from Maks, we still have nothing concrete on anyone high up in the Saints, and I’m exhausted and probably seeing things that aren’t there.”
“You don’t see things that aren’t there. Maybe it’s because you’re so tired that you can’t see exactly what it is.”
She hated to admit it, but he was probably right. Wyatt was always right. And she was definitely not going to tell her man that. “My eyes do hurt.”
“Come on,” he said as he took her hand and pulled her up as he stood. “If nothing else, come to bed and just lay in my arms to rest your eyes and your brain.”
Her tea and the computers forgotten, Callie let Wyatt pull her to their bedroom in the bunker below the ground. The others had been asleep for hours. Living in such tight quarters with everyone made for an interesting dynamic. There were frayed nerves and tempers, but the one thing they all did was their best to get past something, forgive, and try to do better the next time.
Wyatt lay atop the covers in the darkened room and held out his arms for her. Callie crawled in beside him and rested her head on his chest—her favorite spot—as his arms came around her. She closed her eyes and let herself relax.
“It’s going to be okay,” Wyatt said in a low voice.
She swallowed. “I’m not sure it is.”
“We defeated the Saints twice. With the chemical Ragnarök, and when they came to kill us.”
“I know all of that, and believe me, I think about it every day. But, honey, they’re a massive organization that has hundreds of thousands at their beck and call.”
“And we have just shy of a dozen people.”
She nodded, keeping her eyes closed. “Exactly. They could’ve wiped us out that day. They could’ve brought more and more men in. Why didn’t they?”
“Because it would have drawn too much attention and scrutiny to themselves.”
“That’s a load of bull, and you know it.”
Wyatt released a long breath. “All I know is that we’ve succeeded where others failed. We have a good team with people we can trust.”
“And we’re pinned down here because if we go out, we’ll probably be killed.”
He put his hand on her head and kissed her forehead. “Callie, I love you more than life itself. I’d do anything for you. I also know you’re a worrier, but I trust your instincts. If you think there’s something, then there’s something.”
“I don’t know anymore.”
“Stop thinking, babe. Just rest.”
Knowing she didn’t have any other choice, Callie did just that. Her mind drifted, and she found herself falling asleep. She eagerly reached for it, grasping it like a lifeline. Because she had to be on top of her game for Wyatt and the rest of her family. All of them needed her because while she could direct them, she was the only one who knew how to hack into places. And that’s where she knew the best information would be.
Her thoughts melted, one by one, as she fell deeper and deeper into sleep. Suddenly, a clip from a news broadcast playing in the background of her computer ran through her mind. She stiffened and jerked upright.
“Babe? What is it?” Wyatt asked, his deep voice filled with concern.
A foreboding chill ran down Callie’s spine. “I hope nothing.”
“What do you need?” He was already swinging his legs over the bed as he sat up.
Callie rushed from the bed, slipping on the floor in her socks as she raced to her computer. She prayed she was misremembering what she’d heard. The news from all over the world ran as background noise as she worked. It made it easy for her to switch over to certain countries if she needed something.
She reached her desk and didn’t bother to sit in the chair as she began typing on the keyboard, her heart hammering in her chest.
“Callie, you’re scaring the shit out of me,” Wyatt stated.
She hit enter. The clip from earlier pulled up, her translation software on the computer translating the German to English. The floor felt as if it tipped sideways. This. This is what had been nagging at her for hours.
“Callie?”
Slowly, she turned to face Wyatt. “We were so stupid.”
His gold eyes glanced at the computer monitor before focusing on her. “What are you talking about?”
“This,” she said and stepped to the side so he could see the news clip.
Her gaze never left his face as he watched the entire thing. Twice. Only when he returned his eyes to her did she feel the first sting of tears. Wyatt said nothing as he pulled her into his arms. For several minutes, they stayed as they were.
“We thought we won,” she whispered. “Turns out, the Saints are having the last laugh.”
Wyatt pulled back to look at her. “The scientist told us we had the only sample. He’s dead now, so he can’t make any more. We know the Saints couldn’t reproduce Ragnarök.”
“This isn’t Ragnarök. This virus is something else entirely. It first came on the news a few weeks ago. I didn’t pay much attention because I figured it was just another type of flu that comes every few years. It’s already killed several hundred people in two weeks. Something like this doesn’t just happen. This is the Saints.”
“Can you pull up how far this is spreading?”
“I’ll get you everything you want to know.”
He issued a nod. “Start. I’ll wake the others.”
Callie watched him walk away before she sat in her chair and rolled up to her desk. Then she began keying in all the information she was searching for. A map of the world filled one screen, and as she found outbreaks of this new virus, she added them to the map, showing the spread. She was just finishing by the time everyone walked in.
“I fucking hate the Saints,” Cullen stated angrily.
Callie licked her lips. “They haven’t named it yet, but as you can see, it has traveled fast in two weeks.” She typed in another set of words and hit enter. “I’ve projected that in another two weeks, it’ll have covered all of Europe and half of North America. A week after that, the rest of the world will be hit.”
Owen blew out a breath. “Do we know where it originated?”
“Germany. It’s spread through touch, sneezing, and coughing. The regular things.”
Natalie glanced at Owen before she and Mia exchanged worried glances.
Kate, who was a medical doctor and had fallen in love with the patriarch of the family, Orrin, said, “I read about this. At first, it was only thought to be another strain of the flu. Obviously, someone got it wrong.”
“Maybe on purpose,” Wyatt said.
Orrin crossed his arms over his chest. “Callie’s right. This is the Saints. I knew they would come at us again. We should’ve thought it would be with something biological. We need to hope for the best and prepare for the worst. That means we need to contact Lev and Reyna as well as seeing about getting ahold of Maks. He’s in Europe. He needs to watch out for this.”
“I’m calling Lev now,” Cullen said as he pulled out his mobile.
Wyatt met her gaze. “Try Maks. Maybe we’ll get lucky and get him.”
Callie called Maks again and again, but there was no answer. The grim faces of her family made the knot in her stomach tighten. She started to dial Maks again when Wyatt put his hand over hers.
“Baby, you need to rest.”
She shook her head. “I can’t.”
“You have to,” Kate said. “We need you, and you need to stay healthy. W
e all do. Rest is the best thing right now.”
Orrin nodded in agreement with his lover. “I’ll stay up and continue trying to get Maks. I have a few other numbers we can try.”
“We’ll take turns,” Mia said. “You’ve done enough. Get some sleep.”
Knowing when everyone was against her, Callie rose and let Wyatt take her back to their room. She wasn’t expecting to sleep with everything going on. But in the safety of Wyatt’s arms, she found that she soon drifted away into the nothingness of slumber.
30
Maks grew more and more concerned the longer he drove. It wasn’t odd for some parts of Romania to be desolate instead of the hubbub of bigger cities. But something was going on. Groups of people were outside of stores, fighting to get in while some houses looked to be boarded up.
This was new. He glanced at Eden to find her sleeping. They had changed cars twice now. Maks turned on the radio and found a station with a news brief. All that was being talked about was some kind of virus spreading fast throughout Europe. Apparently, it was something new that no known antibiotics or antivirals could handle. In fact, several hundred people had already died from it.
His thoughts immediately went to the Saints. This was exactly something they would do. They had wanted to unleash Ragnarök upon the world. He couldn’t get many facts, like where the virus had started, if any medical officials knew where it had come from, or how quickly it was spreading.
He kept the radio volume down as he continued listening. Every twenty minutes or so there was a new update, and each time the number of individuals who were showing symptoms of the disease increased. It wasn’t until he heard that it began in Germany that he grew more concerned than before.
Maks took in mention of the symptoms. He did a scan of his body both mentally and physically to see if he had any of them. Then he looked at Eden. He couldn’t see anything with his eyes, but he’d ask her once she woke.
If the chaos was happening in the small villages, he could only imagine how much worse it would be in the cities. Unfortunately, that’s where they needed to go for the secure internet. But did he want to chance either of their lives? They’d been doing that from the moment they set out to destroy the Saints. It didn’t matter if it was a bullet or a virus, the Saints were gunning for them.