The Defender

by Donna Grant

  “Until someone comes along who stops me,” he said as he glanced her way.

  Reyna shrugged her right shoulder. “Maybe. Maybe not. Look what the Loughmans have done. You’re now a part of that, and that scares the Saints.”

  “You don’t know that,” he said, a frown of disbelief on his face.

  She quirked a brow. “Have they attacked the Loughmans?”

  “Not since the first time.”

  “That’s because they want to make sure they are able to wipe everyone out the next time. They’re testing each of you. You’ve put a kink in their plans.”

  Lev released a long breath. “Good. Because I intend to do much more than that.”

  “It’s easy to get lost in the anger and grief of losing someone. If you do, you let the Saints win. Focus everything you’re feeling on bringing them down.”

  “No.”

  She was taken aback by Lev’s succinct statement.

  Then he turned his head and met her gaze. “I’m also going to think about you.”

  She smiled, her heart melting as he looked at the road again. “I could get used to you saying those kinds of things.”

  “Then you better get used to it because I’m going to be telling you all the time.”

  She leaned her head back against the headrest and sighed.

  “Are you feeling okay?” he asked, worry in his tone.

  “A little peckish.”

  He grinned. “I’ve been hungry for a few hours. I’ll stop up here and see about getting food and petrol.”

  Reyna wanted to get out and stretch her legs, as well as go to the bathroom, but she knew they took a huge chance every time they stopped. “We need to avoid cameras. They’ll use them with facial recognition to try and pinpoint our location.”

  “I saw a cap in the back.”

  “You use that. I’ll find some way of disguising myself.”

  He nodded and fell silent as he drove. Reyna found herself thinking about Sergei. She had really wanted to meet the man who Lev considered a father. It broke her heart that she wouldn’t get to do that. And she hated that the Saints had taken him from Lev.

  It was just another reason for her to hate the group. She’d spent five years with them. She’d thought she would go in and find they were evil people who’d joined a cult.

  The sad part was, some of them were really good people. Human beings she would be proud to call friends. If she hadn’t known their true motivations, she might have trusted them with her life.

  How could seemingly normal people be turned to such an organization? What had been the keyword that switched them from a ‘no’ to a ‘yes?’ And why didn’t it work on everyone?

  Though she should be thankful for that. Yet it seemed that there were more and more individuals joining the ranks of the Saints. For decades, the Saints had built their shady society in the darkest shadows when they would’ve been small enough to squish like a bug.

  Now, it felt as if they were the giants wearing the boots.

  Before they reached the town, Lev pulled over and rummaged through the trunk and back seat. Reyna wanted to help him, but her pain was minimal at the moment, and she decided to conserve her energy since there was no telling when she and Lev would be actively running for their lives again.

  Her door suddenly opened, and Lev squatted down beside the vehicle. He placed a scarf in her hands as well as a fedora. Both would be perfect to hide her face and hair.

  “I’m fine,” she told him with a smile as she eyed the baseball cap he’d put on.

  He leaned forward and put his lips on hers. “I just wanted a kiss.”

  She was falling more in love with him every day. And if the Saints killed him, Reyna knew her poor heart would never survive.

  “Hey,” he said worriedly. “What is it?”

  “I don’t want to lose you.”

  His lips turned into a crooked grin. “That should be me saying that since you were unconscious with a bullet wound a bit ago.”

  “I’ll give you that.”

  They laughed, but it was obvious that they were both trying to keep things upbeat instead of facing the reality that the Saints were outnumbering and outgunning them.

  Lev rose and shut Reyna’s door before walking around the car. She wrapped the scarf around her head, making sure to tuck it beneath the ends of her hair so nothing would show. Then she set the fedora on.

  He got into his side and started the engine. They reached for each other as he pulled back onto the road toward the city. Six miles later, he slowed the car as he turned into a petrol station and stopped beside a pump.

  “I’ll try to hurry,” she told him. “But my bladder is about to burst.”

  “Do you want food here? Or should we try our luck somewhere else?”

  She looked into the store and thought of the bags of chips and other items and turned up her nose. “I’d rather wait if we can.”

  “Then we’ll wait.”

  Reyna took a deep breath and opened her door. The first movement of her legs caused pain to shoot up her body. And twisting to get out of the vehicle made her break out in a sweat.

  She tried to walk as if she weren’t injured, but she knew it was still slower than a healthy person would move. Once she was on her feet and the door was shut behind her, she looked over the car roof to see Lev stand. Their gazes met, and they shared a smile.

  They had an unspoken pact. They had come this far together, and they would face whatever was to come—together.

  Reyna turned and began walking to the door of the store. When she was inside, she saw the signs pointing to the restrooms and went straight there without looking at the register.

  The toilet was only for one, so she was able to lock the door. She took her time lowering her pants and relieving herself, and then took more time getting her clothes back on. She looked at herself in the mirror to ensure that the scarf and hat were in place before she unlocked and opened the door.

  A woman stood outside with an infant strapped to her front with a blanket over its head. She said something in Norwegian. Reyna only knew a few basic words. She smiled and moved to the side so the woman could get in.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Reyna saw the edge of a pistol. She hesitated in pushing the woman because of the baby, and that small delay gave the woman time to pull out the gun with a silencer.

  Reyna slammed her hand into the woman’s right shoulder, which caused her to stumble backward and the blanket to fall off the baby. Except it wasn’t an infant. It was a doll.

  “You bitch,” Reyna said and grabbed the woman’s hand holding the gun.

  They wrestled in the small alcove of the bathroom. Reyna kept trying to turn the gun away from herself and toward her attacker. The woman was a little taller than Reyna, but she didn’t have the same anger and need for retribution that Reyna carried.

  That’s what made the difference in the end. Reyna managed to twist the gun right before the woman pulled the trigger. Her attacker’s eyes widened in shock as she stepped back into the wall while the life drained from her. Reyna released her and walked away before the woman could slide to the floor.

  Reyna was breathing hard when she strode from the store and to the car where Lev waited. She got in and said, “Drive.”

  He didn’t ask questions as he put the vehicle in gear and drove off.

  “There was a Saint outside the bathroom. She pretended to have a baby,” she explained. “A baby!”

  “Is she dead?”

  “Yes.”

  Lev nodded. “Good.”

  “They’ll know we were here.”

  He shrugged and changed lanes. “Knowing where we are and catching us are two different things.”

  “We can’t stop for food. I should have gotten something at the store.”

  Lev glanced at her and smiled calmly. “We’re going to get whatever food you want.”

  “Why aren’t you upset that the Saints found us?”

  “Because I kno
w we’re going to get away.”

  She laughed, she couldn’t help herself. “How is that?”

  “We’re going to find a private residence that has a boat and take it.”

  “To cross the North Sea and the Atlantic, we’re going to need a good-sized vessel.”

  He grinned. “Wealthy people tend to have exactly those types of ships.”

  “That’s actually a good idea. I was thinking ports again. The Saints won’t be able to keep track of all residences. However, you know the owners of the ship will report it stolen. And I know the Saints have at least two submarines, so they can track us from below.”

  Lev shrugged. “We’ll worry about all of that once we have the boat. I’m sure we can come up with some way to change the numbers and name.”

  “That will require boating stickers.”

  “Just one more stop we’ll have to make. But first, food.”

  27

  Lev was happy when they finally reached the coast. With Reyna’s belly full, they focused on finding a boat. They drove up and down, looking at the homes and surveying the areas before stopping at a store for boating stickers.

  To his surprise, Reyna easily picked a man’s pocket, taking out a couple of banknotes before tapping him on the shoulder and giving the wallet back to him.

  “What?” she asked with a grin. “We didn’t need it all.”

  “We will need to stock the boat with some items.”

  She lifted the money. “We’ll have enough.”

  With her scarf and hat still in place, they walked into the store and found the stickers for the boat. Then they got some bottled water and other necessities. They barely had enough cash to cover it.

  Lev eyed everyone to see who was watching them and who wasn’t. They kept their heads down to make it difficult for the cameras to catch a view of their faces. No other Saints made themselves known. Lev wasn’t sure if there weren’t any in the area, or if they had been ordered to pull back.

  Either way, it worked for him and Reyna.

  Back in the car, they made another couple of passes along the coast to narrow down the house choices to two.

  “I like the Sunseeker,” Reyna said as she pointed to the boat tied to a dock.

  “How big is she?”

  Reyna shrugged. “It’s a Tomahawk 41 with a fiberglass construction, two engines with a cruising speed of twenty-two knots per hour, and a max speed of thirty-three.”

  He raised his brows when she looked his way. “Really?”

  “I almost bought a Sunseeker. I love boats. And to answer your first question, she’s forty-four feet. We’ll have plenty of room.”

  All Lev could think about was hoping that he didn’t get seasick again, but he knew he would. Reyna’s love of the water was obvious. He liked it, too. He just didn’t feel the need to be on it. Looking at it was enough for him.

  “Then the Sunseeker it is,” he said.

  They pulled over, and he checked the time. It had been two hours, so he turned on the phone and waited five minutes to see if Callie would text. When she didn’t, he turned it back off.

  “What was that?” Reyna asked.

  “I’m having Callie hack into this phone and erase all of the owner’s info so no one can track it.”

  Reyna smiled. “That was smart. I missed a lot while I slept.”

  “You needed it.”

  “And now I need to get to the boat.”

  He frowned, not liking her words. “What are you thinking?”

  “I swim to it while you wait for me down a few miles like we did last time.”

  Lev was shaking his head before she finished. “We do this together. Besides, what are the chances that the keys will be in the boat?”

  “You don’t intend to break into the house to get them, do you?”

  “If I have to.”

  She pressed her lips together. “It’s daylight. We can’t do that.”

  “Why not? Look around? It’s the middle of the week. People have already left for work. The house should be empty.”

  “What choice do we have?”

  “None,” he replied.

  Reyna nodded, her gaze on the house. “If we can get to the back of the house without being seen, we should be good. It’s getting over the iron fence that concerns me.”

  “Your idea of swimming sounds good.”

  She cocked a brow. “Does it now?”

  He laughed. “I’ll swim to the back and get in from the water. Then I’ll unlock the house and let you in.”

  “What about this car? I don’t want to walk up to the house.”

  She had a point. Lev thought about it a minute before he came up with another plan. “I’ll unlock the house, then swim back and get in the car. I’ll then drive you to the house where you can go inside and get the boat ready while I ditch the car.”

  “And you swim back out to me?” she asked skeptically.

  “Yep. Then we take the boat.”

  Reyna touched her wounded side. “Since I’m all but useless, I think it’s the best plan. I hate that you’ll be doing most of the work, though.”

  “I’ll be quick. I saw a house a few hundred yards back that had access to the beach. I’ll use that to get into the water. Until then, we need to move the car.”

  She pointed behind them. “I saw a place that’ll be perfect.”

  He turned the vehicle around and drove to the abandoned store and parked in the back. Lev gave her a quick kiss and made sure the guns were within easy reach for her. Then he headed down to the beach. He rotated his injured shoulder, hoping that it wouldn’t hurt too badly when he tried to use it.

  Lev kept an eye out for others as he walked to the water. He took off his shoes and hid them behind some rocks before he walked into the water and started swimming.

  The water was cold, and his shoulder hurt like a son of a bitch, but he didn’t stop. He clenched his teeth together against the chill and put his face in the water. Others were swimming, so he didn’t look so out of place. As hot-natured as he was, even this was a bit much for him.

  He looked up often to gauge his distance to the boat. Lev was breathing heavily by the time he reached it and the house. He swam up to the dock and peeked over the boards to make sure no one was out back. Just as he was about to climb the ladder, he heard a child’s shriek.

  Lev ducked back down just as a toddler came running out into the backyard, followed by a woman. The sound of something breathing heavily made Lev frown. When he looked up, he saw a large dog standing on the edge of the dock looking down at him.

  The dog barked, his tail wagging. Thankfully, it wasn’t going after him. The dog continued to make noise, so Lev lowered himself back into the water. No sooner had his head gone under than the woman, now holding the toddler on her hip, walked over to the dog. She said something to the animal and tugged on its collar. Finally, the dog relented and turned around.

  Lev broke the surface of the water and listened as the trio walked farther away from him. He could hear the woman talking as they walked into the house, but he didn’t understand her. He was about to look for another home and boat when he heard a jingle that sounded like keys.

  He peered over the edge of the dock and saw the woman and toddler walking to the garage. It wasn’t long before the car started and they drove away.

  Lev looked around to see if anyone was watching him. When the coast was clear, he climbed up the ladder, water sliding off him. He kept his head forward, but his gaze swept the area from one side to the other. A quick check showed him that the house didn’t have an alarm. However, it did have a dog.

  Said animal was standing at the glass door, tail wagging, watching him. Lev stared at the pooch, and he could’ve sworn the dog smiled at him.

  “You going to bite me?” he asked.

  The dog barked and backed up, his tail still wagging.

  “I don’t have time for this,” he mumbled.

  It didn’t take him long to pick the lock. The momen
t the door was cracked open, the dog’s snout was there, sniffing and licking him. Lev opened the door wider and scratched the dog behind his ears.

  “Good boy,” he murmured.

  Lev slipped inside then walked straight to the front door and unlocked it. After another rub for the dog, Lev hurriedly retraced his steps and dove into the water to swim back to the beach. He slipped on his socks and shoes. He was shivering by the time he reached Reyna and the car.

  “Your lips are tinged blue,” she said with a smile.

  He grunted as he started the engine. “That water is fucking cold. How the hell can anyone stand it?”

  She chuckled. “It’s what they’re used to.”

  He checked the road for oncoming cars before pulling out. “They’re crazy.”

  It took only a few minutes before he pulled up to the house and looked at Reyna. “It’s open. There’s no alarm. But there is a dog. He doesn’t bite.”

  “That’s good news. I’ll be quick,” Reyna said as she grabbed the bags of supplies and the boat numbers. “You be safe.”

  “Wait,” he called. Lev removed his shoes and socks again and handed them to her.

  Reyna winked at him and turned away, but he saw the wince on her face. She was still hurting, and no doubt would be for a while.

  He waited until she reached the front door before he turned on the heater and drove away to ditch the car. Lev was just beginning to thaw out some when he hid the vehicle and made his way to the beach once more.

  Lev hated the way his wet pants, now cold, stuck to his legs. He ignored it and waded into the water to make his final swim.

  Reyna hated the weakness of her body that caused her to make several trips because she couldn’t carry as much as she normally would. And following her each step of the way was the most precious dog she’d ever seen.

  “You’re such a sweetie,” she told him, giving him lots of love.

  On her first trip with the bags with food, the boat numbers, and Lev’s guns, shoes, and socks, she quickly looked over the boat.