“And you’ve also been to Budapest this week. I’ve also heard whispers that you’ve been mucking around in a little town outside of Berlin. Templin, I think. You’ve been busy.”
“Damn. And here I thought I got rid of the tracking device you had shoved up my ass,” Justin taunted in a low voice. He peeked out the bathroom door again to make sure Gabriel’s breathing hadn’t changed.
“What are you doing in Eastern Europe, Mallory?” Patrick said, sounding as if he were a patient parent dealing with a particularly slow child.
“I’m taking care of a little business, Carlisle,” Justin replied, matching his same singsong tone. “What are you doing in DC?”
“That’s a guess.”
“You can’t even fathom what I know at all times.”
In truth, it was a guess. Carlisle hated working out of DC and tended to operate remotely from various locations. He said the political atmosphere of DC lowered his IQ by twenty points if he lingered there for too long. But the current strife in Washington was likely pulling the man back there more often than he liked.
“You were told to stay out of Eastern Europe.”
“You know, there’s really no consensus on what is Eastern Europe and what’s not. I think most people would argue that Hungary is at the very least Central Europe. I’m still in the clear.”
“I don’t want to hear your bullshit, Mallory,” Patrick snarled in his ear. “When you decided to leave, you were warned to stay the fuck out of Eastern Europe and Russia because of former contacts you’d made. One of my men already spotted you in Vienna.”
“Yeah, I couldn’t help it. We were in a hurry, and the Grand Ferdinand is my favorite hotel. The fluffiest robes in all of Europe.”
He had no doubt that Patrick knew exactly where he was and who he was with. He should never have picked the Grand, but Gabriel had looked pale and exhausted from the day’s fight and travel. Justin hadn’t wanted to waste time looking for a safe place to hole up for a day or two.
Well, that and their hotel room had a large claw-foot bathtub in the center of the room. Justin couldn’t deny that there was a part of him that was ridiculously excited by the idea of seeing Gabriel lounging in that tub, steam rising up around him, tempting him into the water where their naked bodies would slide along each other.
He honestly hadn’t given much thought to the CIA looking over his shoulder at the time.
“I’m assuming by now you’ve realized that you’ve gotten into a Krestyanov family feud.”
“Which would explain why you’ve not called sooner to urge me to get the fuck out of Europe and away from anyone who might recognize me from my naughty years.”
“You don’t want to be involved in this, Mallory.”
“I am involved. That’s not going to end until certain members of this family are six feet under.”
“This is the only warning I’m going to give you, Justin,” Patrick started, and Justin was a little surprised that he’d used his first name. “Stay out of it. Let them kill each other and be done with it. That includes your boyfriend. It would be best if any and all Americans were far away from it when the whole thing finally blows up.”
“I’m not leaving him.”
“You’ve got three days to get west of Berlin.”
The call went dead and Justin fought the urge to slam his phone against the counter. He wasn’t going to abandon Gabriel to his family. He didn’t care if he had all of the CIA on his ass. Justin could easily guess at Patrick’s rationale. If he and Gabriel succeeded in actually killing both Nadia and Nicolai, there was a good chance that the Russian government would use the murders as an excuse—blame them on Americans.
Of course, there was a good chance that was going to happen regardless of whether Justin walked away now or stuck it out with Gabriel.
The real problem was that they had enough trouble trying to stay ahead of Nicolai and his family. The two of them didn’t need the CIA on their asses as well.
For the first time, Justin was wondering if he should reach out to some old contacts and see if there was anyone available to lend a hand.
Those thoughts were for later.
The most pressing thing was to finish sifting through the data on Sacha’s phone and then catch a few winks. In the morning, they would come up with a new plan. And maybe…he might mention his phone call to Gabriel. Maybe.
Chapter 7
For one day and two nights, they lounged in the hotel room. They slept, ordered room service, and made use of the large white tub, which made Gabriel feel ridiculously decadent. They spent that time sifting through the information on his uncle’s phone, but there wasn’t much useful to be found there. Well, useful when it came to Gabriel’s ultimate goals. He found the private cell numbers for both his father and sister, but nothing about his mother.
As much as he hated to admit it, Justin was right.
His body had needed rest and time to heal. He slept and stared at the wall, turning over the information that he had and the plans he’d loosely cobbled together when it had just been him on the road. Speed and precision had been his goal before. Get in and out as quickly as possible.
Things were more complicated now with Justin there. Complicated in a good way. Justin was another set of eyes and an efficient killer in his own right. The man had also proved to be brilliantly creative. All things that would come in handy. He would have preferred to keep Justin far from his family, but he should have known that their paths would cross if he pursued this dating thing.
But the time with Justin in the hotel room had been well spent. It gave him the chance to clear out his thoughts and mentally organize what he knew from his own tangled emotions. And Justin was right.
Other than her name impressed on a page stolen from a Hungarian media czar, there was zero proof that his mother was still alive. It hurt. It was like losing her all over again. He’d wanted to believe that she was out there, alive and well. That he could one day find her and have just one member of his family who didn’t want something horrible from him. He wanted the kind of family that most people in the world were blessed with. Not the power-hungry, murderous type that he was stuck with.
Gabriel was pulled out of his thoughts by the sight of Justin quickly walking through the hotel room from the bathroom in only his boxer briefs and almost jumping into bed. He pulled the blankets around his body and snuggled up against Gabriel’s back. Nestling his face into Gabriel’s neck, he wrapped one arm around his waist.
“Did you turn down the heat in the room while I was sleeping?” Justin asked, his voice still low and growly.
Gabriel glanced up to see that it was only six in the morning. “Yes, I had to. You’re like a furnace over there. I was sweating under the covers with you.”
“Well, now you have to warm me up because the room is freaking cold.” Justin rubbed his face back and forth across his neck, sending a chill down his spine with the rasp of his whiskers.
Gabriel hadn’t bothered to shave away the dark beard that had grown on his face. It helped to hide his bruises and disguise him a little from anyone looking for him. Though, he was beginning to think the damn thing aged him by at least six or seven years. Yesterday morning when he’d been trimming it up, he even spotted his first gray hair. He’d been tempted to march back into the bedroom and blame it on Justin, but he was sure the man would take pride in it. No, he plucked the damn thing. He already guessed that he had a year or two on his lover and he didn’t need to provide proof that he was older and possibly…slowing down.
Justin had elected to grow out his beard in the name of solidarity, or so he claimed, but Gabriel was starting to wonder if it was partially out of laziness as they lounged about the hotel. While the hair on his head was a nice burnished blondish brown, his beard was coming in much blonder than Gabriel would have expected.
“So…what have you been thinking about?” Justin drawled nearly a minute later when they’d both fallen into silence.
�
��How do you know I’ve been lying here thinking?”
“Because you need to grease the wheels in your brain. I can hear them clacking together.”
“Not amusing.”
Justin nipped his shoulder and squeezed his arm carefully around his middle, avoiding his bruised ribs with a practiced ease. The man was getting far too good at babying his injured parts. “You think I can’t tell the difference in your breathing when you’re sleeping and when you’re awake?” He made a scoffing noise in the back of his throat, and Gabriel knew he had to stop underestimating him. He’d forgotten what it was like to be around someone constantly, someone who paid attention to his little tics and habits. “You’ve been lying here, lost in thought, for at least thirty minutes. I was going to let you go until I saw smoke coming out your ear or smelled rubber burning, but I had to piss.”
“And you thought you might as well start needling me now that you’re fully awake?”
“Pretty much.”
Gabriel nearly laughed out loud. The man sounded completely content with his reasoning. But he lay still until he was sure he could speak evenly. “I was thinking…why can’t we have both a dog and a cat?”
Justin’s laughter rang out across the room. He pulled away from Gabriel and the bed shook. Shifting in the blankets, Gabriel turned to face where Justin was now lying flat on his back, the pillows shoved up against the headboard. Gabriel wasn’t the only one prone to nightmares and restless sleep. Justin tended to flop back and forth, then lie on his stomach with his head on the mattress while shoving his pillows up against the headboard. It was quite clear that if they were going to share a bed and not kill each other, it would need to be king-sized.
“I know that was not what you were thinking about.” Justin rolled onto his side so that they were facing each other in the relative darkness. One of the curtains had been left open a crack, allowing a shaft of light to slice across the dark-green carpet and land on their feet. “But I think we can arrange both cats and dogs. If…if we have to get a cat, I’m just putting in a vote for one of those really big ones, like a Maine Coon.”
“Or a Savannah or a Norwegian Forest cat.”
Justin lifted his head a little and frowned at Gabriel. “A what?”
“Norwegian Forest cat. They are usually quite large and have extremely thick, fluffy fur. Very regal cats.”
Dropping his head back down to lay on his arm, Justin smiled. “You had one.”
“Two, actually. Growing up. They prowled around the house like a pair of miniature lions. My father got them for my mother as a birthday present one year, but they would seek me out whenever I was home on break.”
“We had dogs growing up. Big dogs. Little dogs. All of them mutts. At least two at all times.”
Gabriel held his breath and hung on each word that Justin murmured. He rarely spoke about his past. He’d given little snippets here and there, but it had mostly been since he’d become a solo mercenary. He’d talked about jobs and weird things he’d done to complete a job, but he never spoke of his childhood. Gabriel was afraid to press him. There was so much of his own life growing up in Russia that he never wanted to talk about. There was no way he could push Justin for information. No, he was content to let the stories come out on their own.
As if he suddenly realized what he was talking about, Justin stopped and blinked a couple of times before lazily grinning at Gabriel. “What were you really thinking about?”
Biting back a sigh, Gabriel let it go. Justin would talk about himself as time went by. There was no reason to rush it.
“I was thinking about how we’d find Nadia and the best way to approach her,” Gabriel murmured. He stretched his legs out and yawned wide enough that he felt his jaw pop. The bed felt so damn luxurious and comfortable, but his brain had enjoyed enough lounging and relaxing. It needed for him to be up and doing. No more sitting still and healing.
“Come up with any solutions? You mentioned that she liked to vacation in the winter outside of Russia. Getting close to her might be easier if she’s in the west.”
Gabriel stared at Justin for a moment, not missing the hopeful note in his voice. “It’s doubtful that she’s traveled so far from home unless Father has sent her somewhere. They would have the news of my cousin Leonide and Uncle Sacha by now. Father is likely keeping her close to Moscow.”
“Circling the wagons,” Justin mumbled. “Where is she? Do you know for sure?”
“No.” There was no use beating around the bush. He had an old address for his sister, but he seriously doubted that she was there. However, the cell number he now had in his possession, thanks to Sacha, was a great starting place. Unfortunately, he couldn’t do it alone, and there was just one other person he trusted when it came to dealing with his family. “I was thinking we needed to pay a visit to Grunt.”
“Grunt?”
“Yes.”
“As in…” Justin made a grunting noise that sort of reminded him of a gorilla.
“Please don’t make that noise around him when you meet him,” Gabriel said. He pushed away the covers and climbed out of bed. He winced as the cold air brushed against his skin. Maybe he’d turned the temperature down a little too much. The room was chilly without being pressed against Justin’s warm body. It was almost reason enough to climb back into bed, but a hot shower would take care of the chill. They needed to get moving.
“Wait. Who’s Grunt?”
Gabriel stopped and smirked at Justin. “Someone who hates my family as much as I do.”
They did not head west.
Not that Justin had really expected them to. In fact, they drove roughly twelve hours from Vienna, through the Czech Republic and Poland, into Ukraine. The scenery had stayed roughly the same along the drive with lots of dark forests, sleeping farms, and factories. Snow littered the ground here and there, but for the most part it was brown. Brown earth and brown trees against a murky gray sky. Justin was looking forward to spring and summer. He preferred the warmer temperatures and endless hills of bright green.
Gabriel didn’t talk much on the long drive, and Justin left him to his thoughts. The man had two “close” blood relatives left, and he was plotting a course to kill them both. It wasn’t that Justin thought they didn’t deserve to die. The rage that seemed to simmer inside of Gabriel at all times, just waiting to boil over at the slightest mention, pointed to a long history of pain and abuse. Justin’s worry was what would haunt Gabriel after the task was finally over. Would he be able to let go of those old pains? Or would those ghosts continue to plague him?
Or worse…would he regret his actions?
Justin wondered if walking away was a possible option. If they both left the life and disappeared somewhere deep within the United States, would Gabriel’s family have any reason to come after them? Could they not just live peacefully, forgetting about each other?
But even as the thought occurred to him, he pushed it aside. Even if Gabriel’s family decided to let them live in peace, there was still the issue of the fake news and unrest they were trying to sow in other regions. Civil strife and internal fighting would work well to tear the EU apart. A Europe fighting with itself would make it indifferent to other plans that Russia was cooking up.
Justin might have left behind both the military and CIA, but that didn’t mean he’d turned a blind eye to global turmoil. He couldn’t begin to guess at what Gabriel’s father was plotting next, and it was better for everyone if he was stopped.
Marilyn happily reported that she managed to find a reputable buyer for the information in less than twelve hours. He could easily imagine the little twist of her lips as she said “reputable.” It was likely that one of the European intelligence agencies ponied up the money for the information. He knew she wouldn’t dare sell the info back to the Russians even if they were the highest bidders. Marilyn might be like Gabriel in that she was in the business for the money, but Justin had never gotten the impression that she wanted the world to burn.
&
nbsp; Night had painted the skies black when Gabriel turned off the lonely highway and onto a narrow single-lane road, but Justin frowned when he continued out of town, following the road toward a wall of trees.
“Are we going to Grunt’s house tonight?”
“No, we can’t. It’s not safe.” Gabriel’s voice was low and sounded almost hesitant.
“Not safe? Why?”
“Grunt doesn’t accept visitors. Ever. I’d prefer not to come up on him at night when he’s more likely to shoot first and leave you for the wolves to finish off.”
“Sounds like a great friend you’ve got there.”
Gabriel’s smirk was lit up by the interior lights of the car, making him look slightly demonic with the beard darkening his jaw. “I never said he was my friend.”
Not helping. They’d driven through the day to see a guy who might be able to give them some information on Gabriel’s sister, but that was assuming that he didn’t simply shoot them on sight and leave them for a pack of hungry wolves to tear apart.
“What would you call him?” Justin demanded.
“A somewhat tolerant, would-be enemy with a common goal.”
Justin sank a little deeper in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. “Fantastic.” The more he learned about this Grunt, the less he was filled with warm and fuzzy feelings. They were in what felt like the-middle-of-nowhere, Ukraine, looking for a wild man who might or might not have all his marbles.
“We’ll go track him down when the sun’s up. I want him to be able to clearly see us coming.”
Justin could accept that. It wasn’t great, but it gave them a better fighting chance. “Okay. So where are we going to sleep tonight?”
“In the car.”
“What?” Justin sat up and turned fully in his seat to look at Gabriel as he drove. “Have you lost your fucking mind? It’s got to be at least five degrees out there. We’re going to fucking freeze to death.”
The Exit Strategy Bundle Page 33