“Grunt’s place is on the edge of some thick forestland called the Dnistrovskyi Kanion Regional Landscape Park. Not a lot of people around and an easy place for him to disappear into if needed.”
“Yeah, and why aren’t we staying the night in a nice, warm motel? We can set out at first light to find Grunt.”
“Because the towns around here are very small. Visitors are quickly noticed and remembered. Coming here doesn’t just put our lives at risk. We’re potentially drawing attention to Grunt.”
Justin dropped back in his seat and sighed. Okay, so maybe Gabriel had a good point. If they were going to get this Grunt to help them, it was probably smart not to put his life in danger before they even got a chance to talk to him.
“I might have grabbed some blankets from the hotel and stuffed them into the trunk,” Gabriel announced after the silence had stretched for more than a minute.
Justin frowned. “I was the last one out of the room. The blankets were on the bed.”
“I didn’t say I grabbed ours. I took some off a maid’s trolley and then grabbed more from a room that was opened for cleaning.”
“Eww…someone’s dirty blankets,” Justin said, wrinkling his nose.
“Would you rather freeze to death?”
“No.”
“If it’s any consolation, the blankets were taken off a queen bed that hadn’t been slept in. I think they’re clean.”
Gabriel slowed the car before turning it off the road they’d been following onto a rutted dirt road that was immediately swallowed up by trees. Within seconds, the rest of the world was closed off and disappeared as the woods moved in around them. Gabriel drove for only a couple of minutes more before putting the car in park and turning off all but the interior lights.
“We’ll take turns stretching out in the back seat,” Gabriel said. “Every couple of hours, we’ll turn the engine on and let the heater warm up the car. After the sun rises enough that we can clearly see, we’ll head out to find Grunt.” He got out and Justin followed. The frigid cold immediately rushed in to crowd close and pluck at his layers, looking for vulnerable skin. From the trunk, they pulled out the pile of blankets and thick comforter that had been wedged between their bags. He had no idea how Gabriel managed to sneak all of it out of the hotel without him noticing.
“You take the first shift of sleep,” Justin offered. “You drove most of the day.”
“Thanks,” Gabriel said with a relieved sigh. Leaning forward, he brushed a slow kiss across Justin’s lips. The temptation was great to grab his coat and extend the kiss, but the cold was already taking bites at him, and he was eager to get back to the warmth of the car. There would be plenty of opportunities for slow, draining kisses when they were someplace warm and safe.
While Gabriel stretched out across the back seat of the sedan, Justin climbed into the driver’s seat. He adjusted the vents, making sure that heat was blowing to the rear of the car for Gabriel. He figured he’d let the car run for another few minutes before turning off the engine.
Head against the seat, Justin stretched out his legs as much as he possibly could. It wasn’t the best situation, but he could probably catch a few minutes of sleep before they swapped spots in the car. For now, he was content to listen to Gabriel’s breathing slow down as he drifted off to sleep.
“I’m guessing this was not what you had in mind when you rushed off to rescue me,” Gabriel said.
Justin smiled to himself. He was sitting in a car in the dark, Ukrainian woods waiting to meet up with some random guy named Grunt while trying to plot the death of the head of the Russian KGB and his daughter. “No, I can’t say that this actually crossed my mind when I jumped on a plane more than a week ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
Justin’s loud bark of laughter filled the car, and he twisted around to look over his shoulder at Gabriel. “I’m not. I don’t give a shit if none of this has exactly gone how I expected. My only goal in coming to Europe was to keep your ass alive. The rest of it is just shits and giggles.”
Gabriel went quiet for nearly a minute before his own low chuckle rose up in the darkness. “You’re a strange man.”
“What I’m saying, you fucking idiot, is that I wouldn’t miss this for anything. It’s all an adventure. Bring on Grunt and your family. We’ll take it all on and still come out on top.” He wasn’t exactly sure how yet, but that was a minor detail that they’d figure out along the way.
“Go to sleep, madman. You need to be sharp for Grunt.”
“Oh, I’m sure I can handle Grunt.”
Gabriel chuckled again and then went silent. Justin waited to see if he’d finally tell him something useful about Grunt, but his breathing evened out, indicating that he’d fallen asleep. Justin shut off the car and settled in as well as he could under the blankets. It was going to be a long night, but he was hoping that this was a good step in the right direction of getting Gabriel free from his family.
Chapter 8
Justin screamed.
Unfortunately, the sound wasn’t something that could in any way be called manly or even dignified.
He’d just opened his eyes to find a scary man with dark eyes, scraggly beard, and a large red nose staring at him with a crooked grin that revealed a few teeth missing. Not the first thing anyone would want to see upon waking in the morning. He fought with the blankets that were wrapped around him as he lay across the back seat, trying to remember where the fuck he’d left his gun before falling asleep.
His fingers had just wrapped around the grip when the terrifying old man was shoved away from the window and Gabriel stepped into his place, holding up one placating hand. “It’s Grunt. It’s okay. That’s just Grunt.”
Justin dropped his head onto the seat and closed his eyes, trying to slow his madly racing heart. He took a deep breath and exhaled before opening his eyes again. Gabriel’s expression was grim, but there was no missing the hint of laughter lighting his eyes.
“I’m shooting him and you,” Justin said, not caring if Gabriel could hear him.
“Come on. I want you to meet him.”
Justin nodded, but he didn’t move right away. They’d swapped places in the car hours ago, and Gabriel was supposed to wake him again to swap a second time, but apparently he’d been left to sleep the rest of the way through the night. How the fuck had he not heard Gabriel get out of the car? He should have at least felt the car shift. He was losing his touch, and that was not a settling thought.
During his years in the military, he’d learned to be an incredibly light sleeper. Not only could he fall asleep at the drop of a hat, but no one could sneak by him. But over the years, he’d taken fewer and fewer jobs where he had to be on constant alert. He’d gotten soft. His brain no longer cared what happened around him so long as he was getting his eight hours.
This mission demanded he be at the top of his game if they were both going to survive it.
Rubbing his eyes again, Justin pushed the worrisome thought aside and finished kicking off his blankets. He opened the door and somewhat gracefully poured himself out of the sedan. Aches in his back and shoulders immediately made themselves known. He was too damn big to spend the night comfortably in the back seat of a car. And it definitely didn’t help that it was done in the cold.
Gabriel stood next to a short, skinny man covered in what looked to be multiple layers of clothes. His dark-brown hair was liberally sprinkled with gray and hung down in a thick braid to the middle of his spine. Wrinkles wove intricate patterns across his weathered face. Justin couldn’t place his age—somewhere between midfifties and when cavemen roamed the Earth.
But despite his age, there was a spry, nimble look to him. As if a person could blink and Grunt would be halfway up a mountain.
“Are you sure you can trust him? He doesn’t look too bright,” Grunt said in thickly accented Russian.
“I get smarter with coffee,” Justin snapped in Russian, not caring if it was grammatically correct at all.
It was the truth. He was cold and his joints ached. Coffee was the only damn thing in the world that was going to make any of it better.
Or maybe if he was allowed to shoot someone. That might help. But he had a feeling that Gabriel wasn’t going to let him shoot Grunt. Not after they waited through the night in a freezing car.
“He’s grumpy in the morning,” Gabriel said.
Justin almost snarled that he wasn’t the only one, but Grunt’s loud cackle stopped the words in his throat.
“Then come on. I just started a fresh pot before I came out to fetch you,” Grunt said, switching to English. He turned toward the forest and waved one hand over his shoulder for them to follow.
Justin stood where he was, watching the man disappear into the woods while Gabriel hurried over to the trunk. He shoved Justin’s bag into his hands while Gabriel placed his own over one shoulder.
“Let’s go. He moves fast and won’t come back if we lose him.”
With a shake of his head, he hurried after Grunt and Gabriel, while his brain shouted at him that this was insanity. He was following some kind of weird hermit into the woods. He didn’t know this man, didn’t know who he was allied with, or what his motives were. If he were being honest with himself, Justin was pretty sure that he was only following Grunt because he’d promised him coffee. And maybe because Gabriel seemed willing to vouch for him.
Dead leaves crackled and branches snapped underfoot as he trudged through the woods. No one spoke. They walked in single file between tall trees. Justin tried to step where Gabriel and his friend stepped. If Grunt was what Justin suspected, then there were traps set in the woods for trespassers. Hikers out for a leisurely stroll beware.
With each step, Justin became more awake. The clouds had finally moved on, and golden sunlight was cutting through the bare limbs of trees. The air was crisp and cold, but the sharp bite made his senses more alert. Nothing seemed to stir in the woods besides them. It was as if all the wildlife had moved on to warmer climates or were simply waiting for them to pass by before they went about their business. Here and there, he caught sight of paw prints for the wolves Gabriel had mentioned.
After walking for nearly twenty minutes, Justin was about to proclaim that no coffee was worth this hike when they stepped through a break in the trees to reach a small wooden shack with a little stream of smoke coming from the chimney. The place looked like it was barely standing, but nothing had ever seemed so perfect in his life. He was cold and tired. He needed coffee and a bathroom. A shower would be a dream, but hot water to wash off with would be amazing too.
Standing at the front door, Justin thought he saw Grunt press his thumb to a little panel under the doorknob, but he couldn’t be sure. Grunt pushed the door open and motioned for them to enter. Justin stood in the entrance for a moment, his mouth hanging open. The little shack wasn’t made of wood. That was a façade to fool anyone who might happen on the place. The walls looked to be at least six inches thick and made of concrete.
The interior was chaos, but a kind of controlled chaos filled with books, papers, and maps. There were computer screens flashing a variety of things and more screens showing bits of the forest around the house. In the center of the main room was an old-looking couch nearly buried under blankets and furs. The man probably stretched out on the couch most days, reading over whatever dispatches and reports he managed to intercept.
Behind him, Grunt shut the door with a solid thud, turned two deadbolts, and slid a bar home. They were definitely secure.
“Coffee?” Grunt asked.
“Yes, please,” Justin answered, not caring that he sounded like he was begging. He’d love to explore the guy’s home and computer setup, but none of it was going to get done until he had a little caffeine flowing through his system.
He looked over at Gabriel to find his companion nodding and following Grunt through a narrow doorway to the back of the house. Justin threw one last glance around the room before following them as well.
They passed two other rooms that opened off the hallway—a small bedroom and an even smaller bathroom—before reaching the kitchen. There wasn’t much to the kitchen beyond the usual fridge, stove, and sink—though all three looked like they’d crawled straight out of the fifties. Against the wall was a small table with a pair of chairs. Grunt waved to them to sit at the table while he pulled down some weathered dark-blue mugs and started pouring them coffee from the maker that looked like it was less than a year old. It was clear where Grunt’s priorities lay, and Justin could respect him for that. Coffee was life.
Gabriel took off his coat and put it on the back of the chair before sitting. Justin did the same, sitting down across from him. Gabriel looked tired. The beard that covered his cheeks hid most of the bruising, but the black hair made him appear paler, darkening the circles under his eyes. He needed more sleep. He wasn’t sleeping much and when he did, the nightmares had returned, making what little sleep he got restless and broken.
Justin knew he shouldn’t worry as much as he did. There was no doubt in his mind that they’d both survived far worse for longer periods of time. It was just that Justin had never cared about someone’s well-being the way he did with Gabriel. He wanted his lover to be healthy and happy. But that wasn’t going to happen until they finally got this settled and could start their lives together.
“How do you know each other?” Justin asked when Grunt placed mugs of coffee in front of both of them. Justin dropped a couple of sugar cubes into his cup while Gabriel started sipping his black.
Gabriel gave him an amused look as if he thought Justin had lost his mind for even asking the question.
“I worked for his father at the KGB,” Grunt said. His voice was low and rough, like the man gargled razor blades for shits and giggles.
A surprised look widened Gabriel’s dark eyes as he stared up at their host.
Grunt laughed, a broken and wheezing sound. “You brought him to my home. I have to believe that you trust him. If you don’t, I can just kill him now.” With more speed than Justin thought the man was capable of, Grunt whipped out a gun from its hiding place on his body and had it pressed to Justin’s forehead before he could even gasp.
“Holy fuck!” Justin choked.
Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Stop it.” He didn’t look worried in the least, which should have helped to settle Justin’s fear, but it was hard to do with a metal muzzle pressed to his flesh.
Grunt cackled and tucked the weapon away as quickly as it first appeared. “I just wanted to see if he’d shit himself.” He leaned over closer to Justin and sniffed the air. “Nope. Guess he’s a keeper.” Grunt laughed again softly and wandered back to the coffee machine to pour himself a cup.
Justin looked over at Gabriel, who shook his head. “Grunt worked for my father as a field agent. He also helped to train me in my early years with the agency. They had a falling out several years ago—”
“The bastard tried to have me killed!” Grunt spat out. “Thought I was going to make a play for his job, so he went after me.” He leaned back against the counter with his coffee. “Went after this one,” he continued, pointing at Gabriel, “until I discovered that his daddy wanted him dead as well. No reason to do Nicolai any favors.”
Gabriel huffed a soft laugh. “Grunt helped me stay alive after Ivan was killed.” Justin watched the dark shadow fall across Gabriel’s expression at the mention of his first partner…first love. “I wasn’t thinking clearly during those months. Would never have made it if it wasn’t for Grunt.”
“But I got your head screwed on straight,” Grunt said with a somewhat toothless grin.
Justin nodded. He could imagine how Gabriel felt. A young man, betrayed by both his country and his family, losing the first person to ever accept him as he was. Yeah, he likely had only one thing on his mind at the time—revenge. Justin was grateful that Grunt had been there to rein in Gabriel’s urges and temper, to help hone his skills so that he lived long enough for Justin to meet him
.
And now they were going to finish the task Gabriel had started so many years ago.
“After all this time, is Nicolai still after you?” Justin asked.
Grunt cackled again, and even Gabriel gave a little laugh.
“Time means nothing to my father,” Gabriel murmured. “He is not the type to let something go.”
Grunt tapped his temple a couple of times with his index finger. “I got all kinds of secrets locked away up here.”
“He sees Grunt as a threat, even after all this time,” Gabriel continued. “He won’t be happy until he is gone.”
“Of course, I might give him reason every now and then to come after me.” Grunt half hid his smirk behind his coffee mug.
Gabriel narrowed his eyes on the older man. “What did you do?”
“He comes up short a few agents here and there when they get too close to me.” Grunt paused as if in thought and continued. “And then there’s that botched poisoning that pointed right back at his people.”
Gabriel sighed heavily, but there was still a hint of a smile. “I would suggest that you stand a better chance of Nicolai forgetting you if you quit antagonizing him, but it helps me more if you’re keeping tabs on him.”
Placing his mug on the counter, Grunt scratched his bearded jaw. “He’s not the only one that I’m keeping tabs on. I saw that both Sacha and Leonide Krestyanov have turned up dead in the past week. Dmitri also had an unfortunate accident in London last fall. Seems to have suddenly become dangerous to be a Krestyanov.”
“It’s always been dangerous to be a Krestyanov,” Gabriel said bitterly. He took a deep drink from his mug, finishing off his coffee as if to wash the taste from his mouth. “Time to get rid of the ones who would have a problem with me seeking a normal life.”
Grunt smiled. “You mean the ones who have problem with you living.” He turned his eyes to Justin and his smile widened. “And the ones who would love to get their hands on him if it meant making you suffer.”
“Yes,” Gabriel hissed.
The Exit Strategy Bundle Page 34