Chapter 33
As much as Cullen enjoyed lying next to Mia, his mind wouldn’t allow him to relax. He’d dozed a bit, but now he was thinking about finding Markovic.
Yuri was their best shot at not only finding the Saints but also Orrin. Without Markovic . . . they had nothing.
Cullen always had a backup to a plan. This time, he didn’t. And that worried him.
With the manpower and money the Saints had, anything could be waiting for them. Mia was actively being sought by the group, which made it particularly precarious for her.
The only thing they had on their side was surprise. And even then, he didn’t know how long it would be before the Saints learned they were in town.
He pulled his arm from beneath Mia and swung his legs over the side of the bed, sitting up.
“Weren’t you the one who said you wanted me beside you?” came her sleepy voice.
He grinned and looked at her over his shoulder. “I did.”
“Then where are you going?” She leaned up on an elbow and raised a brow at him.
“I can’t sleep. We have very little in the way of a plan, and nothing beyond that.”
She sat up. “I was thinking about that, as well. And if neither of us is going to sleep, we might as well get up.”
He watched as she rose from the bed and returned to the bathroom to get her clothes. Cullen stood and dressed. Just as he walked from the room, he stopped and looked at the bed.
As a rule, he didn’t have sex with the same woman more than once. He’d broken that rule with Mia, but he wasn’t scared.
Well. Not very much, at least.
This was the very thing that he’d been terrified of his entire life. It was what kept him from allowing any woman too close. And yet, here he was.
It almost felt like fate had stepped in and put what he’d avoided in front of him. Maybe she had. He didn’t know, and there was no use worrying about it.
He made it downstairs before Mia and brewed fresh coffee. With a large mug in hand, he walked into the living room to get his cell phone. There was a message waiting.
Cullen didn’t recognize the number. He queued up the message when Mia came down the stairs.
“Did you hear from Callie?” she asked.
He held up the cell phone. “I was just about to play a message.”
Mia made her way to him. “Go ahead.”
He put it on speaker and hit play. There was a pause, and then he heard Callie’s voice.
“It’s me,” Callie said. “I did as you asked. Your quarry attended an event yesterday, but there have been two missed meetings this morning.”
Mia looked at Cullen. “Why would Yuri miss those meetings?”
“Perhaps he couldn’t attend.”
Callie’s voice interrupted them. “There is a hotel I think you might want to look into regarding our friends. The Willard, in DC. I’ll let you know if I come across anything else.”
The message ended then. Callie had gone to great lengths not to say any names in case someone was listening. As long as the Saints didn’t know he was searching for Markovic, they still had the advantage.
Mia turned on her heel to disappear into the kitchen. When she returned, she had a mug of coffee and a map. “I saw this earlier when I was looking through the cabinets.”
She unfolded the map to show it was one of Arlington, Virginia, and DC. It didn’t take him long to locate the house they were in on the map.
He put his finger on the location and then moved in a straight line to the Pentagon. It was Mia who found the position of the hotel.
“Markovic wouldn’t take the time to travel around the city,” Cullen said.
She shook her head. “Probably not. He has meetings that he has to attend so he’d want a location that was convenient.”
“Here,” Cullen said as he drew a circle around a business section.
Mia pointed to a spot not far from the one he’d indicated. “Or here.”
He looked at the docks and had to agree. “It would make it very easy for them to move him quickly by boat. We’ll have a lot of area to search.”
“We know where Yuri is staying.”
They had a guess, but he agreed with Mia. It was much more than they’d had a few minutes ago. And after everything they’d been through, he was happy for it.
“I’m starving. I’m going to cook something, and while we eat, let’s figure out how we’re going to get into the hotel,” Mia said.
He followed her into the kitchen and opened the fridge to find items to make a sandwich. “Let’s skip the big meal.”
In a few minutes, they were at the table, eating. After a couple of bites, he said, “If we go into the hotel, there will be cameras. Something Callie found made her think there were Saints there.”
“I tend to think there are Saints everywhere. I can wear a wig to disguise myself. I’ll just need to stop somewhere and pick up the items I need.”
That could work. But that meant she would go in alone. Something he wasn’t crazy about. “That will get you into the hotel and possibly by anyone working for the Saints. It won’t get you into Yuri’s room.”
“It will if they think I’m his wife,” she replied with a perfect Russian accent.
Cullen smiled and shook his head. Was there anything she couldn’t do? “It’ll be a huge chance.”
“As if that doesn’t describe everything we’re doing.”
All too true. “No matter how dangerous my missions, I always knew I had others I could contact in bad situations. We’re on our own. Every time we exchange phone calls with Owen or Wyatt, we’re putting them at risk.”
“Then we limit those calls to important ones. As for the rest, we’ll have to get creative.”
“Meaning?” There was something in her tone that said she already had an idea.
She swallowed the bite of sandwich she’d taken and smiled. “Meaning that I know where we might be able to find things we could use. Say, like a device that can get us into Yuri’s hotel room.”
Just when he thought he had her figured out. Cullen ate the last of his sandwich and wiped his hands. “Is the place safe?”
“The safest. Only a handful of people know of its location.”
He was going to ask her where it was, but he had a suspicion that she wouldn’t share until the right time. By the mischievous glint in her dark eyes, she was excited about the prospect of their next adventure.
In no time, they were back on the road, looking for a place to buy a wig. Oddly, it wasn’t difficult to find. The shop was on the fringes of the seedy part of town.
He put the SUV in park. Mia wound her hair up and put on the baseball cap he’d worn earlier. As he went to turn off the ignition, she gave a shake of her head.
“There’s no need for both of us to go in. I’ll be in and out, quick. Leave the car running.”
Since he was parked in front of the store with a view inside, he relented. She winked at him and opened the SUV door. His gaze followed her around the front of the vehicle and into the store.
He lost her amid the high shelves, and as the minutes ticked by without him seeing her, he began to worry. Then she came into view at the cash register.
No sooner was she in the SUV than he backed it up and drove away. The large bag set between her feet had more than just a wig.
She caught him looking and smiled. “I do have a part to play. Now, I need somewhere I can change.”
It took some time, but Cullen found her a place that didn’t have any cameras. Once more, he waited in the vehicle as she went to the restroom and changed.
He did a double take when she walked out. Her long, dark hair was gone, replaced by a short, blonde wig with blunt bangs. Heavy eye makeup and red lipstick took the place of her natural look.
Her clothes had also been swapped out for very revealing attire. The black and white horizontal-striped shirt barely held in her breasts as it dipped low in the front, showing ample cleavage.
Then there was the black mini skirt that showed off her long, lean legs. When he spotted the platform heels, he was amazed she could walk in them. A black jacket with a faux fur collar was the finishing touch.
She climbed into the SUV and turned her head to him. “What do you think?”
“I think you’d stop a blind man in his tracks.”
She laughed, the sound filling the vehicle and making him smile in return. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“That’s what it was.”
“So, blonde is a good color for me?” she asked and touched the wig.
He gave a shake of his head. “You look the best naked with your black hair spread around you.”
It hadn’t been his intention to reveal such a thought, but it was out before he realized it. The way her lips curved up in a soft smile said she didn’t mind at all.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked.
“I am. We need Yuri. Gaining access to his room is one way to do it.”
Cullen wasn’t so sure. “If he’s a Saint, you’ll face him alone. That’s if he doesn’t have men with him, which he probably will.”
“I don’t see that we have another option.”
Cullen ran a hand down his face as he blew out a breath. “I want my father free of those bastards, but I also know that he won’t reveal anything.”
“They could kill him.”
That was something he’d accepted from the moment he learned his father had been kidnapped.
Her eyes grew round with outrage. “And you’re okay with that?”
“Of course, not,” he retorted, letting his frustration be heard in every syllable. “Ragnarok is hidden. No one knows where the formula is.”
“You’re forgetting, Jankovic is still MIA.”
“No, I haven’t forgotten. I’m trying to keep us alive so we can finally get to the Saints and get information.”
She looked out the windshield before returning her dark gaze to him.
“Right now, the Saints need Orrin. Jankovic is in the country. We don’t know where, but I’m guessing he’ll be in the hands of your government, a.k.a.
the Saints, by now. How long until he begins making more Ragnarok?
How long until the Saints no longer need your father? ”
Cullen wished he had a good argument against what she’d said, but he didn’t. He knew better than most that not everyone came back from missions.
But he couldn’t lose Mia. He couldn’t hold her dead body in his arms. He couldn’t attend her funeral.
He’d done that for many of his buddies. Though he mourned them—and always would—it was different with her. And he knew his father would side with him on this.
“Drive to the hotel,” she told him. “I’ll look around. If I see Yuri, I’ll approach him. If I don’t, then we’ll leave. Going after Yuri was your idea, and it’s a good one. Before we toss it aside, let’s check it out.”
Cullen knew she was right, but it didn’t make it easier to accept. She would be heading into the hotel alone. Even in disguise, one of the Saints could spot her.
But he would be watching. Just in case.