Epilogue
Two days later . . .
Cullen frowned at the surveillance from the city’s cameras. It was like his father and Markovic had simply disappeared. There was no sign of the black Range Rover they had used to drive away from the warehouse.
“Where are you, Dad?” he asked the screen.
Arms came around his waist from behind. Mia kissed his bare shoulder and laid her head against his back. “Still nothing?”
“No.”
“Orrin is smart. I believe he and Yuri are working together. Why would your dad do that?”
Cullen turned around in her arms and cupped her face as he gave her a quick kiss. “Because they’re going after the Saints.”
“Or Jankovic.”
The scientist. Of course! He gave a nod. “I know Wyatt and Callie are trying to find a way to get to Jankovic.”
“I bet that’s where we find your father.”
“To go there means we’ll be gathering, just as the Saints probably want us to do.”
Mia smiled. “The one thing the Saints should fear is all four Loughmans fighting as one.”
He snorted and gazed into her black eyes. “You’re pretty smart.”
“Took you long enough to realize it.”
“Oh, darlin’, I always knew it.”
Her smile was wide. “I talked to my father. He was shocked about the Saints. He’s going to see what he can find out for us, and he’s demanded we come for dinner as soon as this is all finished.”
“You called your father?” he asked, running his fingers along the side of her face.
“I knew he could help.”
“We’re going to need all the allies we can get.” He bent his head for another kiss when his new burner phone rang.
Mia leaned to the side to look at it. “It’s Callie.”
Their reprieve was over. It was time to go into battle once more.
Mia’s lips turned up in a smile. “I’m ready, cowboy. Are you?”
“I was born ready,” he said before he picked up the phone and answered it. “What’s our move, Callie?”
Orrin stared at the stately home where Konrad Jankovic hid. For days, he and Yuri had staked out the house, watching who came and went.
“There is more activity,” Yuri murmured from beside him as they peered through the window of a house for sale across the street.
The Saints checked the house often, but not once had they found him or Yuri. Nor would they. The Saints may have numbers, but they had experience.
“Something must’ve happened,” Orrin said as he looked through the lenses of the binoculars.
Yuri peered out the window. “Whatever it is, they are not happy.”
Orrin snorted and set the binoculars down. “Good.” He noticed then that Yuri looked upset. “What is it?”
“I heard on the news that Davis is dead. A heart attack.”
Both of them knew that Irving didn’t die of such a thing. The Saints learned that he’d helped Mia and killed him. Davis had been in a position where he’d had no choice but to help the Saints.
It was too bad Davis hadn’t confided in Orrin before his trip to Russia. A lot of this could’ve been avoided. But Irving had felt as Orrin did now, that there were few people he could trust.
“It is someone in his office,” Yuri said.
“Most likely. The Saints were probably monitoring him, as well.”
“I am ready to end the mudak, pridurki.”
Orrin glanced out the window to the house. “Definitely.”
Because he wasn’t going to lose any more of his family to the Saints. It was going to end once and for all.
“He’s gone? Is that what you just told me?” asked the male voice over the phone.
Mitch Hewett winced at the cold anger he heard through the line. “Orrin won’t get far.”
“You said Markovic was with him.”
“We think that’s the case,” Mitch corrected him.
There was a long pause. “Do you realize how much is at stake?”
“Yes, sir, I do.”
“I think you’ve forgotten.”
Mitch shook his head. “Sir, I can find Orrin. I’ve been his handler for years, and I was his friend before that. I know how he thinks, as well as the moves he’ll make.”
“You’ve seen what we can do to those who fail us.”
Mitch swallowed, recalling witnessing such an event years before. It was how he knew just what kind of power the Saints wielded. “Yes, sir. I won’t fail.”
“Let’s hope you don’t,” came the reply before the line disconnected.
Mitch lowered the phone to his desk. Then he walked from his office into the outer room where his people worked.
“Listen up,” he called. “I want everyone looking for Orrin Loughman. He’s turned traitor.
Every resource we have needs to be focused on finding him.
Forget everything else for now. Turn your full attention on him. And his sons,” he added.
Because there was one thing he’d learned about the Loughmans—they stuck together.
Thank you for reading THE PROTECTOR. I hope you enjoyed the story!