Chapter 6
Loughman Ranch, Texas
“There’s something wrong,” Callie said to the group before her as they stood in the underground bunker beneath the barn on the Loughman property.
Her gaze went to the eldest Loughman brother, Wyatt, who she’d fallen in love with. He stood silently, but she knew from experience that while he might look as if he weren’t interested, his mind was working a million miles a minute.
“Should we call Sergei?” Mia asked.
Callie looked into Mia’s black eyes and shrugged. “I would.”
Cullen, the youngest of the Loughman brothers, shook his head of dark brown hair. “I disagree. Sergei and Lev have a special bond. If Sergei thinks Lev is in trouble, he’ll go find him.”
Dr. Kate Donnelly’s gray eyes widened in surprise before she frowned. “As we should all want to go find Lev. He’s one of us.”
“Of course, he is,” Orrin Loughman said to soothe her, taking her hand in his and giving her a smile. “And we do.”
It warmed Callie’s heart to see Orrin so happy.
He’d taken on the role of father-figure when she realized that her family lacked anything remotely good in them.
It was Orrin who had recruited her for the private contract business, Whitehorse.
Though none of them could have possibly imagined that it would progress to hunting down a clandestine global organization out to determine who got to have children and who didn’t.
Each of them knew this was just the first step in the Saints’ plans. It was anyone’s guess what they would do next if they succeeded.
Callie’s gaze shifted to Owen and his wife Natalie, who had yet to say anything. As the middle brother, Owen usually kept the peace between everyone. Although, thanks to the Saints forcing the family back together, the past had been forgiven, truths had been discovered, and healing had begun.
“I’ve seen Lev in action,” Owen said to the group, his dark brown eyes sweeping over each of them. “He’s not easily killed.”
Yuri Markovic, a Russian major general who’d left his country to fight against the Saints, snorted from his chair. His gaze was on the mug of steaming coffee in his hands.
“Yuri?” Orrin urged.
The Russian lifted his blue eyes after pouring a healthy dose of vodka into his coffee. “I told you all from the beginning not to send anyone to Ukraine. I said it then, and I still hold to the fact it was a setup.”
Callie tried not to be offended, or feel like this was somehow her fault, but she couldn’t seem to shake it. “I triple-checked everything. The chatroom and thread were legitimate.”
“None of that matters,” Natalie said. Her green eyes looked first at Owen and then at the rest of them. “If it was a setup, the Saints played us good. If it wasn’t, then we need to know what went wrong. And, bottom line, we have to discover if Lev is alive.”
Owen smiled as he kissed his wife’s temple. “You’re exactly right, sweetheart.”
“If this was a trap by the Saints, then they would’ve made sure we knew Lev was dead,” Wyatt stated.
Cullen frowned. “You’re assuming they know who all is helping. And that they would’ve figured it out despite Lev traveling under a false name.”
“They know,” Orrin said, his voice soft but carrying through the bunker.
Yuri nodded solemnly. “Da.”
“Even Maks?” Kate asked.
All eyes turned to Callie. She threw up her hands in frustration and from a growing concern in the pit of her stomach. “I tried to keep track of Maks, but he ditched the tracker I planted on him.”
“As well as the one I stuck in his pack,” Wyatt added.
Callie blew out a breath. “I’ve never seen someone become a ghost like Maks.”
“Where was he going again?” Natalie asked.
Once more, they looked at Callie. She hated not having answers. “All he said was that he was headed to do a little investigating on his own and that he’d be in touch.”
“That was two weeks ago,” Owen said.
Wyatt moved to stand beside Callie. He linked his fingers with hers, giving her the support she needed. “Maks can take care of himself. Trust me on that. Our focus needs to be on Lev.”
Mia’s lips twisted. “We just said that the Saints probably know each of us. That means they’ll know Lev’s connection to Sergei, regardless of what name Lev flew under.”
Cullen, Owen, and Wyatt all exchanged a look. It was Cullen who pulled out his phone. “I’ll call Sergei.”
There were tense seconds until Cullen gave a nod as Sergei answered. It was a quick conversation where Cullen warned the old Russian to be vigilant. Then Sergei asked about Lev.
“We lost contact with him during the mission,” Cullen told the mob boss.
Callie turned to her computer and sat down. She had been monitoring news outlets in Ukraine, looking for any sign that the assassination attempt on Denys Stasiuk had either failed or succeeded. Oddly, there had been nothing since she’d lost contact with Lev.
But all that changed with a click of a button. She stared in shock at the picture of the theatre bathed in red and blue lights as the authorities sent in tactical units.
“Uh, guys,” she said. In seconds, everyone surrounded her.
Kate asked, “What are they saying?”
“It’s Ukrainian,” Yuri said. “They’re talking about a terrorist group who stopped the ballet to make a speech.”
It was exactly as Callie had read would happen in the chat room on the dark web. Was Yuri right? Had this been a setup? Had they sent Lev to his death?
Callie didn’t need Yuri to tell her what the reporter was conveying now. It was obvious by the spray of bullets that the authorities were fighting the Saints.
The gunfire was over quickly. Almost too quickly.
“Most of the Saints must have already left the theatre,” Orrin said.
Mia shook her head sadly. “The authorities never stood a chance. They walked into a trap.”
“I still don’t understand how this helps the Saints,” Kate said. “They went into a theatre and killed someone. They didn’t say they were the Saints, so what do they gain by this?”
It was Wyatt who said, “Power.”
“He’s right,” Callie said. “Stasiuk had made quite a bit of traction within his political party against the Saints. The fact that he ignored numerous threats on his life, as well as his family’s, made others realize they should, as well.
Stasiuk and those who stood with him believed that they had won against the Saints. ”
Yuri made a sound in the back of his throat. “And Stasiuk discovered tonight what it’s like to walk into a den of vipers.”
It was easy for them to feel as if they had made headway against the Saints since they’d won a couple of skirmishes, but the simple fact was that the Saints were a global organization.
They had infiltrated not just governments around the world, but also intelligence organizations and police and military forces. Callie feared that the Saints had been building their infrastructure for decades. How were they, just a dozen people, supposed to stand against that?
And win?
As if reading her thoughts, Wyatt put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. They’d just begun their life together. She wanted a future with Wyatt. To grow old together, take trips, get married, possibly have kids. They might not get any of that.
But if they didn’t stand against the Saints, then who would?
“Now we know why we lost contact with Lev,” Owen said into the silence.
Callie sat up straighter when the news camera zoomed in on some paramedics wheeling someone out on a gurney, but the sheet covering the face was all the answer she needed.
The room went deathly quiet when they heard the reporter say Stasiuk’s name. Each of them knew in that instant that Lev hadn’t been able to stop the assassination. But they had yet to determine what had happened to him.
“He’d claw his way up from Hell to get back to Sergei,” Cullen said.
Callie turned her chair to face them. “Sergei will see this.”
“If he hears from Lev, he’ll let us know,” Orrin stated.
Mia raised a brow, her lips flattening. “I’m not so sure.”
“Then we need to remind him we’re working as a team,” Wyatt declared and looked at Cullen.
Orrin’s youngest rolled his eyes. “Fine. I’ll call him back.”
“No,” Mia said as she took Cullen’s phone. “I’ll do it.”
Callie returned her attention to the computer. “Have they said anything about other bodies?”
“Yes,” Yuri replied.
Owen asked, “Names?”
Yuri shook his head.
Callie popped her knuckles and rotated her shoulders. “They’ll be identifying them soon. That means I get to hack in and find out before the rest of the world.”
“Good luck, baby,” Wyatt whispered before he gave her a quick kiss.