Chapter 18
“What do you mean, you haven’t found them?”
Lorraine glared at a member of her team. She didn’t even bother hiding the fact that she was furious. None of them realized—or cared—that her life hung in the balance.
None of the elders accepted failure to any degree. The fact that she was still alive despite losing Reyna and Lev was only because she had been successful up until that point. But everything hinged on her finding them now.
And if she didn’t...there wasn’t a person in the organization that could save her.
“We’ve stopped and searched every boat going through the strait over the last ten hours,” the young woman explained. “They’re not here.”
Lorraine wanted to rail at the woman, but she turned on her heel and walked away instead. That’s when she spotted Anatoli. It galled her that after refusing to allow him to come, the elders had ordered Anatoli to do just that.
Did that mean they didn’t trust her? Or was Anatoli there to watch her? Fine. Let him stay. It was better to keep enemies closer anyway. He moved out of the way as she neared and then followed her back to her vehicle without saying a word.
She got behind the wheel and grabbed hold of it to squeeze. If only it were Reyna’s neck her hands were around. Lorraine closed her eyes and tried to shake off the feeling that a blade was headed straight for her heart.
“There’s still a chance that they’ll come through the strait,” Anatoli said.
She’d been so lost in thought that she hadn’t heard him get into the car. There was nothing to say, so she didn’t respond to him.
“Lori, it’s going to be all right.”
Her eyes snapped open as she turned her head to give him her nastiest scowl. “All right? It’s not going to be anything close to that if I don’t find at least one of them.”
He smiled, unfazed by her fury as he leaned an elbow on the passenger door and braced his hand against the side of his head.
“It’s quicker for them to travel by boat.
I believe they’ll come through the strait, but they also know you’ll be watching it.
If I was them, I’d wait a few days before striking out. ”
“And if I was in their place, I’d set out as quickly as I could.”
Anatoli shrugged one shoulder. “What will it hurt to keep a contingent of your team here to continue searching the vessels?”
It was the smart thing to do, and she’d decided on that earlier. But her mind was already thinking ahead. She pulled out her tablet from her purse and opened it to the map of the surrounding countries.
Anatoli leaned over to look at it and made a line from Kiev to the Baltic Sea through Poland with his finger. “The quickest route is by water.”
“But it isn’t their only way,” Lorraine stated while her gaze moved to Germany. “If they could reach the North Sea via Germany, then they could bypass the strait altogether.”
“That’s a lot of land to cover. Not to mention the borders.”
She fought not to roll her eyes. “We’ve both seen how easily they cross borders. Even ones we’re patrolling.”
“Then send a team to Germany. They can reach it by air in a few hours.”
She lifted her phone and punched in a number. “I don’t have to send a team. I have one there already. They’ll spread out and search the marinas.”
“Have them stop any boat that looks suspicious,” he added.
Lorraine finished sending the directive via text, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she wasn’t anywhere near to catching Lev and Reyna.
“I know that look,” Anatoli said. “You’re still not happy.”
“Because they could get away.”
He sat back and twisted his lips. “Then put all your teams on alert across Europe. I’ll do the same with mine. With that many searching for them, Reyna and Lev will be found.”
Lorraine didn’t want to accept help. She wanted to tell Anatoli to kiss off, but she wasn’t that stupid. “Thanks for the offer.”
Both of them began sending alerts to their teams. Lorraine finished and went back to looking at the map on her tablet. The only other direction for the couple to go was north, and that was the exact opposite way they needed to go.
“What?” Anatoli urged when he saw her staring.
“What is the one direction we wouldn’t look for them?”
Anatoli frowned and pointed north. “Why?”
“What if they went that way?”
“Why would they? It would take them away from where they want to go.”
Lorraine sighed loudly. “Because we wouldn’t look there.”
Anatoli shook his head. “North, no. Norway? Now that, I can see.”
Shit. That hadn’t even entered her mind. “Of course. Norway.”
Lorraine quickly sent out messages to the Swedish and Norwegian teams. This time when she set down her phone, she smiled because she finally felt as if she were closing in on the couple.
Anatoli shot her a grin. “I told you everything would be all right.”
“I won’t believe that until I have both of them in custody.”
Anatoli made a sound in the back of his throat. “They could’ve split up.”
“Up until now, they’ve worked together. Why would they do that?”
“You assume they’re allies. What if they aren’t? What if they had to work together to get out of Ukraine, but now that they accomplished that, they went their separate ways?”
“And since we’re looking for a couple, we’d pass right by them.”
Anatoli nodded. “If I wanted to live, I’d set out on my own.”
She gave a bark of laughter. “No, you wouldn’t.”
His blue eyes turned deadly as they slid to her. “You remember the young man I was. I’m not the same anymore. I learned from the best.”
Lorraine knew he referred to her. She looked out the windshield and tried not to let his comment hurt her, but it did. The Anatoli she’d fallen in love with had been a good, honest man who would do anything for those he loved.
Her mistake was thinking that he was still that man. She believed he’d offered to help her because he might still have feelings for her. Now, she realized she might have underestimated him.
He’d acted as though her leaving had hurt him but that he was over it. Could it be that he wasn’t over it? Or worse, that he was and no longer had any sort of feelings for her? In which case, she needed to watch her back.
She hadn’t wanted him to come, but she hadn’t once thought that he would try to hinder her or take credit for anything. That wasn’t Anatoli’s way.
Or it hadn’t been the way of the man he’d once been. Perhaps she needed to reevaluate some things. Lorraine had made a critical error with Reyna. She couldn’t afford to do the same with Anatoli.
“If you’re here to try and ensure that I screw this up, then leave now. Or I’ll kill you,” Lorraine said.
He laughed softly. “You still don’t trust anyone.”
“And you’ve given me ample reason not to trust you.”
Anatoli blew out a long breath. “Don’t pretend you ever did.”
“I did. Once.” She couldn’t help but glance at him.
He had his head turned away from her so she couldn’t see his face. “Let’s get this straight right now,” he said. “I’m here because I was ordered to be. If you fail, then I fail. I’m not ready for my life to end.”
Before she could reply, he opened the door and got out. He didn’t slam it closed in a fit of rage as she would have. Instead, he softly shut it and walked back to the docks to talk to his team.
Lorraine watched him. The team members were quick to give reports and even smiled at Anatoli. But that was his way. He was easygoing and yet commanded respect effortlessly.
It wasn’t the same with her. She had to fight for everything she had. Including respect. She liked that the people working for her feared her. That kept them in line. She didn’t want them smiling at her and talking to her like a friend. Because friends found it easy to betray.
Those who feared, stayed in line.
Despite knowing that, Lorraine was still jealous of how easily Anatoli fit into his role.
He didn’t fight for anything. He set his gaze on something and conquered it.
Whatever it was. A target, a position within the Saints.
..even her. It all fell into line so smoothly and naturally landed in his lap.
Lorraine heard his laughter, even from the distance. It brought her back to twenty years before when he used to tell her jokes just to make her smile. Usually, it was his laughter that did the trick, not his stupid jokes.
He had the best laugh, though. It was full and boisterous, the kind that made you want to be a part of it, a part of him. His eyes would crinkle at the corners, and he’d hold her tighter. Just thinking about it made her smile.
With him, Lorraine felt comfortable. Safe, even. It was the reason she’d left since it had felt as if the world were passing by without her. But there were those rare times when she thought about what life could have been.
Especially around her birthday. Her parents had never made a big deal about the day of her birth. Anatoli, however, had gone all out. Every year, there was a cake, balloons, flowers, and presents. It wasn’t the size of the gifts that mattered, but the thought that he’d put into them.
She lifted her hand to her chest and felt the gold L pendant beneath her clothing. It had been his first gift to her, and she was never without it. He didn’t know that, though—and he never would.
While many women took time off to have children, Lorraine had never felt her biological clock. She didn’t care that she went home to an empty house since she always had so much work. She didn’t care that she spent holidays alone because that meant she didn’t have to deal with anyone’s bullshit.
But all of that was a lie she told herself.
Because if she let the perfectly crafted world she’d created crumble, she’d never be able to resurrect it. She’d chosen the path she was on, and she was proud of it. So what if she got lonely at times? It always passed.
The only reason she was having trouble now was because Anatoli was with her. His presence brought all the things she refused to think about to the forefront of her mind when she should be focusing on Reyna and Lev.
“Damn you for that,” she said.
Suddenly, he turned and looked at her over his shoulder. Their gazes met, but he didn’t walk to her. He turned back to his men and continued talking.
Lorraine knew it would be pointless to leave.
He’d just find her again. He might be there to watch her, but it also gave her a chance to observe him.
If there was even a remote chance that he might try to take credit for the capture of Lev and Reyna, she was going to make sure the elders knew the truth.
She started the car and put it in reverse. Let him stay out here. She was going back to the hotel to wait for word from her team. There were choppers on standby to take her wherever she needed to go in case the couple did head in one of the other directions.
As Lorraine drove, she thought over everything. Reyna and Lev had been decisive about their every move. If they were going by boat through the Kattegat strait, the Saints would’ve found them.
They’d headed in another direction. The problem was figuring out which one. She had her teams stretched thin in search of them. That could make it easy for the couple to slip through. Then again, her team wasn’t the best for nothing.
She pressed a button on her phone and called her assistant. “Check all outgoing private plane routes from the States to Europe.”
“All of Europe?” the woman asked in surprise.
“Yes, all. I especially want details regarding any planes flying into Germany or Norway.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll get right on that.”
Lorraine disconnected the call. The Loughmans factored into this since Lev was with them. They’d gone to great lengths for their friends in the past. They could again. And if they did, Lorraine would be prepared for it.