Chapter 24
“What the hell do you mean, they’re gone?” Lorraine demanded.
None of the soldiers would even meet her gaze. Fury burned within her. The men had cornered Lev and Reyna, and yet, somehow, they’d gotten away. She could barely fathom it.
She turned and saw Anatoli enter the house. At least he wasn’t making some comment about her losing the couple again. He would later. Of that, she was sure. She had a small reprieve.
But she wasn’t worried about what her ex-lover had to say.
With every day, every hour that she didn’t produce Reyna and Lev, her reputation within the Saints took a hit.
She didn’t care what those below her thought.
It was Lester and the elders. Those were the ones who had the authority to order her death—or grant her life.
Lorraine knew that it would be pointless to yell at the soldiers. They’d been ordered not to shoot at Lev and Reyna, which gave them little options for containing them. She’d hoped that when she got the call that the men had found the couple that she would get to them before they made a run for it.
She hadn’t been so lucky. In fact, she’d had nothing but bad luck since the moment Lev arrived in Kiev. If she were a suspicious person, she’d think someone had cursed her.
Lorraine sighed and looked around the yard. Bright lights were set up so she and Anatoli could see. The bullet holes that riddled the trees and ground proved that the men had fired upon Lev and Reyna, even though they had orders not to.
But with the couple wounding—and killing—at least two men, Lorraine didn’t blame the soldiers for firing back. She certainly would have.
Things would be a lot simpler if the elders didn’t want Lev and Reyna alive. Lorraine could set up a sniper and take them out easily. She’d be back in the office in a day instead of traipsing around after two people she wanted dead.
The sound of footsteps approaching pulled her attention from her thoughts. None of the soldiers would dare approach her, which meant it was Anatoli. And she wasn’t in the mood for his comments.
“Two dead and seven wounded,” he said when he reached her. He put his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “If that’s what Lev and Reyna can do in the dark while running, I’m not sure I want to meet them head-on.”
She rolled her eyes before she looked at him. “You afraid of them?”
He flattened his lips and shot her a dry look. “They’re good, Lori. Even you have to admit that.”
“I know how good Reyna is. I chose her, remember?”
“And Lev?” Anatoli pushed.
Lorraine wanted to discount him, but she couldn’t. “It’s obvious Lev has some training. No US agency or military I spoke with admitted to training him, though.”
“Some people have that kind of skill naturally. It’s rare, but it does happen.”
“I disagree. That kind of proficiency is only obtained by many years of intense training. Someone gave him the skills. I’ll find out who one way or another.”
Anatoli blew out a loud, exasperated breath. “What does it matter?”
“It always matters.”
He faced her. “No. What matters is doing what you’ve been ordered to do. You’ve come close a few times, but your quarry continues to slip through your fingers. You would’ve had them this time had the soldiers not killed the old man.”
“The men obviously felt they had no choice.”
But she agreed with Anatoli. She couldn’t believe they had possibly ruined the capture of Lev and Reyna simply because the old man had caught sight of one of them.
Anatoli rubbed a hand over his mouth and whiskered chin. “It’s obvious where they’re headed.”
“The coast,” she replied. “It’s why I called those chasing them back. There’s no need to waste the time and effort since I know where they’re going.”
He nodded as he looked into the darkness beyond the lights. “I would’ve kept men on them. It might have caused them to make a mistake.”
“Yes, because that’s worked to my advantage since we began this.”
Anatoli’s blue eyes slid to hers. “We?”
“Do you have to be an ass about everything?”
“Up until now, you’ve said ‘I.’ I’m curious why you would suddenly include me.”
God, she hated him. Really, what she hated was how he managed to catch her in such instances. “Fine. Since I began this. I would like to point out that you’re here, which means you’re on the hook for this, as well.”
Anatoli chuckled. As he walked away, he said, “And you wonder why everyone thinks you’re a bitch.”
His words stung, but she wouldn’t let it show.
She didn’t have her current position to make friends.
So what if everyone thought she was heartless?
It was that merciless, take-no-prisoners attitude that had gotten her where she was.
She wouldn’t apologize to anyone for that, nor would she change who she was.
Anatoli halted and turned on his heel to stalk back to her. He stopped in front of her, anger flashing in his eyes. “Everyone out here would stick their necks out for you if you showed them some respect. Instead, you treat them as if they’re the dirt beneath your shoe.”
“They do show me respect because of my position in the Saints. They know with one word that I could claim their life.”
Anatoli shook his head, gazing at her with disgust. “We treat those not in the Saints like that, not our own.”
“You don’t,” she reminded him. “I do things differently.”
“And it’s that approach that has you where you are.”
She barked with laughter. “What? Continuing to rise in the ranks?”
“Alone in the cold. Because that’s what’s going to happen if Lev and Reyna get away. No one is going to stand with you against the elders.”
“Are you saying if we were still together that you would? Are you honestly telling me if I was nicer and complimented those around me that each and every one of those men would go before the elders and speak on my behalf?” Reyna snorted and rolled her eyes. “Bullshit.”
“I would, yes.”
Her head whipped back around to him. She hadn’t really expected him to answer.
He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “At least, I would have. You made your choices.”
In other words, even he would forget that he knew her. Fine. If that’s how he wanted it.
Lorraine inwardly shook her head. Of course, that was how he wanted it. She had left him without so much as a by your leave, and then for the next few years, went out of her way to ignore him. She’d climbed the Saints’ ladder, doing whatever she needed to in order to get to the next level.
And she’d done it all with the knowledge that it might one day come back to haunt her. Although, she hadn’t really thought that would actually come to pass. There was still a chance that it wouldn’t. All she had to do was capture Reyna and Lev.
She lifted her chin and met Anatoli’s gaze. “Yes, I did make my choices.”
With that statement delivered, she turned and walked to the house. She put his words out of her mind as she looked over the bowls of food and the schnapps on the table. The old man held bullets clutched in one hand while the other was stained red with his blood.
If he were giving the couple ammunition, then they must be running low. And they had used a lot to escape the house. If only she knew for certain that they had used everything.
“Ma’am.”
She swung her head around to find one of the soldiers holding up a backpack.
Lorraine recognized it as one she’d seen Lev wearing.
She walked to the man and took the bag from him to place it on the table so she could sort through it.
Unfortunately, the only thing of use she found was a map. Everything else was food and water.
“What else did they leave behind?” she demanded.
It wasn’t long before she saw the used bandages with dried blood as well as Lev’s discarded clothes. There was nothing else for them there.
“Let’s wrap this up and move on,” she ordered. Her gaze landed on the sergeant. “Make it look like Reyna and Lev were intruders who murdered the old man.”
Lorraine walked past Anatoli, uncaring if he agreed with her decision or not.
The more people after her quarry, the better.
Enough Saints were looking that Lev and Reyna should be found, but those not associated with the organization could be swayed to help them by seeing the lie about the murder.
That would leave the couple nowhere to go.
She walked the scene again to make sure the bullet casings were picked up. The local authorities that would report this as a murder were part of the Saints and would disregard the number of bullet holes in the house and the trees.
When she made her way to the car, Anatoli was in the passenger seat with his head leaning back and his eyes closed. Still feeling ill-tempered from earlier, she slammed her door particularly hard when she got inside. The grin she wore slipped when he didn’t even flinch.
“Norway has a long coastline,” he said without opening his eyes.
She gripped the steering wheel tightly. “Our people are at every port. There is no other escape for them.”
His head turned to her, and he opened one eye. “Death is an escape, Lori. Neither Lev nor Reyna seem the type to be taken as prisoners.”
“They don’t know we’re not going to kill them,” she replied.
“I spoke to the lieutenant of the soldiers. His men were shooting wide. They know.”
Damn. She hadn’t thought of that. “Then we’ll have to make certain that neither Lev nor Reyna take their own lives.”
Anatoli closed his eye and rolled his head back to its original position without responding.
Lorraine angrily grabbed at her seatbelt. As she went to fasten it, the tip of her finger got pinched in the mechanism. She hissed at the pain and shook out her hand. Unwittingly, her gaze lifted to Anatoli, but her ex-lover didn’t seem to care that she was injured.
Just as it should be. He was an ex for a reason.
She started the engine and began the drive toward the coast.