The Guardian

by Donna Grant

  He pointed to the one on the far right. “He was my captain in the Army.”

  “Are you sure? People can have the same names.”

  Maks walked to where the name was located next to a person who had been killed. “I know because of the date. We were on a mission in Chile then. Just thirty klicks from where this man was killed.”

  That wasn’t a coincidence, that was for sure. Eden couldn’t imagine how upset Maks must be at discovering this information. But he wasn’t finished.

  “This man,” Maks said as he walked to the name nearest him, “recruited me into the FSB. And this one…” He continued to the next name and swallowed. Maks stared at the name for a moment. “This bastard is from old money. He has his hands in a little bit of everything, and if you ask him what he does for a living, he’ll laugh and tell you some cockamamie story that’s nothing but lies.”

  Eden frowned at the last statement. “You aren’t just acquainted with…”—she paused to read the name—“Jeffery Sumners. You know him.”

  “Yeah, I know him. He’s a family friend. My grandfather and he were pretty tight. At least that’s what I was told. Jeff remained in contact with my father throughout the years and even helped my dad get ahead in his work. Jeff was like that favorite uncle you always see in the movies. The kind who stays away for a while then shows up out of the blue with presents for everyone.”

  There were two other names on the wall, and Eden was afraid that Maks was going to know who they were, as well. Her gaze locked on him, taking in his rigid form, the tense way he held his shoulders.

  His head swiveled to hers, their gazes colliding. “I know all five of these names.”

  “Do you think they can get us to the top of the Saints? Is there any way we could get them to tell us who is running the organization?”

  “What do you see when you look at this wall?” he asked instead.

  She blinked, unsure of where he was going with this. “I see deeds done in an effort to get the Saints what they want. Be it killing people who were causing issues, getting the people they wanted into office, starting—and even ending—wars between countries to boost economies, not to mention this virus and probably many, many others.”

  “Why did you put all of this up on the wall?”

  Eden shrugged, trying to find the words. “When there is this much information to go through, I like to see it in different ways. Getting it online is nice, but it all starts to blur together after a while. I like to see it in a different setting. Usually, there’s a pattern somewhere.”

  “Is there a pattern here?”

  Her gaze slid to the wall as she looked over every piece of paper, followed every line of thread that had been marked with different colors to differentiate the people. Eden took a step back. Then another, and another. She took it all in again, her heart beating faster each time. There was a pattern. And no one would have known any of it had Maks not stolen the intel that he had.

  She turned her head to him. “There’s a pattern.”

  “What is it?” he asked softly.

  Eden licked her lips. “You’ve found the leaders of the Saints.”

  “Not me. You.”

  “I’m not the one who risked my life to get the documents.”

  Maks’ lips twisted briefly. “I’ve sat on most of that for months. If it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t even know any of this. You did it. You found the answers.”

  “We both did it.” She walked to him and reached for his hand. “Since you’ve told me about the Saints, I’ve envisioned a table full of stuffy old men running this secret organization.”

  He shrugged and looked at the wall. “They are in their sixties and seventies. Well, hell, Jeff may be in his eighties.”

  Eden jerked her chin to the last name on the list. “But not all the names are men.”

  “No, they aren’t.”

  “You know all five names up there. I’m guessing they were part of your life somehow.”

  “Captain Jonathan Miller, Evgeni Turgenev, Jeffery Sumners, Timothy Smith, and Evangeline Popov. Each one of them has come into my life in some way that put me on the course I’m on now. I met Stacy through Evangeline. She owned a little coffee shop in near the base. She noticed me staring at Stacy and urged me to ask her out. I didn’t. The next time I went in, Stacy came to me. She told me that Evangeline mentioned that I was interested.”

  She gave him a nod to continue. It was obvious whatever he was about to tell her was difficult, but she didn’t rush him.

  Finally, Maks said, “All these years I’ve believed that Stacy died that day she and the team attacked my squad. I recently discovered that isn’t the case.”

  “I suppose she got lucky. How did you find out? Did she contact you or something?”

  “I saw her at SynTech.”

  Eden’s stomach pitched her to feet as she took in what he said. “Who?”

  “Your boss. She changed her name and continued working for the Saints.”

  “Janice?” Eden replied in a strangled voice. She couldn’t comprehend what was happening, but somehow it all made sense.

  Maks dropped his gaze to the floor as he went quiet.

  Eden wasn’t sure what to say about any of that, so she didn’t reply. Maks never let go of her hand while he was delving into his memories. She hated that these people had left such a mark on him. Some he considered friends, and to realize that they had manipulated him must be difficult to accept.

  “It’s time we bring them down,” she said.

  Maks’ bright blue eyes slid to her. “How?”

  “In this day and age, we don’t need to get to a news source for word to get out. We get it out ourselves. Not to mention, we know a hacker.”

  A smile finally softened his lips. “Callie.”

  “That’s right. But we’ll have to be careful about how we put this out. Not only do we need proof of who these people are and how they’re involved, we need to tell the world they’re involved with this pandemic that’s hit us.”

  Maks blew out a breath. “That’s not going to be easy.”

  “I can do it. I just need some time to get everything together. And I’m going to be online. They might take notice of what I’m going to do. I was being careful before. This time, I won’t be.”

  “Do what you need to do. I’ll prepare for any…visitors.”

  She gaped at him. “You can’t honestly think to hold them off on your own? As good as you are, you don’t have nearly enough weapons.”

  “I know where to get some,” he answered with a smile.

  Eden wasn’t sure if she should be happy at that news or worried. They weren’t in his house in Hungary that had insulated walls to protect against bullets. It was only a matter of time before the Saints gained access to this house with all its windows.

  “Wait,” she said when he started out of the room. “What if we went to a better location?”

  He raised his brows in question. “The city is on lockdown. Where could we go that the Saints won’t be? Staying here will give us a little time until they pin down our location.”

  “I may be way off base here since I don’t do this for a living, and while you’re right, it will take them a little while to find us, the fact is, they will find us. And no matter how many guns you have, they’ll hunt us down before I can finish what I need to do.”

  That caught Maks’ attention. “Can you send it to Callie to do?”

  “No. I can’t tell her what I’m looking for. I’ll know when I start my search. It has to be me.”

  “Which means you need more time than you’d have here.”

  “Exactly.”

  His chest expanded as he drew in a breath. “I have an idea. It’s going to be tricky, but it just might work.”

  “You’ve not led us wrong so far.”

  “You might not be so quick to say that after you see what I have planned.”

  “Is it going to keep us safe?”

  He lifted one sh
oulder. “Safer than remaining here and fighting it out.”

  “Then I’m good with it.”

  “Gather what you need. We’ll be leaving as soon as we can.”

  He turned on his heel and left the room. Eden reached for the mobile phone he’d left behind and took pictures of the wall. Not only was she going to need this, but she also wanted to send it to Callie.

  After that, Eden began dismantling the wall from left to right, keeping everything in order so she could put it back together if she needed to later. Not that she would forget any of it. How could she? In all her imaginings, she’d never once thought she would be involved in something as big and horrible as this. History was being made, and she was a part of it. All she could hope for was that she and Maks succeeded. It was a long shot, but they had no choice but to take it.

  To sit idly by would not only mean the continuation of the Saints but also more and more deaths. Not that putting information out there about the Saints would stop the epidemic, but it certainly couldn’t hurt. People had a right to know that the freedom they believed in was nothing but a figment of their imagination.

  She wasn’t going to let that happen. Every person out there had a right to know the truth. They might riot, they might freak out, or they might continue on as they had been. She didn’t care. The truth was all that mattered right at this moment.

  It made her physically ill to know that people were dying because the Saints had decided to play God. Was the world overpopulated? Yes. Were humans destroying the Earth? Yes. Should something be done? Yes.

  But the right way. Not by killing innocents.

  The more Eden thought about it, the more riled up she became. She had packed everything into her backpack and was walking to the door when Maks appeared. Even now, in a scary situation with the ultimate villain chasing them, she found herself smiling at him.

  “You sure about this?” he asked. “Once we start, there’s no turning back.”

  Eden adjusted the pack on her shoulder. “What other choice do we have? There is no bunker we can go to.”

  “Actually, there is.”

  She blinked before narrowing her eyes on him. “Really?”

  “It’s not easy to get to, and I expect we’ll find Saints there.”

  Eden pushed past him to go downstairs to get her coat. “Sounds like we need to get moving.”

  34

  What they were doing was insane, and yet Maks knew they didn’t really have a choice. Eden was right. They couldn’t have stayed in that house for very long before the Saints arrived and killed them. At least with this plan, they stood a chance. It wasn’t much of one, but it was better than the other options.

  That was his thought before they left the safety of the guest house. Once they were outside, he wasn’t so sure he’d made the right decision. But the look on Eden’s face said she wasn’t going back—only forward.

  The night helped to shield them from prying eyes. Yet, there were more people out than he liked. And he knew most of them were probably Saints. While he and Eden zigzagged their way through the streets and houses, he saw several policemen in uniforms. His trained eyes spotted even more in plain clothes. However, there were still others like Eden and him, who were just trying to make it through another day.

  Maks took her hand and led her toward the river that split the city. There was a direct route, but he took his time picking out which direction they would go to avoid running into anyone. It wasn’t just because he didn’t want the Saints to catch him, he was also doing his best to keep them away from anyone who might be infected. The likelihood that the virus was airborne was high, so it wouldn’t matter about keeping their distance, but he was still being cautious.

  They kept low, running from one spot to another and avoiding the lights from the lamps above. The shadows were many, and he used them to their advantage.

  Maks glanced to make sure no one was coming. He squeezed Eden’s hand to let her know they were about to make a run for it to the next shadow cluster. Just as he was taking the first step out, he heard a voice near him. His arms quickly reached out and grabbed Eden, yanking her against his chest as he held her still and melded them both into the shadows.

  Two men, one in a policeman’s uniform, strolled past, sharing a cigarette. Neither he nor Eden moved until the men were long gone. Maks lowered his arms and retook her hand. Then they were off. The rest of their trek to the river happened without incident.

  “Now what?” Eden asked when they arrived.

  They were hunkered down behind some cars, looking at the river. Maks rose up enough to peer over the hood of the car to see the boats tied up. Some were houseboats where he saw lights within and people moving about. Others were smaller vessels that looked empty, bobbing softly in the water.

  “Stay here,” he told her. “I’m going to find us a boat.”

  She nodded, determination in her gaze.

  He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss before he made his way down to the water. There was little movement on the docks. That didn’t mean there weren’t people in the buildings nearby looking down at him, though. He went to the first small boat that looked like it had seen its fair share of years. Despite the age, it had been well maintained.

  Maks slipped aboard and took a quick look around. He didn’t find any keys, but then he hadn’t expected to. Maks then motioned with his hands for Eden to join him. She followed his path exactly, keeping low and remaining in the shadows. Once she was on board, he untied the boat and pushed away from the dock to drift out into the river. He went to the helm, turning the wheel to point the bow in the direction he was headed, which just happened to be downriver.

  “Stay low,” he told her.

  Eden sat on the floor of the boat. Her eyes blinked up at him. She was scared, but she was strong. He knew finding her had been a godsend. Without her skills, he wouldn’t have the information on the Saints and who was running it. They were a long way from taking the organization down, but they were headed in the right direction.

  Maks let the vessel drift farther from the city. No one shouted anything about seeing a boat, so he hoped that meant that no one had noticed them. It was why he hadn’t started the engine. He didn’t want the noise. Luckily, the direction he was headed was downriver. The current was taking them there. All he needed to do was steer the boat to keep it from going ashore. Everything was going fine until he hit some rough currents that wanted to yank the vessel straight into shore. They were getting to the outskirts of Oradea, but weren’t far enough away yet for him to start the engine.

  He fought the current as long as he could before he had no choice but to hotwire the engine to keep them from crashing. The moment the motor roared to life, he throttled the boat on low and maneuvered them safely into the center of the river.

  A few minutes later, he passed a boat going toward the city. He saw a family of five—three young children huddled with their mother as the father steered—clearly fearful and nervously looking his way. Maks gave them a nod and kept going. That was just the first of many vehicles on the water.

  He glanced at Eden. “Lots more people out here than I thought.”

  “They’re trying to get away. The river seems like a good idea.”

  Maks shrugged. “I’m not sure there is anywhere they can go that’s safe. But the river at least allows you to see people coming. As long as you’re moving. It’s when you stop that you have to worry.”

  “And they’ll need to stop for provisions eventually.”

  “Yep. We would’ve been better off up on that mountain in the cave.”

  “Don’t tease me,” she said with a laugh. “You know I’m fond of that place.”

  He chuckled and looked at her. “It’s just getting there and getting back that’s the problem.”

  “Cold weather and I don’t mix.”

  “You’ve lived in Vienna for how long?”

  “Three years.”

  He shook his head. “And you never got used to the
cold?”

  “No, you can’t use Vienna like that. The weather gets chilly, yes, but I was able to get warm quickly. That’s vastly different from being up on a mountain in ten feet of snow.”

  “It wasn’t ten feet,” he said, unable to hold back his smile.

  She nodded. “You’re right. It was twenty.”

  At this, he laughed, holding in the sound so it didn’t carry on the water. “It was more like three feet.”

  “Perception is reality, and my reality was that it was twenty feet,” she said, a smile on her face. Then she sobered. “Where are we going?”

  He drew in a breath and looked forward. “There’s an old Nazi bunker about five miles downriver.”

  “A what?” she asked in shock.

  “Someone unearthed it a few years back. They’re being found all over Europe. Most don’t even make headlines now. This one didn’t.”

  “Then how did you find out about it?”

  He paused for a moment. “I overheard some people talking about it.”

  “You mean those in the FSB? Or the Saints?”

  “I believe they were Saints.”

  “Do you know if the Saints will be there for sure?”

  Maks shrugged as he glanced at her. “I assume they will be. They were there the last time I visited the bunker.”

  “You’ve been there before?” she asked as she shifted to get more comfortable.

  “Several times. I was curious about it. They’ve not excavated all of it. I found another way in and explored different parts of it.”

  “How long ago was that?”

  “Two months. I doubt they got the section I was in. I stashed supplies in the bunker as well as outside of it. I also took the opportunity and made some upgrades.”

  She made a sound in the back of her throat. “Are you telling me you actually knew you’d be coming here?”

  “I always prepare. I’ve got stashes like this all over the world. Especially in places I know I can get to easily. The bunker sounded like a great place for me to lay low if I ever needed it.”

  “Then why didn’t we come here first?”

  “Because I suspected there would be Saints there. I wanted us to slip into Oradea quietly and unnoticed. We couldn’t have done that in the bunker.”