The Return (Butler Ranch Book 6)

by Heather Slade

  She nodded and then looked away from him. “I’m so sorry.”

  Kade gripped her shoulders. “Look at me. You have no more reason to apologize for your mother’s actions than I do, or than Leech does.”

  “It’s just that…”

  Kade shook his head. “It’s just that…nothing. You know who could really use your support right now?”

  “Who?”

  “Your grandfather.”

  Quinn nodded.

  “Mercer, Paps, Razor, your grandfather, and I have a lot to discuss—things it would probably be better that you didn’t know.”

  “I’m good at not asking questions.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Mercer’s been telling me to trust him since the day I met him. He has this way, you know, when something’s going on, I can just tell.”

  He smiled. “Can you read me too?”

  “Not as well as Paps and Razor.”

  Kade kissed her forehead. “We’ll talk more later.”

  She nodded, went into the bedroom, and closed the door.

  “When’s the last time anyone saw Barbie?” Paps was asking when Kade came back downstairs.

  “Last night around ten.”

  “Was that the usual routine?”

  “More or less. At least one of us checked in on her before we called it a night,” answered Leech.

  Mercer nodded. “I left at zero five hundred this morning, and didn’t think to look in on her.”

  “I’m sure she was already gone,” said Kade.

  Leech nodded and put his head in his hands like he’d done at the beach. “The accident?”

  “My guess is United Russia,” said Mercer. He turned to Kade, “Not because they reneged on your deal. I think she might’ve been playing two sides against the middle.”

  Mercer opened his laptop. “Doc, as you know, shortly after you left for Scotland, I started running surveillance on several places, including the Harmony house. It became obvious to me, shortly after Lena was released from the hospital, that her recovery was going much more quickly than she’d admit. I believe she had at least partial vision right away. And I’m not sure she ever suffered memory loss. I found this earlier.” He played a video showing Lena and another woman enter the house in Harmony and go into the kitchen.

  “Who’s that?” asked Paps. “The new nurse?”

  “Yep.”

  They watched as Lena used a key to open the door to the room Mercer used as his bedroom and office. From there the two did a thorough search, opening drawers, rifling through what was in them. They even checked the floor and closet.

  “What are they looking for?”

  “What we found in the cabin,” answered Paps.

  The four men turned and looked at him. Paps wouldn’t look any of them in the eye.

  “Before the accident, we uh…spent some time together. I helped her find the house in Summerland. Stuff like that,” he told them.

  “It was more than that, wasn’t it?” Kade asked.

  Paps shook his head. “It probably would’ve been, but she started asking questions about what else was in the cabin.”

  “Stop right there,” said Leech, holding up his hand. “What she was looking for wasn’t in the cabin; it was here.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I hid it here, and she found it.”

  “When?” asked Mercer.

  Leech shrugged. “When she wasn’t here this morning, and Quinn didn’t know where she was, I went and looked, and it was gone.”

  “How in the hell did she get in contact with United Russia?” Kade asked.

  “I did a thorough search of Leech’s computer,” said Mercer, who then looked at the man. “Sorry, sir.”

  “Apology accepted. I figure you’re one of the good guys.”

  Mercer continued. “From what I can tell, she’s been at this since we returned from Europe. UR issued an ultimatum right before the accident, demanding delivery.”

  Kade stood, wanting to hurl something through the wall. What in God’s name had she been thinking?

  “I’m not sure they intended to run her off the road. They may have planned to scare her, but things went too far.”

  Kade felt sick to his stomach. “What is she getting in exchange?”

  “Fatale.”

  20

  “Find Lena,” Kade bellowed.

  “On it, Doc,” said Paps, who was already messaging his contacts at various checkpoints.

  At the same time, he knew Mercer and Razor were reaching out to their people at TSA.

  Kade rested his hand on Leech’s shoulder. “This is not on you. I’m just as responsible, or more.”

  “Bullshit,” spat Leech, shirking away from Kade’s grasp. “I rue the day I ever set eyes on Rory Calder.”

  “None of us feel differently.”

  “But this isn’t just on Rory’s head. Her mother and I have pushed you and Lena to be together since the day you showed up at our place on Old Creek Road.”

  “There was a time we both went along with it willingly,” said Kade. “But things changed. Connect the dots for me, though, Leech.”

  “I’m hypothesizing, but it isn’t difficult to figure out that my daughter wanted to get rid of whatever stood between you and her being together. In a name, that’s Fatale Shaw. Lena’s been around the game long enough to know how it’s played. Offer a good enough deal, and you can make pretty much whatever you want happen.”

  “Tell me what she’s got,” said Kade.

  “Names, kill dates, and who was responsible.”

  Jesus. Kade didn’t even want to ask, but he had to. “Is Vinogradoff responsible for at least one of the hits?”

  “Far more than that. At least half.”

  Tikhon Vinogradoff was the current Russian president and had been a KGB foreign intelligence officer for sixteen years, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel before resigning to enter politics. If proof got out that he was personally responsible for killing any CIA operatives, let alone the number he had, United Russia’s relationship with the United States would cease to exist.

  “Do you have another copy anywhere?”

  Leech nodded and pulled something out of his pocket. “If I’d died, you would’ve been contacted.”

  Kade knew what he was looking at because he’d received the same kind of thing many times over the course of his career.

  The original document Leech turned in was registered with the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States. What Leech had handed to him was a card bearing the seal of the agency, with a set of numbers printed on it. Once contacted, Kade would’ve had to supply the agency with those numbers as verification in order to be given access to the documents Leech had surrendered. However, without the proper security clearance, he would’ve been denied regardless.

  “Did you hide the other stuff that Quinn and Eighty-eight found in the cabin?” asked Razor.

  “Affirmative,” said Leech.

  Kade wanted to know how he’d gotten his hands on a lot of it, but at this point, it no longer mattered. Quinn knew the circumstances of her birth. Everything else she and Mercer found had little significance.

  “Let’s move out,” suggested Razor. “We don’t have time to waste.”

  Kade agreed. They should be ready to leave the minute they learned Lena’s whereabouts.

  “Leech?”

  “Do what you need to do,” he told Kade.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “You didn’t do this, I did.”

  The team was on the plane, waiting only for information to come in and file their flight plan.

  “We’re gonna have to sell United Russia something of our own to pay the jet fuel bill,” joked Razor. “Here’s an idea, you could hand over Orlov.”

  Kade grunted. It was his friend’s way to try to alleviate the tension by making a joke. However, he wasn’t sure yet whether the Russian was or wasn’t on UR’s payroll.

  “Fatale’s here.
We can assume that much.” Paps walked over to Kade with his laptop and showed him a detailed blueprint of Brodick Castle, along with outlining buildings and the tunnel system that connected them.

  “Where the hell is Lena? That’s what I want to know now,” Kade barked.

  “Headed to Glasgow,” said Mercer, standing up with his own laptop and pointing to the email that confirmed her travel with Zaryana Ivashov—according to facial recognition. He’d also received surveillance footage of them in the Los Angeles airport terminal.

  “She’s traveling under one of the assumed identities we gave her,” said Mercer.

  “She knows enough to be dangerous to herself and us, but not enough to cover her tracks,” added Paps, shaking his head. “If you’re right about her travel companion, there is a good chance Barbie isn’t going of her own accord.”

  Kade had heard of Ivashov, code name Raketa, which directly translated from Russian to “Rocket.” From what he understood, she was one of KGB’s best.

  “We’re set to roll,” said Razor, relaying a message from the cockpit. There were three pilots that were on K19’s rotation. Today, Montano “Onyx” Yáñez was the plane’s captain, while Manon “Alegria” Mondreau was his co-pilot. Both were trusted operatives who had run several missions with the team.

  “When this is over, I want to talk about K19,” said Paps.

  Kade nodded, fastening his seatbelt. “We can talk now,” he answered, motioning to the seat next to him.

  Paps, in turn, motioned to Razor, who sat across from them.

  “What about Eighty-eight?” he asked.

  “I’m right here,” answered Mercer, sitting down in the fourth seat.

  “Razor and I have discussed it at great length. We know you both want to retire,” Paps began, looking between them. “However, neither of us do.”

  Kade nodded.

  “I know I said it was all or none…”

  “But we changed our minds,” said Razor with a toothy grin. “We’re not done savin’ the world.”

  “I have to admit, I’ve been giving it some thought…” said Kade.

  “And?”

  “I’m done traveling the world for the job, but I think I can help save a few lives from the comfort of my office.”

  “I hear ya,” said Paps, looking at Mercer who hadn’t said anything yet.

  “I’m out,” he answered. “I made a promise.”

  “What about forensics?” asked Razor.

  “Maybe.”

  Kade smiled when Mercer did. He would guess that his future son-in-law felt much the same way he did. It was one thing to say you’re retiring and getting out of the game entirely, but actually doing it was much harder.

  “We’ve been askin’ around. Some of the crew have expressed an interest in coming on board in a greater capacity,” Razor told them.

  “Who?” asked Kade.

  “Today’s pilot and co-pilot have both added their names. Plus…”

  Kade caught the look that passed between Razor and Paps. “Who?”

  “Striker.”

  “No.”

  “You get one vote, Doc. That’s the way it works,” said Paps.

  Kade looked at Mercer.

  “I don’t have anything against him, to be honest with you.”

  “Shit. Who else?” Kade grumbled.

  “Welsh.”

  He remembered the man who had taken it upon himself to have the cloth used to knock out either his father or Quinn analyzed. Kade didn’t like that he hadn’t asked or even reported doing so. He also remembered his father was the one who’d brought him in, to begin with.

  “Anyone else?”

  “We were thinkin’ Fatale might want to sign on, but…”

  “Have you always done this?” Kade asked Razor.

  “What?”

  “Not finished your sentences. It’s like you’re a seven-year-old.”

  Razor laughed and looked at Paps. “Told you he’d be a dick about it. We figured if we saved her ass, she might want to come on board.”

  “First we have to actually save it, and then…Rivet might not be so ready to let her go.”

  “You two are the real deal, though, right?” Razor’s smile left his face, and he looked into Kade’s eyes.

  “I sure as hell hope so.”

  —:—

  Merrigan could hear Orlov cursing, but not much more of the conversation he was having with Aleksei and her other “guards” on the opposite side of the thick wall separating her room from the hallway. She jumped when the door burst open and he walked in.

  “You’re staying here for the time being,” he told her, and then sat on the bed beside her. “I told you before, but you didn’t believe me. Now you must understand that I brought you here for your own good.”

  “What about my family, Sergei?”

  “Rivet is aware of your family’s whereabouts.”

  She nodded and looked into his eyes. “Tell me what’s happening.”

  “Animus is on the way. So is United Russia.”

  This didn’t make sense. UR had helped MI6 infiltrate the Maskhadovs, and then helped her get Kade and Leech out. The blood of the few remaining members of their mortal enemy was shared between all three teams—UR, MI6, and K19, which, in essence, was the CIA.

  “I don’t understand. UR and MI6—”

  “Things have changed.”

  “In what way?”

  “Animus wants your head, and UR has committed to delivering.”

  “Mine? Why?”

  Orlov shook his head. “You will understand soon enough.”

  “What about K19?”

  “They fucking better be on their way to stop them.”

  “Can’t you stop them?”

  “I have other matters to attend to. While K19 keeps United Russia busy and prevents them from killing you, I intend to take Animus.”

  “Take?”

  “Like I’ve said several times, Animus has what I want. And I have what the good doctor wants. If things go as I hope, we’ll both be happy.”

  “And United Russia?”

  “Their losses will be…unfortunate. However, if Animus has what I think she has, UR will be in no position to do anything but give in to every Ukrainian demand, regardless of what happens here today.”

  “Did you say ‘she’?”

  Orlov nodded.

  Who the hell was this Animus, and why had she put a bounty on Merrigan’s head?

  She put her fingertips to her temples, wishing she could magically stop her head from throbbing. It was too difficult to think through the pain of it.

  —:—

  Each member of the K19 team retreated to seats away from one another to think through their course of action once they were on the ground. Soon they’d gather again and solidify each phase of their plan.

  “Ready?” Kade asked, gripping the back of his neck.

  “Yep,” answered Razor, who came back to sit across from him.

  “What’ve you got?”

  “Hang on,” he answered, motioning for Paps and Mercer to join them.

  Razor laid out the map and marked where each of them should go in.

  “Where’s Shiv?” asked Kade.

  “Inside,” he answered.

  “Eighty-eight, you stay here,” Kade said pointing to their rendezvous spot.

  Mercer shook his head. “Put one of MI6’s people there.”

  While Kade was more than willing to risk his life to save the love of his, he wouldn’t allow his daughter’s to do the same. He needed to know Mercer would be there to take care of Quinn in the event something happened to him.

  “I can’t do it, Eighty-eight. Don’t ask me to,” Kade implored, hoping his teammate understood just how difficult this was for him. “I’m essentially clipping your wings, and I know it. But—”

  Mercer nodded. “I don’t like it, but I get it.”

  As they ran through the rest of the plan, Razor made adjustments based on Mercer�
�s change of involvement.

  “All set?” Kade asked anxiously.

  His three teammates nodded.

  “Let’s talk about Lena, then.” Kade looked at Paps.

  He nodded and then gave his thoughts on her profile, along with what he predicted to be her plan of action. “I believe that United Russia ‘summoned’ her.”

  Kade nodded. “Formally escorted.”

  “Raketa Ivashov is one of the best agents we’ve seen out of the KGB in the last twenty years.”

  “She doesn’t look very old,” commented Razor.

  “She isn’t.” Paps focused on the screen of his laptop. “Thirty.”

  “Let’s get her.”

  Kade understood why Razor suggested it, and maybe years ago he would’ve agreed. Now, all he cared about was getting Merrigan safely out of Scotland. Capturing another agent and convincing her to become a double agent was beyond what he was willing to do.

  “Before you comment,” added Razor, winking. “You get one vote.”

  “Back to Barbie,” Paps muttered. “UR doesn’t trust her.”

  “They’re waiting to get their hands on what she’s got before they honor their side of the deal,” said Kade.

  “Exactly. Once Lena hands off the evidence that Calder had on Vinogradoff, the kill order will immediately go into effect.”

  “Unless Orlov intercepts her first.”

  Vinogradoff himself certainly wouldn’t show. Instead, his second in command would confirm the authenticity of Animus’ delivery, and issue the order to kill the woman whom Kade knew he couldn’t live without.

  “On the other hand, they may just kill Lena.”

  Kade had thought of that too, but couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud. What kind of a man did it make him to hope they did, and left Merrigan alone?

  “Have we heard from MI6?” he asked.

  “Affirmative,” answered Razor. “We’ll be on the ground in Glasgow before the flight Lena and her escort are on is permitted to leave Heathrow.”

  “And backup?”

  “Already on their way to the castle.”

  Kade closed his eyes, willing Merrigan to keep herself safe until he got to her.