by Lexi Blake
Story of her life. By the time she found Nell and Henry, she’d wished she’d never left her cabin.
* * * *
Vincent Cavilli looked around his small motel room. It certainly wasn’t the worst place he’d been forced to hole up in.
He’d chosen Creede as his home base because it was close to his target but not so close he would be forced to deal with the locals. Though he was well aware that his appearance was bland and forgettable, it was always best to hedge his bets by staying outside his mark’s area.
He walked to the window and opened the curtains. He liked the mountains. This part of the country was gorgeous and clean. So unlike the city. And it made for a much harder kill.
No one noticed him in a major metropolitan area. He’d worked in all of the world’s great cities. New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Sydney. He’d killed in them all. It wasn’t hard to work in urban areas. Everyone kept their heads down and paid attention to their own shit. People actively ignored others in cities.
Not so here. He’d already been forced to converse with both the motel owner and a father of four on vacation with the most obnoxious children he’d ever had the displeasure of sharing a lobby with. Seriously. He’d considered taking the kids out. It would be his way of giving back. His version of pro bono work. He’d considered playing the asshole, but people tended to remember assholes, so he’d smiled and laughed and talked about the hiking he would do.
Luckily, the US Army had trained him well. It had been a while, but he could hike and track and build a shelter if he needed to. He wasn’t planning on it. He planned on getting some advice on the best trails from the locals and then spending his days working. If he did the job right, it wouldn’t take more than a day or two. He mentally went through his list. Get a lay of the land. Identify the target. Figure out the best method of taking out the target and enacting the plan.
An accident would be best. Again, because he wasn’t in a city, he needed to cover his tracks. Murders in small towns got a lot of attention. Car accidents, heart attacks, even animal attacks were more common here. As he didn’t work with animals, and poisoning someone was harder than television made it out to be, he was thinking about fucking with the mark’s car.
God, he hoped the mark had a car.
The cell phone he’d bought specifically for this job trilled. He sighed. He had all the relevant information. Why did he need regular phone calls? Fucking micromanagers. He’d tried to explain to his current employer that it was better they didn’t communicate, but it was obvious the asshole wasn’t listening. Mobsters. He hated working for them, but they paid well. Unfortunately, they also believed they knew his business better than he did.
With a deep sigh, he answered the phone. “Yes?”
“Are you in place? Did you receive the package?”
Ah, and his employer had more than one employee. This one didn’t sound like she came from Jersey. Fuck. He hoped the asshole hadn’t put this duty off on some freaking law student. Real smart. Here’s your checklist for the day. Call about the appeal. Make sure the argument papers are formatted. Oh, and call to check in with the assassin we hired. Idiot.
“I received the package. It should take me a few days. I have to see a friend.”
“Ah, so you found the house of your friend.”
“Yes, the directions were impeccable, thank you.” At least the idiot wasn’t coming right out and asking him how long it would take to complete the kill.
“We thank you. I’ll be watching for your progress. Please contact this number when the job is done.” The connection closed suddenly.
Amateurs. If he didn’t need the money so badly, he would have avoided this job altogether. He preferred to work outside the US, but the serious money was here.
Two hundred thousand dollars and all he had to do was kill one simple target. He would attempt to make it look like an accident. If he couldn’t do that in the time allotted, he would shoot the fucker. A car accident would be more elegant, but a bullet would do the job, too.
He took a deep breath of mountain air, trying to banish his wariness. He couldn’t turn this job down. He simply had to watch his back and try to fit in. It shouldn’t be too hard. It was late summer, and there were tourists everywhere. He would be one more tourist among the throng. A city dweller looking to get back in touch with nature.
His mark would never know that death was coming.
Vince sat down at the crappy desk and pulled out his file. He went over all the particulars of the person he was being paid handsomely to kill.
The kids next door screamed and turned the television up far too loud.
It would be a miracle if he got out of Colorado with only the one job under his belt.
Chapter Three
Alexei walked from the recreational center to the Movie Motel, his heart light in ways it hadn’t been for years. Holly had responded to him. She’d softened like butter the minute he’d touched her.
The gravel crunched under his feet and the air was brisk on his skin. How long had it been since he’d simply enjoyed the world? Since he’d even acknowledged there was beauty and goodness in the world? He stopped, letting the night flow around him, grateful he’d made it. He breathed in, letting the air fill his lungs. This was the right place to be, the right thing to do. He could feel his brother’s approval. This was what he owed Mikhail—to lead a good life, to bring joy into the world.
He laughed as he opened his eyes. If he kept it up, he would get emotional. It happened a lot since the day he’d made the choice to let revenge go. He started walking toward the motel again, his head filled with happy plans. He was going to have to find a car. He was going to have to find a job. All of that would have been taken care of for him if he’d chosen to stay in witness protection, but Holly was more important than such minor matters.
“’Night, Alexei.” Gene waved at him from behind the counter. The door was open, and Gene had a bag of popcorn in his hand. “How was the wedding shindig?”
Alexei followed his line of sight. From where he was standing, Gene could watch the screen. It was playing a Doris Day film. The Technicolor of the movie lit up the night.
“I miss wedding, but I enjoy the dancing very much.” He’d loved the feel of Holly’s body pressed against his. He’d loved it even more when he’d covered her with his own. He’d meant what he’d said to Caleb. He’d only been kissing her and touching her. He had no intention of their first time together happening on a picnic table. There would be time for freaky sex in odd places later. The first time would be in a bed with flowers and wine. And maybe a cranky doctor.
Gene nodded. “I bet you did. You Russian fellas are real good dancers.”
“You were not invited?” It seemed like almost everyone in Bliss had been invited to the wedding. The hall had been filled to the brim with guests.
“I don’t like to leave this place much,” Gene explained with a sigh. “Besides, if I had left, I would have missed a couple of new guests. Real nice folks. You know, I offered Stef and Jen a room for their honeymoon. They wanted to go to Hawaii.” Gene’s head shook like he couldn’t understand why anyone would willingly leave Bliss.
If Alexei had his way, he would take Holly on a great honeymoon. Someplace nice and tropical, where he could enjoy the sight of her in a bikini and he and Caleb could go fishing.
Because he intended to be in a happy threesome, though he wished the man who was to be his partner was less of a stubborn ass. He’d met donkeys with heads less thick than Caleb’s. Doris Day continued on her quest for love on the big screen behind him while Alexei changed the subject.
“Tell me something, Gene. I am needing to find work. Do you know of anyone who needs good employee?”
“What kind of work are you looking for?”
Well, he’d spent the last several years working for the mob. He was excellent at interrogating criminals, laundering money, and covering up crimes. He doubted anyone was looking to hire a thug. “I am good
with cars.”
Gene’s eyes lit up. “I heard Long-Haired Roger was looking for a mechanic. Now, you want to make sure you find Long-Haired Roger and not Roger. They’re different, but lots of people get them mixed up. Roger is kind of mean, and folks around here are pretty sure he’s planning on attempting to secede from the US. I don’t think Uncle Sam is going to let Roger form his own country and name it Rogerville, but he gets touchy about it, so I would avoid him. Now, both Long-Haired Roger and Roger are married to women named Liz, so you can’t tell them apart that way. And their wives are sisters. And they don’t much like each other. I think their dad should have come up with different names, but he just called them Liz One and Liz Two.”
Gene, he’d discovered, could talk for long periods of time. He knew everyone in the area and had a story about each person. Unfortunately, Alexei didn’t have time this evening to listen. He needed to shower and sleep. In the morning, he had to meet with Caleb and then find a job. “I will find the Roger with long hair.”
“Oh, he doesn’t have long hair anymore. He went bald a couple of years back.”
And Gene could be very confusing. “Perhaps you give me address.”
“Now that’s a real good plan. I can do that.” Gene wrote down the address, and Alexei bid him farewell.
Perhaps by tomorrow he would be gainfully employed. Maybe between the blood tests and a real job, Caleb would relax a bit.
Maybe when Caleb realized he wasn’t alone in caring for Holly, he would discover that he could handle a relationship. After what had happened to his wife, he couldn’t blame Caleb for being scared of commitment. Watching his wife murdered in front of his eyes would have had an effect. But Alexei meant to draw Caleb back into life. He was too good a man to let himself wither and die. He’d given Alexei his life back. Alexei meant to return the favor.
He was about to open his door when he noticed someone had beaten him to it. He wasn’t a fool. There were still people who wanted him dead. He’d left a small thread hanging in the door. It was on the concrete of the sidewalk now. Gene’s staff didn’t clean at night.
Someone was in his room.
He calmly pulled the Glock from the holster at the small of his back and flicked off the safety. Luckily Holly hadn’t noticed it. He would more than likely have to explain why he walked around armed all the time. But for now he was thankful for the feel of it in his hands. He thought briefly about leaving. He could head for town and talk to whoever was manning the sheriff’s office, but this was his problem. The last thing he needed was to run into Logan Green and ask him to watch his back. The last time he’d talked to Logan Green, the man had been tortured and nearly killed by Alexei’s mob boss, buying Alexei time to save Holly. If Stefan Talbot hadn’t come along, he wasn’t sure Logan would have made it. No. He wouldn’t ask anyone to risk his life. If he really had people trying to take him out, he would have to consider leaving Bliss. He couldn’t risk Holly.
In one smooth move, he opened the door and got into a firing stance, his legs strong beneath him, both hands on the gun.
And sighed because his past had caught up to him in the form of a couple of law enforcement professionals. And they were kissing on his bed. He now knew who had checked in while he was gone. “You could not make love on own bed?”
Michael Novack rolled off his partner and looked up at Alexei with a grin on his face. “We’re lucky that was you and not someone else. One of these days they’re going to fire us.”
Jessie buttoned up her shirt. Unlike Holly, Jessie didn’t blush. She simply winked at Alexei and smoothed her straight dark brown hair. She was dressed in her normal uniform of slacks and a button down. Jessie dressed like she was one of the boys. It suited her slender, athletic build, but Alexei greatly preferred Holly’s curves. “Surprised to see us? We were surprised you left.”
Was he surprised to see the US marshals in Bliss? Not really. But he’d hoped they would let him go. “The job was over. The trials are done.”
Michael was a former linebacker. He often told Alexei about his college days. He flexed his arms over his head, displaying a body built on broad lines. He was dressed in dark slacks and a button down, though it fit him differently than his partner/girlfriend. “Two of those cases are still on appeal. I explained that to you.”
Appeals. Yes. There was nothing appealing about the prospect. The appeals process could take even longer than the trials. It was a criminal’s last legal way out. “I don’t wish to stay in Florida motel room for years waiting to see if criminals’ lawyers will get them out. I wish to get on with life.”
“So you traded a motel room in Florida for one in Colorado?” Jessie asked, a smirk on her face. “That doesn’t make a lick of sense. And this place is boring. Even the movies are super old. I don’t get it. Unless, of course, there’s a girl involved.”
He’d never mentioned her name to either of his handlers. He’d kept that to himself. He’d erased her texts and burned her letters. He wanted no mention of her to come to anyone who might leak it. Now that the trials were done, he’d felt safe enough to come back to her. No one would care that Alexei Markov had disappeared into the west and found his wife. He would even insist that Caleb be the one to legally marry her so there was no record of his name linked with hers.
“Her name wouldn’t happen to be Holly Lang?” Michael asked.
“How did you know?” Shit. He’d fucked up. He’d known he couldn’t keep it a secret, had never meant to from the locals, but he didn’t want anyone outside of Bliss to know about her.
Jessie looked at him sympathetically. “No one broods the way you did over anything but a woman.”
“I don’t know. I think I brood over many things. Dead brother. Many crimes committed in name of revenge. Lots of peoples wishing to eviscerate me.” He had a long list of worries.
“Yeah, you’re a walking mental health issue,” Michael replied, his dark head shaking. “But we always knew it was about a girl. We had your file, man. Holly Lang is a local waitress. You saved her life.”
“She is nice lady.” He downplayed it. Let them believe he would have done the same for anyone.
“And you’re in love with her.” Jessie wasn’t going to let up. Alexei had often compared the slender brunette to a badger. She could be mean and stubborn when she got an idea in her head. “You’re here for her. And don’t think I didn’t know about the cell phone. I’m just a great believer in forbidden love.”
Michael sent a leer her way. “She is. Now marriage is another story. She doesn’t believe in that at all.”
Dark eyes rolled. “Dude, seriously? You bring that up now? We would both be fired.”
Michael wouldn’t let up. “Or one of us could move to a different department, maybe something less life threatening.”
Jessie’s lips pursed. Alexei got the feeling this was a well-worn argument. “Sure you can. Enjoy the paperwork, buddy, because I’m not moving.”
Alexei reholstered his gun. He wouldn’t be using it this evening. “Please to be having relationship discussion later. Tell me if you’re taking me back into custody.”
He would have to find a way to talk to Holly. He couldn’t disappear again. He couldn’t walk into her life, kiss her for all he was worth, and then step back out. It would crush her, and he didn’t trust Caleb to pick up the pieces. Not yet. Caleb was like the nursery rhyme Humpty-Dumpty. He required piecing back together after a long fall. But Alexei couldn’t put him back together again if he was holed up in a motel in some nondescript city in Middle America.
“Technically, if you don’t want witness protection, we can’t force you into it. You’ve proven valuable to the government, but not in an eyewitness fashion. If you choose to leave the program, we can’t stop you,” Michael explained.
“I choose to leave.” He breathed a deep sigh of relief. He’d done his duty by putting the criminals away. He’d saved lives by cutting their careers short. Now it was time to do his duty to Caleb and Holly.<
br />
“I told you we shouldn’t have called him Howard.” Jessie smiled at him. “We knew that would be your answer, but we’re here anyway. Look, we’ve grown to give a shit about you. I think the judge is going to throw these suck-ass claims out, but if I’m wrong, we should know in a week or so. We don’t have to tell our boss you’re opting out yet. We’ll explain we’ve moved you to another location, and if these dirtbags get another trial, we go deep and take this Holly person along for the ride.”
“No. I do not wish this for Holly.” Holly would wither being forced to change her name and stay in cheap motel rooms, always hiding. And she wouldn’t go. She couldn’t live with never seeing her son again. “If I must go, I will go alone.”
“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” Michael said seriously. “We should know soon. In the meantime, neither one of us has mentioned your new home to anyone. Not even our director. You should be safe here. I take it you traveled under an assumed name?”
“Of course. I take bus. Not much securities there.” Just very smelly people on his particular bus. But when a person wanted to be anonymous, there was no better transportation.
“He’ll be fine, babe,” Jessie assured him. “And we’ll have a mountain vacay. We’re in the room next to you. We can be here in two seconds flat. Well, unless Mr. Horny here has his way, and then it’s more like fifteen, twenty seconds.”
“Bitch.” But Michael said it with deep affection.
It hadn’t taken Alexei long to discover that the partners were more than mere friends. He’d spoken with Michael about it. They had only been lovers for a few months, but Michael loved her deeply, and Jessie seemed to feel the same way. They acted professionally while working, but Alexei could see that they were going to take advantage of their impromptu vacation.
And he would take advantage of his.
* * * *
