Love and Triumph: The Coltrane Saga, Book 8

by Patricia Hagan

  He freed Boris, who was rubbing the back of his head and groaning. Rudolf asked him if he was all right, and he blinked dizzily. Then he said that if he had a little vodka he would be just fine.

  “Get it!” Rudolf ordered Marilee.

  “Get it yourself!” she retorted, instinctively moving closer to Cord.

  Boris struggled to his feet.

  Rudolf continued to point his gun at Cord and Marilee. He watched as Boris staggered over to a cabinet and grabbed a bottle of vodka, then held it to his lips and drank eagerly.

  Boris wiped his lips with the back of his hand, then he turned and glared furiously at Cord. “You…” he snarled, “…will wish you were dead before I and my men are through with you.”

  “I had my orders,” Cord said, pretending that he was still on the side of the Bolsheviks. “In case you don’t know who I am, I was one of the leaders of the Zurich Zealots in charge of the abduction of Marilee Mikhailonov. She escaped. I was sent to track her down and bring her back. You were about to rape her. You think she’s worth anything to us once you rip her to pieces?”

  He spoke so coolly that with each word Marilee hated him all the more. “You bastard,” she said between clenched teeth. “You goddamn bastard!”

  He winced ever so slightly, hating what he had to do but knowing that it was necessary to save their lives. “So what?” He grinned arrogantly. “Can I help it if I don’t like seconds?”

  She slapped him then, losing all control. He just stood there and forced himself to laugh.

  “Enough of that!” Rudolf exploded. To Boris, he cried, “He’s lying. He’s a traitor to our cause. I’ve been in on this from the beginning. He fell in love with her when he was holding her for ransom in France. That’s why my sister got mad and told the enemy everything. He’d been trifling with her, too. He’s no good as an agent, and he can’t be trusted. All he wants is Marilee, and you promised her to me…” His voice trailed off in a whine.

  Marilee was repulsed. “I’d rather die than have you touch me, you spineless little coward!”

  “No!” he said, a grim expression on his face. “You won’t die, Marilee. You’re going to learn to love me, the way I love you. I’m going to be so good to you, you’ll beg me to take you again and again…” His eyes had taken on a glassy look, and he spoke thickly, as if in a trance.

  Marilee told him he was crazy.

  Boris snickered. “I really don’t think she wants any part of you, Rudolf. Maybe we’d better reconsider our agreement.”

  Rudolf’s eyes grew darker, and the hand holding the gun began to tremble slightly, as though he were fighting an inner battle to keep from turning it on Boris. “What did you say?” he demanded.

  “I said…” Boris paused to lift the bottle to his mouth once more and take a long swallow. “I said that perhaps we should reconsider our little bargain. Our little Natasha, or I should say Marilee, doesn’t seem to want any part of you.”

  “Well, she sure as hell doesn’t want you!” Rudolf cried, indignant.

  Cord almost made his move. Rudolf lost his concentration for one split second, but just as he started to leap forward, Rudolf lifted the gun once more and snarled, “I’ll kill you, Brandt, I swear it.”

  Then he looked at Marilee. “Gorchakov would have your father executed. Brandt is a traitor and can’t be trusted. He made a fool of my sister. He’ll do the same to you, if you let him. I am the only one you can trust, Marilee. I am only here because I love you.”

  Marilee threw back her head and laughed. “You fool! I’d rather die than have you love me! Love your cause, Bolshevik,” she went on contemptuously. “It’s a worthy cause for your lust.”

  He winced, as though he’d been slapped like Brandt. His eyes narrowed. Brandt and Gorchakov both snickered, which only served to infuriate him all the more. “Enough!” he shrieked, enraged. “You’re coming with me. Get your cape. Now.”

  To Gorchakov, he said, “Brandt is all yours. We’re leaving.”

  “You wait a damn minute!” Boris stopped laughing, his mouth suddenly grim as he set the bottle aside and started toward Rudolf. “I think you forget who I am! You take orders from me, Citizen Hapsburg. I say what will happen. You are going nowhere.”

  The two Bolsheviks had their backs turned to the door, and were unaware of the movement behind them.

  But Cord and Marilee saw—and remained frozen.

  Cord contained a sigh of relief as Irina slipped quickly and quietly inside the room, holding a knife at her side.

  Marilee was puzzled. She had seen the woman at the restaurant, washing glasses. Who was she, and why had she come? Yet another Bolshevik? But if she were also the enemy, why was she sneaking up behind Boris with a knife?

  And then there was no more time to wonder; as the blade arced through the air and sliced through the back of Boris’s thick neck.

  Cord lunged, knocking the gun from Rudolf’s hand and punching him in the face.

  Both men crumpled to the floor simultaneously.

  Boris lay in a rapidly forming pool of his own blood, his eyes already glazed as death gripped him.

  Marilee stood watching in astonished silence as Cord spoke to the woman.

  “You got here just in time.” He gave her a quick hug, then said tersely, “We’ve all got to get out of here. Rudolf may have men stationed nearby who will be suspicious when he doesn’t return.”

  “There was nobody about outside,” she told him. “It’s snowing pretty hard, and all’s quiet.”

  Marilee wondered what the stranger’s part was in all this. If she was a friend of Cord’s, why had she just murdered a Bolshevik?

  She noticed that, despite having just killed, the woman had almost an ethereal air about her. The shadows in her eyes revealed that she had obviously suffered and endured much in life. Yet she was lovely, and the smile she bestowed on Cord was compassionate and caring.

  Another of his women, no doubt, Marilee fumed. But it did not matter to her.

  She began to inch toward the door. Cord’s back was turned as he knelt to tie Rudolf. He did not notice the way Marilee was stealthily moving, but the woman saw. “Please don’t leave us, Marilee. We mean you no harm,” she said quietly.

  Cord leaped up just as Marilee started to run. He blocked her path, then grabbed her and held her as she began to struggle.

  She tried to scream, but he clamped a hand over her mouth. “Stop it! You’ve nothing to fear from her. That’s Irina.”

  Irina!

  Marilee’s eyes widened above Cord’s hand, and he released her. She turned to the woman in awe. “Irina. You…you’re my father’s…friend.”

  Irina smiled through her tears. “You can trust me, Marilee. I swear it. And Cord, too. He’s always been on your side.”

  Marilee looked from one to the other, still wary.

  “But we’ve got to get out of here,” Irina reminded them.

  “Come. We’ll go to the special cabin. We can talk there.”

  She took her hand, but Marilee hesitated.

  Cord nodded to Irina, who stepped back obligingly. Then he put his hands on Marilee’s shoulders, forcing her to look up at him. He could see the indecision in her cinnamon eyes, but he sensed her desire to believe. “I’ve always been your friend,” he said huskily, “but I want to be much more, if you’ll let me.”

  Then he kissed her.

  Marilee answered that kiss, her arms going about him. She was overcome with joy as what she had wanted for so long came true.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  It was nearly midnight when they reached the little cabin deep in the snowy woods. Cord immediately built a roaring fire in the grate, and Irina retrieved a hidden bottle of brandy and poured them all drinks. Then she and Marilee curled up with thick wool blankets on one of the cots and began to talk.

  Irina told Marilee how she had met Drakar many years earlier. Gradually, they realized that they had fallen in love. They had been about to confide their betrothal t
o Marilee before making a formal announcement, when the political situation in Russia worsened and interrupted their plans. “I like to think you would have approved,” Irina finished, holding both of Marilee’s hands in hers. “Though I’d never met you, I felt somehow that we’d be close, good friends.”

  “Of course I’d have given you my blessings,” Marilee assured her. She already liked Irina very much and admired her for her courage.

  Irina’s smile was hesitant. “You wouldn’t have felt that your father’s remarrying would be disloyal to your mother’s memory?”

  Marilee shook her head vehemently. “No. Absolutely not. I know my father loved my mother in a special way, and I’m glad that you were able to take away his sadness.

  “But wait!” she cried suddenly, laughing nervously. “We’ve got to stop talking this way, as though it’s all over. It’s just the beginning. We’re going to get him out of that jail, and then we’ll all get on with our lives.”

  Cord turned from the fireplace, speaking for the first time since they’d arrived at the cabin. “Marilee, getting Drakar out of there isn’t so easy. I’ve spied all around that place. It’s crawling with guards.”

  “But that’s what I’ve been trying to tell both of you,” she cried excitedly, tossing aside the blankets and scrambling to her feet to explain what she had learned from Boris.

  She looked from one to the other. “Don’t you see? He wouldn’t have told me that if he had thought I’d actually be able to do anything about it. He knew who I was and was just stringing me along till Rudolf got there. But now he’s dead, and Rudolf is tied up and stuffed under the bed where nobody will find him until long after we’ve freed my father and gotten away from here.”

  Cord and Irina looked at each other thoughtfully. Then they exchanged smiles, and Cord spoke for both of them when he declared, “It can work, but we have to do it today. Once Gorchakov’s body is discovered and Rudolf is found, they’ll be looking for us, and security will be extremely tight tall over.”

  Irina leaped up from the cot. “I’ll get the message through. We won’t need many men to help us. The fewer the better.”

  Cord agreed. “And see if they can send somebody who knows something about the inside of that place. I’ve 1oked around enough to know it’s got a back entrance, but as far as I could tell, it’s not used. If we can slip inside without being seen, there’s a chance we might not encounter any guards at all, if they’re busy outside with roll call.”

  “What about the other prisoners?” Irina wanted to know. “Do we take them with us?”

  “We’ll free them all, but they’ll have to go their own way. It’s safer to separate.”

  Irina grinned and reached for her cape. “I’d better get going.”

  “Maybe I’d better go, Irina,” Cord quickly offered.

  “Oh, no.” She shook her head, her eyes shining. It had been a long, long time since she’d felt so good. “I want to be the one to take this message in. It’s not that far to the next post, anyway.”

  She got to the door, then said with a wink, “Besides, I think you two need some time alone together.”

  “Yeah,” Cord agreed firmly, walking toward Marilee. “We sure do.”

  The door closed behind Irina as he took Marilee in his arms. Their bodies melded together and they trembled with the intensity of their passion. He kissed her until she was breathless. Lifting her, he carried her to the cot. He gently laid her down and whispered, “God only knows how I’ve waited for this moment, Marilee.”

  They gazed feverishly at each other as Cord slowly began to strip off his clothes. When he flung his shirt aside, she marveled at his rock-hard chest and the sinewy muscles of his arms. Her fingertips ached to dance in the thick mat of chest hairs that curled down to—

  She shuddered with heated anticipation.

  His trousers fell, and he kicked them aside and stood naked before her. Marilee gasped at the sight of his erection, and she reached out to touch him.

  He could stand it no longer. With a deep groan, be helped her remove her clothes. Then he stretched out beside her to gather her close, his hands moving up and down her hot, eager body. He cupped her full, round buttocks and squeezed, then moved to softly knead the flesh of her breasts. All the time his lips were nibbling, tasting, devouring, finally settling upon one ripe, taut nipple to suck hungrily.

  Marilee’s back arched as she moved yet closer, wanting only to be consumed by him. Her fingers weaved through his thick, blond hair, and she lifted one leg to cross over his hip so that his massive organ began to tease between her thighs. She felt her own moisture, the quivering within her belly that cried for yet more of the delicious wonders unfolding.

  “Take me,” she begged. “Oh, Cord, my darling, take me, all of me, again and again. Never, ever stop. I want you…”

  He raised his head, then suddenly, almost roughly, cupped her face in one strong hand and squeezed ever so gently, forcing her to meet his burning blue eyes. “I want more than that from you, Marilee. I don’t want just your body, your sex. I want your love…” he said hoarsely.

  “And you have it,” she cried, thrusting her whole body toward him. “For always, Cord. I love you…”

  He entered her then, and she gasped with momentary pain. Then discomfort yielded to pleasure, and her cries were not of torment but of joy and ecstasy. The crescendo was building, higher and higher, and she thought she would surely die from the sheer wonder of it all.

  And then the ultimate explosion came, and her nails dug into the flesh of his back as he pushed yet harder and took her to even greater pinnacles of delight.

  He reached his own zenith, then held her for long, precious moments before whispering, “Never like this, my darling, never like this…”

  She knew what he meant, knew that there was never a time before quite as wonderful, that their shared love made every experience before fade to nothingness.

  “Together,” he said, his lips moving to claim hers once more, “and forever.”

  And she sealed his proclamation with her own fervent kiss.

  They made love again, reveling with wonder that their joy could be repeated so passionately and so quickly, laughingly admitting that they were each ready for yet another earth-shattering experience.

  But the night was passing quickly. There were plans to be made—not only for what would happen at dawn, but for the immediate future as well.

  When Irina returned, she brought with her three men they had never seen before. The newcomers introduced themselves as Odar, Kievan, and Sthrom. Marilee had changed into men’s clothing—thick trousers and shirt, a heavy greatcoat, a fur cap, and heavy mittens.

  With a woolen scarf pulled across her lower face, she was ready for their mission.

  Cord led the way, having memorized the path that would take them through the hard-packed snow and up the ridge that overlooked what had once been a small monastery in the hills. Squat and flat-topped, it was surrounded by a fence. One gate faced the road leading up from the village. Circled by ice-crusted hillocks as the building was, the Bolshevik soldiers hardly worried about escape attempts.

  Odar knew the monastery well. He confirmed Cord’s observation that there was indeed a back door that was not in use. “There’s a tiny courtyard that the monks were able to use for meditation only in the summer months. Since the Bolsheviks took the place over to use as a prison, the back plot hasn’t been used.”

  He went on to describe the way in from the rear. “There’s a steep, rocky ledge back there. With ropes, we can climb down easily enough.”

  Cord nodded approval. “If the front is vulnerable, the back should be totally unguarded. It’s the last place they’d expect somebody to come in.”

  Marilee asked quickly, “But how do we get back out again? If an alarm is sounded, won’t we be a perfect target climbing those ropes?”

  “We aren’t going to worry about sneaking out, sweetheart,” he told her. “Once we free everybody, we move as f
ast as possible and scatter.”

  “Not exactly,” Irina said in a strange, almost apologetic voice. They all turned to stare at her expectantly.

  She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “If we succeed, Vladimir said we are to take Drakar to our outpost near Petrograd to await further orders.”

  Marilee blinked, surprised. “But why? All I want to do is get him out of the country. To go right into the middle of the Bolsheviks is insane! I assumed that the Whites would take us underground and smuggle us through to the Allies.”

  “Those are the orders,” Irina said almost angrily.

  Cord squeezed Marilee’s hand. “We’ll obey them. Evidently they’re working on a plan to get both of you out of the country.”

  “I don’t like it,” she protested. “We’d be better off heading south, and—”

  Cord cut her off. “We’ll follow orders, Marilee, the way we’re supposed to. It’s too risky striking out on our own, and besides, your father and Irina are very important. The Bolsheviks will go after them with everything they’ve got.”

  She supposed he was right, but she knew she would not rest easy until they were all out of Russia. With a sigh, she conceded. “Very well. We follow orders.”

  Cord motioned for them to move on.

  At the top of the ridge, they stared down at the monastery below, making sure all was quiet. Sure enough, as Boris had said, it seemed that there were no guards about. All they saw was two sentries at the front gate.

  Odar and Kievan dropped two ropes down the ledge, a distance of nearly thirty feet. Sthrom shimmied down, then waited while Odar descended. Then Irina made her way, followed by Marilee.

  Finally Cord went down, leaving Kievan at the top to help them when they made their ascent.

  Odar led them toward the building. The back door was locked, but a boarded window was quickly ripped open. He scrambled inside, and in seconds, they heard the bolt within sliding; then the door opened.

  Odar had told them the cells would be downstairs, in what had once been a little winery for the monks. They groped their way stealthily through a dark narrow passageway. When they reached the bowels of the monastery, they were relieved to find a small torch that illuminated the ring of small chambers around them.