The Legend

by Donna Grant

  The two days he’d spent away from the cabin had been both a blessing and a curse. Not once could he stop thinking about her, and it had nothing to do with the danger surrounding them. Their last conversation had been tough to hear. Worse, it had come from her.

  He heard and saw just how little she thought of him. At least he didn’t need to worry about there being anything between them again. Even if he wanted it, she’d probably just as soon gut him as allow him to touch her.

  The hours passed in an excruciating crawl. When his stomach growled, he made them dinner. She ate the hamburger while still working and barely looked up from the screen to acknowledge him.

  Wyatt didn’t bother her. If she were able to discover a way to get in touch with Orrin, then he would let his father know not to come to Austin. And that Wyatt was sending Callie to him.

  While stretched out on the sofa thinking of ways to get Callie to leave, he heard her typing halt. He sat up and looked her way to find her bent over the table, her head on the laptop with her eyes closed.

  He rose and went to her. Carefully, he lifted her in his arms. She sighed as her head rolled to lie on his shoulder. The only other time he’d ever carried her like this was when he’d found her in the woods.

  Though he knew he should walk to her bedroom and put her on the bed to sleep, he enjoyed having her in his arms again.

  He didn’t know how long he stood there holding her before he finally made his way to the bedroom. The lights were out, leaving only the beam from the living room coming through the door to guide him.

  Reluctantly, he bent and laid her on the mattress. When he stood and turned to walk away, her fingers grabbed his hand. Wyatt halted and turned back to her, but her hand went slack, releasing him.

  He walked out of the room, pulling the door shut behind him. He went to the computer to see if he could tell what she’d been doing, but it was all gibberish to him. He had no idea what any of the code was or how to use it.

  He closed the laptop and shut off the lights. Then he went back to the sofa. There would be little sleep for him, but it wouldn’t be the first time. He rarely slept before a battle.

  His mind was full of plans and ideas. The fact that he knew both enemies intimately helped to determine how they might act or react. Without a doubt, the most lethal of the two foes was Ahmadi.

  The Reeds weren’t to be cast aside, however. But they were used to fighting with their charm and smooth talk. This would be an entirely different kind of battle, but they would be prepared.

  For Ahmadi, this was a way of life. Most of his men had been born into war. They lived it, breathed it. They wouldn’t attack quickly. Based on his past encounters with Ahmadi and his men, they would inspect the area, deciphering where the best place to attack would be.

  Wyatt already knew the place they would choose. It was one of the reasons he’d set up even more traps during the past two days. Some were visible—a deception to make his enemies believe they could outsmart him.

  He threw an arm over his eyes, his thoughts shifting to Callie. There was no way he would allow Ahmadi to get near her. If they suspected she meant anything to him, they would torture her in front of him.

  The irony of the situation didn’t go unnoticed. Wyatt had done everything right years ago so Callie would never be in this situation.

  And yet, here she was.

  When Wyatt finally did see Orrin, he would have a hard time not killing his father.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Outside of DC

  Orrin Loughman sat up straighter in the seat of the Range Rover when he caught sight of Konrad Jankovic through the lenses of the binoculars. “I see him.”

  Beside him, Yuri Markovic grunted. Then said in a Russian accent, “About time. What is he doing?”

  “He’s on a cell phone, arguing with someone by the expression on his face and the way he’s motioning with his hands. Here, take a look,” Orrin said, handing the binoculars over.

  Yuri peered through the lenses. “He is definitely angry.”

  Orrin spotted a large, black SUV slowing before turning into the driveway of the house they were watching. The vehicle stopped alongside of a column, and a window rolled down as someone punched a button next to a speaker in the brick.

  Orrin nudged Yuri in the shoulder. “Someone has arrived.”

  Yuri moved the binoculars over to focus on the SUV as the gate opened and it drove to the front door. “A man in a black trench coat just got out.”

  “Do you recognize him?”

  “Da. He has been here several times before. And … there is something familiar about him.”

  Orrin pulled out a notebook and pencil, jotting the date and time as well as the vehicle description. “What does he look like?”

  “Dark eyes, sandy hair, medium height,” Yuri rattled off.

  Orrin nodded. “Oh, him. He comes regularly. And you’re right. He does look familiar. Get me the license plate number.”

  Orrin quickly wrote it down as Yuri called out the mix of numbers and letters. It wasn’t a government plate, but that didn’t mean anything. Ever since they’d been watching the house, there had been only one government car that stopped.

  “Now the visitor and Jankovic are speaking,” Yuri said.

  Orrin looked at the house, grimacing. “We can remain here for the next several months, but the scientist isn’t coming out.”

  “You are probably right,” Yuri said. “It does not look as if Jankovic wants to leave, but I suspect they are keeping him there.”

  “Because they know we want him.”

  “Da.”

  There was no need for either of them to go into detail regarding what they wanted to do to Dr. Konrad Jankovic. The scientist had no morals and worked for whatever government—or organization—paid him the most.

  The fact that he had willingly created a bioweapon that would prevent women from getting pregnant sickened Orrin. Ragnarok could be released into the air without anyone the wiser. But how long would it take before people began to realize something was very wrong?

  “We could go in and get him,” Yuri offered.

  It was something Orrin thought about every day. “There are too many guards and only two of us.”

  Yuri lowered the binoculars and turned his head to him. “You do not think we could get through the doors?”

  “I know we could. We have the experience and years on the men patrolling. It’s the getting out part that would be a problem.”

  “I think you are right, stariy droog.”

  Old friend. That’s exactly what they were. From years being forced to work together by their governments to an unlikely friendship to brief enemies only to find themselves friends again.

  It was strange how life could turn the tables so unexpectedly. Once before it had happened when his Melanie had been so cruelly taken from him and his boys.

  Orrin had almost given up on ever finding her killer—until something Yuri said changed his thinking. It had never entered his mind that someone had murdered his wife in order to set him on a course of their choosing. But there was a possibility that the Saints had done just that.

  All those years he thought he’d chosen his own path. When in fact, there were others doing it for him, and they did it in a way that he never knew.

  Had they also done it to his sons? None of his boys had ever given their hearts to anyone, so the Saints couldn’t use that against them. But that didn’t mean the organization hadn’t been pulling strings the whole time.

  “You are thinking of your sons,” Yuri said.

  Orrin blew out a breath and nodded. “If you’re right about the Saints killing Melanie—”

  “I am,” Yuri interrupted him.

  “You’re guessing.”

  “It is an educated guess.”

  Orrin narrowed his gaze on Yuri when his old friend scratched his jaw. “You know something.”

  “I do not,” Yuri replied with a frown.

  “You scratche
d your jaw when you spoke. You always do that when you’re lying. What do you know?”

  Yuri sighed loudly. “I only saw Melanie’s name in a file. It was crossed out with red ink.”

  “Where was this file?”

  “At the Pentagon.”

  Orrin let that information settle over him. “I gather it was in an office of a known Saint?”

  “It was not an office. It was a conference room with thirty other individuals. Most were from the US, but there were others, like me, from different countries.”

  “What countries?” Orrin asked.

  “China, Australia, Argentina, Mexico, Japan, France, Italy, and the UK to name a few.”

  Dear God. “And the file?”

  “I was walking to my seat and saw a man reading a list of names. Melanie’s was towards the top.”

  “That would explain why the leads I had kept drying up.” Orrin felt sick to his stomach at the betrayal. But he was also so livid he could think of nothing but getting back at the people who had taken Melanie from him.

  Yuri’s blue eyes held a note of sadness as he looked at Orrin. “I am sorry. I should have told you sooner. I thought you might have given up, and when I learned you had not, I did not want to bring you more grief.”

  “These people have to be stopped. I doubt I’m the only one they’ve meddled with. What I do know is that I won’t allow them to do the same to my sons.”

  “I was not in the Saints but a year. I learned very little about them. I have no idea how big the organization is.”

  Orrin raised a brow. “The listing of those countries at that meeting you attended says they’re global. Do they extend to every country? It wouldn’t surprise me.”

  “That does not do us much good if we do not know who is running it,” Yuri pointed out.

  “You saw no one?”

  Yuri ran a hand through his dark hair heavily sprinkled with gray. “I was recruited by a comrade. That same friend was my go-between with the Saints for three months. After that, another man came to see me. I received messages from the Saints through him.”

  “What about meetings?”

  “All with people like me. Never any of the upper management. No names, no faces.”

  Orrin didn’t like the sound of that. “We could be standing right next to them and not know it.”

  “This war we are starting could end very quickly. For us.”

  “I’m prepared for that.”

  “I do not fear death. I fear failing.”

  It was the same for Orrin. “All three of my sons were home, and I wasn’t there with them. I’ve waited years for that.”

  “That is my fault. I kidnapped you.”

  “You were trying to save us all. Besides, I’m not sure my children would’ve been happy to see me.”

  “They were looking for you. That should tell you they care.”

  Orrin wasn’t so sure, especially about Wyatt. His eldest’s heart was still filled with so much pain. Orrin briefly thought Callie might heal him, but Wyatt had shut her out.

  “I hope Wyatt takes my warning about Ahmadi seriously,” Orrin said.

  “He will. If what you have told me of Callie is true, she will make him.”

  Every time Orrin thought of how easily they could’ve bypassed such information, his blood turned to ice. It was by chance that Yuri found the message in his email when he checked the previous night.

  Or was it by chance?

  Orrin questioned everything now.

  “We could contact Callie again and find out where they are. I know you want to help your son,” Yuri said.

  More than anything. Orrin ran a hand through his hair. “We should stay with Jankovic.”

  “For all we know, he has a lab within the house and is making more of the weapon.”

  “That thought has crossed my mind as well.”

  “If we cannot get him out, then we get inside.”

  Orrin eyed the house. “We’ll have to be quick.”

  “Once we find him, we kill him.”

  “Agreed. The guards chan—”

  The sound of his burner phone ringing halted his words. Orrin looked at the unknown number, frowning. He glanced at Yuri, then answered the call.

  “Orrin?”

  At the sound of Callie’s voice, he closed his eyes and smiled. “It’s good to hear from you, Callie.”

  “It’s really you.”

  He blinked as he heard the tears in her words. “It is. How did you get the number?”

  “Really?” she asked with a laugh. “It took some doing, but I was able to retrace the number you used to send the warning to Wyatt.”

  “So Wyatt got it?”

  “Yes. He’s getting ready for them as we speak.”

  Orrin released a breath. “We don’t know how many of Ahmadi’s men are coming for him, but you can’t go up against them alone.”

  “We have to. The others want us to run. That’s how they’ll corner us.”

  He knew she was intentionally not saying the Saints in case someone was listening. And he realized then what the Saints wanted by allowing him to learn about Ahmadi. “They’re trying to get me there.”

  “Don’t,” Callie said. “We’ll be fine.”

  “Do you have a good location?”

  “Wyatt picked it out, so yes.”

  “Good. Have you spoken to Cullen or Owen?”

  Callie said, “I have. Everyone is good. I’ve been so worried about you. It’s good to know that you’re okay.”

  “Any other news?”

  “Some, but it isn’t important.”

  He knew that tone. Whatever it was most definitely was important. She just didn’t want to share it. “Tell me.”

  “It can wait.”

  “Callie.”

  She blew out a harsh breath. “My family tracked us down.”

  “Tracked?” Orrin repeated. He knew the Reeds intimately, and though they were good at what they did, tracking someone down wasn’t part of their skillset.

  “Unfortunately. And yes, by the others.”

  Orrin fisted his free hand. The Saints were sending two different groups after Wyatt and Callie. They’d never survive. And they wanted him to know that. “You need to gather your belongings and get on the road now.”

  “I trust Wyatt. He knows what he’s doing. I’ve got to go. I’ll call later,” she said hurriedly before hanging up.

  Orrin lowered the phone as fury consumed him. “The Saints didn’t just send Ahmadi after them. They sent Callie’s family, too.”

  “I gather they are not good people?” Yuri asked.

  “Some of the worst.”

  Yuri grunted and briefly raised the binoculars to his eyes again. “I think we should take care of Jankovic tonight.”

  “Yes.”

  His head swung to look at Orrin. “Then we get on the road.”

  “I don’t know where Wyatt and Callie are.” And he hadn’t had time to warn them just what Ragnarok did.

  “Then you call and ask them.”

  Yuri was right. Whether Wyatt wanted to admit it or not, he was going to need help.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Callie put down the burner phone she’d just opened when she saw Wyatt walk by the window outside the house. When she’d woken that morning, she had been alone.

  But she also knew she hadn’t gotten into bed on her own.

  She was glad she was by herself, because knowing that she had been in Wyatt’s arms did something strange to her. There was a part of her that was angry she’d slept through it, but also glad because she knew she wouldn’t have been able to keep her hands to herself.

  Even though it had been well over a decade since they had been intimate, it felt weird to be that close to him—whether she was awake or not. There was a barrier between them, one that she relied on to keep from repeating a youthful mistake.

  She hid her smile at having spoken to Orrin. It was great hearing his voice. She knew he’d been held and bea
ten, but he was alive. Hale and hearty. She wiped at the few tears that had escaped and looked up.

  Only to find Wyatt standing not five feet from her. She jerked, startled at not having heard him enter the house.

  “What are you doing?” she demanded. “Trying to give me a heart attack?”

  “Why are you crying?” he asked instead.

  She started to lie. Then she decided not to. She hadn’t done anything wrong. “I was talking to Orrin.”

  There wasn’t a single reaction from Wyatt. Not anger that she’d talked to his father without him there. Not a shred of relief that Orrin was indeed alive.

  “Don’t you have anything to say?” she asked.

  He shrugged, twisting his lips as he did. “Not really. I’d wanted to talk to him. And I’m waiting for you to tell me what was said.”

  “We weren’t on the line long. He sounded good, but tired. And worried. He wanted to make sure that we got his warning, and that you didn’t dismiss it.”

  “Why would I?” Wyatt asked.

  She barely refrained from rolling her eyes. “Perhaps because it came from him, and you don’t want to have anything to do with him.”

  “What else was said?”

  Callie decided not to point out that Wyatt was avoiding any type of response in regards to his father. It just showed how little emotion was there.

  “He thought we should make a run for it,” she said.

  Wyatt nodded slowly. “So you told him about your family.”

  It wasn’t a question. “I did.”

  “Do you tell him everything?”

  There was something in his tone, something that immediately rubbed her raw. And she knew what he really wanted to know. She hadn’t needed to tell Orrin anything. He had pieced it together himself like anyone with eyes would.

  Callie held Wyatt’s stare. “Orrin is part of our team. That means that yes, I told him what I would’ve—and will—tell Owen and Natalie, as well as Cullen and Mia.”

  “Stand up.”

  That took her aback. “Excuse me?”

  “Stand up. I want to test your close quarters combat skills.”