by T. C. Clark
The two men running the operation only had a small amount of money to work with. He’d seen all of the files at Val’s house when he’d destroyed all of the information they had gathered on Eden.
He smiled when he reread the message from the Librarian. She’d cashed in one of her cards to send someone to help. Yuuto, code named the Surgeon was heading his way. But he couldn’t wait for him to find him. He had to hit them while he still had the element of surprise. Right now he had the upper hand, they didn’t know how close he was.
He had taken out the first one last night. It hadn’t been easy. The former agents were trained killers. It had taken everything he had to take out Val. Now he had to deal with Petrov.
Luckily Val’s house had a lot of information. He’d use his computers to disburse what little money they had left. Without that money they were less of a threat. He’d taken out all of the men employed by Val so that left Petrov and his crew to deal with.
According to all of the information he’d gathered, Petrov was holed up in his old childhood home. He knew he didn’t have long before he found out about Val.
He closed his folder and went about sterilizing and cauterizing the wound in his thigh. He would only have a few minutes to get through every room in the house.
He was lucky he still had contacts here. It made getting guns a lot easier. His mind briefly flashed a picture of a laughing Eden. Ruthlessly he tamped it down. He needed to be completely focused right now. He entered the house through the back window in the kitchen and set about getting through the first two rooms.
Luckily Petrov was running a skeleton crew. He’d killed the two men working as lookouts with his pocket knife before the rest of the men realized he was inside. After they knew what was going on Dmitri had been forced to use his guns.
The men Petrov kept were way better than Val’s. It had taken every ounce of skill he possessed to take them out. Even with his years of experience he still had two new gunshot wounds in his arm. The adrenaline running through him was dulling the pain, and right now, he didn’t have time to address them.
He limped to the doorway of Petrov’s bedroom and stopped at the door. He checked his gun. He was out of bullets. He kept his breathing even. If Petrov was a member of the Red House he would notice if he seemed stressed and realize something was wrong.
“You come here into my house after what you’ve done,” Petrov said in Russian. The small man was holed up behind the closet door.
“You two came after me first, Petrov. You could have lived. I didn’t even know you were a part of the Red House.”
“Yes, or you would have killed us, wouldn’t you, traitor?” he spat.
“Well, Val isn’t a problem anymore, so that just leaves you.”
“Oh, no…There are more men coming. You may have destroyed the information on that hard drive, but I know where your American bitch is and I’ve heard she’s growing big with child. Whatever information you erased is locked in my brain boy. A black baby, I would have expected no less from you. When the rest of the team gets here, they’ll take you down and then I will go hunting in America and I will bring your woman back here. I’m going to do things to her that will make your skin crawl. You will pay for everything you’ve done, the old fashioned way, in blood.”
Dmitri was out of bullets and out of time. He now had two new gunshot wounds and a generous amount of blood pouring from other holes in his body. He couldn’t risk it. He didn’t know if Petrov was bluffing about the men coming, but he did know that he had revealed one thing during their conversation. He had successfully destroyed the information that existed on Eden which meant he was the only other person who knew who and what she was to him. He would have to make sure that he died here, tonight.
He thought about his beautiful woman then and prayed for the first time in his life. He prayed she’d be strong and that his baby would be good to her. He would always love that woman.
He pulled the pins and tossed in three grenades and waited for Petrov to run for the door within seconds he came running up and Dmitiri used the last of his strength to kick him back inside.
He turned then and tried to run for the door but the explosion happened so quickly that it blew him into the wall. He felt the fire then on his back eating through his clothes. As Petrov’s head rolled into view he smiled. His family was safe now. He let his mind drift back to his time with Eden as the fire engulfed him.
The Surgeon and Sandman pulled up just as the bomb went off inside. The house was engulfed in flames. Both of the men got out and surveyed the place. The Surgeon put his knives away as he followed the Russian to the door.
“He can’t be alive after all that,” the Surgeon said his long black hair tied back and secured with a braid. He was lean where the sandman was bulky. He was the biggest Japanese man the Sandman had ever come across and he was also the most dangerous.
The Surgeon was an assassin who earned his nickname because of his skills with a blade. The Librarian must have been really worried about Dmitri to send him.
They had been following Dmitri all night, always two steps behind him. He would give the Jackal his due. He was still lethal. He had taken out his enemies quickly, erasing all traces that he’d been there.
“I have to check. I made a promise to someone and I have to be sure,” the Sandman said watching the burning building with cold eyes.
The Surgeon ran back to the car and grabbed two packages from the back. He cut them up quickly and gave scraps to the Sandman. They both wrapped their arms and covered their noses.
“You’re going in,” the Sandman said as they walked up to the building.
“I was summoned by a gold card. I have to be sure. Even if he’s dead I have to bring back what’s left of his body. You go through the front and I will head in through the back. We have to move quickly. There’s no way that roof will stand for long.”
Both of them searched through the rooms quickly. It didn’t take long for them to find Dmitri’s mangled body under the rubble. They exchanged looks as they examined him.
He’d been shot multiple times, but the main concern was that he wasn’t breathing. They hunkered down and got to work, their mission quickly changing from a search and destroy to a search and rescue.
* * *
After four weeks of waiting, Eden returned back to her normal routine. The Librarian, moved in with her for now, shadowing her like a concerned older sister. She’d told her that the threat from Russia was taken care of.
The bounty on Dmitri’s head had expired and no one was actively looking for either of them. But she remained silent on the state of Dmitri. No one would answer her questions, and it was driving her nuts.
She prayed every night for him. But her hope was starting to fade. Tonight she’d accepted Aidan’s invitation to eat together. Her friend was back in town and wanted to have dinner at his place. The Librarian had invited herself as well.
Eden smiled at the woman who had stood by her side during all of this. She was beautiful and charming. Within days everyone at the bakery was half in love with her. Her nature in no way revealed the killer that lurked beneath.
When they arrived at Aidan’s house she was surprised at how haggard he looked. He was an athletic man whose resemblance to the Rock had earned him many women, but in this moment he looked exhausted.
“Before you freak out I want you to know it wasn’t my idea to keep you in the dark. They told me not to contact you until he woke up.”
“Until he…” She saw him then…Dmitri, on a make shift hospital bed in the middle of Aidan’s living room. Several IV’s lined the room and a medical table was set up next to him.
“How?” She ran to him and placed a light hand across his chest and was relieved when he opened his eyes. Her heart was beating too fast and her breath was coming too quick.
“Calm down and relax,” the Librarian said rubbing her back. “We couldn’t tell you he was here until he woke up. We didn’t want to stress you or the bab
y.”
She wanted to yell at her. How in the hell did they think not knowing what was going on with Dmitri would be less stressful? But she forced herself to calm down. She knew assassins didn’t think like normal people. They were clinical, and who cared anyway. Dmitri was home.
“What did they do to you?” she whispered kissing him on the chin. “Don’t worry I’ll keep you safe. It’s my turn to take care of you.”
Dmitri didn’t speak, but tears leaked from one of his swollen eyes and she knew he understood what she was saying. They were together again and that was what mattered.
* * *
Mina paced outside of the hospital room rocking one small baby to sleep. Luca was in charge of the other one. Both of them looked worse for the wear. Their babies were only a month old now and as a team, the infants were winning against the exhausted adults.
As tired as they were they weren’t going to miss this. Mina sung softly to the little baby, a sweet French lullaby and Luca watched her adoringly. Being parents was harder than either of them imagined, but they both loved every second of it.
Across the room Ada and Nikos sat with Julian, Maks, and Alex playing with their small baby. A little girl who would be spoiled to death if the family didn’t have another one soon. Julian looked worriedly at the door.
Eden had been in labor for over 48 hours. There had been so many teams of people in and out the room that all of them were starting to get worried. When a mountain sized blond man walked up Julian stiffened and stood.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he barked, the memory of their last encounter replaying in his mind. He knew now that he hadn’t been there to hurt Eden. But it didn’t lessen the sting of being taken out by him.
“I was invited,” he said with a wolfish smile. “You can’t still be mad at what happened before. You know why I did what I did.”
“Of course he isn’t,” a soft voice said from behind him. When Julian looked around the massive man he saw a striking woman with light brown skin and short black hair. She was dressed like a sexy school teacher. She wore a form fitting yellow dress with a thin black cardigan.
The two of them together were a striking combination and when the large man scowled at his obvious interest in his face his smile widened. Bingo, he’d just found the big guy’s kryptonite.
As he charmed the Librarian the Sandman sighed loudly. He wasn’t worried about her. His tiny woman wasn’t easily swayed by anyone especially an unknown man. He turned and walked purposefully through the double doors.
When he entered Dmitri stood with his hands on his hips and a scowl on his face. Clearly Eden hadn’t told him he would be here. When she tapped him on his arm he visibly relaxed. She whispered something to him and he walked over and held out a hand.
“Apparently you are supposed to be here?” Dmitri said.
“Ah, I see my sweet Eden kept her end of the bargain. I wasn’t sure she could convince you.”
“Convince me of what?” Dmitiri asked looking back at Eden who was now red for another reason.
“I offered him 10 million dollars to go after you…well 10 million of your dollars.”
Dmitri nodded. Fair was fair. The Sandman had never told him why he’d showed up to help. He would pay anything to be back with his family. He was surprised he’d waited so long to collect. He turned to pull out his laptop.
“But he didn’t want the money,” Eden whispered.
“Okay, what did he want?” he said ominously his blue eyes landing on the Sandman who was now laughing almost hysterically.
“Something a bit more personal,” she said as the contractions started up again. Almost at once her labor rushed by, it was like the baby had been waiting for the Sandman to show up.
Within the hour a smiling Dmitri opened the door to signal the family, and there standing next to an exhausted Eden, was the Sandman, holding the small baby protectively in his large arms.
“Oh my god, she’s beautiful,” Ada said as she got a closer view of the little girl resting.
“Why is he holding her first?” Julian asked.
“What’s her name?” Mina asked at the same time.
“Apparently he made a deal with Eden. So it’s not our choice,” Dmitri said softly.
Everyone in the room turned to look at the Sandman who was watching the innocent baby with luminous eyes. He looked down at the sweet woman who’d agreed to his terms and whispered, “Sandy, her name is Sandy and I’m her godfather.”
“Oh, my god that’s what he asked for,” the Librarian said coming to stand beside Eden.
“Yep, and he’s been an excellent godfather. He checked in with me at least once a week to see how my pregnancy was going. Although, I was worried about what kind of name he would choose. He told me last week that he really liked Ernesto for a girl. Are you mad, Dmitri?” she asked hesitantly.
“No, I love you and Sandy too much to ever be mad. I never did get the chance to thank you for coming after me,” Dmitri said quietly to the Sandman.
“No worries. I forgot what a family felt like. I was happy to help you with yours. Oh and I feel like I owe you a beer, Julian,” he said wanting to make peace. The young man hesitated for a moment before he agreed.
He planned on being an active godparent to Sandy. He didn’t have time to have issues with Eden’s family, and he didn’t kid himself. Everyone in this room was Eden’s family.
When the crowd cleared and everyone settled down to give them some space, Dmitri sat down on the edge of the bed and leaned down to kiss Eden. She responded as she always did.
“Thank for the best Christmas present,” Dmitri whispered against her lips.
“I’m happy you like it,” she whispered back.
The fire that existed between them would see them into old age. She knew that now. Once, long ago, she’d ached for a family and for someone who would treat her right, and now she had them in the form of a loving man and the sweetest baby.
She sent out a prayer of thanks to the God she’d turned to so long ago for giving her all of this. She didn’t deserve it, but she would hold her family close to heart and be thankful for every moment they had together.
Special note from the author: I hope you enjoyed the story of Dmitri and Eden. Let me know if you liked the Sanctuary characters…I was thinking of doing a series of books for them next year. The next book is about Julian Stravanos and how he finds his HEA :)
I hope you enjoyed this book. If you liked it….please, please, please leave a review on Amazon it helps me out ALOT. I appreciate all of you for taking your time to read this book and I hope I provided you with an entertaining story!
