Arctic Fire Read online

  Just the thought of him made her smile, her heart beat faster. What would she do if he was ever killed or stopped loving her? What if she had pushed him so far that he felt that way already? She should be happy, but she wasn’t.

  His head came up as he stopped swimming at the other end of the pool. He swiped his hand over his face, pushing his hair back, as he held on to the side. His eyes came to her and a frown came over his handsome face. She was on the verge of saying something, but she was locked in his stare.

  The pulse beating in her throat was so wild that she was sure he could see it from where he watched her. He broke the connection and pulled himself from the pool, water cascaded over his broad back and down over his tight butt, as she fought to look away. Without a word, he walked away grabbing the towel and drying his face before walking to the changing room.

  Roz slipped into the water as disappointment and loss stirred in her belly. She started to do laps, to purge her body of the unwanted emotion flooding her. Doubt had never been part of her psyche, but her conversation with Daniel and the words Kanan had uttered kept playing over and over in her head.

  She swam until her muscles burned from fatigue. Pulling herself out she walked towards the changing room and stepped into the shower, the hot water eased the fatigue in her body, but what would ease the doubt in her heart. No amount of swimming had helped her outrun the feeling that she was running out of time.

  ~~~

  Seriously that fucking red bikini was a low trick. He shouldn’t be surprised that Roz would stoop that low to get a rise out of him, but she must have known the effect it would have. It wasn’t like he could hide the fact that his cock was practically begging for her. He’d tried to keep his back to her as he left the pool, not trusting himself to speak to her right then.

  A cold shower helped, thank God, as he now had a recon mission to go on with Mustique and the last thing he needed was a stiff cock.

  “You ready to head out?” Mustique asked with a quirked eyebrow.

  “Yes, let’s go,” he said as he followed her out the door.

  Zack had called ten minutes earlier to let them know that the girls had arrived safely and were being looked after by social services. He’d called in a favour and Nate and Skye had been granted emergency foster care status to take care of Katarina and Natalia.

  They agreed to look after them short-term until their families were located, or a suitable permanent place could be found. Relief and gratitude to the couple who owed him nothing really hit him in the chest. Knowing that those two girls would be looked after until he could get back filled him with a sense of calm.

  Although he had no idea what would happen when he got back. He had no plan, he had zero knowledge about what children needed, much less a girl's needs. The thought that he could offer them anything was laughable really. Why did he think he could help these girls when he just caused nothing but pain to those around him? Even when he tried to do the right thing, he fucked it up.

  No, the best thing he could do would be to leave them with Nate and Skye and go back to his simple life on the island. Zack had refused to listen to him when they’d spoken on the phone last night, saying they would talk when he returned if he still felt the same. He knew he would, he couldn’t be around Roz and not want her.

  Even being in the same building and knowing she was down the hall and not seeing her was like a sore on his soul. He clicked the key fob for the car when he was about ten feet away from the black Mercedes, and noise rent the air as the car exploded. He was knocked off his feet, his body hitting the hard concrete of the garage floor with the impact. His ears rang, but he couldn’t hear anything as he stumbled to his feet holding his head. Blood poured from a cut on his face as he staggered towards Mustique. She was moving as he dropped to his knees beside her.

  “Are you okay,” he shouted over the ringing in his ears.

  Mustique rolled to her knees and he helped her up as she nodded. “Yes.” She was covered in debris and dust as what was left of the car they were about to use burned behind them.

  The lift opened and Daniel, Roz, and surprisingly, Will came running out, weapons up as they quickly surveyed the area. Her eyes found him, and he saw relief cross her features. He wasn’t sure if it was for him or Mustique though. He held Mustique as they moved towards the lift, Daniel made it to him and loped his arm under her shoulders as she coughed.

  Daniel looked at him. “You good?”

  “Yes, just a little deaf,” he shouted.

  Will covered them, his actions and demeanour different from his normal geek persona. This Will actually looked the part of an Operative—it was slightly unsettling to see him like that.

  Moving into the elevator he leaned against the wall as it started to move, taking them back up to the penthouse. That car had been one of Rykov’s, so was that an attack on them or the young Bratva leader?

  Whoever it was just signed their own death warrant. The Bratva didn’t let something like that go and neither did he.

  Chapter Nineteen

  She felt the explosion, rather than heard it, even in the penthouse it rocked the building, fear slammed into her as she realised where it had come from. Will and Daniel ran to the door just after she wrenched it open on her way to lift. Crazy as it seemed it was quicker to take the lift in this instance than run down the stairwell.

  The doors opened, and she saw Kanan walking towards her with his arm under Mustique’s shoulder, she felt sick with relief at the sight of him. Surveying the area, she saw the dark Mercedes that Rykov had loaned them burning. Bits of metal and mortar from the concrete floor was strewn about the place, the smoke making it difficult to see.

  Roz checked the garage to ensure it was only them before she followed Kanan and the others into the lift. It seemed odd that only the Mercedes had been targeted. Surely if Usov had found them he would send more men. Maybe Usov hadn’t found them, was this just bad luck and they were caught in the crossfire between the Bratva and their many enemies? Either way, they couldn’t stay here now.

  “Are you okay?” she asked K as she touched his shoulder lightly. Just that small touch reassured her that he was living, as the warmth of him permeated her skin. A shiver ran through her as he turned his head, his hazel eyes holding hers.

  A thousand emotions floated through them in that second. Every one of them ripped her heart out—longing, lust, fear, sadness and lastly resignation. That last one was the one that caused her heart to finally crack, exposing her to what she had done to him, to them. He broke the connection as he bent his head and touched his cheek where blood ran down from his eyebrow.

  “I’m fine it’s just a scratch.”

  She clenched her jaw as she felt the burn of tears behind her nose. She knew they needed to clear out and get out of the penthouse before the police arrived or more attacks came but all she wanted to do was indulge in a good ugly cry. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt that way, not since she was a child.

  The lift stopped and they all stepped out one after the other, while Will helped Mustique to the couch, Daniel went to grab his kit bag.

  “We need to get out of here, grab your gear,” he said as he looked at them all, urgency on his face. Will and Kanan disappeared to their rooms to grab everything. Straightening her backbone and pushing through the emotional breakdown she suddenly wanted, Roz stepped up to Misty.

  “You okay?” she asked as she crouched down to her friend, her hand touching her leg lightly.

  “Yes, I’ll be fine, just a few cracked ribs and headache. Nothing I haven’t had before.”

  “Here take these,” Roz said as she handed her two painkillers from her bag, they weren’t strong, but they would take the edge off enough for them to get out of there. Misty took them, and Roz stood and walked to the window, the blinds gave her protection from a snipers rifle.

  Opening her phone, she called up Rykov’s number and hit dial. He answered with a curt, ‘Da’!

  “Rykov, we h
ave a problem,” she said quickly in English. She never spoke Russian anymore unless she absolutely had to, and Rykov’s English was flawless.

  “Go on.”

  “The Mercedes you loaned us just exploded in the underground parking garage.”

  He swore viciously in Russian at her words. “Go, I will handle it,” he said and disconnected the line.

  Roz moved away from the window as Daniel walked back into the room, his gear swung over his back, just as K and Will walked in. Will had his laptop in a bag across his body, his phone in one hand and a P1 handgun in the other. She explained her call as Daniel nodded.

  “Good job. Now, let’s get the fuck out of here,” K said as he pushed her bag at her along with Mustique’s stuff.

  Cautiously they left the apartment, as Will continued to type furiously on his smartphone. “The area outside the building is clear,” he said as they reached the ground floor.

  “How the hell?” Mustique asked.

  Will winked at her with a sexy grin on his face. “Hacked the cameras,” he said.

  “Of course, you did,” she replied with an eye roll to mask her pain.

  Roz knew Will was flirting to distract her from the pain she was in and Mustique was resorting to sarcasm. Mustique had more than a few cracked ribs and she and Roz both knew it. The lift doors opened, Daniel stepped out first, his gun raised, and to the side so as to be discreet or as discreet as possible when you were pointing a gun. The lobby was clear, just a lone doorman at the front.

  “I’ll get us a car. Meet me at the rear fire exit,” Roz said as she walked to glass doors.

  Daniel nodded, and she saw K clench his fists, his jaw flexing. She moved to the glass doors, watching for every movement as she did nodding to the doorman. Nothing triggered her radar, so she quickly moved to the nearest side street. A silver Lada Vesta was parked on the road, within seconds she was in and had the car running. Driving around to the back entrance where she had told Daniel to meet her she saw the fire exit door open. They all piled in and she sped out of there.

  “Where to now?” she asked Daniel as she drove.

  “Keep going east out of the city. Jack is sending me coordinates for a safe house that Eidolon sometimes uses,” Will replied. He was tapping away on his phone as K sent him a pissed-off look.

  “Will. Get your elbow out of my God damn ribs.”

  “I’m trying to save our asses here if you don’t mind,” Will snapped back.

  Roz fought the desire to roll her eyes at the two overgrown children. She kept driving until Will gave her the coordinates. Within twenty minutes they arrived in a quiet area with several dacha homes, the equivalent of a summer home in Russia. Luckily the car they were driving fit right in with all the other family cars and the small family homes dotted around the area.

  Pulling up outside the property she looked up, it was painted green, and to the side of the home was a huge garden that seemed to be devoted to vegetables. It was actually very typical for a Russian family to live in a dacha in the summer and a city apartment the rest of the year. It reminded her of her grandparent’s home.

  A pang of pain and longing filled her chest almost making her catch her breath when she thought of them, she hadn’t thought about her father’s parents in years. They had been kind, gentle people, who had shown her love, but they died when she was young. In one way she was glad they never lived to see their son give his only daughter to a monster.

  They had been proud, simple people and it would have broken them to see their only son turn into a violent, callous drunk. She shook off the thoughts as she followed Mustique and Will up the path to the property. Will found a key under the flower pot and used it to open the front door, which thankfully looked solid, which was just as well because from what she could see the security was seriously lacking. When they stepped into what was basically a two up two down property she could see that this place was anything but basic and she was pleased to see she was wrong about the security.

  “What the hell is this place?” Roz asked as she saw the sensors on all windows that also looked bulletproof, and there were cameras in all the rooms—that she could see anyway.

  “This is one of Eidolon’s places,” Will replied off-handedly as he walked into a small room that looked like a cupboard from the outside. It was in fact like a miniature war room. A bank of computers on one wall, a metal cabinet full of weapons and even some other tech toys, like night vision goggles on another. All things they could have used before now. Why the fuck hadn’t those Eidolon pricks shared this with them? She knew there was tension between her and the Eidolon leader, he thought she was a bitch, which she acknowledged she was and she thought he was an arrogant, controlling prick, so they were equal as far as she could see. But he could have shared for his brother’s sake. Clearly, Daniel agreed because he voiced similar thoughts.

  “And they didn’t think to share this info sooner?” Daniel asked as an angry tic flicked in his eye.

  Will shrugged. “Don’t know, you would have to ask Jack about that one.”

  “Oh, I will be don’t you worry,” Daniel said. “But first let me take a look at you, Mustique, and don’t give me crap about being okay. This isn’t my first rodeo and I know you’re in more pain than you let on.”

  Roz walked upstairs leaving them to bicker, she wanted to look around. Two small bedrooms, with clean basic furnishings, and a small shower room. Nothing special to speak of so she went to head back down when her phone rang in her pocket, and she pulled it out. “Yes!”

  “The issue was ours, you have my sincere apologies for the inconvenience it has caused you,” Rykov said smoothly his thick accent like silk. It was as if he was talking about an undercooked meal at a restaurant, not a car exploding. It was crazy the way their world worked. So far removed from most people’s reality that it wasn’t funny, yet it was completely normal for her.

  “No problem, thanks for the help anyway.”

  “If we can make it up to you then please do not hesitate to ask. I am forever in your debt for your friendship to Masha when you were children.”

  “No, you’re not. Friendship doesn’t work that way, Rykov. Masha was my friend and I will happily kill that motherfucker to avenge her. In fact, I will do it with pleasure.”

  “As you wish. In that case, I hope you will consider me a friend too?”

  She wondered about that. Rykov was a cold callous killer who had a reputation for the merciless killing of his enemies and if that meant innocents got in the way then so be it. Could she consider such a dangerous man a friend? She wasn’t sure she could trust him, it was like cuddling a spitting cobra, never sure when they would turn and make you the prey. “Let’s start with acquaintances and see how it goes?”

  “Ah, a wise woman. As you wish, Roz.”

  The phone went dead, she looked up to see K at the end of the hall. He looked pained and she walked to him slowly as he watched her. “You should get that cleaned up,” she said as she reached to touch his face.

  His hand shot out to grab her wrist and he stopped her. “What did Rykov want?”

  Ah, he was jealous, he might hate her, but all was not lost if he was jealous of Rykov. In truth it was laughable, she would never touch a man like Rykov. Not because he wasn’t handsome. He was as handsome as the devil but that was the thing, he had more in common with the devil than was safe for her liking. No, there was only one man for her she was coming to realise, and he had just let go of her hand in disgust and walked away from her. Not waiting for her answer as if he was angry with himself for asking in the first place.

  Following K down the stairs, she ignored him as best she could and went to help Will. There had to be something she could do to keep her mind and body busy.

  An hour later she and Daniel left to meet a contact, who apparently had information on Usov. Kanan didn’t even argue when Daniel insisted he stay back and help Will, even though they both knew it was because Daniel was worried about the blow she had sustain
ed in the bombing.

  Mustique had two broken ribs and Daniel wanted her to stay quiet in case she punctured a lung. What had begun as a solo mission had turned into a giant clusterfuck, and she had no idea if any of them would walk out of it alive.

  She looked at Daniel and wondered why he was risking all of this to help her. “Why are you helping me?”

  He turned to look at her, his face giving nothing away. “Because I couldn’t look my daughter in the eye knowing I let a monster like that go free. Plus, we kind of like having you and Zenobi as allies,” he said with a grin.

  “Thank you,” she said sincerely.

  “You're welcome,” he nodded.

  The rest of the drive was spent in silence. When they arrived in the derelict part of town where the contact had agreed to meet, it was dark. Homeless people who were huddled around a makeshift fire pit looked on with suspicion as they left the car and walked to the end of the road. Both she and Daniel were on high alert in case this was a trap.

  Her contact was the man who owed Usov tens of thousands of pounds and couldn’t pay up, he was also high up in the local government. Usov had been blackmailing him to do more and more, even threatening his children in return for wiping the debt. Roz offered him an out if he helped her. She wasn’t naïve though, she knew this man was possibly working her.

  “Do you see him?”

  “Not yet,” she said as she hunched into her jacket, cold biting into her skin.

  “He’s late.”

  “I’ll give him two more minutes then we leave.”

  As she said it a man in a long, dark coat came rushing around the corner, his bald head covered by a hat. Roz tightened her hand on her gun as the man approached. He looked nervous, looking behind him every few seconds. Fuck he was going to get caught if he doesn’t stop fidgeting.