Page 52 of No More Lies

Great. Stretching, he stood. In the kitchen, he put on some coffee. He should go up to Diane, make sure she was alright. He didn’t. Right now, he didn’t have the mental capacity to deal with it. The boys would be here any minute and he needed to focus his attention on protecting his family and getting out of this mess. Hopefully, Diane was sleeping since it was almost four in the morning.

Another text alerted him Dex was coming in now. He went outside, unlocked the gate to let them in. The three of them, Dex, Donnie and him didn’t speak until securely inside the house.

“Where’s the family?” Donnie asked.

“Megan is asleep in the den. Diane is upstairs.” He walked back to the kitchen, got three mugs and poured coffee.

“How are you doing?” Dex asked as Steve passed him a mug.

“Had better time off.” They moved to the living room, sitting down. “What’s going on?”

“We’ve not been able to locate Volkov or the sarin. Looks like Volkov or the buyer has someone inside the airport. We think the sarin left under the wire.”

“Shit. What now?”

“We’re looking at employees at the airport,” Dex said, “to see if we can find a link to trace how it left. With the sarin still in play we need to keep things as normal as possible. Diane goes to work tomorrow, and Megan goes to school.”

“No fucking way!” He and Diane might not be in a good place, but no way in hell did he want her right in the line of fire. And Megan? Send her to school where she had already been approached? “What the hell Dex? What if he turns up instead of calls? What if he goes to the school?”

“Steve,” Donnie interrupted. “None of us like the idea, but there isn't another way.”

“There has to be another way.”

“If there was, we wouldn’t be here,” Dex said. “I don’t like it, but to keep them safe, we need to nail Volkov. Right now, Diane is our best chance at that. We need everyone to act like it’s another normal day. It’s what he’s expecting. Anything else will spook him.”

Steve knew Dex was right. They had nothing. “He’s behind the sarin deal? For sure?”

“We only know his company transported it. There is nothing to suggest that he is the buyer. He’s probably just the facilitator, but we cannot take that chance. The man has gone off grid. If that sarin is to be used here, he’s going to be in touch with Diane. He’s going to want to get his daughter and flee before the sarin gets released. The hearing appears to be the key to that.”

“Steve, Diane’s our best shot at finding Volkov,” Donnie said. “We get him, he can’t come after your family anymore.”

“He’s the best shot at locating the sarin,” Steve snapped. “Because that’s what this is really about, right? Don’t sit here and tell me the sarin isn’t Sam’s priority.”

Dex sighed. “Yes, finding the sarin is the priority. We don’t find that shit, it gets released, next week, next month. It could be right here in San Diego. Then we might not be having any conversations because we could all be dead, including Diane and Megan. And you can bet your ass Volkov will be back in Russia laughing his head off. But if you think for one minute, I would let anything happen to your family... Fuck, Steve, no way in hell is that happening. Nyx is back, and Liam and the boys are being read in now. I know asking this sucks, but we can protect your family, and get Volkov, and take the sarin. This is what we do.”

“Daddy?”

Megan’s voice startled all of them. She stood at the top of the den stairs, rubbing her eyes.

“Hey, Pumpkin.” Steve walked over and scooped her up in his arms. “What are you doing awake?”

“I woke up and you and Mommy were gone.”

“Mommy went to bed. You, my darling, were snoring, so I thought I’d leave you there a little while. Then Uncle Dex and Uncle Donnie stopped by.”

Megan smiled at them, but the smile turned into a yawn.

“I think we need to get you into bed, it’s not time to get up yet.”

“Can you tuck me in and sit with me?” Megan laid her head on his chest and his heart squeezed.

“Pumpkin, I got—”

“How about I sit with you?” Donnie offered.

Megan nodded. Donnie walked over and took her from Steve. “OK, squirt, but you need to go back to sleep. You got school tomorrow.”

Donnie headed to the stairs. Steve watched them go. He had to keep them safe, nothing else mattered.