Page 103 of Shephard

He swatted me on the bottom. “You seem to forget I claimed you.”

“Is that legal?”

“In my world it is.” I sensed he was returning to business in his mind. “This is going to be dicey. You need to go stay with your friend until it’s over.”

“Why? If good ole Boris the Butcher is to come in with guns blazing, he’ll do it at my house. I’ll be safer at your place.”

“I won’t put anything past him and we don’t know what Cane told him. You’re not arguing with me.”

“And you’re going to sit in my cabin and wait?”

“I know how Boris operates. He’ll arrive at night.”

The danger suddenly dawned on me. I’d read a couple of articles on the atrocities performed by the man. He was a true butcher. “I don’t like this, Shephard. This is supposed to be a quiet little town where nothing ever happens, but tourists being stupid enough to get themselves lost.”

“And it will be again, but you’re going to need to trust me. Can you do that?”

He honestly had no idea how much I did trust him. I rose further onto my tiptoes, kissing him softly on the lips. “With all my heart and soul.”

At least we knew what we were up against.

And for the first time since almost being killed years before, I was terrified.

Shephard

I’d become good at waiting for anything over the years. Although I had to admit, since leaving my former profession, my patience level had started to wane.

This was night two of waiting for Boris to show. Fortunately, the thick-headed Russian wasn’t as clever as he’d once been. He’d been seen by a local, the town buzzing about the scar-faced man. That had told me all I’d needed to know.

He’d always enjoyed the anticipation of his torment, allowing his victims to learn he was near them without laying a finger on them for whatever amount of time he believed feasible. Only for a man like me and for my two brothers, waiting was part of the game of chess. We were damn good at it, including remaining in the dark.

There were no sounds other than the way the wind was blowing outside. A storm was brewing, which would have masked his arrival except for the fact I’d quickly installed several security methods so we’d know when the fucker and his crew were arriving.

While my brothers were in for the long haul, they knew this was my fight.

One to the death.

As a limb hit the back of the house, I noticed the first flash of lightning from a distance. It could be an interesting night.

And very messy.

A smile crossed my face until the blip on my phone indicated we had visitors. Right on time if you asked me.

I doubted Boris was happy with spending any time here.

I’d called in one last favor, asking the only man I trusted within the CIA to find out what he knew about the FBI’s case. The CIA would rule on this particular incident if required. It wasn’t aboutengineering their interference. That I didn’t want. However, ending Boris’ life could mean an international incident.

As if I cared about that either.

I remained where I was, both my brothers doing the same. The house was dark, vehicles parked as they should be outside. And there was a light on upstairs. At least I knew Denise was protected, even though I’d almost been forced to drag her to Maggie’s for a couple of nights. She wasn’t just a tough girl. She had the need to protect me as well.

I’d been trained to listen to subtle sounds. For me, it was the creaking of the single board on the deck that needed to be screwed down. I’d unscrewed it on purpose just for tonight. It wasn’t loud enough unless you were paying very close attention.

Which of course I was.

I’d forgotten how dedicated my brothers were to their training.

Nothing would get past them.