Page 74 of Call Sign: King
“Which part?”
“That Nicolai would come for you. How do you know that?”
She’d always thought Ryder’s fear of his enemies finding him had been exaggerated, but he’d been right. There was a very steep price to pay for loving Ryder Helms.
Vladimir had come to collect that price.
Even knowing the sacrifice, she wouldn’t change a thing.
Khloe finally answered Irena. “His name isn’t Nicolai. It is Ryder. And I know because he loves me. And I love him. As long as he is alive, he will be looking and when he finds me, he will come.”
The women laid in silence for several long seconds, each lost in their own thoughts.
“I’m pregnant,” Irena said so quietly Khloe almost missed her confession.
Risking more pain, Khloe rolled enough to be able to push herself up into a sitting position. Once up, she found Irena had already done the same.
“Is Alexi the father?” she asked.
Irena nodded, glancing nervously at the guards across the room. So far, the men had only spoken in Russian, but that didn’t mean they didn’t understand English.
“Does he know?” Khloe asked, hopeful that if the man knew he was going to be a father that surely that would change things. He would fight for Irena to be set free.
“He knows. He’s forced us to keep our relationship secret. I didn’t understand why until Vlad returned. Now I see what a fool I’ve been. Vlad will murder me the second he finds out I have another man’s baby inside me.”
“Even if that man is a Volkov?” Khloe asked.
“Especially if he finds out it is Alexi’s baby. He will want to supply the heir to the Volkov family business himself.”
“His mother told me there are already other nieces and nephews. Won’t they inherit the family business?”
“Not if Vlad has his way. I should have known that bomb would never be able to kill the bastard. He’s like a cockroach — unable to die.”
“I’m so sorry you have such a poor opinion of your husband, my pet. Perhaps a few more corrective lessons will get your attitude adjusted.”
Terror filled Irena’s eyes at the sound of her husband’s voice across the room. How much of their conversation had he heard?
Chapter Twenty-three
RYDER
“Istill say we should wait until the sun goes down to make our move,” Ice said, making his objections known for the second time in the last hour.
Ryder finished loading the extra magazine for the Glock he already had hidden in his leg holster before answering his team leader.
Looking up, he gave Ice the benefit of his full attention before adding. “I appreciate your concern and acknowledge your disagreement with the plan, but this isn’t your call. It’s mine. No one has more to lose than I do right now.” He could have stopped there, but he didn’t. “If you are opposed to the plan I’ve put together, feel free to sit this one out. Just know if you do, I’ll consider that your final act on my team.”
Defensive, Ice threw his hands up, releasing an agitated scoff. “Jesus, man, don’t overreact. I know this is your call to make and in case you forgot, I’ve proven I’ll follow you into hell and back so don’t give me this shit.” The team leader paused, no doubt remembering the fiery warehouse he’d literally run through behind Ryder over a year ago down in Mexico. “I’m just saying there are other ways to go about this mission.”
Ryder knew Ice’s suggestions were coming from a good place. Hell, his ideas were probably even the smarter choices. There was just one problem with all of them.
“We don’t have time to wait. Every minute he has her is a minute too long,” Ryder answered, resuming his preparation for the mission at hand.
Both Torch and Ice’s teams bustled around the warehouse they’d moved to under the cover of the night. Closing the distance between him and Khloe had helped to keep his panic at bay now that he was less than a half hour away from the Barvikha compound.
It wasn’t lost on Ryder that they’d moved to the very hangar he’d rushed Chip Marshall’s family to that fateful night of their rescue four years before. That night had put all of today’s actions into motion and it was only fitting their flight crews would again be waiting in this location — this time for the BSO evacuation out of town once they’d completed their mission.
Please God, let Khloe be safely on one of those planes.
