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Toro, Bergia
Saturday, 30 January, 1:50 p.m.
––––––––
Aidan placed his hand on my thigh and I covered it with mine. Adrenaline danced in my stomach – the tango of the huntress. A single row of trees on either side of the cobbled road took us to one of the two men at the top of my serial killer suspect list. We weren't sure of Ragnar's location. The burner phone Piotr carried put him in Toro. Ivana told us the truth; Princess Ylva had contacted him in Krakow. Together they had travelled to Toro the previous day. The DNA from the condom found in the Zurich victim's mouth didn't match Piotr's.
"We haven't seen Ainsley in almost a week. This needs to end. Today." Aidan lifted my hand to his warm mouth. I kissed his shoulder and wrapped my arms around his left arm. "I love you, Aidan Walker. I wish I could send you home and continue this fight on my own. If anything happens to you, I—"
"Stop this, nothing is going to happen to either of us. We'll be heading home soon, and the world will be a safer place for our daughter. Besides, Ains is having more fun with her grandparents and Mom is a different person compared to last week."
"This driveway is long."
Aidan's laughter filled the interior of the SUV and for a moment I breathed, taking in the snow-covered landscape. I focused my eyes on everything other than my handsome husband, who wore his newsie cap. Aidan had told me his preferred term for it after the second time I asked him to wear it every day, no matter the heat or humidity in Marcel. Of course, he said no. I can't fault him for not wanting to sweat like a race horse every day.
"Szymon knows I'm always armed, so our best bet is if he doesn't realise you're carrying."
I turned to my husband and touched my fingers to his cheek. "I don't need any of these weapons to protect you, my love. If someone threatens your life I'll bite their throats and rip them to pieces with my teeth and hands."
"Perhaps watching a horror movie last night to decompress wasn't the best idea. You sound very murdery today."
I patted his cheek and placed my hand on his thigh, moving it high enough to make Aidan laugh and almost send the Range Rover skidding off the road. "I love the sound of you laughing. It was the first thing I noticed about you, even before I saw your beautiful face."
"Can you please stop talking as if someone might die today? It's my job to worry about my operatives, Fortius, my wife, and my daughter. Not in that order. Nothing is more important than keeping you and Ainsley safe."
I didn't know why I wanted to tell him how much I love him or cherish our life together. Not to mention the beautiful miracle child we share. Perhaps it came down to an entire week of being surrounded by nothing but evil, depravity, and death.
If not for the Kevlar under his shirt, I wouldn't have allowed my husband to lunch with a potential serial killer. Not that Commander Walker took orders from me. Aidan Walker is by far the more reasonable of the two.
While we spent the afternoon with royalty, Rowan kept watch over Ivana. They weren't far away and within the hour another Fortius operative would arrive in Toro, in case Aidan and I needed Rowan's help. Liam waited close by. Aidan moved all of us around like chess pieces. He didn't share his every decision or strategy with me, he was after all the boss, or would be in a matter of days. If someone had to decide my next move, I prefer it be Aidan. Marika and Dmitry remained with Ivar and Vladimir until the doctor decided the patients have recovered enough to travel. A part of me hoped Ivar didn't, despite not knowing what he had done to make Ivana's love for him turn into full blown hatred.
The Stein's country home looked nothing like I expected, but somehow it did. I've visited many castles and palaces across Europe on the many family vacations my parents had taken Lizzie and me, but this building seemed less grandiose than most.
"Not what you expected?" Aidan asked as he pressed his foot on the brake.
"I expected more castle, and less mansion."
Aidan unbuckled his seat belt and turned to me. "This isn't the official country residence of the King and Queen of Bergia. Mikolaj left the main property to Ragnar. When you see it, you'll understand why it was for the king's use. The place is a fort."
"How many times have you visited Bergia?"
"I spent a week here after Mikolaj passed away. Szymon invited me to his coronation ceremony and made time to show me around his country."
I reached for Aidan's hand. "This weighs heavy on you. Keep in mind I'm not sure he is, or isn't, the killer. The murders aside, he knew his grandfather was a paedophile and asked you to take out the BSS operatives. He has done nothing to shine a light on Mikolaj's crimes. Instead, he buried them by having Fortius act as a death squad for him. The BSS operatives were well aware of what they were doing for king and country and probably deserved to die for the things they did. I dug into their backgrounds and from what I can gather most were orphans like Ivana and Ivar. As children they might not have had a choice, but as adults, carrying weapons and travelling across the world, they did."
I took a deep breath. "Eli contacted me earlier. He's been digging into the paedophile ring. He found a detective who worked a missing children's case a few years ago. They found the thirteen-year-old boy, but he refused to say where he had been, or what was done to him. The detective told Eli that a doctor confirmed the boy was raped. The only piece of evidence the detective had – a picture the boy kept drawing. A dragon. The end of its tail always nine lines. This confirms that at least one of the BSS operatives deserved to die for reasons other than the long list of crimes Mikolaj made them commit."
"Could the rapist be Ivar?"
I shook my head. "Ivana has a picture of the two of them hidden in the sole of the left boot she lent me. Below Ivar's dragon is a bear. Something that distinct, I think the boy would've drawn it as well."
"You and Rowan did a thorough job going through her things if you even checked the soles of her shoes."
"She's an assassin. I won't leave my brother with her without ensuring his safety. Cavity searches are not for the faint-hearted."
Aidan laughed, placed his hand on my neck and pulled my mouth to his. "Are you ready to meet a king and queen?"
I rolled my eyes and sent a text message to Rowan. Within seconds both he and Liam would see what we saw and hear every sound around us. "They're no different from us, except Szymon received life on a gold platter. Astrid worked for everything she has, including the company she still owns. The first commoner to marry into the Stein family. Point is, they bleed like the rest of us. No one is untouchable."