Sea Haven 02 - Spirit Bound

never had a big ego, so for a while he didn’t catch on. Whatever it took to get the job done was all that mattered to me. Sliding from one skin to another was easy enough, but through the years, I couldn’t stay under the radar. Ivanov noticed when I kept defeating the enemy. He’s going to keep coming.”
    Lev rubbed the bridge of his nose. “You two have a run-in before this?”
    Stefan shrugged. What could he say? Everyone had run-ins with Petr Ivanov growing up. Ivanov had held him underwater, thinking he would kill him that way. As a teen, he’d been sick and sadistic, torturing animals and graduating to his classmates. He would often loop a rope around a sleeping child and drag him or her to the window, throwing them out, and watching them dance on the end of the rope. Most of the time, other children overpowered Ivanov and rescued the victim, but sometimes, they didn’t get the child up in time.
    “Time and again the instructors had warned Sorbacov about him, but Sorbacov cultivated him, giving him freer and freer rein until one of the instructors who had angered Ivanov turned up dead, cut into small pieces and arranged in a hallway, sightless eyes staring in horror at the children as they came out of the dormitories for classes. After that, Sorbacov kept Ivanov away from the rest of us as much as possible. He wasn’t in the dorms, but we all knew he had his own quarters and ate better meals. The thing none of them understood was, while he led the good life, protected by Sorbacov, we were still fighting for our lives. We were honed into fighting machines and he grew soft. No less mean, he’s sick enough to need to kill, but he doesn’t have the endurance and the sheer will to survive like the rest of us do.”
    Lev sketched a question mark in Stefan’s mind.
    “When he’s hurt, he runs. I would have kept going unless the bastard knocked me out. He might have been able to kill me when I was on the ground, but he couldn’t take the pain. He’s soft, Lev, and he won’t kill unless it’s a sure thing.”
    “So basically, he’s a perverted sadist bent on killing us.”
    Stefan nodded. “But he’s not gone rogue. He may be ignoring Sorbacov now, but make no mistake, Sorbacov ordered him here in the first place. If he managed to kill us, he’d go home with some tale of how he didn’t get the new orders and Sorbacov would swallow it because he’d have no choice. He’s got a monster on a leash, but he doesn’t want that monster to turn on him.”
    “You have to tell Judith.”
    Stefan pushed down the illogical fear swamping him. “Keeping her alive is more important. I think La Roux took the escape offered him, suspicious the offer could be a trap and got word through one of his guards to his own men. They killed our agents and La Roux most likely came here. He had to have seen that picture of Judith with me that Mike Shariton took of us together at the door of the gallery. That’s what prompted him to agree to get out of prison. He’s no one’s fool, La Roux.”
    Lev pressed his lips together as if to keep from saying anything more and followed Stefan out into the night. They separated the moment they were on the street, each taking an opposite side. Stefan took the sidewalk closest to the ocean. It had the least cover, a short fence and wild plants shooting up all over the bluff, but not high enough at the fence line to provide any shadows to disappear into. He didn’t try, but sauntered along as though out for a late night walk.
    It makes better sense for me to be over there. He wouldn’t recognize me.
    Stefan scowled, but didn’t bother with an answer. He’d come to Sea Haven to warn and protect his younger brother from an assassin. Nothing had changed his intentions, not even meeting Judith. It was bad enough that Lev insisted on coming along, but he wasn’t going to allow him to take the dangerous position.
    The wind had risen, slapping at the sea, pushing the waves into higher and higher crests so that they broke in towering peaks over the rocks and sprayed white foam high into the air. The sea was an angry power, showing no mercy to anything in its way, dark and turbulent. He felt the power, inhaled it and drew it deep into his lungs. Waves of energy rode on the power of the wind and sea. Violent energy. He had no doubt Ivanov was up to something sadistic—and he was close.
    He’s here—close, Lev. He’s hurting something or someone. Stefan tried to narrow the direction