Sea Haven 02 - Spirit Bound

distance away, but he was on his way. A branch snapped audibly, the sound carrying in the stillness of the night. His prey was fleeing, having spotted Stefan.
    Send the owl, he instructed his brother . Block his path to his vehicle. He has to have one. I can’t get to him in time. Slow him down. Now, Lev, slow him down!
    He ran with his weapon drawn, fear for Judith tripping his heart. Had the man been trying to kill her? Was it Ivanov? Ivanov wouldn’t have anything to gain by killing Judith. He couldn’t possibly know how Stefan felt about her. Even if Stefan told the exterminator the truth, swore to him his feelings for Judith ran deep, Ivanov would never believe him.
    He had an abundance of cover as he ran through the gardens, the taller flowers and brush screening him from a good marksmen. He made certain to weave and duck, not choosing a straight path, expecting a hail of bullets any moment.
    The owl took flight, joining several others suddenly circling around to the other side of the grove of trees where they disappeared.
    Where is he? Stefan demanded.
    On the western trail. I can’t see his car yet, but he has to have one. If he makes it to his vehicle, I’ll be able to cut him off before he gets to the front gate or tries to make it around to the back part of the property. These upper acres are fenced in.
    He could go through a fence, Stefan pointed out.
    Lev had to be driving partially blind if he was connected to the owls, but his information was vital to Stefan. Knowing his prey was running allowed Stefan to choose the shortest route instead of the most protected. He veered from the garden and cut across a field of wild flowers that took him up the slope of the knoll.
    Get inside, Judith, he ordered. Stay low, and for God’s sake, set your security system. If anyone tries to break in, call the sheriff.
    He expected her to pepper him with questions and demand, but she did neither. He felt her quiet acceptance and risked one look over his shoulder to see the doors to the balcony closing firmly.
    I will expect to see you both alive and well, she replied softly. With a good explanation.

12
     
    I’VE never worked with anyone else, Lev, not like a team. I was trained to work separately, completely alone and cut off from all aid. Often, as a teenager, I’d be sent into hostile environments with another boy from my classes, one I’d trained with, slept in the same barracks, ate with and inevitably, halfway through the mission, when my back was turned and I was totally focused on accomplishing the task, the other boy would try to kill me as part of the assignment.
    He wanted his brother to understand why trust came so reluctantly to him.
    It was a tactic used often, late in our training, turning the students on one another, keeping them separate and heightening their sense of awareness as well as the belief that no one else could be trusted.
    He loved Lev. There was no doubt in his mind that he loved his brother, but the Lev that he loved and was infinitely loyal to was a small boy who, like Stefan, lay beaten and bloody in the snow, horrified as soldiers murdered their parents. He was loyal to the boy who had clung to him, had been ripped from his arms and taken to another part of the country so they couldn’t form an alliance against their enemies.
    They did the same thing to me.
    So he wasn’t so alone after all. Lev had shared those experiences, that childhood, and he knew how surreal it felt to run through the night chasing an enemy with someone else closing in on the same man. Ahead as he raced through the trees, he could hear the heavy, almost frantic breathing of the intruder as he sprinted for his car. He must have parked outside the gates, climbed over the fence and hiked through the property to get to Judith’s home.
    That’s worrisome, Lev said. There are six houses on the property. How the hell did he know which one was hers?
    That was a damned good question, one Stefan wanted the answer to. Don’t kill him, Stefan cautioned. We need a few answers .
    He was closer. He could hear the thud of the footsteps and the sound of twigs and small, dead branches snapping in two as the intruder raced through the forest back toward the road.
    Funny, I was about to say the same thing to you.
    Stefan burst into the open, running at a steady, fast pace, falling in behind the intruder, slowly closing the gap. There was little cover in the meadow and as the man gained the other side, the owls swooped