The Tiger's Mail Order Mate (Paranormal Shifter Romance) (2 page)

“Hopefully, something long term.” Sonja replied. “I really don’t want to come back once I leave.”

Nicolai had been reading the conversation over her shoulder. “Tell him you’re planning on taking a trip to Hawaii to see the sights. That you came into some inheritance and you really need to get out fast.”

Sonja nodded and typed in what Nicolai instructed hoping Russell would buy it. She added, “Yeah, if the mafia finds out about the cash they’ll kill me on the spot, my family had some gambling debts to them.”

It took a while for Russell to type a reply. “How do I know you aren’t a scammer?”

“Easy, you don’t, other than the fact that I am not asking you for any money, or any of your banking information.” She opened a new tab and accessed Russell’s personal service record and banking information with Nicolai’s diplomatic password. She very well could rip him off right there, and was pleased that she was possibly landing a major from the elite US Navy SEALs  to help her escape the KGB. She needed to keep her cards close to her chest though, at least until the intel was in safe hands.

“So you’ll be paying for your trip out here?” the reply came.

“Yes, as well as any visas and tariffs I need to cover. You don’t need to pay a penny. Consider it the first step towards trusting each other. A good relationship needs that, da?”

“Works for me.” Russell’s reply said. “Just let me know when you’ll be landing so I can go pick you up at the airport. I need to go get ready for work. I should be on leave but my CO wants to talk to me about something.”

Sonja felt the exasperation in his mood. She remembered all too well having her leave interrupted for useless bullshit her command wanted her to do. She sympathized with the man, especially after reading about his recent deployment in the Crimea.

“Okay, I’ll keep you informed,” She sent off before closing the chat box. She studied Russell’s record thoroughly, especially his latest stint in the Crimea.

Russia, it seemed, begged the USA to step in and assassinate one of the leading Ukrainian rebels on the down low and Russell’s squad was the one that had done the dirty work. This whole adventure was proving to be more exciting than she had thought. She recalled seeing something of the sort as she hastily downloaded all the intel she had been able to procure onto the micro SD card, but didn’t have time to read because the KGB were about to break down her office door.

She laughed at their sheer stupidity. They could have just cut her access to the network, but for some odd reason, couldn’t figure out how. The IT guy was off sick that day, so he was of little use. Maybe it was the ricin she slipped in his coffee the day before. Yeah probably was the ricin.

She closed out the browser that motioned Nicolai on over. “Alright, work your magic. Get me a ticket to Honolulu with the least amount of stopovers. Preferably going west over North America. The less time I spend in Russian air space the better.”

“I agree.” Nicolai replied. “I’ll see what I can do.” He began to type in the addresses of various websites to track down what he needed. He then went to work to procure the airline tickets Sonja required.

“How long will it take for your friends to get me my exit papers?” she asked.

“If I break a few arms, three days tops.” Nicolai replied.

“It’s cutting it close. I might have to move to another safe house before too long.” Sonja worried.

“Don’t worry. I’ve done this plenty of times. You’ll be able to go to your tropical American paradise and swoon into the arms of your knight in shining armor in no time.” He teased.

“Oh, do shut up. This is just for practical purposes only. He is good looking, though, so I might sleep with him once or twice, just to give it a sense of legitimacy, but once I have my asylum guaranteed, I will be dropping him like a hot potato.” Sonja scoffed.

Nicolai laughed as he rubbed his balding head. “You know, if you’re not careful you might actually fall in love some day. Cupid really loves people like you.”

“Not this chick.” She replied. “Don’t have time for that kind of bullshit. Now, get me out of here, will you?”

“Alright, alright, let me call my contact. I need to find the right phone first.” Nicolai replied as he searched the dingy white kitchen drawers for his encrypted cell phone. “To keep the KGB from cracking our encryption we change phones every three days. Sometimes I lose it, ah here it is.” He opened the archaic flip phone and punched in a sequence of numbers, waited a minute while listening intently and punched in a few more. He then hustled to the bathroom to conduct his conversation in relative secrecy.

Sonja stared after him and sighed. She wished she could be kept in the loop regarding this, but Nicolai was good at what he did and she trusted him explicitly, he was one of the very few people who held that coveted status in her life. She sat down at the kitchen table and opened the laptop once again.

She went back to Russell’s secret profile and studied it intently. She studied the photos and details of his life. She noticed he was pretty outdoorsy, enjoyed beer, but was a loner by nature. She liked that. Fewer people in his life, the fewer complications down the road. She thought.

Sonja also noticed that there was a heavily censored and redacted medical file locked behind a very tightly encrypted file system. She attempted to crack the encryption to access the full file, but was met with resistance. She didn’t try too hard so as not to alert the US Military of the incursion any more than they probably already were. She needed to close the connection before they traced her. She hastily severed the laptop’s connection by turning off the Wi-Fi antenna before entering the kill code for the VPN. That way she knew for sure the transmission couldn’t be traced back.

Nicolai came out of the bathroom after a few minutes. “Okay, your papers will be ready tomorrow. I’ll go pick them up at the place I have arranged. It’s going to be a dead drop so no one will see my contact and I together.”

“You’re going to need to access another VPN. Russell’s medical file was behind a heavy firewall.”

“Well isn’t that wonderful.” Nicolai spat. “Luckily, I have thousands I can access at any time, as well as the TOR network if we’re feeling really reckless.”

Sonja ran her fingers through her tousled red hair. “Just get me the tickets. I don’t need to know the particulars.” She said softly.

“Da. One-way to Hawaii coming up.” Nicolai worked his electronic magic to procure it without having to pay a penny. “Don’t ask how I do that. It’s top secret.” He laughed.

“That’s how you keep your costs down.” Sonja replied.

“Anyway, you have a ticket to Honolulu Hawaii leaving tomorrow at five pm. There is one switch over at DeGaulle airport and one at LaGuardia and one in Los Angeles. No swapping planes, just fuel stops.”

“Great and the papers?”

“I scheduled the flight after I picked them up from the dead drop location. We’ll be fine.” Nicolai replied to the worried woman. “I also just sent the man a message over Skype pretending to be you to tell him that you ran into some complications and have to leave tomorrow. He seemed pretty excited.”

Sonja nodded. “Do you have my bag handy?”

“Yes, I picked it up as soon as I got your text. It’s in my bedroom, let me go get it.” Nicolai said as he shuffled off to the bedroom.

Sonja pulled the micro SD card out of her bra and looked at it intently as Nicolai brought a full duffel bag out of his bedroom. “Open it up for me? I need to hide this in something.”

He gave her an odd look as he unzipped the bag after setting it down. “You sure you want to have this on you?”

“It’s a carry on so it won’t get searched so badly. I have a way to hide it anyway.” She reached into the side pocket of the bag and pulled out a small anti static pouch and dropped the card inside. She then taped it up with a roll of duct tape that Nicolai had sitting on the counter after he fixed the leaky faucet. Sonja then reached in and pulled out a tin of short bread cookies and opened it up. “See, I thought of everything.” She lifted the top layer of cookies and placed the taped micro SD Card underneath. “Now all they’ll see is cookies when I open the tin!”

“Genius.” Nicolai said dryly. “Now we wait and see what tomorrow brings shall we?” He raised a glass of freshly poured vodka. “To new beginnings!”

*

Russell waited nervously at the door of his CO’s office. What on earth could he want? The door opened and the secretary popped her head out. “Colonel Bankes will see you now, Sir.” Russell got up and winked at the statuesque brunette clerk as he entered the office. She blushed prettily and sat down behind her desk to continue on with her filing.

He opened the next door, ushered himself into his CO’s office and sat down in one of the plain brown chairs across from the mahogany desk.

“You aren’t in uniform.” A stern voice snapped from the other side of the desk.

“Well, sir, I’m on leave. I didn’t think this was official business.” Russell replied.

The colonel turned around in his high-backed leather chair and looked at Russell with piercing blue eyes. His grey hair was shorn in a buzz cut and his face was wrinkled and weathered. Crusty was the only way to describe him. “No, it isn’t really official business. You’re here because there has been someone poking around your personnel file without proper authorization.”

“Really?” Russell replied, surprised. “Who do you think it would be?”

“We don’t know. The IP came from Romania, but it could be a proxy. Our IT guys are looking into it. I just thought I would give you a heads up. Keep your cards close to your chest. If anyone found out what you are, and how you got that way, the United Nations Human Rights Commission will be all over our asses before we could say Tony.”

“Yes, sir.” Russell replied. “Can I go now? I need to clean my house up a bit, I’m expecting someone tomorrow.”

“Yes you may. Your leave is up in two weeks?” Colonel Bankes asked.

“Yes, give or take. It was a really harsh trip, and I need the extra to decompress.” Russell replied.

“Yes, I know. We need to keep you as calm as possible so you can be on your A-game in the field. You were a credit to your rank out there, just to let you know. You’ll be getting a medal. None of your men died and you got your target.”

“I always do.” Russell replied meekly as he stood up. “Dismissed, sir?” He asked.

“Dismissed.” The colonel said as he pushed a button on his desk when Russell turned around. He noticed the blinking light at the base of Russell’s skull blinking red, not a good sign. He was still tense and irritated. After Bankes pushed the button, the light changed to green and tension flowed out of Russell’s body.

“Thank you, sir.” Russell said as he opened the door to leave. He felt a cool rush from the base of his skull as he stepped out of the door. He smiled at the secretary as he left the office and headed down the Spartan hallway to the exit.

He opened the building door and was blinded by the dazzling mid-afternoon sun. He quickly put on his sunglasses and hurried to his car. He unlocked and hopped in the small black sports coupe and started the engine. He had a bit of a drive to get to his home, but didn’t mind one bit. He put the car into first gear and quickly shifted up as he zoomed through the road going through the massive cesspool back to the main island.

He moved through the busy streets and on to the twisty back way towards the back of the island. He slowed down because the scenic route was just one lane and sometimes tourists came barrelling through without regard for the locals. Just last week a couple plummeted off the cliff into the bay during a rainstorm and left two young girls behind.

He saw his driveway and turned in. He drove up the hill a little ways and opened the garage with the touch of the button on his sun visor. He pulled into his garage and closed the door behind him. His eyes needed no time to adjust to the dim light that filtered through the small window in the side. Russell silently moved up the stairs, his lithe, muscular body rippling under his white cotton shirt.

He opened the fridge and grabbed a beer as he buzzed through the kitchen on the way to his laptop. Sonja should have departed Moscow by now and on her way to Hawaii. He turned on his laptop to check to see if she had left a message letting him know she had left.

He saw the Skype notification flashing in the corner of the screen and breathed a sigh of relief. He clicked it and read the message. She was due to board at 5 pm Moscow time and she had her visa and other paperwork cleared by the US Embassy. 5 pm Moscow time was 4 am that morning for him, so he had plenty of time to get things ready for her. He knew she would be completely exhausted when she arrived so he didn’t want to come on too strongly. Hell, they did not even have time to discuss sex or do any webcaming.

He replied to the chat: “Hey I can’t wait to meet you. This is going pretty fast, but I’m okay with that. If you want to wait for things I’m okay with that, too.”

“Oh don’t worry. Things will work out. I just really need to leave now. The mafia has gotten wind of my inheritance and will probably send enforcers soon. Its best I jet out of here. Hawaii is far enough, I hope.”

“Oh, it should be.” He replied. This definitely was triggering his protective instincts. He wanted to help this woman if at all possible. “Hey, maybe if we don’t really hit it off, I can try to get you a refugee card?” he typed in.