Clinch (The Underground Book 2) (26 page)

In fact, Leo realized that was the entire reason for the call. A warning. Don’t fuck with him or Katie was a dead woman.

Hopefully Katie didn’t come to the same conclusion.

Again, he could kick himself in the ass for putting her in this position.

“Okay. Well, keep my number just in case. Later.” Yenin hung up, leaving Leo speechless.

After several seconds of silence, he faced Katie for a moment. She was pale. Her eyes were wide, her mouth open, her eyes facing forward, unseeing. She licked her lips. “Did he just threaten me?”

Well, fuck.

“I believe he did. Now do you see why I’m out of my mind scared?”

“Yes.”

∙•∙

Katie was just as out of her mind frightened. Not so much for herself as for Leo. She would stay in the car wherever they stopped. He would go hell-bent into the situation with his gun drawn.

Oh yeah. She was scared all right. She was shaking.

She’d received far too much information in the last several hours to process. Her head was spinning.

On top of that, her phone rang every few moments, vibrating in her pocket. She never took it out. Easier to ignore it.

It would either be Marshall or her mother. She wasn’t prepared to talk to either. And besides, her allegiance was with the burly man next to her.

She didn’t give a fuck that he was tattooed and scarred and rough around the edges.

She didn’t care that he fought underground MMA fights that were beyond dangerous and added broken bones and stitches to his repertoire each time he fought.

She didn’t care that he didn’t have a college degree or even citizenship.

Her parents were going to flip the fuck out when they met him.

And again, she didn’t care. He was hers. Bossiness and all. In fact, even though they were speeding down the highway in pursuit of men with guns who had held her ex-boyfriend hostage for almost twenty-four hours, she squirmed in her seat at the thought of how bossy Leo Gulin could be.

The man made her panties wet with the mention of spanking her. It was hot. Fuck, but it was so hot. He could command her to come with words alone. He was that good.

No woman in their right mind would give up that connection with a man. She didn’t care who the hell he was or where he came from.

He had all the right qualities that mattered. He opened doors. Pulled out chairs. Held her when she cried. Cared about her relationship with a mother who would shun him the moment she met him. Saved her asshole of an ex from possible death. Took her to romantic dinners. Gave massages. Washed her body when she couldn’t lift her own arms.

And that was the tip of the iceberg. What that man could do with his hands and his mouth and his cock…

She yanked her face to stare out the side window so he wouldn’t see the flush growing on her cheeks.

“You okay?” He took her hand and squeezed it, totally reinforcing every thought she’d had and bringing a tear to her eye.

She was in danger. She realized that. But it was totally worth it. If she had a do over, she would pick this path every time.

She sucked in a breath, discretely wiped the tear away, and turned to smile at him. “I’m good.”

His face was filled with concern, and she loved him even more.

Loved him.

God, she loved him.

When he turned back to face the traffic, exiting the highway behind his friends, she watched his gorgeous profile. His hair was short enough that it stood on end most of the time. He had shaved today, but she so wanted to see what he would look like with a four-day beard. Probably hot as hell.

His muscles bulged. None of his T-shirts seemed large enough. And she was good with that too. Permitted her to see every contour most of the time. Even his jeans fit him to perfection, hugging his ass and thighs as though he’d worn them for years.

He made several turns. They were in a residential area now.

She dropped his hand to grab the door and the dashboard to brace herself when he took a turn too fast.

“Sorry,” he muttered, distracted.

Could he possibly do something to annoy her? Why did he have to be so perfect, even in a crisis?

“I think we’re stopping,” he stated right before pulling over to the side of the road.

His phone rang. He picked it up as he peered out the window. “I just pulled over. Looking at a green house. Small. Isolated. Trees all around it. Looks a little rundown.” He hunched his shoulders to see better, and she followed his line of sight.

Suddenly, Leo shocked her. He spoke to his contact, but his words were not what she expected or wanted to hear. “Let me go in. Alone. Or with Ivan. It’s a house. How bad can it be?”

Katie stiffened. Was he out of his mind?

There was a pause. She could hear the man on the other end faintly. He’d raised his voice. Hopefully he was talking some sense into Leo.

“Not gonna happen,” Leo interrupted. “Your entire cover will be blown to shit. You said so yourself. If you send the feds to the door, Mikhail and Ivan will be in too deep.”

As far as Katie could tell, Mikhail and Ivan were already in too deep. They were there when a mystery man popped out of nowhere to pick up Marshall. No way was Leo going to be able to avoid telling his friends he was an informant at this point.

Leo listened for a few seconds and then spoke again, “You don’t know what’s inside. What if Yenin answers the door? What if he has fifteen men in there? It could spell disaster. You don’t know what we’re approaching here. And we don’t have time to wait to find out. I’m going in. It’s possible I can smooth things over if I go in. If your people approach, you have no chance of anything but a brawl. Blood will be spilled. Give me a chance to feel this situation out. There’s no way Yenin has given anyone the order to kill me or any of the fighters. I’ll leave the connection open on my phone so you can hear everything.” Leo stuffed the phone in his pocket without waiting for a response.

He leaned in and kissed Katie briefly, cupping her face. “I love you.”

Shit. Adrenaline shot through her system as if she’d been given a shot of it. She clasped his hand over her cheek and leaned into the warmth. “I love you too.”

There was absolutely no sense trying to talk him out of anything. It would only add to his stress if she argued. When his mind was made up, that was it. If she’d learned anything in the last three days, it was that.

He dropped her face and handed her the keys to the car. “Move to the driver’s side. Pull up closer if it seems prudent. Drive away if there’s a reason.”

She understood, fighting the tears that threatened to fall. “Don’t die on me,” she finally said.

“I’ll do what I can.” He kissed her one last time and got out of the car.

She watched him walk up to Ivan’s car parked in front of them and lean down to speak to him through the window. Ivan nodded several times, and then he got out and joined Leo on the sidewalk.

As if it were any other October day in this Chicago suburb, the two of them sauntered to the front door of the house. The only other difference was that at the last second, they drew their guns and aimed them at the front door.

And then they knocked.

Leo’s heart raced. Several seconds passed before they decided to knock, in agreement that they would wait five seconds and then turn the handle or kick the door in.

Ivan knocked.

Leo counted softly out loud.

At the last second, the door opened, and a man Leo had never seen jerked his hands into the air. “What the fuck?”

Ivan shoved his way into the house first, pushing the short pale man with thick glasses several paces back. He was half their size and about five six. His wispy brown hair was in need of a cut. It was a mess, as if he’d been running his hands through it.

“Who are you?” he asked.

Ivan put a hand on his chest and the gun to his temple. “I’ll ask the questions. Where are the two idiots who just came in?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, man. You can’t just barge into my home.” He lifted both hands in the air, cringing backward.

Ivan grabbed his bicep and held him steady, pressing the gun harder against his temple. “Try again, asshole.”

Leo didn’t wait for answers. He aimed his gun in front of him and made his way farther into the house. It wasn’t that big. The second he rounded the corner from the living room to the kitchen, he spotted Boris and Erik at the back door, tugging on it to escape. “Freeze.”

Both men stood back, hands in the air, plastering themselves to the wall next to the door.

The table was covered with abandoned dishes from several meals, crusty remains of food on them. The room smelled like stale pizza.

“Who else is in the house?” Leo lifted his gun to aim it at Boris.

“No one,” came the voice of the man from the front door.

Leo glanced to find Ivan had the man around the neck and was dragging him into the kitchen.

“I swear. It’s just us. These are my friends. We’ve done nothing wrong. I don’t know what you want, but you have the wrong house.” The pale guy’s face was filled with fear, but somehow he managed to speak anyway, lies flowing out from between his lips as if they were rehearsed.

Leo turned his aim back at Erik. “Who. Else. Is. In. The. House?”

Erik’s eyes widened. His short blond hair stood on end. His alabaster face was currently red with fear. Leo didn’t dare look down. He’d probably find the man had peed his pants. “You fucking followed us?”

“Answer my question, asshole.”

“Just us,” Boris whispered.

Leo hesitated a second and then lowered his gun a fraction. He didn’t trust any of these men, but he also heard no other sound. “Start talking,” he addressed Boris. That asshole was taller than Erik. Maybe five nine. Still half a foot shorter than Leo.

Boris licked his dry lips and opened his mouth. “Ted’s a friend of ours. We came by to shoot the breeze.”

Ivan chuckled, not releasing “Ted” for a second. Though “Ted” moaned at the mention of his name. So the pale, skinny dude was blessed with an inkling of common sense. Why would he hold court with these two assholes?

Plus there was a new interesting piece of information on the table. Leo smiled. “Ted? You wouldn’t happen to be a doctor now, would you,
Ted
?”

Ted pursed his lips.

Rich.

“I’m going to go with Ted Christianson, the epidemiologist. The man who went to school with my woman, whom she trusted enough to make him the only person alive who happens to have the code to the secured room in her clinic. That Ted?”

Ted closed his eyes and visibly shrank.

“This is your house?”

Ted nodded, though he looked like he would piss himself also.

“It’s a dump. You’re a doctor.”

He swallowed. “Don’t have much time to care,” he muttered.

Apparently not. Not if the guy was working more than one job.

Leo lowered his gun a bit, still swinging it around, but only to intimidate. Ivan had the actual threat factor under control. He still held Ted around the neck, practically lifting him off the ground. The asshole had to stand on his tiptoes to keep from hanging himself. Ivan was six two, only a few inches shorter than Leo.

Leo was pissed.

No, pissed wasn’t strong enough of a word. He aimed his gun at Ted and raised his voice. “
You
. You fucking broke into the clinic and stole the blood samples.”

Ted winced, but didn’t open his eyes or his mouth.

“What?” Boris asked. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the three vials filled with Leo’s blood from that morning. “I have the samples right here.” He turned his attention toward Ted. “That’s what we came here for. To bring them to you.”

Ted opened his eyes, grasped Ivan’s forearm tighter, and spoke through gritted teeth. “What the hell is the matter with you two? I was warned not to trust you. Either of you. And you show up at my home to bring me fake vials of blood?”

“How do you know they’re fake?” Boris asked as he glanced down at the three vials in his hand. “They look real to me.”

Ted groaned and rolled his eyes.

Leo chuckled sardonically. “You two truly are complete fucking idiots.”

Boris blinked, his expression blank. He still didn’t get it.

And Leo was having too much fun to leave the fucker in the dark. “The good doctor, your
friend
over here, already stole the fucking vials before you got there, you imbecile.”

“How the hell were we supposed to know they weren’t real?” Boris stared at Leo. “What’s in here, then?”

Leo rolled his eyes and ignored Boris. He turned his attention back to the doctor. “You’re working for Yenin?”

The guy didn’t respond.

Leo chuckled under his breath. “This is rich.” He started to pace in the tiny kitchen, acting far more out of control than he felt to give the illusion he was half-baked. “Let me get this straight.
You
,” he waved his gun at Ted, “broke into the clinic and stole the samples yesterday afternoon. Under Yenin’s direction?”

Yenin hired Ted Christianson? What the fuck?

“No,” the guy muttered. “I did it
for
him, but he didn’t tell me to. I thought it would be better if I had all of the blood samples and could run tests on them myself. I…wasn’t sure about Katie’s findings.”

Leo laughed now, lifted his head toward the ceiling and laughed. “Katie’s findings…” He jerked his face back to center and schooled his features to serious. “You doubting my woman’s work?”

Ted’s eyes widened and he shook his head. “No. I—”

“Yes,” Leo interrupted, “I think you are. I can assure you her work is accurate. I’ve seen it myself.” Not that it meant anything to him, but Ted didn’t need to know that.

Ted closed his eyes again. “Perhaps I erred in my judgment.”

“You think?” Leo shouted.

“I still don’t understand what you gave me,” Boris stated against the wall.

Ivan glanced at him. “Boris, shut the fuck up, you imbecile.”

Leo leaned toward Boris. “So, you two assholes also broke into the clinic with no instruction from Yenin? Jesus.” This was incredible.