Guard (The Underground Book 3) (29 page)

His phone rang again, jarring him out of his reverie.

As he bent to retrieve it, he saw the caller ID. “Viktor.”

“Anton. How are things in Chicago?”

“Progressing steadily. We’re close.”

“Probably not close enough, I’m afraid. Your father isn’t doing well. I don’t think he has much more time. He’s not likely to see the final results of your efforts.”

Anton sighed. He hated to hear that. More than twenty years of hard work and Grigory was now too sick to see it through to completion. “How long?”

“Hard to say. Weeks? Months? Not more than that for sure.”

Anton shook his head. Dammit.

»»•««

Mikhail shut his locker and plopped down on the bench that ran the length of the long row of lockers. He reached for his boots to put them on.

Leo was already dressed and straddling the bench next to him. “So you’re going to let Haley wander around in the streets tonight handing out sandwiches?”

Mikhail scowled. “
Let
is an interesting word choice. Do you
let
Katie do whatever she wants when she plows past you as if she outweighed you and could take you on?”

Leo’s shoulders slumped. “I see your point.”

“Look. We’ve done what we could. I’ve spoken to Taylor, and you’ve spoken to whoever the hell it is you’re connected with. I’m actually more worried about how
little
the FBI is concerned with this plan.”

“I hear you. Do you think they’re using us?”

“The thought has crossed my mind. I had expected Taylor to tell me ‘fuck no,’ and then I intended to let
her
convince Haley so I wouldn’t have to be the bad guy. Instead she agrees and sets up extra detail to trail us around. So, yeah. I’m nervous. I get the feeling the FBI would love for Yenin’s men to step out of the shadows and attempt something. It’s like we volunteered to be a target.”

Leo nodded. “I agree. It’s too convenient.”

“What’s too convenient?”

Mikhail lifted his head to find Abram wandering down the row of lockers. He lowered himself onto the bench across from Leo and Mikhail.

Mikhail snapped his fingers and reached into the back pocket of his jeans to pull out the check he’d been carrying around for Abram for a few days. He handed it to him. “Sorry I’m late. I’ve been busy the last few days. Didn’t have a chance to hunt you down.”

Abram took the folded check and put it in his wallet without looking at it. “No worries. Leo told me a bit about your latest exploits.” He grinned. “You fighters manage to get yourselves into more trouble than anyone I know. You’re like magnets for damsels in distress that bring you a heap of problems.”

Mikhail laughed. “I said the same thing to Leo the other day.”

“Can’t any of you pick a nice sweet girl who hasn’t had a brush with the Russian Mafia? I hope Nikolav and Sergei can keep themselves out of trouble now that they’re in town. I don’t think I can keep up with the drama.”

“Yeah, don’t bet on it.” Mikhail rolled his eyes. “I inadvertently introduced Nikolav to Haley’s girlfriend, Belinda, and it turns out she’s a journalist who’s nosing around in Yenin’s affairs too.”

“What?” Abram glanced at Leo and then Mikhail. “How the hell did this happen?”

Mikhail shrugged. “Like you said, we must be magnets for damsels in distress.”

Abram frowned. “I realize you six didn’t ask for the trouble following you around. And I obviously knew all this before I agreed to be your manager, but I hope none of you end up getting yourselves dead. Dmitry came close. I don’t want to see that happen to any of you.”

“We’re doing our best,” Leo added. “You know as well as any of us Yenin is a relentless bastard who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.”

Abram ran a hand over his head. “I’m clear on that. Spoke to the asshole myself after Dmitry left the country. He wasn’t happy about losing the two of you to my court. And I’m sure he’s seething now that Nikolav and Sergei have also switched to my ring.”

“Yeah, there’s a lot more to it.” Mikhail glanced at Leo. How much should they share with Abram? The man had literally saved their lives on several occasions. He’d gotten Alena into the country for an insurmountable sum Mikhail didn’t even have the guts to inquire about. He’d also gotten Dmitry out of the country.

He was Russian. He had ties. He knew things. He wasn’t as seedy or underhanded as Yenin, but he had connections that sometimes proved useful.

Didn’t they owe it to him to be more forthcoming with information and let him know about the FBI investigation and the weird blood samples?

“Like what?” Abram asked.

Luckily Leo spoke up, which kept Mikhail from having to make decisions on what to tell Abram. After all, Leo was the one who was an informant for the FBI. Obviously he couldn’t tell Abram that, but maybe he could share some details that would keep their manager in the loop.

How much should they say, though? Information had a tendency to go both ways. Just as Abram often knew things about Yenin’s whereabouts and his men, Abram could also leak information to someone.

Mikhail trusted Abram. Hell, they all trusted him. He’d proven valuable to them dozens of times. Surely he wouldn’t go to so much trouble and expense to help Dmitry and Alena out if he also intended to stab them in the back and hand them over to the Mafia.

But then again, why did Yenin go to so much trouble and expense to bring the six fighters into the US and train them to fight, investing a dozen years in their well-being, if he meant them harm? He hadn’t ordered any of them killed, nor had he attempted to abduct any of the six of them since they’d moved to Chicago. But that didn’t mean he was on the up and up. He had clearly used them for some sort of drug experimentation.

“It would seem Yenin’s involved in far more sinister activities than running an underground fighting operation and cooking crystal meth,” Leo began.

“Like what?” Abram lifted an eyebrow.

Leo glanced at Mikhail and then continued. “He might have gotten the six of us into the country with a far more devious, long-term plan. All of us have strange blood anomalies that make no sense. We think he’s creating a drug that has something to do with that.

“And it would seem he’s been testing us for years. And now he’s abducting homeless people off the street and using them for his experiments. When they die, he dumps the bodies.”

Abram’s eyes bugged out. “The missing people they’ve been finding in that dump site were taken by Yenin? How do you know all of this?”

“The woman Mikhail’s been staying with, Haley, was also kidnapped by Yenin’s men. Mistaken for homeless. Lived.”

Mikhail still couldn’t breathe properly when he considered what could have happened to Haley if he and Ivan and Leo hadn’t found her that day three weeks ago.

“Fuck.” Abram lowered his head toward the floor. “That’s insane,” he told the tile.

“Tell me about it,” Mikhail added.

Abram lifted his gaze again. “And the FBI is involved?”

“Yeah,” Leo said.

“Hopefully they can nail the bastard to the wall and put an end to his harassment. That would ease all of your minds.”

“That’s what we’re hoping,” Mikhail agreed.

»»•««

Haley was buried in work when a shadow loomed in the doorway.

She lifted her gaze to find Belinda standing there. “Girl, do you ever stop working?”

“No. Not usually. What time is it?”

“Five.”

“Wow. Lost track of time. Is Mikhail here? He was supposed to get here by now.”

“I didn’t see him.”

Haley leaned back and stretched her neck. “How are you feeling after the food poisoning?”

“Fine. Stomach was a little queasy this morning, but I’ll live. I still cannot believe you sent that behemoth hunk of man to my apartment to hold my hair back while I vomited unthinkable amounts of bile into my toilet.”

Haley cringed. “Yeah, about that. I didn’t exactly make that happen. Mikhail did it. He even teased that you said you wanted to meet his friends.” She giggled.

Belinda plopped onto a chair across from Haley, fanning herself with one hand and pretending to swoon by leaning to the side of the chair and sticking a leg out. “Nikolav Andropov. Even his name makes my panties wet. He was sexier than the Russian you’re shacking up with. Too bad I’ll never see him again. He’s probably never seen anyone in such a state of disaster. My apartment smelled like puke, and I looked like death.”

Haley grinned. “He’s hot, but not hotter than Mikhail,” she teased.

“Oh God, yes. All that dark hair and brooding eyes and white skin. He looked like a vampire. I would have let him suck me dry if he’d asked.”

“Let who suck you dry?” Mikhail asked from the doorway.

Belinda turned ten shades of red.

Haley laughed. “Belinda was smitten by Nikolav.”

“Was she now?” Mikhail smirked as he sauntered farther into the room and rounded the desk. He leaned over, wrapped his possessive fingers around Haley’s neck, and kissed her on the lips when she tipped her head back.

“Too bad I was deadly sick and exhibited my worst possible side.”

“Ah, I don’t think Nik cares about that sort of thing,” Mikhail said, his hand still gripping the back of Haley’s neck.

It was nearly the only thing she was aware of. That and the way he stroked her skin with his pinky.

“You don’t think he cares about vomit sticking in a woman’s hair when he meets her? If his standards are that low, maybe I should steer clear.”

“Well, I’m afraid that’s not possible.”

“Why?” Haley asked, glancing back at him.

“Because he’s coming with us. He’s in the waiting room out front now.”

“Coming with us where?” Belinda’s eyes widened, and she sat up straight, reaching up to pat her hair.

Haley laughed. “Thought you didn’t care?”

“Never said I didn’t care. I just said he surely wouldn’t want to see me ever again.”

“Especially to suck you dry,” Mikhail deadpanned.

“Oh God… Could you please forget you heard that?”

“Not a chance in hell.”

Haley twisted around to look at him more fully. “You’re going to let us go out on the streets?” She was shocked. Every spare moment of the day she had worried about this moment when he would come in and they would probably have a confrontation that would warrant a call to the police. And now he was all on board?

“I know how important this is to you. I thought a lot about it. I spoke to Leo. He spoke to his contact. I also spoke to Taylor. I know you don’t want me to interfere with your mission. The FBI knows what we’re going to do. As long as we let them know our itinerary and stick to it, we’re good to go. So I figured we could compromise.”

She parted her lips but decided to let him continue. His idea of a compromise scared her.

“You can do your thing as long as you have two of us with you at all times and you don’t stay out past eight and you leave without argument immediately if I think there’s a threat.”

She could live with that. Was there a price? She narrowed her gaze.

He chuckled. “That’s it. Take it or leave it.”

“Take it,” Belinda chimed in. She stood and grabbed her satchel from the floor as if Mikhail might change his mind if they didn’t act fast.

»»•««

“Dayton, where are you?” Anton asked without pleasantries.

“Under the L along Lake Street. They’re moving from corner to corner.”

“Good. I have men in the area.”

“Yeah, you do realize you need a better plan. It’s my job to keep your guys from attacking my detail. That would currently be Haley and Belinda. If I let your men get through, I lose my job.”

“I realize that. I intend to create a distraction. Is anyone with you?”

“Millings is meeting me here.”

“No other agents in the area?”

“Probably a dozen. I’m surprised someone agreed to let these four get so exposed. I don’t like it. I smell a rat.”

“You think it’s a setup to flush me out?” Anton fumed.

“Could be.”

Anton scrunched up his face. “Is there anything you aren’t telling me?”

“Of course not. Why would I give a fuck? My orders are to follow these four people. That’s all I know. I’m not privy to anything else. If the FBI has men stationed all around me, I wouldn’t know.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah. I don’t know why you’re so hell-bent on recovering Haley Sullivan specifically tonight. It’s too risky. I don’t even have enough details to help you.”

“That’s for me to worry about. You have your eyes on them now?”

“Yep. Conveniently I have their entire itinerary.”

“Perfect. So if there happened to be an explosion, your priority would change.”

“True. Where is this explosion going to occur?” Dayton sounded leery.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll handle it. You need to be appropriately shocked and concerned. In the scatter of people, my guys will go for the women.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing. I don’t see why you’re in such a hurry. We don’t have to pick this woman up precisely today. She’s gotten lax. She’ll stay lax. I’m worried about this plan of yours. It feels too rushed.”

“Never doubt me.” Anton ended the call and dialed the next man on his list. This had to go off without a hitch. He wanted that bitch. As an added bonus, he wanted Belinda Gallo too. Teach her a lesson about snooping around in things that weren’t her concern.

Haley kneeled down to speak to Fredrick. That was the name she knew him by, at least. It was possible he made it up. She’d never seen an ID or anything, and she doubted he had one. Hell, he might not even know his real name at this point. He showed signs of schizophrenia every time she found him under the L. “You doing okay, Fred?”

He blinked. “Where you been, girlie? Haven’t seen you in weeks. Thought maybe the snatchers got you.”

“The snatchers?” She shuddered.

“Them masked men who come in the middle of the night and cart away the homeless. Government conspiracy, I tell you. Trying to kill us all off one at a time.” He reached for his chin with one hand and stroked his scraggly beard. “They ain’t got me yet, but I’m ornery. They’d probably throw me back.” He grinned widely, reminding her of the fact that he was missing several teeth and the ones still intact were blackened from years of neglect.