Submit (The Underground Book 4) (6 page)

“Nikolav, get in. Before that asshole catches up.”

Nik glanced at the man driving the nondescript black sedan again and found him holding his badge up.

FBI.

Of course.

Belinda came to a stop, seeming to decide to follow the man’s instructions before Nikolav. She yanked the rear passenger door open and darted into the vehicle.

Nikolav had no choice but to leap in behind her and yank the door closed, praying the driver was indeed with the FBI and the two of them hadn’t made the biggest mistake of their lives.

The car swerved away from the wrong side of the road again in seconds and sped away from the scene.

“What the fuck happened?” Nikolav asked.

“Explosion. Don’t know more right now.” The man glanced over and over in his rearview mirror, seemingly paying little attention to his passengers.

“Mikhail and Haley?” Nikolav asked, tugging a trembling Belinda into his side.

“Another agent is on them.” The dark-haired man drove faster, speeding around a corner and then taking the next turn nearly on two wheels.

Belinda squeaked. “Jesus.” She gripped the back of the seat in front of her, but she couldn’t keep from sliding across the seat into the door.

Nikolav reached around her to grab the seatbelt and tugged it across her chest before securing it at her side.

He did the same behind the driver. It left space between the two of them he’d rather not have, but at least they were in less danger in case the man from the FBI managed to get them in an accident.

Finally, he slowed down and grabbed his phone. In seconds he spoke. “I’ve got two of them… Yes… You’re sure?… Okay.” He set the phone back in his lap and met Nikolav’s gaze briefly in the rearview mirror. “Need to drop you two off and get back to the scene.”

Nikolav nodded. “Of course.” Where was this man going to leave them?

In moments, he realized they were headed for his apartment, the one he shared with Ivan, Alena, and Sergei.

The man from the FBI pulled up to the front door and skidded to a halt. He twisted around to speak. “Go directly to your apartment. Stay inside. Someone will contact you later.”

Nikolav nodded. He popped Belinda’s seatbelt after his own, yanked open the door, and slid out, pulling Belinda by the hand.

The man waited for the two of them to step into the lobby before he hauled ass, peeling away from the curb and hooking a U-turn to get back to the scene.

Belinda was breathing heavily. Her eyes were wide, and she licked her lips. “Oh my God,” she repeated.

Nikolav took her hand again and headed for the elevator. He waited impatiently for it to open, turning around to stare at the front door of the lobby. No one approached. If they had, he wasn’t sure he could avoid clobbering the person before asking questions. Irrational, but he was under a lot of stress.

The elevator pinged and opened, and Nikolav tugged Belinda inside and pushed the button for the ninth floor. He breathed easier the moment the door shut and they started to rise.

Belinda said nothing.

It seemed like it took longer than usual to reach his floor, but when the doors reopened, Nikolav headed to the left, not slowing down until he reached the apartment, tugged his keys out of his pocket, and let them inside.

Alena was leaning against the back of the black leather sectional.

Ivan was pacing the floor. He stopped moving. “Jesus. You guys scared us to death.” He glanced over Nikolav’s shoulder. “Where’s Mikhail? And Haley?”

“We separated. How did you know we were in trouble?”

“Leo called.”

Nikolav nodded. Leo could have spoken to his contact.

Belinda made a small noise at Nikolav’s side, and he turned to find her yanking her hand out of his. “I can’t be here.”

“What? Why not?” Nikolav turned around to face her.

She turned toward the door. “Need to get back out there.”

“What the fuck, Belinda? Of course not. What are you talking about?” He set a hand on the door, holding it shut as she reached for the handle.

She spun to face him. “I’m a reporter, Nikolav. This is my story. I can’t be here pacing while the story unfolds. I need to be out there, watching, paying attention, gathering information.”

“Like hell.” He flattened his body on the door now, as if somehow she might slip out through the crack if he didn’t pay attention. His heart raced faster. This woman was going to kill him.

She set her hands on her hips. “You aren’t my keeper, Nikolav. It’s a free country. This is what I do. I write. I can’t write a story about a scene I am not at.”

“Were you with me for the last half hour? Did you by chance miss the fact that four men chased us through the streets in black masks with guns? Do you think that was a coincidence?” Yeah, she had a death wish.

She rolled her eyes. “I was there. I saw everything. And I’m still a journalist. If I cowered in a corner every time there was danger, I’d never make it in this industry. I know the stakes. I’ll put on a hoodie or something and blend in with the crowd. No one will ever know I was there.”

Nikolav shook his head. “Not going to happen. Can’t let you. Hell, the FBI would have a fit. They have enough on their plates. They don’t need a lone woman out running around in the streets getting herself into trouble.”

Ivan stepped closer and held out a phone. “It’s Taylor.”

Nikolav smiled as he took it from his friend. “Hey, Taylor.”

“Ivan says Belinda Gallo is insisting on leaving your apartment.”

“Yep.”

“Give her the phone.”

Nikolav pursed his lips as he handed the phone to Belinda. “Taylor wants to speak to you.

She glared at it for several seconds before snatching it from him and putting it to her ear.

Belinda forced herself to smile at the petite woman leaning against the couch. Her clear blue eyes were mesmerizing. “You must be Alena.”

Alena smiled back. “Yes. Welcome to our world.” She scrunched up her nose. Her eyes expressed her sorrow. She lived in a world no one wanted to be welcomed into if she was as stuck in this same nightmare as Belinda now seemed to be and Haley certainly was. She tucked a long lock of pale blonde hair behind her ear as she rounded the couch and held out a hand.

The other man in the room stepped forward with his hand outstretched to take Belinda’s right after Alena released her. “Ivan.”

Belinda shook his hand, noticing the sharp contrast between him and Alena. His hair and eyes were dark brown, and his skin was tanned from time spent in the sun. He was also tall, a few inches taller than Nikolav.

Alena was tiny. Maybe five two. A few inches shorter than Belinda even. She rounded the couch, took a seat, and tucked her legs beneath her, appearing younger than her age. But her eyes told a different story. If Belinda wasn’t mistaken, this woman had been through more in twenty-eight years than most people endured in a lifetime.

“Now what?” Belinda asked Nikolav. She wasn’t happy. Not by a long shot. She’d never met the woman she’d just hung up with on the phone. Taylor Brown. FBI agent. She’d insisted emphatically that Belinda not leave the apartment. She would be over as soon as she could to speak with her.

“I need to call Leo. And also make sure Haley and Mikhail are safe.”

She nodded. Her head was spinning. How had things gotten so out of control? Two days ago she’d been a regular person who picked up a story about missing homeless people. Now she felt like a woman on the run with an unknown enemy chasing her.

“You okay for a minute?”

She nodded again, crossing her arms under her chest and shivering.

Nikolav pointed at the couch before he strode from the room. “Sit.” He returned moments later with a dark blue sweatshirt and handed it to her. “You’re cold.”

She was. Or maybe she was just stressed. In either case, she shrugged into the hoodie and padded toward the couch, not wanting to obey Nikolav’s command, but also dead on her feet. She breathed in Nikolav’s scent from the soft cotton and closed her eyes briefly.

“Can I get you anything? Coffee? Wine? Soda? Beer?” Alena smiled next to her. “You must have a million questions.”

Belinda shook her head. “I’m okay for now. Thanks.”

“Let me know if you change your mind.”

Nikolav caught her attention again as he spoke into his cell while pacing the living room and running a hand through his hair. “Leo, what the fuck was that?” He paused, staring at nothing in the corner of the room while he listened. “And you think Yenin would go to that much trouble in an effort to kidnap Haley or Belinda?”

Belinda shuddered, tightening her arms around herself again.

Nikolav stood still while Leo spoke again, and then he turned his gaze toward Belinda. “Yeah. She’s not going to like it, but yeah.”

Belinda stiffened.
What am I not going to like?

Another long pause and then Nikolav ended the call. He glanced at Ivan and then Belinda and Alena. “Someone picked up Mikhail and Haley, but not before several shots were fired. One of the men chasing us was killed by an agent. Two were injured, but they both got away.”

Belinda tried hard to put the pieces together. “So you really believe the explosion was meant for us?”

“Not a doubt,” Nikolav said.

“But how did they know where we would be and when?” She shuddered again. This was intense, but at the same time, she hated being trapped in the apartment while the story was out there.

“That’s a great question. So many people knew the four of us were heading to that area, it’ll be impossible to narrow it down. Apparently, that’s Haley’s first stop every week, so it wouldn’t take much for someone to figure out where we would be.”

Belinda set a hand on her chest. It was pounding. Her world felt like it had flipped upside down in less than two days. She stared at Nikolav, unable to blink.

Ivan took a seat on the arm of the couch next to Alena.

Nikolav rounded the coffee table and sat on it facing Belinda, his knees straddling hers. He leaned forward and took both her hands in his.

“What happens now?” she managed to croak out.

“You move in here, first of all.”

“What? Why?” She glanced around. “I can’t just move in.”

“Of course you can. And you don’t have much choice. It’s too dangerous for you to return to your apartment. The FBI doesn’t have the manpower to put extra detail on you alone. So you have two choices, move in here where we’re already being watched or go to a safe house.”

“Not a chance in hell, Nikolav. I’m not discussing this with you.” She knew she had to speak to the FBI agent, and she’d sort things out with the woman, but she wasn’t taking orders from Nikolav. In her brief phone conversation with Taylor, the agent hadn’t insisted on anything yet except that Belinda wait at Nikolav’s apartment to speak with her. Until then, she didn’t want to make rash decisions. Especially not concerning her living arrangements.

He sighed. “Until they figure out what Anton Yenin is up to, find his lab, and catch him, your life is in danger.”

“That could be a long time.” She licked her lips, suddenly feeling light-headed. Was every second going to be a battle with this man?

“Yes.”

She tried to jerk her hands from his grip unsuccessfully.

He held tighter. “I’m sorry.”

“I have to go to work. I have a story to write. People to interview. This is my career we’re talking about.”

A knock at the door made her jump. Her heart rate picked up again as she twisted to stare at the door. She hated that she was jumpy. It wasn’t like her.

“It’s Taylor. Relax.”

He let go of Belinda’s hands and pushed to standing, heading toward the door in a few strides. After looking through the peephole, he disarmed the alarm and unlocked the door to open it.

Belinda was shocked to find out Taylor was a regular-looking person she would never suspect was an FBI agent if she passed her on the street. She wore dark blue jeans and a black, V-neck T-shirt. Her long brown hair hung in loose curls down her back.

Taylor smiled at Nikolav and then turned her brown eyes toward Belinda and strode in her direction. “You must be Belinda Gallo. I’m Agent Taylor Brown.” She held out a hand.

Belinda took it and scooted around the corner of the sectional to make room for Taylor.

“Thanks.” Taylor glanced down at herself and apologized. “Sorry. Short notice. I wasn’t on duty when I got the call to come over.”

“It’s okay.”

Taylor turned to introduce herself to Ivan and Alena next, and then she returned her attention to Belinda. “I’ve been assigned to make sure you understand what’s going on with this case and keep you safe without jeopardizing the big picture.”

Belinda nodded. It was a struggle to breathe normally, let alone listen intently. But she knew she should.

“I’m sure Nikolav has given you a rundown of what we’re up against, but I want to ensure you’re totally informed.”

“Okay.” Belinda cleared her throat. Her voice didn’t sound like it belonged to her.

Nikolav resumed his perch on the coffee table facing Belinda and Taylor.

“There are a lot of agents working this case, many of whom have been deep undercover for years.”

“Nikolav mentioned that. One of them has been Leo’s contact for a few years.”

Taylor nodded. “Yes. And that sort of information is kept so buried even I don’t have the details. None of the agents assigned to your detail have any idea who might be working undercover on this case.”

Belinda nodded again.

“What we suspect is the leader of the Russian Mafia in the western half of the country—Anton Yenin—has been developing some sort of drug over the course of many years. Perhaps decades. He must be getting closer to perfecting it because he’s using people he picks up off the street as guinea pigs.”

Belinda wrung her hands in her lap. “Haley was mistaken for homeless and drugged herself.”

“Right. And we feel confident Yenin will do anything and everything in his power to get her back. Our own lab techs are working around the clock to figure out what she was drugged with.”

“That’s so insane.”

“It is. And we’re walking a fine line trying to keep Yenin from folding his local operation and moving it elsewhere. He has to know we’re watching all of you, but we need him to believe it’s all precautionary and not become overly concerned with our presence and what we know.