Belinda should be taking notes. A thousand thoughts ran through her mind. But it was inappropriate. Mikhail was sharing memories from his heart. Anything he said was from his soul. She would never report about this. It was private.
He shocked her when he turned toward her and pointed at her bag. “Shouldn’t you be writing all this down or something?” he teased.
She opened her mouth. “I don’t think we’re on the record here, Mikhail. This is your private story. I’m sure you don’t want it broadcast to the world.”
He shrugged. “Maybe. Not sure. If it helps solve this case, I’ll do anything. I just want my life and Haley’s to be our own. I want this over so we can live without fear every time we walk out the door. I don’t want anyone trying to blow us up in the street or chasing us with guns and masks.
“I hate that Haley got involved in this, as much as I hate that you did too. If anything I say can help, I’m here for you.”
She nodded. “I won’t print a word without checking with all of you first. And I won’t use your real names. I promise.”
“Works for me.”
She turned her gaze back to the ring to watch Nikolav kick the younger man in the chest and winced.
Mikhail chuckled. “You’re going to have to toughen up if you’re going to hang with the likes of us. Nik fights Saturday night. I’ll take you to watch. Haley will bring you up to speed.”
She wasn’t sure if that was a blessing or a curse. Either way, it seemed she would most likely find out Saturday. “With all the careful movements you guys make, how is an underground fight a safe place to go?”
Mikhail shrugged. “We have to keep doing what we do for one thing. Wouldn’t want Yenin to think he’s getting the better of us. Plus, we have more FBI coverage at our fights than anywhere else. Undercover guys flood the venues, hoping to catch one of Yenin’s cronies hanging around. It’s the most likely place to pick up a trail and follow one of his men.
“One of these weekends they might get lucky and get some asshole to lead them straight to Yenin. He’s a slippery bastard.”
“I thought the FBI didn’t want to have him arrested until they could nail him down for more than they have on him so far?”
“True, but it would help tremendously if they knew where his drug lab was. That’s the main missing link.” Mikhail faced her more fully. “Don’t worry. One of us will always be glued to you at these fights. You’ll never be alone for a second. You’re safer there with us than at home alone. That’s for sure.”
She nodded, chewing on her lower lip as she turned her gaze back to Nikolav.
Chapter Fifteen
Nikolav was unusually quiet on the drive to Katie’s clinic. He stared out the windows and looked in the mirrors constantly.
She knew he was worried, and he had a right to be, but she couldn’t help thinking he wouldn’t be nearly so concerned if he wasn’t hitched to her side. He insisted Anton Yenin wanted his fighters back, but she knew perfectly well the Russian mob king was far more interested in Katie—the doctor investigating his drug lab, Haley—the social worker he’d experimented on who slipped out of his hands, Alena—Mikhail’s sister in hiding from the Russian Mafia, and herself—the reporter threatening to blow his story out into the universe and royally piss him off. Hell, if the FBI agent, Taylor, didn’t stop showing her face everywhere, she would make the hit list too.
It was after four when they pulled up to the clinic. Belinda knew it was in a rough area of town, but she was still surprised to find out how poor the area was. No wonder Leo watched her like a hawk. She was surprised he ever left the clinic.
Nikolav grabbed her hand after he parked out front, staring out the rearview mirror. “Hang on a sec.”
She twisted her neck around to see what he was looking at but found nothing.
Finally, he nodded. “Okay.” He unbuckled his seatbelt and exited the Jeep, rounding it to let her out before she could manage on her own.
“What were you looking at?”
“Just making sure the tail was FBI, not someone else.”
“And you can tell that?” She hadn’t seen anything.
“I’m getting better at it. They’re distinct.” He grabbed her hand and led her toward the clinic. The door was locked, so he hit the bell.
While they waited, he set his hands on her hips and leaned his mouth down to her ear, shoving her computer bag away from her side. “How’re the jeans against your bare pussy?”
She bit her lip at his bold words. Most of the day he’d spent working out, glancing at her every few minutes, which had a variety of effects. For one, it felt good to have someone looking out for her who cared. But on the other hand, he was high-handed and possessive.
At one point she’d given up watching him and opened her laptop to research Russian Mafia, drug cartels, and Chicago crime. But somehow she always felt his gaze on her and lifted her head to find him watching her.
“You gonna answer me, or do you want me to run my hand down the front of your jeans to find out for myself?”
She squirmed. “Don’t you dare.”
“Try me.”
Luckily the door opened, and Leo stood back to let them in.
A woman stood behind him smiling. “Hi, Nikolav. How are you?” she asked, a twinkle in her eye. She had a thick bob of brown hair that rested perfectly around her rounded face.
He smiled. “Good.” He turned to face her more fully, one hand still on Belinda’s waist. He glanced at her. “Belinda, this is Mandy, Katie’s receptionist. Mandy, Belinda.”
Mandy’s smile broadened as she stepped outside. “Nice to meet you. Don’t let these brutes get the best of you. They can be overpowering.” She giggled as she hustled toward her car.
Nikolav released Belinda’s waist, but he spun her around when they were inside and stared intently at her face while Leo locked the door behind them. When he lifted a brow, she realized he was seriously still waiting on an answer to his previous question. He wasn’t going to let it go.
What could she say? No way was she going to admit she found it difficult to concentrate all day with the denim against her clit, especially when she was sitting.
For one thing, she didn’t want to admit the plight out loud, and for another thing, no way would she do so in front of Leo.
Nikolav smirked. He spoke again, but this time his words were directed at Leo. “I need a moment with Belinda. You have someplace we can talk for a sec?”
“Of course. Come on back.” Leo led them toward the door at the back of what she assumed was the clinic waiting room. It led to a hallway lined with what must be patient rooms. He opened the first one and ushered them in with a hand, shutting the door behind them.
Belinda opened her mouth to protest Nikolav’s overbearing gesture, mostly embarrassed about what Leo and thus Katie might think. She hadn’t even met the doctor, and already she was sneaking off inside her clinic to undoubtedly be reprimanded by Mr. Bossy.
Instead of saying a word, however, he pressed her against the door, eased her computer bag to the floor, took both her hands in his, lifted them over her head, and kissed her. His mouth was hot and urgent.
She tilted her face to the side to give him a better angle and let her tongue slide against his.
Every time he kissed her, she melted a bit more. Thawing. Craving more with every stroke of his tongue. This time was no exception. The location faded away quickly, leaving her with nothing but lust and passion.
She had no idea how much time passed before he let her lips go. “Been wanting to do that all day. Do you know how hard it was to work out with you sitting across the room, your feet propped up, that computer in your lap? Knowing you were bare under those jeans?”
She couldn’t move a muscle.
He grabbed her hands in one of his and lowered the other to her neck, cupping her chin and setting his thumb at her pulse point. “You’re too damn sexy for your own good, and every man in the gym had trouble concentrating.”
She smiled.
“Now tell me.”
“Tell you what?” she muttered.
“How wet are you?”
“Very.” Especially after that kiss.
He lowered his hand from her throat to her breast and farther until he reached between her legs and cupped her pussy. “Oh, yeah. I can feel the heat.”
She wiggled against him, pressing her center against his palm.
“I can’t wait to taste you.”
Taste? Jesus. Was that his first thought? The man had tortured her any number of times, and she had yet to glimpse his cock. Now all he could think about was putting his mouth on her?
“We should open the door. You’re embarrassing me.”
He grinned. “Trust me. Katie won’t say a word. She lives above this clinic in about four hundred square feet with an infuriatingly dominant man. She would never judge.”
“Still. I haven’t met her, Nikolav.”
He nodded and stepped back, releasing her. “True. Noted. Let’s go.” And then he opened the door and bowed forward with a gesture indicating she should pass through first. “This way,” he added when they were in the hall. “Katie’s office is at the end.”
The door was open, and a cute blonde woman with deep blue eyes almost the same height and weight as Belinda sat across from the entrance behind a desk. She jumped up with a smile. “Hi. You must be Belinda.” She rounded the desk. Instead of offering her hand, she immediately wrapped Belinda in a brief hug.
Leo sat on a small love seat that had seen better days, smirking. “Everything okay?” he asked Nikolav.
“Yep.”
Leo uncrossed his legs and stood, pointing at the spot he vacated. “You guys sit here. I’ll take the torture chair.”
Katie slapped his arm and spun around to lift herself up onto the back of the desk, facing the room. “Stop it. That chair’s probably an antique.”
Belinda would have to agree. The olive-green, fiberglass chair looked horribly uncomfortable and ancient.
Katie turned toward Belinda with a look of sorrow. “Welcome to the insanity that is our lives. Sorry you’ve found yourself a member.”
Belinda smiled. “I’ll live. I’m a journalist. It happens.”
Nikolav lifted his arm to rest on the back of the love seat behind her, angling his body toward hers. “I’m pretty sure most journalists don’t have people chasing them down trying to kill them.”
Belinda shrugged. “Some do.”
“You’re taking this awfully well. Not sure I was as quick to get on board as you.”
“You were,” Leo stated from the uncomfortable chair. He had one leg crossed over the other, his ankle resting on his knee. And he leaned back with one arm under his chest and the other elbow resting in his hand. He set his chin on his fist, looking as nonchalant as if they were about to discuss what movie to rent for the evening.
Katie rolled her eyes, which was returned with a narrowed gaze of warning that Belinda already recognized well.
Nikolav was right. Katie was into Leo in the same way Belinda found herself falling for Nikolav.
Katie turned her attention to Belinda. “So, let me bring you up to speed on what we know, though it’s important to realize you can’t breathe a word of this to a single soul outside our group for now. It’s too risky. So many lives are at stake.”
“I know. Haley’s in the most danger, and I would never do anything to jeopardize her life. Besides, the FBI has made a deal with my boss.”
“What deal is that?”
“Exclusive rights to the story in exchange for waiting until the case is closed. A gag order like this isn’t something we in journalism like to hear, but we don’t have any options in this case.”
Katie nodded. “Good.”
“So, Nikolav mentioned something about weird blood work?”
“Yep. That’s where this all started. Piecing it together, we believe the six guys were given some sort of immunizations as babies and toddlers in various orphanages around Russia. Except these weren’t ordinary inoculations.”
Belinda held up a finger and reached for her computer bag. “Mind if I take notes?”
“Not at all.” Katie waited a moment and then continued. “Anyway, Mikhail is the only one who remembers getting the shots as a kid. He was almost five. Older than most.”
“He and Alena were in the same orphanage, right? Did she get the shots too?”
Katie shook her head. “Nope. Mikhail hid her.”
“What? Why?”
“He watched one kid die after the immunizations and freaked out in fear the same would happen to Alena. He couldn’t prevent them from getting to him, but he hid Alena on her day.”
“At four years old?” Belinda was shocked. That kid was amazing.
“Yeah. I know. Incredible. Right?” Katie continued, “He was five by then, but still. We’re going out on a limb here, but it would seem the guys were given something that made them immune to all illnesses.”
“You mean like chicken pox and mumps?”
“And things that didn’t exist yet or had been eradicated already.”
“What the hell?”
“Smallpox. Diphtheria. Rubella. To name a few.”
“How do you know that?”
“I’m hedging they were injected with a drug that made them incapable of contracting anything and then given a variety of crazy diseases to ensure the first drug worked.”
“Holy shit. That’s huge.” Belinda yanked her gaze to Nikolav, forgetting to take notes. He’d been given this experimental drug? “You don’t get sick?”
“No.” He shook his head.
“That’s why I got food poisoning and Mikhail didn’t,” she muttered. Nikolav had already insinuated exactly that on Monday. And then she sat up straighter. “But what about Haley?”
Katie answered. “It would seem she was given the same drug, or a variation of it while Yenin held her in his lab for two weeks.”
“Jesus.” Belinda ran a hand through her hair, tucking the curls behind her ear futilely afterward.
“What about the dead people?”
“That’s the part we don’t get yet. We’re betting Yenin has been developing this drug for years. He must have recently come up with a viable sample and started testing it on people.”
“Who died,” Belinda added unnecessarily. “Why did Haley live?”
“No idea. But unlike the guys, she doesn’t show any obscure disease antibodies running through her blood, which might indicate he wasn’t done with her yet.”
“Do you think someone poisoned us on purpose to test the drug?” Belinda asked.
Nikolav was the first to shake his head. “Thought of that, but it’s not really feasible. How did one of Yenin’s men plant tainted hummus in Haley’s apartment?”
“It was the hummus?” Belinda asked. She’d certainly eaten enough of it.
Katie nodded. “We went through everything in the trash and refrigerator Monday. It was definitely the hummus.”
“But that’s the one thing I didn’t bring with me to the apartment Saturday night. Haley had it in the fridge already. I don’t think it was open before then.”
“Nevertheless, it was bad.”
Belinda’s mind raced to keep up with the possibilities. She had always been the sort of person to question every angle. That’s what made her a good reporter. “Has anyone checked to see if anyone else has gotten sick from the hummus purchased from the same store?”
Leo cleared his throat. “Yeah. Dead end. Not one complaint.”
“And this isn’t a red flag?” Belinda sat up straighter, her notes completely forgotten.
“Sure it is, but that still doesn’t explain how it got tainted in the first place. We’ve considered every angle with the FBI. Taylor was here for hours last night going over the details. She’s been to Haley’s apartment several times. The place was locked. No one could have entered but the FBI.
“And it’s insane to think
Yenin had something tampered with in the grocery store before it was even purchased. There was no grocery list, no specific plan to buy hummus that day, nor even a certain store.”
That left one possibility no one had mentioned. “How many FBI agents had access to the apartment?”
Nikolav blew out a breath. “Too many to count.”
“Shit.”
“And that idea makes me want to punch a hole in the wall,” Leo added. “I swear to God, if we’re spinning our wheels trying to stay alive only to find out an insider is helping Yenin, the man or woman will not live to see the light of the next day if I get my hands on them.”
Belinda couldn’t blame him. She agreed. She tried to backtrack in her mind. What were they talking about before this tangent? Oh yeah. “If Alena wasn’t given the shots, I assume she doesn’t show the same weird antibodies?”
“Correct. Her story’s more complicated because she lived in Russia until a year ago, spending the last six months kept in captivity by God only knows who. But that’s another story.” Katie waved a hand through the air. “Her blood looks the same as Haley’s, which isn’t strange. Haley lived in Russia for a few years when she was a baby.”
“Right. Forgot about that. Her parents are missionaries,” Belinda recalled. Her head was spinning. Alena was held in captivity? This was a nightmare.
“Exactly. So both she and Alena had Hepatitis A when they were young. Not strange, either. They might not have even had symptoms. Lots of people had Hep A in areas with poor sanitation. It is usually transmitted through fecal matter in drinking water.”
“Gross, but okay.”
“Probably half the population of Russia born in that time period would have nothing in their blood except Hepatitis A. It was a rough period when immunizations weren’t widely available and the current theory was that immunizations could do more harm than good. Many parents didn’t immunize.”
“But orphanages did?” Belinda asked.
Nikolav smirked. “Weird, right?”
“But possible,” Leo added. “The government could have mandated it. They might have done it to keep the mortality rate down in the cramped quarters of orphanages.”
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