They ran into another issue when Cooper flat out refused to allow Shaun to enter the patient’s room without an escort. It was one thing to let Shaun speak with Elisa privately while he watched through a glass door, but quite another when she intended to walk solo into a room with people he hadn’t vetted or run by Jozef. He took his bodyguard duties extremely seriously.
They had to wait another ten minutes while Elisa called down to her office and asked for another non-disclosure agreement, which was promptly rushed to the patient’s room. Cooper held it against the wall and signed with a pen that Elisa handed him.
“Are we ready now?” Elisa asked, an edge of sarcasm in her voice.
The trio entered the room and Shaun looked to the man on the bed, clad in a hospital gown, his legs crossed in front of him, a stack of papers in his lap. She didn’t recognize him, but when her gaze strayed to the other men in the room, she immediately recognized one of them. He’d been in her home a few days earlier.
She stopped in her tracks and Cooper stepped in front of her, his hand going beneath his jacket. He recognized the man too. Alan Dietrick, personal bodyguard to the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. Which meant the man on the bed must be…
“Dr. Shaun Patterson, this is Branislav Makovsky, our Prime Minister.”
Cooper recovered from his shock first. “Absolutely not. This is a setup.” He turned and grabbed Shaun by the arm. “We’re leaving now.”
Dietrick and the other two bodyguards stepped forward, but it was the Prime Minister who stopped them.
“Please.” His voice was firm, despite his fragile condition. “Let me speak with the doctor before you take her out of here.”
Shaun looked at the man, saw the sincerity in his eyes. In a low voice she said to Cooper, “He won’t hurt me in a hospital full of people.”
“You don’t know what this man is capable of,” Cooper countered, not lowering his voice. “Jozef wouldn’t approve.”
Shaun shook her head. “I am a doctor and this is my patient. Period. He is not the Prime Minister.”
“I don’t know about that,” the Prime Minister said drily.
Shaun narrowed her eyes at him. “I will leave and your odds of surviving this surgery will go down drastically.”
He took a sharp breath and stared at her, as if trying to see into her soul. She knew what he was looking for. Answers to his own mortality. He wanted to know if the fiancé of his rival could actually set aside any preconceived notions and work to give him a few more years of life.
“So I’ve been told,” he said quietly, his gaze switching to Elisa. “Dr. Černý has indicated that this surgery cannot go forward without you. Please, I only have a few months left. I… I want more time with my grandson. He was born only a few months ago.”
Shaun heard the hesitation and the sincerity in his voice. He didn’t want to appear weak in front of his men, but he was willing to say whatever it took to get Shaun to agree to do the surgery.
She stepped away from Cooper, giving him a stern look as she approached the hospital bed.
“You know that your survival is uncertain, even with me conducting the surgery.”
“Yes, I’ve been informed.” Again, he glanced at Elisa. Shaun sensed he trusted the other woman, which made Shaun trust her a little less.
“You understand that this surgery is designed to extend your life, not save it?” Shaun was being far blunter that she might have been with other patients. As much as she wanted to be completely impartial to her patient, she couldn’t forget that he’d tried to blackmail Jozef into working for him. “The tumour has a high chance of coming back in three to five years, at which time you probably won’t survive another surgery.”
Branislav looked at her steadily. “Three years is better than the three months I’ve been given. Please, Dr. Patterson, I need you.”
She stared back at him and finally nodded. She looked at Elisa. “I think we’re ready.”
It turned out that Dietrick had been given the same permission as Cooper to stand outside the room while the surgery was being conducted. The rest of his men would have to remain off the surgical ward.
Branislav was moved onto a gurney and wheeled to his surgery ahead of his doctors and bodyguards. Several nurses and an anesthesiologist began preparing the patient while Elisa and Shaun scrubbed their hands and arms.
“Can you be objective with this man?” Elisa asked.
“Of course,” Shaun replied quickly. “Aside from my professional background speaking for me, I am completely objective. I don’t know this man, hadn’t met him before today and don’t particularly care about him one way or the other, except as a human being.”
“But he must have some business with your fiancé,” Elisa persisted. “You won’t hold this against him?”
Shaun smiled grimly. Of course she would. If holding the man’s life over his head stopped him from harassing Jozef, then she would do it.
She stopped scrubbing and stared at her reflection in the glass separating the scrub area from the surgery. She was proposing harm. Not physically, because she would never actually harm the man, but she would withhold the surgery if he persisted in going after Jozef. The thought should have sickened her, but it didn’t. It gave her a strange sense of power over the situation.
She was in her element. In surgery, she was in charge. She was powerful and he was at her mercy.
She was changing. Just as Jozef was changing, becoming more thoughtful because of her, she was becoming more ruthless. Her life had been put in danger several times over the past year and a half. She was done being the victim. It was time to take charge of her life again and she would start by ensuring the safety of herself and her family.
The two women finished scrubbing and put on their gowns, masks and gloves. Upon entering the room, Shaun took her seat on the stool next to the patient. While Elisa redirected the placement of the implements, Shaun leaned over to speak to her patient.
His dark brown eyes met hers and she read understanding in them.
He knew she was about to throw down an ultimatum.
“If this surgery is a success, then you will owe me, and I promise, I will collect.” Her voice was low so only the Prime Minister could hear.
He stared at her, his dark eyes assessing. “You have my word. Just cut this thing out of me and give me a few more years with my grandchildren.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Havel grunted and stumbled back as he absorbed Jozef’s blow.
Jozef was beating the shit out of him, while he’d only landed a couple of blows. It went this way every time they sparred. Havel was heavy with muscle, while Jozef was light on his feet and wiry. Muscles roped the younger man’s arms as he danced before landing each blow.
Havel was next only to Jozef. No one else could beat him, which was his only consolation after a good ass-whooping courtesy of his best friend and boss. Jozef didn’t pull his punches but attacked full force and danced away before Havel could land a single blow.
Havel was still catching his breath when he saw Jozef come at him out of the corner of his eye. He held up his boxing glove and shouted, “Mercy.”
Though the sound was muffled through his mouth guard, Jozef heard him and stopped his advance.
Havel dropped to his knees, spat out his mouth guard and sucked precious air into his lungs. Each breath sent a blast of nausea rushing through him, but eventually his stomach settled.
“Stay the fuck away from my stomach.” Havel glared at Jozef, who’d dropped onto his ass and was leaning back against one of the posts, resting his arms across his upraised knees. Fucker was barely winded while Havel was dry heaving and trying to keep his breakfast down while shards of pain ripped through him.
Jozef stripped the tape from his gloves and pulled them off, dropping them to the mat and flexing his fingers.
Once he was able to catch his breath, Havel mimicked Jozef’s pose, sitting on his ass and leaning against the post behind him.<
br />
You’re getting old, Jozef signed. Used to be you were the one handing me my ass on a platter.
Havel snorted. “Yeah, it was stupid of me to teach you everything I know.”
They stared at each other. Though they were joking around, the atmosphere was heavy. Havel had taught Jozef everything he’d known, taking the boy under his wing when Havel joined the Koba organization. Now Jozef used those skills to rule his new kingdom with an iron fist.
That wasn’t what their current boxing session was about, though. Jozef liked to box when he couldn’t keep his mind on his work, and today he was useless for anything except fighting.
“Your lady doctor will be fine. She’s surrounded by guards and she’s spending most of her day in the most protected wing of the hospital.” Havel repeated the same words he’d said to Jozef forty minutes earlier and about two hours before that when she left for the hospital. “Nothing can happen to her.”
Nothing was supposed to happen to her when she went Christmas shopping, but my aunt somehow slashed her up and started a war. She should have been safe under this roof one year ago, but she was poisoned. Jozef’s frustration showed in the jerky movements of his hands as he signed. How can I keep her safe when she’s not with me? Yet, I know I can’t keep her with me at all times.
Havel nodded his sympathy.
Jozef wore his heart on his sleeve when it came to Shaun. He was one scary motherfucker with almost every other aspect of his life, but for Shaun, he was practically psychopathic. His need to have eyes on her, his desire to murder anyone who came within feet of her, his obsession, it consumed him. Yet, it also somehow made him better at his job. He had a focus now that he’d never had before, and it made him brutally efficient.
Havel hadn’t understood Jozef’s attraction to the doctor when they’d first picked her up more than a year before. Hell, he didn’t totally understand it now, but he knew enough to keep his mouth shut and show respect for the lady of the house.
“She’s smart. If she finds herself in trouble, she’ll think her way out of it.” Havel tried to sound reassuring. “And if that fails, she has her gun. She can shoot her way out.”
Havel had been impressed with Shaun’s willingness to learn how to shoot. He hadn’t thought she would have it in her. He thought a weapon would interfere with her precious ‘do no harm’ rule. It surprised and pleased Havel to see her accepting her position as the wife of a mobster in a way he hadn’t thought her capable of.
She can’t hit the broad side of a target, Jozef signed, disgust clear in his expression. We’ve been out shooting three times and I think she’s getting worse.
Havel chuckled. “I saw her last target sheet. She hit the edge of the outline. Maybe if she unloads her weapon, she’ll get her attacker in the arm.”
Both men chuckled over the image of Shaun shooting an entire clip at a guy and missing anything vital.
“I checked in with Cooper before we started our match. He says she’s inside the surgery with her patient, three nurses, an anesthesiologist and her doctor friend. She couldn’t be safer.” Havel left out the part where Cooper had also told him the identity of Shaun’s patient. He didn’t think that knowledge would make Jozef feel any better about letting Shaun out of the house. They could have that discussion later. “All of them have been thoroughly vetted and passed our checks. Not even a speeding ticket among them.”
Jozef nodded, though he didn’t look any happier.
Any news on our missing Phantom? Jozef changed the subject.
“No,” Havel said shortly.
The subject of Leeza being the Phantom irritated Havel all around, though he understood Jozef’s interest. Leeza was Jozef’s cousin and a potential threat to his new position as head of the Koba family. Until they found her and locked her down, she had to be considered a wild card.
Havel probably knew Leeza best, yet he hadn’t had a clue as to her true identity. He hadn’t known that her father wasn’t Krystoff Koba, hadn’t known of her alternate identity. Hell, he hadn’t even known the extent of her combat skills until he heard details of her escape from the mansion and, later, once they figured out what the hell had gone on at the hospital, of her rescue of her mother.
Havel was both impressed and infuriated by this new Leeza. The woman he’d known intimately several years earlier no longer seemed to exist. Yet, in his heart, he knew she was in there somewhere. The wide-eyed, vulnerable girl who’d loved him as passionately as he’d loved her.
When she’d broken his heart by choosing Adam Horáček over him, he’d been too furious to look deeper into her decision. He’d allowed his hurt masculine pride to guide his actions, turning his back on her. Now, he was discovering that she’d had a secret life and a shitty marriage.
He felt responsible for allowing her life to crumble to where she felt desperate enough to invent the Phantom. He’d been in love with her, obsessed with her, and though those feelings never died, he’d shoved them so far down into his black heart he couldn’t see a way to reach her. Didn’t want to bother.
It wasn’t until Jozef had ordered her to be killed along with her mother and father that Havel realized he still had feelings for her. Strong feelings. He’d buried them and accepted that she would have to die.
Now Jozef was handing him the opportunity to take the one thing he’d always wanted: Leeza Koba on a silver platter.
What do you have so far? Jozef persisted.
Havel scrubbed a hand over his face, flinching when his boxing glove touched an open cut on his cheek.
“Before you discovered her other identity, she was using Vasiliy’s resources to travel and make trade deals throughout the underworld. She was small scale enough that we didn’t notice her until recently. Then she took your uncle and set all this in motion.”
Jozef nodded thoughtfully. Why do you think she took my uncle? She cut off his small finger, but that was all. She didn’t torture him or try to get information.
Havel shrugged; he had an idea.
Leeza had always been passionate, full of life, intelligent and driven. When Krystoff had brokered a deal with the mob accountant for her hand in marriage, the life had been sucked out of her. Or so it had seemed. Now Havel wasn’t so sure. Perhaps, like he had buried his feelings for Leeza, she’d buried her joy for life. Carefully hiding and nurturing it until she could bring it back into the light. Perhaps her creation of the Phantom was a combination of her passionate nature and her desire to be seen and heard in the world where she grew up. A world that could be hard on the women who were negotiated for and traded like commodities.
Of course, this was all speculation. Until he got his hands on her, he would remain clueless. Instead of giving away his suspicions to Jozef, he gave him a version that was still probably true. “Revenge. Krystoff sold her into a shitty marriage, and she wanted to show him he wasn’t an invulnerable god sitting on his throne. He was fallible and she wanted to make him feel weak.”
That would explain why we were so easily able to release him from Vasiliy’s prison. Jozef’s gaze was laser sharp as he stared at Havel, as if trying to divine his thoughts. Havel, who was used to hiding his emotions, didn’t bother with Jozef. Jozef had a sixth sense for the emotions and intentions of others. You will question her when you capture her. I want answers to these questions.
“Yes, boss,” Havel assured him. He’d intended to interrogate Leeza the moment he got his hands on her. Well, perhaps after he’d had his own revenge for the suffering she caused both of them years earlier when she’d chosen her father’s wishes over Havel’s heart.
I’m having her father’s place watched, but it’s unlikely she will go back there.
“Too smart,” Havel agreed. “She would know that you’re monitoring Vasiliy.”
Maybe we should threaten the father.
Havel kept his flinch from showing on his face. If they threatened Leeza’s father, then she might become reckless in an attempt to get at him. They could capture her easily,
but she would be angry and vengeful. Havel wanted to avoid that scenario.
“I think we should wait, see if she comes to us. She’s in a bad spot. Can’t use Vasiliy’s resources anymore because she knows we’re tracking them. She can’t travel far with a child in tow. Eventually, she’ll have to come to us, or spend the rest of her life hiding.”
I will leave it in your hands, but I don’t like having loose ends running around unaccounted for. My aunt and her daughter must be brought in.
“It’ll get done,” Havel agreed.
He was going to have to press his contacts harder, try to get his hands on Leeza before her cousin did. He was loyal to Jozef, but he’d loved Leeza since she was young. He would do what it took to keep her and her boy alive. He would have to balance his loyalties, and hopefully things would play out in a way that he wouldn’t have to make a devastating choice.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“That was amazing!” Elisa said enthusiastically, stripping her gloves off and shoving them into the hazardous materials bin. She flung her mask in next, revealing a toothy grin. “You were phenomenal. What a success!”
Shaun smiled ruefully, stripping off her own mask, gown and gloves. “We won’t know until the patient wakes up and goes through the after surgery protocols.”
Elisa rolled her eyes. “You know it was a success. You’re as much a surgeon as I am. You know the feeling when something goes really well and your patient comes through with flying colours. We may have bought Branislav more than a few years.”
“Yes, I know that feeling,” Shaun agreed, her tone still serious. “And I’ve been wrong before. I’ll wait for the patient to wake up and start talking before I pass judgment on the success of the surgery.”
“You are such a… what is that American term?” Elisa looked thoughtful before coming up with the answer. “A party-pooper. You are pooping on my party.”
The way Elisa spoke, almost child-like in her excitement, made Shaun laugh. She was definitely more reserved than her friend, but she’d learned the hard way not to count her eggs before making sure the chicken survived.
Goodnight, Sinners (Sinner's Empire Book 3) Page 19