Chapter 49 – Kolya
“ T hey’ll eat at one, watch football the whole afternoon, be drunk and munchy by supper time,” Harley explained as she stood beside her already warmed Volkswagen.
I hoisted my rifle case into the back floorboard of my pickup and turned to her. “I would much rather come up with you.”
“Me too. I’m not sure what my grandma would think of my cidiot boyfriend prepping Thanksgiving dinner in her kitchen.” Harley’s eyes sparkled with mirth.
Wrapping my arms around her, I planted a kiss on her lips. “Your fiancé,” I corrected. “You agreed.”
“I was coerced. You need to ask better,” she laughed, but the glance she shot to her left hand was full of that beautiful delight that sent a rush of giddy warmth through my veins. “But I should be driving back to the city before dark, which means I’ll be here for the Vlasov dinner. It was really nice of Chiara to agree to the family meal at night so I could join.”
“You’re part of the family,” I insisted.
Harley smiled wickedly. “You still need to ask my grandfather’s permission.”
“Real men ask for the blessing, we don’t need permission to take what belongs to us.” I nipped her bottom lip.
Her moan made my dick ache.
“I’ll be waiting to kiss you tonight,” I breathed.
“You’re going to be safe.” Harley flicked a glance at the truck. “Whatever it is that you’re doing?”
I told her I had a bad guy to assassinate. She hadn’t asked many details, even though I answered each question with complete honesty.
“I’ll be safe. My goal is to eradicate the threat to our family before Christmas. The new partners I have are a wonderful resource.” And a door to new opportunities.
“Well, see you soon then,” she breathed and pulled open the door to the Passat.
I bent down to steal one more taste. Her fingers brushed against the back of my skull, holding me in place as she kissed me back. The connection was charged, but the kiss was slow and reverent. Both of us were stalling. I didn’t want to spend a day away from her, let alone a holiday. But I would see her tonight.
And I was staying in Chicago. Things with Beth were going well. Both Harley and Dimi were thrilled at the change in my career. Being the instructor of the vigilantes meant I could have a family life.
Me—there was a family in my future.
Harley planned to go to school and then take a job here to save enough to buy her cousins out of their shares of the farm. I could hand her the cash to do just that, but that would insult her intentions. However, I intended to talk to her about doing the buyout sooner rather than later, and she could pay me back. While the details needed working out, it was the start of a beautiful future.
Harley sighed as I pulled away.
My voice came out in a gruff rasp. “If you don’t get on the road, I’m going to throw you over my shoulder and haul you upstairs.”
She stuck out her tongue and pulled the door closed with a snap.
“I’ll remember that,” I growled loud enough for her to hear through the glass and grabbed my belt.
Those brown eyes went wide as she realized what I meant. She wet her lip, pulling be bottom lip between her teeth. Slowly her gaze lifted to mine. She held it as she stuck out her tongue.
I moved for the door, but she ripped the gear to drive and floored the gas. My chuckles followed her through the front gate.
“Need backup?” Dimi asked as he came outside with Marena.
The dog raced around the front courtyard, sniffing the frost-covered ground.
“Possibly.” I went to my truck and opened the driver’s door. “I’ll call.”
Dimi nodded. “Did you ask her?”
“Yes.”
“And? Or do I have to wait until tonight to hear the story of your proposal?” Dimitri huffed a laugh.
“Tonight.”
“That’s not fair,” my cousin pointed out. “Wingmen should know before the others.”
The irony wasn’t lost on me that almost two years ago Dimitri took me to the black-market jeweler to help pick out a ring for his underworld queen. Now he’d returned the favor when I took a trip to Corwin Blau. I supposed I owed him that bit of information.
“She said yes.”
Grinning broadly, my cousin sauntered over with his hand outstretched. “Congratulations…brother. She’ll be a great addition to our family.”
I shook his hand but found myself tugged into an embrace.
“Is that a smile?” he teased.
“Shut up.”
“You tell your pakhan to shut up?” Dimitri frowned.
“Fuck off?”
“Go on, get out of here. Shoot something vile and come back with a better attitude,” Dimitri quipped. “But Kolya, don’t forget to call if you need backup.”
I gave him a nod and shut the truck door. It was going to be nice to stick close to home. I could be here, helping Dimi when he needed it. And the Vlasov Bratva could help me with the Cyber Ops enterprise. Everything seemed perfect, even the bright sunrise poking over the horizon promised a beautiful Thanksgiving Day.
***
The sharp bite of wind cut off the lake. Snow was in the clouds but wouldn’t fall tonight much to my stepmother’s disappointment. Chiara was itching for a good dusting of white to begin the Christmas festivities.
Glancing through my scope, I was glad that it wasn’t pissing little white drops of frozen flakes yet. That would decrease the precious visibility I had from this vantage point.
The bad guys clustered around the train depot, the trafficking operation a raging success…for now.
In the new year, the six recruits would have run through enough tactical operations to have their first strike. I didn’t want to send them into the field until I was sure of their success. While they might have military training—and more importantly, an unbreakable spirit—I wanted them to be Special Forces ready. We needed to strike as an effective unit and drive these traffickers from Chicago in one fell swoop. Then we would hold the city against any roaches coming back. And with any luck, we would cripple operations throughout the Midwest by this time next year.
But today’s mission was personal, and I was flying solo. Adler had threatened my woman. Beth’s intel said that he was still in the Windy City. Scanning the depot with my scope, I didn’t see the profile I was looking for. He’s supposed to be here.
Sinking my teeth into the finger of my glove, I pulled it from my fingers. I tapped on the phone.
Beth picked up on the second ring. “’Ello!”
Steamers shrieked in the earpiece, and customers garbled in the background. Beth was working.
Crap. I needed her.
“I’m looking at Adler’s SUV, but I don’t see him,” I growled, bending to do another sweep.
“Oh, shoot, you didn’t see my email,” the barista groaned. The sounds of the coffee shop faded, and then there was only her heavy breathing as she no doubt escaped the buzz of the café. “He left town last night. I found out about an hour ago, but I shot you the message asap!”
I frowned. “Where’d he go?”
“He took a group on the road to northern Minnesota. They’re preparing fish houses this weekend so they can put them on the ice as soon as it’s thick enough. They’re working through the logistics of transporting victims on the roads between here and there. I also heard he’s meeting with the head trafficker out of Duluth, Minnesota, about the cargo ships up there. I want to clean that vermin nest out as soon as we have the manpower to do it.”
I hummed in agreement. Closing up my gun, I glowered at the mess below. I didn’t like it. Karl Adler belonged in the Southwest, in his crumbling organization. If he was overseeing something as minor as transport via the road from here to northern Minnesota, there was a bigger game afoot. What would entice him to venture that way? I’d wondered that when I heard he was passing through town. But I hadn’t wanted to look a gift horse in the mouth, and my plan was to eliminate this persistent threat once and for all.
And then a darker thought broke. The route from Chicago to northern Minnesota came too close to Harley.
I looked at my phone. She’d updated me every hour, like she promised. Another update, just thirty seconds ago, said that she was taking her horse for a ride before the one p.m. dinner. She said she needed some air.
Two hours was too far. I didn’t like to be away from her. Since I wasn’t going to shoot my target today, I might as well go be with her. Sheild her from her family the best I could. If I sped, I would make it just in time for Thanksgiving dinner with the Kellnhofers—oh, the joy.
I’m coming, Harley.