Chapter 21 - Yulian
Luka and Arkady are driving in the SUV behind mine.
Niko is sitting in my passenger seat with his Glock on his lap and his hand wrapped around the grip.
“I swear they’re following us,” he groans, his eyes on the side mirror.
“They took a different turn on West Street, but then came back behind us after the last traffic light.”
“Can you see how many guys are in the car?” I ask, glancing in the rearview mirror.
“The windows are too dark. They’re up to no good,” he says. Picking up the radio on the dashboard, he presses a button on the side and speaks into it. “Blue panel van, two cars back.”
Static replies for a second before Luka’s voice comes through. “Definitely trouble.”
“We’re changing course. Keep up,” Niko says, gesturing for me to turn off the main street.
I take a right and double back. Niko wants to get us to a quieter place, away from so many public bystanders. This is always his first priority when operations look like they’re going south.
He also leans over and reaches into the back seat, picking up a semi-automatic rifle and placing a second alongside my seat in case I need it.
“Ready?” he asks, glancing at me.
“Ready,” I nod.
In the middle of the street, I come to a complete stop. Luka and Arkady do the same behind us, and within seconds, three cars appear around us. Standard MO for an attempted hijacking of our products in transit. These morons didn’t even try something unexpected.
All four of us pile out of the vehicles and open fire with extreme confidence that catches the attackers off guard.
In a matter of seconds, we render the blue van useless.
The two men inside are dead, one half-fallen out of the open passenger door with blood running down his body onto the black tar of the road, the other shot through the driver’s window, his head slumped onto the horn, a loud, blaring, intrusive screaming from inside the van.
Arkady grabs the guy’s head and yanks it back, putting an end to the noise.
He ducks around the side of the van and yanks the back door open, but there is no one else inside.
One of the other cars is already trying to reverse, but he’s blocked by his companion’s vehicle. He panics, accelerating forward and hitting a lamp post.
The second and third cars are protected with bulletproof glass.
The guys inside aren’t risking getting out to open fire on us, not after how quickly they saw us deal with the blue van.
“He’s retreating,” Niko shouts, aiming for the tire of the black sedan while the other car keeps trying to maneuver away from the scene.
“Don’t let them get away, we need one of them alive!” Luka shouts back.
In the commotion, my head starts to spin.
I glance down at my body and see blood running over my black jeans, making them darker, sticky and slick.
I touch my fingers to the stain, and they come up bright red.
“Fuck,” I mumble, wondering when it happened.
One of the guys in the van, obviously.
From the left side street, two more cars appear.
We’re quickly becoming outnumbered. “Back in the car,” I shout at my brothers.
None of them questions anything. They all start running back for our SUVs. Lifting myself into the car hurts, but I can’t deal with that now. I slam the door just as Niko gets into the passenger side. “Go, go, go!” he shouts. But I’m already accelerating.
Gunfire breaks out behind us. Bullets slam into the back windows. This entire car is armored, though. They don’t stand a chance of reaching us.
“We’ll have to outrun them,” Luka shouts into the radio.
“Stay with us,” Niko shouts back. “Red route!”
Over the radio, we don’t say street names. We color-code pre-plotted routes and use those codes just in case someone is listening in and decides to try and ambush us ahead.
I know this city like the back of my hand, and I’ve memorized the routes, which change every time we do an operation. Losing them is easy enough.
Moving this product should have been straightforward, a simple collect and drop at a different warehouse, but clearly someone caught wind of today’s plan and decided to fuck with us.
“Let’s scrap the warehouse and drop the vehicles underground. For all we know, someone’s waiting at the delivery point,” Niko suggests.
“Agreed. The sooner we get off the streets, the better. And we’ve lost these morons now. Did you see who it was?”
“I didn’t, but I took note of the plates. I’ll run a check later, even though they’re probably fake.”
Pulling into the underground space beneath one of the buildings we own, I shut down the engine and take several deep breaths. Niko is climbing out of the car to talk to Luka and Arkady, who have parked next to us.
“Do you guys have a car stashed here?”
“Two,” Arkady says, sliding out of the seat and dusting his hands over his pockets.
“I’m going to take one,” I sigh, walking around the car to talk to them.
“Fuck, dude, that’s a lot of blood,” Luka snaps.
“No, it’s okay. It looks worse than it is, but I do want to get home to sort it out.
Let’s shut this whole delivery down for now.
Niko, call a team of guards and have them patrol this building and stand watch over the cars until we can make sure the delivery spot is secure. Ark, where are those keys?”
“The car is unlocked. It’s parked right by security. Key in the center console. You sure you don’t want me to drive you?”
“No, I’m good. Niko, let me know about those plates once you’ve run them.”
“Will do, man, let us know when you’re home safe.”
I groan as I walk away, towards the security office, my hand clamped against my side, where it’s starting to ache now that the adrenaline is wearing off. Who the hell is stupid enough to try and attack one of our operations?
Driving home, I have to force myself to focus. I probably should have had one of the guys drop me off, but I guess I’m stubborn. What can I say?
On the way there, I voice note Katerina and ask her to get a first aid kit ready for me in the downstairs bathroom. She panics, messaging back.
“Are you hurt? What happened? Do you need a doctor?” she blurts out in her voice note.
“I’m alright, it’s just a light wound,” I chuckle. But when I do, it hurts more.
It’s probably worse than I initially thought it was.
As soon as I park my car outside the steps of my mansion, Katerina comes running down. She tugs my door open and yelps when she sees my blood-soaked jeans. “Yulian, you need a hospital!” she exclaims.
“No, I just need some disinfectant and a few bandages,” I smile.
My head is spinning, though, and I’m starting to wonder just how much blood I’ve lost.
Katerina slips her arm around my waist and lets me lean on her as she leads me to the guest bathroom, where she already has the first aid kit laid out, preparing for anything.
“It almost looks like you know what you’re doing,” I muse, watching her slip a pair of gloves on and pick up the disinfectant.
“I did a first aid course, I know how quickly these things can get infected, and I know that that is a lot of blood to lose,” she huffs, scowling at me. “You should have gone to a doctor.”
“But you’re practically a nurse. You just need the cute outfit,” I tease, wincing as she lifts the fabric of my shirt away from the wound. Blood has soaked through it and dried against my skin. It’s painful when she pulls it away, but she has no choice.
“You got shot!?” she says in horror, “Was this during today’s delivery?”
“Yes, someone came after us. Five different cars tried to take us down.”
“And your brothers? Is everyone else okay?”
“Everyone’s okay, the product is being stored somewhere else until we can figure out what’s going on…” My voice trails off in pain as she splashes disinfectant onto the small hole in my side.
“I need to make sure it came out the other side,” she explains, pulling my top higher, then tugging it over my head. “If the bullet is still in there, you are definitely going to a hospital.”
“I can’t go, Kat, they ask too many questions.”
“Well, you can’t leave a bullet in,” she huffs.
“That’s what those long, tongue-looking things are for,” I gesture to the med kit.
“Ugh,” she snaps, “I’ll do that if I have to, but just to make sure you don’t get shot again, I’m not going to be gentle.”
She’s scared. I can see it in her face. Scared that I won’t be okay. Scared because I got shot. And even though she’s threatening to hurt me more to teach me a lesson, her hands are as gentle as silk as she checks my wounds and tends to them.
“It came out the back,” she sighs in relief. “A small caliber, through and through.”
“Do you know how to do stitches?” I ask. “Spray that stuff on first; it’ll numb the area a bit.” She takes the spray from the kit and generously sprays it all over the wounds.
“I’ll need to stitch you up in the back and the front. I’ve never actually done stitches before on a real person, but it can’t be too hard, right? Seriously, Yulian, you could have died today,” she chokes, swallowing hard, trying to control the surge of emotions that hit her as she says it.
“Hey, kitten,” I pull her into my arms so that she’s kneeling between my legs, the sterile gauze held in her gloved hand. “I’m okay, I would never leave you. You’re stuck with me, okay? You aren’t going to get rid of me that easily,” I say.
I smile, trying to show her I’m fine, but the tenderness and care in her eyes wipe the smile off my face. Damn, she’s beautiful. I cup my hand beneath her chin and kiss her.
Katerina accidentally leans against my side, and I wince as she melts into me with the kiss. She jumps back. “Oh my word, I’m so sorry,” she stammers.
I chuckle, and she scolds me, “Stop distracting me. I’m trying to stop you from bleeding to death.”
I chuckle again, and a small smile creeps onto her lips.
“Sit still before I poke you wrong with this needle,” she warns me, still smiling.