Russian Killer's Baby (4 page)

Pregnant.

Something that had been such a scary possibility only a half hour ago was now twice as frightening and yet oddly welcome. She took a deep breath and brandished the pee stick in front of her. Holding the stick in one hand and the directions in the other, she unlocked her bathroom door.

“You want a tool?” Annika asked. “I have one. And it isn’t a weapon.”

“Is that right?”

She nudged the door open with her toe and stepped out. Gingerly holding the test in front of her like a shield, she gestured for him to take the directions. “I missed my cycle.”

The smooth skin between his eyebrows furrowed. “What is this?”

“Just read them.”

His eyes grew wide when he realized that it was a pregnancy test. Confusion lit his dark brown gaze. “What are you saying? You’re pregnant?”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t it a little soon to tell a thing like that?” He looked skeptical.

“I wish. But I’m more than four weeks late, and I’ve been sick in the mornings and tired all the time. Those are a pretty specific list of symptoms. So I took the test.”

He snatched the pee stick from her hand and held it up to the directions. “Two lines you’re pregnant, one you’re not.”

“Two lines,” Annika muttered.

He snorted, waving the stick at her. “This line is so faint it could hardly be called a line.”

“It doesn’t matter how faint the line is, stupid. I’m pregnant.”

“So you
say
.”

“Do you really want to take a chance of murdering your own child when you kill me?”

FELIKS FELT AS if he were falling down a well so deep he could see no way out. The murder of a woman was one thing. The fact that he’d spent half a night enjoying the soft, sensual nature of this particular woman only made his job harder. Now she was pregnant and the child was most likely
his
?

For the first time in more than a decade’s worth of successful hits, jobs, and syndicate business, he had no idea how to proceed. Then he realized Annika had said something rather significant. She had called her father an imbecile. If she and her father were practically estranged, how could Orlov be claiming that a hit against Annika would make the biggest impact on Vadir Polzin?

“Are you and your father close?” he asked her.

She shook her head, looking confused. “No. Why?”

“You called him an imbecile.”

“He is,” she snapped. “Look at him, running about getting on the wrong side of the syndicate and putting others at risk all so he can make a quick buck.”

“Would you say that your father values you?”

Her brow furrowed. He could see that she was frazzled, but she seemed to be holding together much better than he ever would have imagined. She was a strong woman.

Finally she shook her head. “You have to understand my father. He probably values me as much as he values anything in his life. He loves me for what I can do for him. If I were to get bumped off, he would see it as an inconvenience.” She appeared to consider this. “So let’s say it would piss him off a lot.”

“Enough to retaliate?” A pattern of possible events was forming in Feliks’s mind.

“Yes.” She gave a hard nod. “If he felt he’d been disrespected. Why?”

“When was the last time you spoke with your father?”

She pressed her lips together, looking as if she didn’t want to answer that question. “Earlier today. He came by this morning.” Something shifted in her expression, and Feliks got the feeling she’d just put two and two together.

“Say what you were just thinking,” he demanded.

Annika didn’t look pleased. “My father told me that the syndicate was after him for breaking their rules. We fought about it. I didn’t dream he was right.”

“He wasn’t. There was never talk of going after your father directly. You were always the target.” His mind was elsewhere, and he didn’t even stop to think what that would sound like to her.

“Of all the arrogant assholes on this earth!” she sneered. “Do you have any shred of human emotion in your soul?”

“Not particularly.”

“I don’t believe that.”

He cocked his head, staring at her and wondering why she seemed to be able to get beneath his skin. “What is it you believe, and why should I care?”

“Because the other night you made love to me. We didn’t just fuck. That was more. I saw your face when you came. A man doesn’t look like that when he’s dead inside. You might pretend not to care, but you do.”

He was about to correct her, but his phone vibrated in his pocket. There was no doubting who was bothering him at the moment. It would be the council demanding proof of Annika’s demise. Perfect.

“Oh my God!” She threw up her hands. “You’re on your phone
now
? You’re in the middle of murdering me.”

“Don’t sound so disgruntled.” Was he teasing her? It was a horrible thought, but he realized that it was actually true. “You’re still alive, aren’t you?”

She gave a strangled growl, and before Feliks could fully prepare himself, she launched her athletic frame right at him. Instinct had him reaching out to catch her, but he was unprepared for the foot she raised to kick him right between the legs.

At the last second Feliks was just able to twist his hips and protect his balls from being crushed. Unfortunately, the protective action left him half a dozen steps behind his quarry as she bolted from the apartment. Spinning on his heel, he sprinted after her.

The narrow hallway was murder on his broad shoulders as he tried to spin around the railing to the stairs. He could hear her pounding down the steps two flights below. Gauging the distance, he vaulted over the ancient wood railing and went into a controlled fall. Winding up in a crouch on the landing, he wasted no time in clearing another flight of stairs in a similar fashion. Twice more and he had beaten Annika to the bottom.

“Bastard!” she wailed. “Go away!”

“Annika, come on.” He held out his hands. “I haven’t decided what I’m going to do. Don’t jump to hasty conclusions.”

“Hasty? Are you insane?” She pivoted and started running back up the stairs.

Feliks groaned and followed her. At this rate he was going to pass out before he even managed to figure out what was really going on. Although he realized that deep down he had already made the decision to spare her life for the moment. He needed to know why Orlov wanted her dead. Why draw Vadir Polzin out in this way? What purpose did it serve?

“Go away!” She threw the words over her shoulder right before she attempted to shut her apartment door in his face.

Feliks shoved his booted foot in the door, wincing when the heavy wood bounced off his toes. Even in the steel-toed boots his foot felt the sting. “Annika, come on.”

She was backing toward her window, and he realized she might possibly intend to somehow utilize the fire escape. Holding out her hand, palm first, she glanced over her shoulder at her exit. “You need to stay back.”

“Or what?” he chided gently. “Let’s just sit and talk for a minute, Annika. I’m not going to kill you. Honestly, I have to say you’ve impressed the hell out of me. Most grown men would be crying and begging like babies by now.” He abruptly stopped talking. His choice of words was not lost on him.

“Babies can’t beg,” she whispered. “Not even when they depend on you completely.”

Chapter Five

“You can’t keep me prisoner forever,” Annika told Feliks irritably. “We’ve been driving around for hours. At some point you’re either going to run out of fuel or road.”

He glanced at the rearview mirror for what seemed like the millionth time. “One or the other. Yes. But at least we’ve lost our tail.”

“What?” She struggled to turn around in her seat. She was so tired and hungry that she hadn’t noticed anyone following them. “Does this mean we can stop?”

“Why?”

“I
really
need to pee.” She didn’t bother to soften her tone of voice. “And I don’t believe there was someone following us. Why would they?”

“I can’t answer that. To find that out, I would have had to stop and beat the shit out of them to get the information.”

“Surely you could just ask.” She didn’t like all this talk of violence. “You don’t have to beat everyone you come into contact with, do you?”

“It’s usually faster.”

She narrowed her gaze, realizing with no small amount of surprise that he was actually
teasing
her. “Are you trying to be funny? Because that is demented.”

“Why?”

“You
kidnapped
me!”

“I saved your life.”

“How do you figure that?”

He pursed his lips, steering his low-slung, black sports car into the parking lot of a convenience store. “The syndicate wants you dead. Had I refused to do the job, you would not have had any luck convincing my replacement of your right to live.”

“That sounds ominous.” In fact, her stomach knotted and cramped at the very thought of that situation. “How messed up is it that you’re basically my ticket to life at the moment?”

“Pretty messed up.” He parked the car. “Now. I’m going to let you out to go pee. If you decide to run off, you’re on your own.”

“Pardon me?”

“I mean that I’m not going to chase you all over Boston, so if you decide you’d rather take your chances with the next guy the syndicate sends to punch your card, have fun with that.” His expression was
not
comforting.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “Fine. I know when I’m better off sitting tight. But if you don’t let me out right now, you’re going to have to clean your seats.”

He gave her a dirty look as he pushed the unlock button on the driver’s door panel. “Go, then. I’ll wait here.”

She shoved the door open and practically rolled out of the car. Considering her lack of grace in her first trimester, she could hardly even imagine what she’d be like eight months pregnant. That was something worth considering if she was going to be on the run from the syndicate.

Annika pushed her way into the busy convenience store, so intent on her own crazy life, she almost didn’t see the policeman until she ran right into him.

“Sorry about that, ma’am.” The cop set her back on her feet with a self-deprecating grin. “You better watch where you’re going.”

“Yeah, I’d better,” she said faintly. Furtively glancing over her shoulder, she saw him continue out the door and head for a police cruiser parked at the opposite end of Feliks’s car.

Did she dare try to get help from the police? She took a step as though she might pivot and run after the policeman, but her papa had instilled a bone deep distrust of law enforcement that wouldn’t allow her to take the risk. Grumbling a little, she headed for the bathroom.

The door was locked, and she could hear someone moving about inside.

“Dammit!” she snarled beneath her breath.

Crossing her arms and feeling defensive, she looked down and realized she was still wearing her lounge pants and a ratty sweatshirt. Fabulous. That really did wonders for her self-esteem.

Across the busy store, a tall, cadaverously thin man with a pointed goatee was staring at her. She fidgeted a little more and tried backing up a few inches in order to take shelter behind a stack of beer. The man’s gaze never wavered. Her skin began to crawl. She willed the woman in the restroom to hurry the hell up.

Finally the door clicked and a woman of massive proportions stumbled out. She nearly mowed Annika over on her way by. “Move it, twiggy!”

“Seriously?” The word slipped out before Annika could choke it back.

The big woman spun about awfully quickly for a woman her size. Stomping back over toward Annika, she gave Annika’s athletic build a derisive once over. “You got something to say to me, you skinny bitch?”

Annika sighed. Creepy Dude was still watching her like a pervert about to pounce, and she was about to pee on herself. This was not the time to get into an argument.

“Well?” Big Girl snapped. “You got a tongue?”

“Nope.” Annika disappeared into the safety of the bathroom and shut the door.

Once inside the tiny cubicle, she hurried to do her business. It was close and stinky and her pregnancy-enhanced sense of smell was making the place reek ten times worse than it already did.

Annika flushed then washed her hands, all the while wondering if she was getting them cleaner or dirtier by doing so. She finally stepped back out into the store only to realize that Creepy Guy had moved. He was now standing next to the refrigerator case directly across from the bathrooms.

The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Annika deliberately ignored him and walked in the opposite direction. Turning a corner, she smashed her back against a shelf and looked up to make sure there wasn’t a mirror right above her. There wasn’t, and she took the opportunity to duck back around the corner and look for Creepy Guy.

He was stalking away from the bathrooms toward the exit. A few more seconds and he would have put himself between her and escape. Not good.

Annika bolted for the front door. She didn’t care who saw her mad dash for outside. She just needed to get away. Grabbing the door, she hauled it open and made her bid for freedom.

FELIKS KNEW THAT women tended to take more time in the bathroom than men did. He took the opportunity to send a quick text to Pyotr explaining that something had come up and he’d had to put off the contract on Annika Polzin. Pyotr had just responded when Feliks saw Annika come back out the door into the parking lot.

Everything about her looked rattled. In fact, she looked so upset that Feliks actually reached under the seat for his gun. Then he saw her glance wildly to her left. When she strode quickly toward the police cruiser sitting a hundred yards away, Feliks wanted his gun at hand for an altogether different purpose.

His brain was screaming at him. Instinct told him that Annika had turned on him and was even now ratting him out to the police. Still, something in the vicinity of his chest refused to believe that.

So he watched and waited, knowing he might have to make a quick escape at any second. Annika gestured to the policeman, pointing back at the store and using her hands to speak in grand gestures. Either she was truly rattled, or she was a consummate actress. Feliks suspected a little of both.