Hotwire

by Cindy M. Hogan

  “Are you doubting me?”

  “Maybe. I mean, the way you’re beating around the bush, I think you’re going to ask me to do something illegal or something.”

  “Are you opposed to doing something illegal?”

  “Well,” I stuttered, “of course. It’s illegal.” I looked around, eyes wide like I was afraid someone would overhear. “Are you for real? You really want me to do something illegal?” I didn’t want to seem too eager to join his little gang. I thought showing some scruples would be a good thing.

  “Whoa! Whoa! Just calm down.” He held his hands out in front of him, moving them up and down like he was telling everyone in a choir to sit down.

  I took a deep breath and eyed him.

  In a low voice, he said, “Tell me about your arrest.”

  I let my eyes shoot open and brought my hands to my lap, rocking a couple of times. “Who told you I’d been arrested?” No wonder he felt he could be so out in the open about doing illegal things.

  “I have connections. I’ll leave it at that.” That terrible grin spread across his face. “Just tell me about it.”

  “What? Did you do a background check on me or something?” I appeared totally indignant. I wanted him to work for me so that he would feel like he’d really done something amazing by hooking me.

  “Or something.” He pulled in one corner of his lip and bit on it.

  “You can’t just go around looking into people’s lives without their consent. Can you? Come on. How did you even have time for that?”

  He leaned forward, his forearms resting on the now almost empty table, his head moving toward mine.

  “Why did you break into that car? I think it’s so funny.” He echoed my earlier words.

  “You wouldn’t think it was very funny if you had no car to get anywhere. It’s not like I stole the cars or anything. I just borrowed them. If I needed to be somewhere, I’d hotwire the nearest car, go where I needed to go, and then return it. No harm, no foul. I’d even leave money for gas.”

  “Them?”

  I covered my mouth, like I’d said something I shouldn’t have, but then smiled, like I was really proud of my accomplishments and excited to talk about it. It was time to let him know I wasn’t really opposed to illegal activities.

  “So, it wasn’t just once. Even better. Ingenious. I knew there must be a reason behind your criminal behavior. Seriously, the way you hold yourself, no one would ever know.” He had been looking at his fork, but his eyes flicked to mine when he said the last sentence. He liked the idea of me being totally incognito.

  “But you found out. How did you find out? The records are supposed to be sealed.”

  “Like I said, I have connections.” He tilted his head to the side and fingered the fork he’d been eyeing.

  “What, do you want me to steal cars?” I chuckled. Right after I said the words, something inside me felt strange. Was I afraid? Maybe I wasn’t supposed to get mixed up in this mess after all. Maybe I should have gotten the heck out and let someone else finish the operation or maybe I should have done it from afar and not get directly involved. I tapped my foot, trying to get rid of the odd feeling.

  “Yes.” He said it completely matter-of-factly.

  Instinctively, my eyes flitted toward the exit, and I couldn’t ignore the fact that a massive, tall, and unbelievably tan man stood between me and the exit. He must have had to have his clothes custom made for him; there was no way his biceps would ever fit into any shirts I’d ever seen. Would I stand a chance against him if I had to? I suddenly wished I had my knife in my boot and my gun on my thigh.

  I turned my head very slowly back to Viktor. “Hmm. Interesting. I never would have thought…”

  “So, you ready to join us?”

  I let my true feeling of nerves manifest on my face in the form of a flush, but managed to make it seem as though I was excited, though scared. I leaned forward, letting my body indicate eagerness.

  “I’ll admit I’ve missed the thrill—but I’ve already been caught for this. I could get in a lot of trouble. I could lose my chance at a future.”

  “Or this could be the best chance you’ve ever been handed.” He looked extremely self-satisfied. I could tell he thought I should be overcome with gratitude to him. “Now, just sit there nicely, and I’ll fill you in on all the details before my uncle gets here.”

  “Your uncle?”

  “Alexander Molgilevich to you. He’ll serve as the witness to our agreement. How many cars have you stolen?”

  “I just told you, I didn’t steal any. I just borrowed them.” I laughed. Was Alexander the man Jericho had called? My heart raced at the prospect of meeting him.

  “How many cars have you borrowed, then?” He leaned back in his seat.

  “This doesn’t leave this table?” I leaned forward and spoke low.

  “Of course not.” Behind his eyes he was laughing.

  “A hundred and two.”

  His jaw slackened for an almost imperceptible second, and then he recovered. I’d obviously wowed him.

  “And how did you learn to do that?”

  “The Internet. I learned all the ins and outs and then tried it. I guess I have a knack for it. Knack is also a word normal people don’t use any more, but I like the sound of it.” I grinned, raising an eyebrow.

  He shook his head. “Whatever, Word Girl. What types of cars were you able to get into?”

  “Most older makes and models. I don’t own a smart key. That would be awesome you know, to have a smart key and be able to get into almost any car you wanted.”

  “If you were given a smart key, could you bypass the keypad on doors?”

  I gave an exaggerated frown. “Maybe, if I got to try it a few times. The Internet makes it look easy.” I brushed my hands across the table linen.

  “It’s not.” He looked at his phone and appeared to be reading something. He nodded and then punched something into his phone.

  “Consider the next twenty minutes your job interview. There’s a green Camry, license plate BKJ 4521 in the third row of cars across the street. Go get it. Drive it into our garage, and come back up here.”

  Chapter 16

  He slid a bag across the table to me. Tools of the trade, I was sure.

  I looked at him, awestruck. These guys didn’t mess around.

  “Your time has already started.”

  I stood up, and the man blocking the exit moved out of my way. “No problem,” I said before I hurried past him.

  Viktor call out after me, “And don’t be late.”

  Once outside, I ran across the street, past the parking lot and then doubled back, weaving my way through the cars, pretending I belonged. I spotted the Camry without a hitch and immediately went to work on it, using the tools Viktor had given me. I felt eyes on me. Was it Halluis or possibly someone from Viktor’s gang? I hated being watched. I couldn’t help but notice that a smart key was included in the packet. It only took me two seconds to unlock an old car like the Camry. Another thirty seconds to hotwire it and five minutes to pull out into traffic, make a left turn, and circle back around to the restaurant’s garage.

  I made my way up the escalator and into the restaurant. I took a moment to compose myself before heading in. I brushed my hands down my wrinkled shirt and over my outdated pants and then took a deep breath.

  The man had moved in to stand behind my seat, blocking my view of Viktor. When I got in a position to see around him, I noticed Viktor was no longer alone. His uncle, Alexander, had arrived. The sharp angles of his face caused deep shadows to form just beneath the ridges of his cheekbones, giving him a truly spooky appearance—almost vampire-like. I moved in, triumphant.

  I sat in my seat, and his uncle stood and took my hand and kissed it. “Amber. Nice to meet you. I am Alexander.” His Russian accent was thick and smoky.

  “Nice to meet you, too.” I made sure to make my hand tremble in his.

  “No need to be nervous. You did an amazing
job just then.”

  I pulled the pouch of tools out of my pocket and slid it across the table to them. The uncle pushed it back toward me. “That is yours to keep.” He raised his nose in the air, like a dog sniffing for something, and took a deep breath in. “I think we’ve seen enough. Don’t you, Viktor?”

  Viktor gave an exaggerated nod. “For sure, Uncle.”

  “You got us a good one here, I can feel it.” He smacked his lips.

  Danger seeped from their every pore, but a great sense of satisfaction overcame me. I was in.

  “One thing,” he said, leaning toward me as he stood to leave. “You cross us, and I will not only kill you in the most painful way possible, but I will also slowly cut up your mother right in front of your eyes. Then I will hang your father over her cut-up body.” He held out his hand to me. “Again. Nice to have met you. You will be a definite asset to our little business.”

  This man was pure evil. I had to find a way to end his reign of terror. No one would have to suffer under his hand ever again. I forced myself to continue to look scared while inside a phoenix was rising.

  He turned to Viktor. “Give her all the details. I need her ready to go Thursday night.” He gave me a pressed smile before walking away. Four men surrounded him as he moved to the front door.

  I memorized every line of his face and body. I could see the faint bulge of a weapon at his hip. We would find out who he was and bury him.

  Among other things, Viktor told me to be in Mr. Shareweather’s class by six sharp on Thursday to get a bit of instruction from the master. I bet I could school the engineering teacher on a few moves. Then again, when I saw Jericho and Mikado in action the other day, they’d been amazingly fast. It seemed I did have a few things to learn.

  I had my marching orders, and I stood from the table to leave when Viktor grabbed my hand and moved next to me. I had to reach deep to look him in the eye. He smiled. “You know, a big part of me wanted you to fail the background.”

  I furrowed my brow in confusion.

  He nodded, his eyes seductive. “You see, I’m not sure my uncle will approve of the relationship we are about to have.”

  Burning ice flashed through my veins. I had to be quick. “He doesn’t seem like a man we’d want to anger. And if you think he wouldn’t approve, then we shouldn’t begin one.”

  He clucked his tongue and rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand, which he still held. “I disagree. We can always ask for forgiveness later.” He squeezed my hand and leaned in and kissed my cheek, lingering over-long. I suppressed a shudder and managed an ambiguous smile. As much as I hated it, I needed to keep my options open—if I needed to get closer to Viktor to further my mission, I couldn’t close that door by acting too disinterested. I’d have to leave him with a little hope, at least.

  Chapter 17

  Once back at the brownstone, Halluis drew a picture of the uncle as I described him. He faxed the scarily accurate depiction to Division, who got back to us in less than thirty minutes. This dude was bad with a capital B. He’d been indicted for money laundering, murder, espionage, and racketeering, to name only a few of the charges listed on his two-page criminal history. So, why hadn’t he been put away a long time ago? He always got off on some technicality, or it appeared in some cases that he was helped by dirty judges. Everything indicated that Alexander Molgilevich was a high-ranking member of the Russian mafia.

  Each new development added a wrinkle to Jeremy’s forehead. I didn’t dare tell him what Viktor had said at the end of the evening. I believed that if he thought he had cause, like a sociopath wanting to be my boyfriend, he would find a way to get me off the case. I couldn’t allow that. I would not fail any assignment given me, and more than that, I had to help put an end to Alexander’s reign.

  “The Russian mafia,” he growled. “We’ve run smack dab into one of the most ruthless crime families out there.”

  The four of us sat staring bleakly at each other in silence.

  “So, where do we go next?” I asked.

  “Nowhere,” Jeremy insisted. “This mission just got way deeper than a simple car-theft ring. We need to call this off.”

  “Hold on there a moment,” Halluis cut in. “You don’t have the authority to call off the mission. There is no way I am going to go whining to the director and tell him that things got too hard so we’re backing out.”

  “If that’s what you think I’m doing—”

  “That’s exactly what you’re doing! You’ve been trying to get out of this mission from day one—”

  “You have no idea what you’re talking about—”

  I couldn’t let this go on. I slammed my fist on the table, rising to stand as I did. “Hey!” I shouted. “Everyone, shut up!”

  To my surprise, they did. They stared at me, blinking in shock.

  Ace held up a hand tentatively. “For the record, I wasn’t saying anything.”

  I whirled on him. “Well, maybe it’s about time you did. Halluis is right about one thing, we have a mission to accomplish, and you standing on the sidelines isn’t helping anything. I’ve seen what you can do, and I’m not going to accept this ‘glorified tech support’ excuse of yours a second longer. Get in the game, Ace.” Ace looked chagrined but didn’t argue.

  “And as for you two,” I said, turning to Jeremy and Halluis. “There’s no point arguing until we know more. We don’t even know if this car-theft ring has anything to do with the mafia. It could be something Alexander is doing on his own. We just don’t know. We need to gather more information before we make any decision.”

  Halluis opened his mouth, but then shut it and simply nodded.

  Jeremy sighed. “You’re right.” He paused only a second longer before adding, “I may know someone undercover in the Russian mafia, an FBI agent. If I can get ahold of him safely, we may be able to get some answers.”

  Now that my big scene was over, I felt a bit awkward standing over the three of them, so I slowly settled back into my seat. “Okay, then. Let’s get on that.”

  ***

  Two hours later, Jeremy and I met up with the hulking Agent Kozlov at a Division safe house for a whirlwind thirty-minute rundown of the Russian mafia, known to insiders as the bratva—the brotherhood. His speech was clipped and heavily accented but deep and gruff at the same time. I had to concentrate to understand him, and there were moments I wished he’d just speak in Russian.

  “We thought for a long time that old structure, including the vory had gone away, but now it’s back with a vengeance. From what you say, I think they are trying to enter Christy into the bratva as a vory, one step up from the lowest rank, shestyorka.”

  The most annoying part of the meeting was how Agent Kozlov tended to only look at Jeremy like I wasn’t even there. I tried to ignore it, figuring it was a Russian thing. “Seriously?” I tried not to sound too indignant.

  “Don’t take it as an insult.”

  I wasn’t. I was still trying to internalize the fact that the mafia was alive and well.

  “Vory are middle management, in charge of the grunts—the shestyorka. Shestyorka are worker bees, very common in this outfit. The girls you saw—typical shestyorka. They do all the small stuff and lots of it. You identified eight kids so far? For certain, there are more you didn’t see, working just under this Shareweather person. He is for sure a vory, in charge of maybe twenty shestyorka. It takes most shestyorka ten or more years, from age twelve, to make it as a vory or be rejected.”

  “By rejected, you mean killed?” Jeremy said.

  Agent Kozlov nodded and pursed his lips.

  That was the wrong thing for Jeremy to hear.

  Kozlov continued. “Non-Russians have a hard time getting past shestyorka rank, almost never get past vory rank. Viktor’s uncle, Alexander Mogilevich is a brigadier. Christy will be joining his brigade of vory and shestyorka.”

  “But the car thefts—they’re definitely part of the bratva’s operations? Not some side project of Alexand
er’s?” Jeremy asked.

  Kozlov nodded. “It’s a major source of income for the bratva. This cell you found deals with cars, money laundering, and arms dealing.”

  “So, we’ve hit upon a support group, then?” I asked as something else dawned on me. “What about Viktor, Mikado, and Jericho? Are they shestyorka?”

  “These are most likely vory in training, working under Shareweather but with direct contact to the brigadier. Jericho and Viktor, at least. Mikado could be just shestyorka. Viktor, as brigadier’s nephew, probably has some sort of special place in Alexander’s ranks. I’m not sure about the other two. Any link to Russia?”

  “Not that we have found, but both are extremely wealthy.”

  “Interesting. But this is not just a support group. It’s one of two main groups under this Pakhan, the Godfather figure. But there’s no guarantee you’re in, yet.” His gaze was sharp, almost cruel. “So please, do us all a favor and get out while you can. You’re jeopardizing everything I’ve worked for, and you have no chance of getting that car before it ships to West Africa.”

  I bristled at his dismissiveness. “No chance? I’d say I’m well on my way.”

  He snorted. “You think they’d ever trust you with the location of the shipping yard? It’s on a need-to-know basis. I don’t even know the site of my shipment, yet. I’ve been in five years, and I’m Russian. How long do you think it will take you, an outsider, to earn trust I haven’t even gotten yet?”

  I spoke the next sentence in Russian, “I’m not here for a long-term stay. All I need to do is find a car.”

  He leaned back and actually looked at me. “Impressive,” he answered in Russian. “But how will you explain how you know Russian so well?”

  I switched back to English. “I don’t want them to know I speak Russian. I’ll use it to eavesdrop on their conversations…. So,” I said, mentally pulling up the information I’d gotten from the Bresen Spy Academy, Module 81.10, about the structure of various mafias. “So, are you one of the two spies then?”