by J. L. Murray
Craig frowned. "I don’t know, I’ve never done anything like that before."
"Are you keeping this job?" I said.
"No way."
"I will pay you $5,000 cash if you keep my Baba safe through this. I don’t think Sasha will come after her, but there’s no knowing. And they weren’t exactly on speaking terms when he got put away. Will you do it?"
"No problem," said Craig, after a moment’s hesitation. "Happy to help."
I felt my body relax slightly. "Peachy. You ready, Bobby?"
"Let’s go find your dad," he said.
Chapter Fourteen
Delaney lived on the other side of the city.
"I called ahead and Shipp’s going to meet us there," said Eli as we walked to his car. It had gotten dark while we had been working in the warden’s office. The air was frigid and made my eyeballs ache
"You know, I think I’ll take my car," said Gage. "I don’t really want to leave it here."
"You sure?" I said. "What about not splitting up?"
"I’ll meet you there," said Gage. "’Sides, you two have some catching up to do."
"Well, just look for the police cars," said Eli. "You know where it is?"
"I’ve lived in this city all my life," said Gage. "I’m sure I can find it."
"Police cars?" I said.
"You remember my partner, Mike Shippley," he said, twisting the key and waiting for the starter to catch in the cold weather. "Shipp’s going to watch over Delaney until we can get there. He’s calling it in. We’ll have six patrolmen over there. She’ll be safe as houses." He glanced at me. "You doing okay with all this?" he said. "I know you didn’t have the best relationship with your dad, but it’s normal if you feel weird about all this." He pulled out into traffic.
"I didn’t have any relationship with Sasha, period," I said. "He disappeared from my life a long time ago. He’s a goddamn sociopath. He’s never given a thought to how his actions affect anyone else in his life. Why should he start now?"
"You’re different, you know that?" said Eli. "You’ve changed."
"No, I haven’t."
"Yeah you have," he said. "It’s like you’re hard and brittle now."
"I don’t want to talk about this, Eli. You’re not exactly how I left you either."
He shrugged. "I lost everything," he said.
I looked out at the road. "So did I," I said.
After a heavy moment of silence, Eli cleared his throat. "So what’s this treatment they have Sofi on?"
"Some new medications," I said. "They should know if it’s working by next week or so."
"They think it will?"
"They say it’s fifty-fifty," I said. "I don’t understand half of what those doctors tell me, but they say it’s her best chance."
"Sorry, Nik," said Eli. "That was stupid of me just now. Of course you’ve changed. And back at the prison, I’m sorry I tried to stop you. It’s your life. You gotta do what you gotta do, right?"
I was quiet, watching the other cars on the street, the gray winter light making the brick buildings look darker and more dull. "You’re right though," I said. "I have changed. Hard not to, given the circumstances."
"I know," he said. "It wasn’t fair for me to say that."
I shrugged. "At least I’ll appreciate things more. Like food, for instance. Or electricity."
"You should have called," said Eli. "I could have helped."
"Who, me?" I said. "Ask for help? I would have eaten nails first. It’s okay now. I’ll have enough money from this job to last me a while." A horrible thought occurred to me. "If Sofi dies, it’s all going to be for nothing."
"She’ll pull through, Nik," said Eli. "She’s a tough lady."
"I used to be tough," I said.
"You’ll get through this, too," said Eli. His voice was firm, as if the more forcefully he said it, the more true it would be. "We’re going to go talk to the mayor, and maybe save her life if it needs saving. Then we’re going to save a lot more people from this Abaddon guy. Maybe we’ll save your dad, maybe not. Maybe he doesn’t want to be saved. But that’s what you do, Niki. The woman I used to know, she knew that. She knew how to take a killer down before the cops got there, and she knew how to stand her own. You’re still that woman, Nik."
I sighed. "Or maybe I’ve lost her forever. Shit, I hate being this way. Are we almost there?"
"Just a few more blocks," said Eli. We were quiet then. Eli kept looking at me like he wanted to say something, but stopped himself.
"Something you want to get off your chest?" I said.
"No," he said. "This is us." He pulled into the driveway of an old Victorian house with black shutters.
"Where are all the cops?" I said.
"Shipp’s not here either," he said. "This is not good."
"Neither is Gage," I said checking behind us.
"Backup didn’t show either," said Eli. "I’m calling it in." He reached toward his coat pocket to take out his phone. There was a sharp rap on his window. He looked up just in time for the window to smash. Eli shielded his face from the safety glass, and I had my Makarov out and pointing toward the driver’s side window just as the smasher cocked his piece aimed at Eli’s head, an old revolver that looked like it was straight out of a Bogart movie. There was something familiar about the hand holding the gun. It was covered in faded, blurry tattoos. Eli put his hands on the steering wheel.
A face ducked down to look into the car. "Hey, Niki, remember me?"
"Uncle Naz?" I said.
A wide grin spread across his face, showing yellowed teeth. "Give me your gun," he said, "Or I will have to blow your boyfriend’s brains out." He kept the grin in place as he spoke.
"He’s not my boyfriend," I said, removing the clip and passing the Makarov, handle first. I checked the street for Gage. No sign of him. I didn’t know what sort of stuff he could do, besides the Hell stuff I’d already seen, but I hoped he had something to get us out of this.
"Now we go inside," said Naz. "All of us together, yeah?"
"Okay, Naz," I said. "Just don’t shoot anyone, okay?"
"Anything for my Nikita," he said. Eli looked at me. I shrugged.
"Friend of the family," I said.
Norah Delaney looked terrified. She looked thin in an unhealthy way. Not quite as extreme as Sasha’s weight loss, but still noticeable. She had looked at least ten pounds heavier on television, but that might have been the cameras. I was willing to bet that the events of the past few days had made it easier for her to stop eating. She sat on a pastel checkered couch with her arms wrapped around herself. Her hair wasn’t plastered like I had seen it before. It was down around her shoulders, touching mocha-colored silk pajamas only a shade darker than her flawless skin. I could see why Sasha was attracted to her. .
Two men sat on either side of Delaney. They were muscular, their features angular and sharp and identical. Twins. One had his greasy hair pulled back in a ponytail, the other had his cropped short. They were both wearing dark gray suits and watching a game show on the television.
Delaney looked up when we came in. She wasn’t wearing makeup. When she saw me her face was a mask of relief. She sat up and smiled at me. But her face fell again, and her fear and disappointment turned to anger when she saw the smiling Naz with a gun trained right into Eli’s back.
"Miklos, Otto. Get up," Naz said, and the twins jumped up.
"Can you make them dance?" I said.
"Please," said Naz. "We have business to discuss. I hope you will not be offended if my boys hold on to your weapons while we talk. Understand it is polite."
I looked at the old revolver Naz was holding, the bulges in the tailored suits of the twins. "What about you?" I said.
"Well," he said shrugging boyishly. He probably thought that was charming. "I must think of protecting myself from the great Niki Slobodian. You have quite a reputation. How do you say it? Crack shot."
I didn’t respond. It would be useless to bring up Naz’s
reputation as a stone-cold killer. I watched the twin with the ponytail –Otto? Or was it Miklos? -- take the Makarov. He reeked of cologne. He patted me down and I groaned when he found the Beretta in my coat. So much for that. He pulled the piece out and put it on the side table against the wall. Might as well have been on another planet for all the chance I had of getting at it.
We sat down on either side of Delaney. She was glaring at me. I looked at her.
"I put my faith in you so this wouldn’t happen." she hissed. " Why didn’t you bring backup?"
"We tried," I said. "Apparently Detective Cooper’s partner can’t handle getting here on time."
Naz sat down on the coffee table, facing us. "Ach, this is the Shipp, yeah?"
"What have you done to him?" said Eli.
"I do nothing," said Naz, clearly offended. "He works for us. He told us you were coming. So we came and waited for you."
"Your partner’s on the take?" I said.
"You’re lying," said Eli. "Mike’s a standup guy He’d never work for you."
Naz shrugged again. "Believe what you want. Nice guy, though."
"So where’s Sasha, Naz?" I said, letting Eli process the information. "Isn’t he behind this?"
"I was going to ask you same thing," said Naz. "You’re working with him now, yeah?"
"Why the hell would I be working with that son of a bitch," I said.
"Come on," said Naz. "I’m not going to mess things up for you. I just want in."
"In on what?" I said.
"Cupcake," he said, using his nickname for me from when I was little. I had loved that name when I was a child. It made me feel special back then. But now it was just creepy and pissed me off. "There are many rumors flying," he said, gesturing vaguely toward the door. "They say someone has summoned. They say Sasha’s missing and the pricks that put him away are now stiffs." Delaney let out a little whimper at this. "They say," he continued, "that you did what no one ever did and got yourself off the Registry." Naz wasn’t smiling anymore, and his accent was barely noticeable. He was talking straight with me, his pale eyes staring at my face unblinking.
"They," I said, "are pretty well-informed."
"Word gets around," he said.
"I’m looking for Sasha to stop him," I said. "I’ll kill him if I have to."
"Then how did you get off the Registry?" he said.
"Hey, buddy," said Eli, recovered from his shock. "I suggest you let us go before the Department finds out you’re holding one of their own at gunpoint." Eli looked uncomfortably at the twins who were each holding a very large and very deadly-looking Ruger MP9s. If Naz’s revolver was underkill, the submachine guns were far into overkill territory. Eli brought one to the range when we were still together. I wasn’t sure the Department knew he had it.
Naz looked at Eli like he’d forgotten he was there. He nodded at the twins. "Take him in the back," he said.
"No," I said. "What the hell are you doing, Naz? You can’t just go around shooting cops."
"They’re not going to kill him," said Naz. "Unless I tell them to, of course." Eli blanched. "I just want them to take him out of my face. I don’t like him." He looked at Delaney. "Take the skinny bitch, too."
"Why you pick these guys, Niki?" Naz said when Eli was gone. "That guy is no good for you. Slobodians don’t date cops."
"Seriously?" I said. "You’re giving me dating advice while you’ve got a gun aimed at me?"
"What, this?" he said, laughing. "This is not a gun. I just like to carry it around. It doesn’t shoot straight worth shit, but it was my brother’s. I get sentimental, you know?"
"Whatever," I said. "So you don’t know where Sasha is?"
"Sasha," he said, shaking his head. "I did everything for him, you know. Since they put him away. I run the family for him. And he does something big like this, and he doesn’t even call me."
"Heartbreaking," I said.
"Heartbreaking, yes," he said, missing my sarcasm. "He is like a brother to me. I could help him if he would have me. But for the last month he will not see me." He scratched his head with the barrel of his ludicrous revolver. "So I think, what could make my friend behave in such a way. And then I hear about you, Niki. You get off of the Registry. My little Nikita. You are family to me, too, you know. I could never hurt you." He was looking at me in a fatherly way, and I felt I was being chided. "But I do not like being lied to, Nikita. You know this."
"I’m not lying, Naz," I said. "I honestly don’t know where Sasha is. I’m looking for him too."
"I find it difficult to believe that you got off the Registry without Sasha’s help," said Naz. "I do not wish to offend you or the people you work for, Nikita, but no one could get you off the Registry."
"With all due respect, Uncle Naz," I said, "you don’t know who I’m working for."
"Then tell me," he said gently, almost condescendingly, "who is this person?"
"They call him Sam," I said. I took my badge out of the inside pocket of my coat, where I’d hastily put it before leaving my apartment. The twin that had frisked me hadn’t felt it there.
Naz stared at the weird piece of metal. He reached out and I let him take it out of my hands. He stared at it for a long time. "Beda ne prikhodit odna," he murmured. My Russian was pretty rusty, but it was a saying Sofi sometimes used: "Trouble never comes alone."
I took the badge back from him. "Do you believe me now?" I said.
"Do you know about this man who you work for?" he said. "Do you know who he is?"
I shrugged. "Maybe I don’t want to know. Maybe it’s better that way."
Naz sighed. "You may not want to hear this, Nikita," he said. "But you are very much like Sasha. You look like your mother, but you are ruthless, just like your father."
"You knew my mother, Naz?" I said. "I didn’t know that."
"Your father and I knew each other in the Ukraine, before he had to leave. I followed him later."
"Where do you think he is?" I said.
"To be honest, I thought he was with you," said Naz. "And if he wasn’t with you, I thought he’d come here."
There was the sound of glass breaking followed by a loud yell from behind the door Eli, Delaney and the twins had disappeared behind. A man’s voice was saying something. Then there was silence. We watched the knob turn and the door swing open. Naz stood up and pointed his piece toward the noises. Bobby Gage stood there, looking shaken, with a determined look in his eye. He looked from me to Naz and back to me. He pointed at Naz.
"Bobby, what the hell are you doing?" I said.
He raised an eyebrow at me. "Saving you, of course," he said.
"I don’t need saving," I said. "Naz is an old friend of the family."
He opened his mouth, then shut it again. He looked at Naz as if his mere existence baffled him.
"Naz, put the gun down," I said. "Who carries a revolver around, anyway?"
Naz pocketed the gun with a shrug. "I told you, I am sentimental."
Gage looked behind him and looked back at me. "So, Niki?"
"What?"
"Eli and Delaney, they weren’t in danger either?"
I looked at Naz. "Of course they weren’t in danger," Naz said. "Norah is an old friend."
"Then why was she so scared?" I said.
"She is an old friend, but still a mouthy bitch," he said. "I might have scared her a little when I came in. Plus, she is afraid Sasha is going to kill her. He probably is, but still. No reason to overreact."
"Well, the reason I ask is that I may have frozen everyone in that room," said Gage.
"Everyone?" I said. I got up and walked across the room and peered around Gage. The twins were sitting on the end of a big bed watching TV, their torsos swiveled around to face the broken window, as if they’d turned toward the sound. Ponytail’s hand was on his hip like he’d been reaching for his gun. Eli and Delaney were tied to the bed frame, their backs against the pillows. I looked at Naz.
"It is sometimes easier just to ti
e someone up than to worry about them," he said.
"Well, at least they look happy," I said. They did, in fact, look reasonably happy. There was a sitcom on the television that was blaring a laugh track. The prisoners had at least relaxed enough, if not to full-on smile, at least look slightly amused.
"How the hell was I supposed to know?" said Gage. "You never told me you were BFFs with a goddamn Russian kingpin."
"Ukrainian," Naz corrected.
"It’s okay, Bobby," I said. "But what the hell took you so long?"
"Got lost," he said. "Never been to the ritzy side of town before. Lived here my whole life and never been over here."
"How long will they be like this?" I said.
Gage shrugged. "Half hour maybe. Maybe a little less."
"Well, we may as well get something to eat," I said. "Let’s see what the mayor keeps in her fridge."
That turned out to be diet cola and some leftover pizza. Guess Delaney didn’t have time to cook what with all the mayoring she did. We each took a soda and a cold piece of pizza while our cohorts defrosted, though Gage said it was more like unstopping. Defrosting just sounded a lot better in my head than unstopping, though.
"Naz," I said. "You said that Delaney was an old friend." I pulled the picture of the mayor and my dad out of my pocket. "I found this in Sasha’s cell. How do you two know her?"
"She was your father’s lubovnitsa, his sweetheart," said Naz. "They were together for a couple of years."
"He never mentioned her," I said. I didn’t mean for it to sound so bitter.
"Nikita, Sasha did not want you exposed to his world. Do you remember when he brought you to that old warehouse when you were little? Over by the river?"
"Yeah," I said. "I was just thinking of that the other day."
"That was because I urged him to do it, so he could spend time with you. But after you were there, around all these bad men, I realized that Sasha was right. Our world is not a place for a child. You were better off growing up with the old lady. He tried to give her money over the years, he sent her cash, presents for you, even a car once. But she had so much pride. She would find Sasha and give him back the money or whatever he bought with the money. Blood money, she called it. Murder money. She was right, of course. We were so arrogant back then. Nothing could stop us. She kept you away from all that. She said that growing up thinking your father abandoned you would be better than growing up with thieves-in-law. Strong lady. To stand up to Sasha back then was hard, even for me. But for you, she did this thing. Sasha regretted losing you, Nikita, but he believed it was for the best."
