6. Ilias
ILIAS
I stared out the window as we slowed near the diner.
It was a squat, chrome-plated deal, straight out of a movie.
The type of place where people had their regular booth, their regular server, and risked being buried in some backlot of a warehouse if they didn’t tip well.
I imagined a cranky server and an even crankier cook who would spit in your food if they didn’t like you.
“Shit, this place looks like the diner in Arizona that Ronnie and Natasha like.” Maxim snapped a picture. “They’re going to laugh their asses off.”
I didn’t bother commenting as he cackled, taking a few pictures that he whisked off to his cousins.
He talked a lot about them and the little town of Haverboro, but I honestly had no great longing for the West Coast. I was an East Coaster through and through, and when wanderlust hit me, it was Europe that called to me.
Lev pulled up a block down. “You want me to stay?”
“No,” Maxim answered. “Keep the engine running. Let’s not overwhelm her.
I’m guessing that we aren’t the regular clientele.
So let’s play it easy.” Maxim looked at me for confirmation.
“If she runs, I want you to follow at a distance and be ready for whatever.” He gave Lev a hard look.
“You have the location for the storage unit. If it comes to it, I think that’d be where she’ll hightail it to. ”
“ Da ,” Lev muttered, his eyes already scanning.
Resisting the urge to fidget, I turned to Maxim, pinning him with a hard look.
“She’s going to be sketchy. We need to be chill.
Don’t stare at her or anything weird.” I knew that Maxim was just as keyed up as I was and could barely contain myself.
The energy I was feeling right now was off the charts at the thought that maybe this whole thing was nearing the end.
Maxim shot me the bird. “I know what I’m doing dickwad. She’s my sister. You don’t even know her. ”
“You don’t know her either,” I muttered, even though he shot me a dark look.
Maxim’s wife, Cora, had insisted that we have a few calls with a head-shrinker before we went chasing after Galena.
The idea of discussing anything with any kind of therapist made me want to break into a sweat after the sort of childhood I’d had.
The last thing I wanted was someone looking too deep, but after sitting with the hospital report again, I called Maxim back, my stomach twisting with nausea as I agreed.
We’d only had two calls with the shrinker, and they focused on potential hazards we might encounter when trying to talk with Galena or how she might react around men in proximity.
She was a steely-eyed trauma veteran who, upon seeing the two of us, had asked skeptically what our motives were.
It had been a fair question, especially from her perspective.
We were strange men looking for a woman who didn’t want to be found.
Maxim had explained it as best he could.
We’d had her sign an NDA, but she wouldn’t go any further unless she knew that we weren’t going to harm Galena physically.
I had to admire her gumption. It wasn’t as if we were going to hand out Commission secrets to some random person, but the reality was that Galena was going to have to talk to someone once we got her back home.
There were still many unknowns about what had happened in that alley.
The police report hadn’t exactly been illuminating, and the NYPD hadn’t done much in the way of an investigation.
Even the hospital report had seemed unusually light.
According to the final autopsy performed on Maria, she had fractures to her ribs, jaw, and right arm.
However, it was a rib puncturing a lung that killed her.
Medical services hadn’t gotten to them quickly enough.
Galena had to stay in the hospital for a full week with a broken arm and leg, but they had been worried about some head trauma the most. She had denied a rape kit, but the officer’s thoughts in the report were clear that it was likely.
Still, the therapist had given us some tips on approach and what not to say. However, unbeknownst to her, some things were unavoidable while tracking down someone who didn’t want to be found. We’d do the best we could.
We stepped out into the late morning, the cool March air causing my nostrils to burn.
It smelled like snow was on the way, which wasn’t necessarily unwelcome.
I enjoyed the snow, the silence of it when it fell in sheets and blanketed the streets, shutting everything down.
What I didn’t like was the aftermath when the roads were messy, with just a smattering of white mixing in with the grime.
Right now wouldn’t be a great time for it, and Galena had already had a winter on her own.
I couldn’t even guess what that was like, especially if she was living rough in the city.
Maxim and I tried to look as casual as possible as we entered the diner.
The bell over the door jingled like it had no idea what was about to hit it.
The air inside smelled like burnt coffee, syrup, and old grease.
It was a quaint place, though, clean-looking, even though it had that smell of hard work and older coffee that I wouldn’t want to drink.
Maxim stepped in first, towering like a glacier in a wool coat that probably cost more than most of these people made in a year.
He was fussy as fuck about his clothes, which made me laugh because his wife was the exact opposite.
I followed, my eyes sweeping the space. It was half full—construction workers at the counter, a family in the corner booth, a few stragglers.
One guy at the counter who looked like he might be Johnny Sherman, Vallone’s man. His eyes darted to us, widening .
And her.
We had very limited footage of Maxim’s half-sister, although Maxim had offered to show me some creepy photos he’d taken a few years prior when he’d done some surveillance to check up on her home life.
I’d declined. I was already a little uncomfortable with the age difference, even if I had been planning to pursue a regular relationship with her, which I wasn’t.
I wasn’t going to be looking at pictures of her when she was seventeen. That felt weird.
She stood at the far end of the diner, her back turned, hair gathered in a messy knot of almost silvery blonde curly hair that still showcased the sharp line of her jaw.
One thing I knew about the few grainy photos I’d seen of her was confirmed — Galena Volkova was a fucking knockout.
She was speaking with an older woman, with gray hair and a diner uniform, her name tag reading “Dolores.”
“Pick any open table or grab a spot at the counter.” The older lady called, her voice raspy, just as expected.
I didn’t answer. I just walked toward the counter, nodding at Vallone’s man. Maxim muttered a low curse just as Galena turned fully towards us .
It was the eyes that did it. Blue eyes wide.
Not just surprised—wrecked and full of pain, like the past had just walked in wearing a tailored suit.
She froze with the coffee pot in her hand.
Dolores reached up to steady it. “It’s okay, sweetheart.
Johnny will protect you.” Doloroes tipped her chin up and pulled Galena closer. “Right, Johnny?”
Galena didn’t respond. Her gaze locked with mine, and I felt something slam into my chest so hard I nearly stumbled. There was a panic there that I recognized. We hadn’t played this right. Maybe we should have talked to Dolores or texted the brother first, so he knew we were coming.
Johnny looked at his sister in horror and then back at us, his eyes filled with knowledge of who we were and what we represented.
Johnny didn’t look like he’d be protecting anyone.
If I were Vallone, I’d have him out doing corner jobs or collecting.
The man looked like he was pushing seventy-five hard years, which was a feat in the mafia world.
Still, he looked so soft we could probably knock him over with a love tap.
“Wait, I was just doing a favor. I meant no disrespect.” His head bobbed, and he gave his sister a wild look. “I can’t protect her from them . ”
“Galena,” Maxim said quietly. “We aren’t here to hurt you. I’m here to help you. We’re both here to help you. I’m …”
“No,” she breathed, and bolted from the loose hold Dolores had on her. “Fuck you!”
“Goddammit—” I was already moving, shoving past chairs, ignoring the shout from the waitress and what had to be the cook. “Wait,” I called out desperately.
Maxim circled around the booths, trying to predict her path.
I moved fast, heart hammering. She dodged a chair, threw open the back exit, and we burst out into the alley behind the diner into the grime that happened to be working New York.
It was obviously an area she was familiar with because Galena was fast, all angles, her sneakers skidding on the pavement as she sprinted for the far end.
We burst out after her, splitting up in different directions. Maxim had pulled up a map for just this eventuality, but I still called out. “Galena! Stop! Let us explain.”
The only sign that she heard me was the extra speed she picked up and the way she pumped her arms more vigorously.
She cleared the gate and darted across the street like a ghost, weaving through traffic.
There was a moment I thought we should just let her go, but this could be our only shot.
There was no way that someone else hadn’t clocked her.
In our world, that was a death warrant. Galena was a walking, flashing neon sign of opportunity.
Anyone in the underworld could nab her and use her for ransom at this point.
She didn’t know it yet, but she was in danger on her own. If we could find her, anyone could.
We were the good guys.
I veered right, cutting through the narrow back lot of a laundromat. Hopefully, we could cut her off. This was exactly the sort of situation that the head-shrinker had warned us not to create. Motherfucker.
I reached the sidewalk just as she stumbled out ahead of me. She skidded to a stop, turned, and froze as we blocked her, her face ashen. “Don’t,” she hissed. “Don’t come near me.”
“We’re not here to hurt you.” I raised both hands, trying to make the universal sign that I came in peace, as Maxim came up behind her.
The car was right at the curb, but I could already see the sheer panic even as I moved forward and Lev got out of the car.
This was the absolute worst scenario. Sweat had broken out on her forehead, and her breath was coming in quick gasps .
“I don’t believe you.” Her whole body shook as she pulled her elbows in tight, wrapping her arms around herself.
“You’re all liars.” Her head pivoted like an owl’s as she moved her gaze from me to Maxim.
“No, no, no.” Her eyes shut, then opened, staring up at the sky before she crumpled to the pavement in a dead faint.