21. Kazimir
KAZIMIR
The crowd's already three deep at the barriers when I pull out my phone and call Zora for the second time.
It's just been ringing through to voicemail, so I try again but I get the same result, then shove the phone back in my pocket.
She's supposed to be here by now. I told her seven and it's already half past. I was hoping for some time together before the fights start because once that happens, I have to focus on my job.
Timur and Stepan are distracted right now, so this would be the perfect time to show her around without them going postal on me.
It's not easy to be let down by someone you set expectations for.
And standing around waiting to be disappointed only makes it worse.
So I take my phone out and try again, and this time, she finally picks up.
"Where are you?" I ask, turning away from the crowd so nobody reads my face.
"I'm still at home." Her breathing is off, like she's afraid or something. "My ride fell through, Kaz. Can you come get me?"
"Right now? The card starts in thirty minutes." I glance around knowing if I leave right now and Timur finds out, it's my neck on the line.
"I know. I'm sorry. I wouldn't ask if I had another option."
I pinch the bridge of my nose and look up at the booth where Timur is watching the monitors.
He's not going to like it when he finds out, but I want her here with me for this.
I don't want to shirk responsibility to go get her, but my real job doesn't start for a few more minutes.
I have the rest of the security team in place.
They can afford to miss me for a second.
"Yeah, okay. Be ready, okay? I won't have time to mess around."
I hang up the phone and weave through the growing throng of people until I'm outside. The line wraps around the building with folks excited to get in and see the fights. Even without the American fighting, we're gonna have record numbers in attendance, and if I miss this, Roman will have my head.
So I get in my car and push it, risking being pulled over and getting a speeding fine, but I have to get there and get her and then get back before things get started.
When I turn onto the highway my phone rings.
I assume it's Zora calling to ask where I'm at, so I use handsfree to answer without thinking.
"Yeah, Z, go…"
"Kazimir?" I hear, and it's a distinctly male voice, one I recognize.
My throat constricts, and I take a calming breath before speaking again. "Yeah, Federov, what is it?"
The man sounds annoyed again, which isn't the best indicator of how tonight may go, but it's a red flag waving around to get my attention.
"I heard there were threats of a police presence tonight…
What's going on? Do you have things set up right?
I can't afford another fuck up." Federov has given us his trust over and over again and after the betting flub, if I screw this up again, he'll singlehandedly take out half of our trusted bettors.
"Where the hell did you hear that?" My mind starts spinning while I'm zipping across town, dodging in and out of traffic. Zora had better be ready for me.
"From reputable sources." He huffs. "If this is a setup somehow, believe me—"
"Jesus Christ, Federov, it's not a setup. These fights have been planned for months. Relax a little. Trust me. The night will go as planned."
I turn onto Zora's street and park at the curb.
Her building's dark on the ground floor.
The streetlight on her block is burned out and the only light comes from the upper windows.
I kill the engine and get out, taking the steps two at a time.
I don't really mind being helpful. I just wish she'd have called me earlier.
As it is, we'll barely make it back in time.
When I get to her door, I knock a few times and she yanks the door open immediately, looking scared. "Thank God you're here," she says. "Close the door. Lock it."
I close the door and turn around, wondering what's going on. Her face is white as a sheet, arms hugged over her chest. She looks frantic and on edge.
"What happened?" I ask, crossing to her.
"There were men outside my building." She backs away from my touch and rubs her biceps like they're cold. "They were wearing masks and I swear one had a weapon. Kaz, I don't want to go out. I feel scared. Please stay here with me."
I sigh, glancing at the window where the shades are drawn. I can imagine how scary it must've been for her to see masked intruders. I just can't do anything about that right now. The safest place for her will be with me at the fights.
"Zora, I can't stay. The card starts in fifteen minutes."
"Forget the card." She pulls me toward the couch, tugging my arm desperately. She's terrified. Her palms are clammy. "Please, Kaz. Stay with me. What if they're out there now?"
"I didn't see anyone. Come on, baby. I really have to go." I don't have time for this. As much as I love her, she's being difficult for no reason. Why stay here if she fears someone is out there? Going with me is much smarter.
"Please, forget the card…" She looks like she's on the verge of tears, pleading with me to protect her, so I pull her into my chest, wrapping my arms around her.
"I can't forget the card. Every bettor we have left is in that building right now waiting for me to run the floor." I kiss the top of her head. "You can trust me, Z. You'll be safe with me."
"Send Timur." She pulls harder, both hands on my arm, trying to physically anchor me to her living room. "You don't have to be there."
"I do have to be there. Roman is counting on me to do what only I can do.
" I take her hands off my arm and hold them between mine.
They're trembling, and a few tears have slipped down her cheeks.
"Zora, these fights are my redemption. After everything that's happened, if they fail…
" I shake my head. "If I'm not on that floor when it starts, everything I've been working to rebuild falls apart. "
"But what if those men are out there?" Even her jaw trembles, her teeth almost chattering.
"You're safer with me in a building full of fighters and armed security than you are here, even with me." I take her by the wrist, start walking her to the door. I don't have to check the time to know we don't have much of it left.
"What if they follow us?"
"Let them. They won't make it past the entrance." We get to the door and I open it and she cries harder.
"Kaz, please." Her eyes fill up and the tears spill over and run down her cheeks. "Can't we stay for five minutes? Can we wait until we're sure they're gone?"
"I don't have five minutes." I pull her out the door and shut it behind us, then take her purse, hoping to find her keys and lock up, but she snatches it back from me.
Her hands fumble as she digs her keys out and locks the door, then I put my arm around her tightly and guide her down the stairs.
She stumbles a few times, and I wonder what on earth could've gotten her so fucking terrified. Those men really did a number on her, and when these fights are over, I’m going to have Timur pull the close-circuit footage from this building and every building around here to find out who it was and what they wanted.
She barely says a word as I drive. Her arms stay wrapped around her body and she keeps trembling, sniffling every few minutes.
"After the fights I'm sending Timur to your building personally," I tell her, pulling onto the highway. "He'll figure out who it was and what they wanted."
"Thank you, Kaz," she says. Her head drops as she fishes her cell phone out of her pocket.
The rest of the drive, I focus on not getting in an accident because I'm driving well over the speed limit.
Zora is busy texting someone, and her thumbs fly over the screen of her phone so fast, it's a blur.
Maybe she's telling her brother’s what happened and where she is or maybe a friend.
Either way, she's with me and we're on our way to where I'm supposed to be. Hopefully, no one has missed me yet.
But when I pull onto Kominsky Prospect, police cruisers line both sides of the road. Five of them with their lights going, blue and red flashing and blinding me. The crowd is being held back by uniformed officers outside the entrance of the club and I don't see Stepan or Timur anywhere.
I pull to the curb a block away and kill the engine.
"Kaz," Zora says beside me, sitting up straight and staring through the windshield. "What is that?"
But I’m saying, "What the fuck?" at the same time. "I gotta call my uncle," I mumble, fishing my phone out. I see I've missed a few calls from him because I was driving.
Zora's eyes are locked on the scene, wider than they were before, and her hands still haven't stopped trembling.
I dial Timur's number as I glance around behind me, hoping there's a way I can turn the car around before the police see me.
We bought this building under a shell corporation so no one can track it back to the Kuzin name, but if this place is blown, we may well have blown the whole organization at this point.
Restarting so many times is taking a huge chunk out of our capital and our bettors will keep losing faith.
"Kaz, where the hell are you! What happened?" He's angry, and rightfully so. Though, my being here would never have stopped any of this from happening. If anything, I'd have been swept up in the raid and arrested. He's lucky he's able to answer his phone.
"I'm here. I'm outside. What the hell is going on?"
"You tell me! You were supposed to be securing this facility, making sure we had no threats." Timur's voice is so loud, I have to hold the phone back from my ear as he shouts.
My mind immediately goes to Fedorov’s call when I was driving to get Zora. He'd heard about a police threat, and I brushed it off instead of taking it seriously. Was there more to that? Did someone set this up too? There's no way this could be random.
"I did secure things. This wasn't on my radar. I don't know what happened…" Then my chest clenches. "Where's Stepan?"
"He's with me… Get to the offices. This is unacceptable." Timur hangs up, and I look at Zora whose bottom lip is trembling as tears stream down her face.
"Can we go home? I'm scared. I don't want to be here." Her hand reaches for mine and I let her hold it.
I can't go in there anyway, and if our high-dollar bettors got scooped up, my career is dead anyway.
"Yeah, baby, I'll take you home now…" I should've just stayed with her at her apartment. Whoever is trying to pick my life apart is doing a damn good job of it. They've got me to the wall with a gun to my head, and all that's left is to pull the trigger.
Roman might just do that for them.