Chapter 12 #2
“You have to understand that I don’t know who I can trust, Salvatore. I couldn’t run the risk of telling you and having this Sizemore boy get tipped off ahead of time.”
“I understand,” Salvatore says with a sigh. “And I will forgive the intrusion. If these men were involved in the capture of my Gregory, I will burn out the rest of their organization myself. But tell me, during this raid to capture Sizemore, was there any sign of my son?”
“Not to my knowledge. But we now have some leverage against Irina. As soon as I find out how to contact her, I’ll try to arrange for an exchange, her son for yours. To that end, please give me Gregory’s number. If Irina is holding his phone, I may be able to reach her that way.”
Salvatore recites a phone number, which I repeat back to him as Constance types it into a note on her phone. She gives me a nod to confirm she has it, then I tell Salvatore, “I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything. Keep a good thought, Salvatore. We’ll get your boy home.”
“I pray it to be so. If you’re successful in helping me with this, Maximo, my family will owe yours a debt. Thank you again for your help.”
“Let me know right away if you hear anything else, all right?”
“I will, Maximo. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye, Salvatore,” I reply before disconnecting the call.
“Well, what do you think?” Constance asks me. “Should we try to call Gregory’s phone and reach out to Irina right now?”
“Not yet,” I decide. “I need more than just her contact information,” I add as I pull up a number to send a text. “Remember Sergei Ivankov? The Bratva elder who first warned me about Irina?” When Constance nods, I tell her, “I’m going to reach out to him for a bit more information.
Sergei, this is Maximo again, I type. Irina’s son, Jacob, is now my guest. I need a way to contact her if she wishes to retrieve him. Also, I need a current picture of her. I trust that you’ll provide me these details so we might resolve this unpleasantness.
I show the message to Constance, who nods again before I hit send. “It’s bothered me that I wouldn’t know her if she walked up to me on the street,” she says. “I didn’t think about reaching out to the Bratva to get a photo of her. Do you think you can trust them to help?”
“Trust them? Absolutely not. I think that Sergei will do this, at least, since it costs him nothing and may help resolve what he has to perceive as a loose end. We’ll see.” I sigh as I pat her knee.
The rest of our ride is uneventful. Just before noon, Joey guides the black Ford Expedition we’re riding into the underground parking lot below the Savage Kings’ clubhouse.
It’s an impressive old building; five stories set above a parking garage filled with classic and modern motorcycles, as well as a sprinkling of sports cars and more mundane vehicles.
Joey carefully navigates the narrow lanes until he finds a parking space near the elevator.
Tony pulls into a spot nearby a minute later.
I nod to him and the man riding with him, a member of Jamie’s crew named Chris.
“See? You didn’t have any trouble finding the place, did you?” I ask Tony as we meet up at the elevator.
“Nah. Chris was a good navigator,” Tony replies as he jerks his thumb at the man behind him. “I don’t do so good with the maps, but he was able to describe the directions to me without me having to screw with the phone.”
“Jamie says me and Tony are going to pick up somebody and take them back to the estate for you. You got any, eh…special instructions for him?” Chris asks as the elevator dings open.
“Don’t kill him,” I answer with a shrug. “Otherwise, just make sure he’s ready to tell me everything he knows about Irina Volkov, and where she’s hiding.”
“Easy enough,” Chris agrees.
“This is a big building for a biker gang,” Constance says as all six of us cram into the elevator. It wouldn’t have been crowded, except for Tony’s bulk pushing the rest of us back towards the rear. “Which floor do we even go to?”
“Let’s start on the first and try to get the layout of this place,” I reply.
Tony reaches over and hits the one button, but the elevator doesn’t move. Instead, the speaker in the wall begins to resonate with the ringing of a telephone.
“Savage Kings,” a woman’s voice picks up the line. “How can I help you?”
“Uh…” Tony stammers as he looks up to the security camera in the corner of the elevator.
“My name is Maximo Luciani.” I wave a hand at the camera. “I believe I’m expected.”
“Mr. Luciani, of course,” the woman replies before an unpleasant buzzing sounds inside the elevator. “Hit the one button again and come on up. I’ve now unlocked the elevator.”
“The first floor is public, it’s their bar and grill,” Trenton informs us as Tony pushes the button again. “The next couple of floors are apartments for the members and their families, while the top floor is administrative, for club officers only.”
“You’ve been here before?” Constance asks him.
“Yeah, I’ve been to a few parties here,” Trenton confirms. “These guys can throw a rager, I’ll tell you that. They get a lot of women, too.”
As if to reinforce that statement, the elevator doors ding open onto the first floor, where a sudden blast of Tom Petty’s “Running Down a Dream” assaults our eardrums. The sound is accompanied by the smell of hamburgers being grilled, and dozens of eyes turning towards us from the bar that takes up the center of the large open room.
It appears we’ve interrupted lunch.
As we file out of the elevator most of the men in leather or denim vests turn their attention back to the food and beer in front of them.
There are several women interspersed among them at the bar, while half a dozen others are playing pool at three tables to our left by the glass front of the building.
One of the pool players leans her stick against the wall, then saunters over to us.
She’s wearing a leather mini-skirt and a black halter top that has “Property of the Savage Kings” printed on it in gold.
Her dark hair is the same color and length as Constance, and I’m struck by their similarities.
The heels of her knee-high boots click audibly on the tile floor, even over the pounding jukebox.
“Hi, Trenton,” she greets my capo with a mischievous grin, then snakes her arms around his neck and pulls him down to her for a hug. He returns it awkwardly, and I can see the blush rising in his cheeks. “What’s got you so shy today?” She laughs as she releases him.
“It’s good to see you, Van,” Trenton says as he straightens up. “I’m here with the bossman today, though. This is Maximo Luciani.” He points over to me. “We’ve got an appointment with the Kings.”
Another woman has walked around the bar while we’ve been talking and approaches us with a friendly smile. “I was told to keep an eye out for you, Mr. Luciani,” she says as she extends her hand. “I’m Kristi. I run the bar and kitchen.”
“She’s also Reggie’s old lady,” the woman named Van chimes in, beaming a smile at Kristi.
“I ran the bar first,” Kristi clarifies.
“Reggie and I hooked up later. Don’t worry, Van, one of these boys will make an honest woman out of you yet.
” To me, she says, “Reggie told me to send you on up to the fifth floor when you get here. Take a right out of the elevator and you’ll find them at the end of the hall.
” While she’s explaining the directions, she pulls a lanyard with a plain white card attached to it over her head and hands it to me.
“Swipe that in the elevator and it’ll get you upstairs.
Bring it back to me before you leave, all right? ”
“Of course,” I reply as I take it from her.
“You don’t all have to go, do you?” Van pouts. “Why don’t you stay down here, Trenton? And this beautiful lady friend of yours. I know we could have a good time together,” she adds as she turns her attention to Constance.
“I’m with Maximo,” Constance clarifies as she reaches over to take my hand.
When I glance around the bar, I can see a couple of the bikers looking away, and I realize they had been checking her out too. I couldn’t really blame them. In her black blouse and jeans, and the low-heeled boots she cuts a fierce figure even amongst all these scantily clad women.
“Good for you,” Van teases. “But make sure you keep him close. Some of these girls are hungry,” she adds as she waves her arm back towards the pool tables.
“Trenton, you and Joey stay here and play a round with the ladies,” I tell them. “Tony and Chris will escort our friend out, and I’ll come round you up in a bit.”
Joey nods and Trenton says, “Sounds good,” as Van winds an arm around his waist and leads him away.
As we file back into the elevator, Constance turns to me and says, “Are you sure Trenton and Joey will be safe with them?”
“The Kings aren’t going to bother them. They’re being paid well to help us with this situation.”
“I didn’t mean the Kings. I meant those women you threw them to. They look like trouble. That girl Van actually looks a hell of a lot like me. They were eyeing you too, you know.”
“I didn’t notice,” I reply innocently.
“I did,” she retorts. “If you ever get invited to a Savage Kings ‘rager,’ as Trenton calls them, I hope you’ll make sure to bring me along.”
“To protect me, of course.” I turn to her and wink.
“You understand perfectly,” she says when she smiles back at me.
I hold the card Kristi gave me up to the sensor by the floor buttons, then hit five once the light changes from red to green.
Once we arrive on the fifth floor, we turn right as Kristi instructed and head down a carpeted hallway that’s lined with open doors leading to well-furnished offices.
Each of them is filled with a variety of computer equipment and server towers, but we don’t see anyone else until we reach the end of the hall.