Chapter Nineteen
In which there is torture and nature documentaries.
Dmitri…
"I need to get back to work at the hospital."
Pausing mid-shave, I look at her reflection in my bathroom mirror. "Not happening."
"You don't understand," Ava says plaintively, "I'm still in my residency. No matter what excuse you've given for me, they're not going to accept a long-term leave."
"The ten-million-dollar donation The Morozov Foundation made to Bellevue Hospital says otherwise."
She's leaning against my doorway, arms uncomfortably wrapped around her middle. "You just donated ten million dollars to the hospital?" She looks horrified. "That's madness!"
"We didn't donate it for you," I say, rinsing my razor. "The hospital administration is still feeling warm and fuzzy about it."
"There's no way of knowing how long this will take," she persists. "I can't afford to lose-"
"You can't afford to lose your life or get sold into fate much worse than death.
You can't begin to imagine how much worse it can get.
" The color drains from Ava's face and I refuse to let it affect me.
Wiping the last of the shaving cream off my face, I meet her gaze in the mirror.
I'm shirtless, and until I terrified her with that last comment, I'd noticed that her eyes kept drifting over my chest.
"There's got to be something else I can do," she persists.
"There is," I say, reaching for my dress shirt and buttoning it up.
"I know my mother already invited you to sit in on surgeries at her clinic.
As it happens, she finished her residency under the supervision of two of the top surgeons in the state of New York.
She told me that she can contribute the required hours to your residency by doing the same thing for you. "
"I've heard of that," Ava frowns. "It's extremely rare and the surgeon has to have one hell of a pull with the state's medical licensing board."
I give her a pleasant smile as I thread my tie through my collar. "Dr. Ella Morozova does have that kind of pull."
Running her hands through her hair, she sighs, "I'm not sure what to say. Part of me is screaming at the excitement of being able to work under Ella's supervision, the other half is feeling…"
"What?" I prompt, pulling on my suit jacket.
"It's a huge favor," she blurts out. "I do everything on my own. I've never expected special treatment. It feels wrong."
"Ah, I see. So, what I'm hearing is that this is about your pride rather than simple necessity and opportunity?"
"Don't twist my words," she says crossly, following me down the hall.
"Not at all," I say with mock innocence. "I'm merely attempting to reflect back your concerns while using 'I' messages."
Her eyes narrow. "You're mocking me."
"Not in the slightest. I take her hand, raising it to my lips.
"Okay, I was. The reality is this: you cannot go back to work at Bellevue.
There is no way to adequately protect you there.
You need to continue your residency and we have offered you a way to do that.
Is your pride more important than your life? "
It's killing her, I can see it. "I don't want to be ungrateful. What you are doing is so-"
"Go get dressed, Ava." I turn her in the direction of her bedroom, though I intend to move her into the master bedroom by the week's end. "Rurik and Matvey, your security team will be here soon."
Her steps slow as she stares at me. "Two men? I need two men?" she says incredulously.
"You do remember that you were almost abducted when you had four bodyguards breathing down your neck?" I ask.
"That was different," she says. "That was an unsecured building, right? You couldn't fully control the environment." She looks a little pleased with her analysis. "If I'm going to the clinic, surely I don't need an entourage. "
I check my watch. "If you keep me waiting, I'm going to add two more men to your security detail." Glaring at me, she shuts the door and I hear her grumble as she heads into the walk-in closet.
Alexsey is in my kitchen, pouring himself a cup of coffee. "I'm assuming that you have convinced her to take the option of working under Mother's supervision? With, perhaps, a combination of subtle threats and intimidation?"
"You wound me, Alexsey," I say. "There was also the significance of my persuasive charm."
"Uh-huh," he says, unconvinced. "Well, while she heads over to get started with Mother, you and I are needed at Gordi's."
"What are the odds that she had first contact at one of our key locations?" I take his cup, since he drank the last of my coffee. "Has anyone gone through the footage yet?"
"Yes," Alexsey says. "Since Ava was able to narrow it down to the very day of first contact for us, Kolya was able to get a fairly clear shot of the woman posing as Cynthia Watkins." He holds up the phone and I look at the image, frowning.
"I don't recognize her, but most of the rings we've dealt with have comforting older women who are used to lure victims in. Why don't you circulate the image through some of our trackers and see if they recognize her?"
"Will do. It's already being run through Kolya's facial recognition software.
" Alexsey puts his phone away. "Hello Ava," he says with a huge grin.
"You're looking lovely today. You really must let me paint a portrait of you at some point.
" He's doing this to piss me off, the smarmy little shit.
"I'd love to show you my studio. It has wonderful light. "
Really? First Roman, now Alexey, flirting with Ava?I grab him by the back of the neck. "If you keep this up, I will dislocate your shoulder, which will make painting very difficult," I whisper.
She looks mildly surprised by his excessive warmth. "Oh, that's very nice of you. I'm sure you're too busy for something like that."
"Ava, meet Rurik and Matvey," I interrupt, gesturing toward the two men in dark suits, standing in the entryway.
Rurik could easily fit a casting call for "gigantic bodyguard type.
" He's enormous, roughly the same size and shape of a mountain.
A mountain, if you added some mobility. Matvey is shorter, slimmer, but possesses a lethal speed that's unmatched.
He can cut the throats of six men before anyone is aware that he's in the room.
They're the perfect combination of off-putting and unsettling.
"A pleasure to meet you both," Ava says politely, offering her hand to shake theirs, which seems to surprise them. "I'm pretty sure I'm going to be the most boring assignment you've ever had."
"Let's hope so, ma'am," Matvey says. Rurik grunts.
Once I've seen Ava safely off in my armored Maserati SUV, Alexsey and I head over to Gordi's. "I've been waiting for this," I say, cracking my neck one direction and then the other.
"Yeah, you don't get much action anymore, do you?" Alexsey says sympathetically.
"The life of a Pakhan is much more meetings than murders," I say sourly.
Gordi's Sandwich Paradise is just a block away from Bellevue Hospital.
It's an old-fashioned shop on a bustling street, but go through the back entrance and there's a grim looking set of concrete steps that takes you down to the basement.
It's been retrofitted to hold more than slabs of meat.
Gordi is there, leaning against the wall of a concrete room that's well soundproofed.
While his customers are upstairs, consuming ham on rye and club sandwiches, they're blissfully unaware of the blood and tortured screams happening below.
"Shouldn't you be upstairs?" I ask, and he shrugs.
"It's not time for the lunch rush yet, Mr. Morozov.
" He leans closer. "I know Ava," he says in a low voice.
"She comes in every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with her friend.
She always orders the same thing, a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, the most polite girl you've ever met.
She always stuffs a ten in the tip jar. While you get what you need from this man, I want him to suffer. "
"I like you more every time we talk," I say, slapping him on the shoulder. "You have my word."
The poor bastard in question does look rough, hanging from a hook fixed in the ceiling, his head drooping down, with steady droplets of blood splashing on the floor from his mouth and ears. Roman is lounging in a chair, watching something on his phone.
"Is that a nature documentary?" Alexsey asks incredulously.
Roman watches as a bald eagle soars from its nest, swooping down to catch a salmon from a sparkling river. "It's relaxing," he says with a shrug. "And who doesn't like bald eagles?"
While they're discussing the benefits of the Nature Channel versus National Geographic documentaries, I walk in a circle around the man. He manages to lift his head just enough for his one good eye to follow me.
The other one is gone.
"You've been busy, brother," I say. "What do we know?"
"Well, first…" Roman says, standing up and stretching. "This guy is a fucking asshole. He cried and blubbered all night and now, I've got a headache. Secondly, he's just hired muscle. He didn't come from the people who took Ava in the first place."
"What do you mean?"
"He's freelance," Roman says. "They brought him in yesterday. Apparently, the one you shot was the guy in charge of the abduction attempt."
"Fuuuck!" I hiss under my breath.
"He was very eager to talk," Roman says, "most of it is bullshit, though. He swears he wasn't hired by a crime ring. He thought they were only going to rough Ava up, scare her."
"You pulled her out of a window in the middle of a fucking wedding and you thought you were just going to scare her?" I snarl, driving my fist hard enough in his sternum to hear something crack.
"We didn' kill anybody," he slurs. "Supp'sed knock 'em out. The other women were…nuh…" I backhand him.
"Who. Hired. You?" I say slowly, clearly. "We can make this last long after you beg us to end it."
The man shakes his head, blood flying. "Nuh… swear."
Without taking my eyes off him, I call back. "Hey, Gordi?"
"Yeah, Mr. Morozov?" His heavy steps echo off the concrete walls as he comes closer.
"You're a master butcher. Decades of experience cutting meat from bone." He grins as he sees where I'm leading this.
"Yes, sir. Filets, ribs…" Gordi kicks the man's ass. "Rump roasts."
"Do you have a cleaver down here, my friend?"
"Yeah," he says, scratching his chin. "But I'd need a couple of good sharp paring knives. My bone saw."
"Stop!" The man's scream is mushy, too few teeth left. "Swear tuh god… all I know, it was a businessman… a ruh- rich guy. Maury says we gunna… get a big…" He coughs wetly, a clot of blood hitting the concrete. "Big tip for the girl…"
"A businessman?" I turn to look at Roman and he shakes his head.
"First I've heard of it," he says.
"Gordi?" I slap his shoulder. "Maybe you should go get that bone saw. Alexsey, why don't you take over. Let me know what you find."
I leave the room, the man's wet screams cut off instantly when I shut the door.