Chapter 21 - Ivan
Standing in the middle of the outskirts of the city under the hot sun while we waited for a trade to go down wasn’t exactly how I wanted to spend my time, especially not when my thoughts were predominantly on Daria.
At the very least, I wasn’t alone while Lev, Dima, and Nik waited around with me alongside our guards. If I had to suffer, then at least that meant they did too. There was camaraderie to be found in agony, and boy, did we ever find it during those moments.
Even if she wasn’t there with me, thinking about my wife helped pass the time, even if I couldn’t voice any of it out loud.
As much as I wasn’t one to admit something so mushy to even myself, I was on cloud nine about how things were going between me and Daria.
After deciding to be less stubborn and actually put in a shred of effort, she was much more receptive, and while that didn’t matter to me before, my priorities shifted ever since I realized her happiness translated to my own.
That wasn’t something I had ever thought about before, but with my previous attempts to get under her skin and the way our fights always left me in a sour mood, I was getting sick of it. That desire I had for revenge somehow managed to dissolve, and my interest morphed so completely before I could even try to stop it.
It was out of character for me to care, especially after everything Daria had done. Yet, I liked that change more than I ever would’ve guessed.
I never thought I’d find myself in the position of being a husband, and one who actually enjoyed his wife at that. It had been a foreign concept to me before, but I didn’t mind it.
I felt Lev's gaze on me for a moment before he spoke with an amused gleam in his eyes. "Someone looks rough this morning."
Personally, I thought I had been doing a decent enough job at hiding the remnants of my hangover and lack of sleep due to my night with Daria, but it seemed I was overly confident in that department.
"Long night?" Dima added with a snicker.
"You could say that."
My brothers all looked at me with interest, pushing a bit further.
"Getting busy the night before a big trade, huh? Can't say I blame you," Nik chided while he absently stroked his chin. "If I were you, I would've kept myself busy for a bit longer and skipped this part altogether."
"Yeah, and being reamed out by Aleks would earn you something worse than a hangover," Dima added with a shake of his head.
Even if my head ached faintly and I felt more tired than I would've liked, I found myself chuckling along with them.
It turned out that having a steady personal life tended to make all aspects a little brighter. At least, it took some of the usual edge off and made me more receptive.
"All I know is, she must've been pretty good to have you so tired," Lev murmured, holding back the full extent of his grin.
"Oh, shut up," I muttered, lacking any real bite as Dima clapped my shoulder.
After a moment of us going back and forth, waiting for our associates to show up while we alternated between standing in the shade of an abandoned utility building and leaning against one of our vehicles, Lev gave me an absent nudge.
"Look alive...they're here."
"It's about time," I sighed, standing up from my relaxed position against the car behind me.
Sure enough, a Range Rover pulled up on the gritty path, rolling towards us with a few others in tow.
Our guys kept their attention on the surrounding area as well as our associates, hands on their rifles. The group of us waited, putting on our usual indifferent demeanors.
Before long, our substance supplier stepped out with his small crew surrounding him, wearing his purple shades and usual suit ensemble. His right-hand carried a small bag while he approached, too.
"Fokins," he said with that usual seedy grin. Even if he was a bit of a sleaze, he was at least reliable. And he kept his prices fair, which meant better profits for us. "I'll cut to the chase before we get this deal going."
"Please do," I murmured, arms crossed while watching him closely.
He gestured to his right-hand, who unzipped the small black bag and pulled out a vial of clear yet viscous liquid, holding it up for us to get a good look at it.
"This is the new stuff...this batch is real good—very clean," he said with a hint of pride in his eyes. "It's potent shit. A few drops and you're floating...a few more, and you're on a different planet. Double that, and you're meeting the man upstairs."
The details didn't matter much to us, not when we were just interested in distributing and profiting off it. I gave him a calculating look.
"And you said before reception has been good?"
He nodded with a smug grin. "Oh-ho, you bet. It's selling like hot cakes—real in demand. Distribute this stuff at half a vial and you're laughing."
The four of us glanced between each other, on the same page and aware of the details of the trade thanks to Aleks having worked it out beforehand.
"I'm assuming you have more on you?" Lev asked, gesturing vaguely to the vehicles.
He chuckled. "What, did you think I'd show up to one of these things empty-handed?" He nodded in the direction of one of his other goons. "Grab the other bags. Let's get this thing moving."
His guy nodded and began for one of the SUVs, just about to reach the trunk when the familiar zip of a bullet rang out and sank right into his chest. With a choked sound of surprise, he clutched the wound before slumping back against the vehicle.
"Oh, shit—"
At once, a volley of gunfire rang out from ahead of us as three vehicles sped up and stopped just shy of where the man was bleeding out to death. Multiple men rolled out with their rifles aimed at us.
Our men swarmed us, taking aim at the assailants without asking any questions, returning the heat just as hard.
A hand on my shoulder yanked me back while I reached for my pistol, and Lev was pulling me behind the cover of our vehicle.
"Get down!"
It was immediate chaos with our supplier hiding behind his men while they tried to keep him safe, also opening fire on the unknown men. With alarm scribbled across his features with his back against the Range Rover, he shouted at us, "Is this some kind of setup?"
"Not by us," I returned, looking around the side of the vehicle before I raised my weapon and fired at one of the assailants, clipping his shoulder before he could take any of our guards down.
With all of us on edge and aware we couldn't let anyone get the better of us, we all sent shot after shot through the maelstrom of chaos.
Despite their surprise advantage, the group of men dressed in all black went down one by one until there were so few of them left that the last car in the lineup pulled away and sped off, leaving the bodies behind whether they were already dead or not.
Eventually, as the dust settled, we pulled ourselves out of our cover and took stock after the fact.
"You good?" Dima asked as he grabbed my shoulder again, turning me around to look me over. "No grazes?"
Shaking my head, I forced myself to snap out of my faint daze, reeling from how quickly it all went down. "I'm fine."
He nodded, and when it was clear the four of us were all right, we turned our attention to the downed men. Most were the assailants, while one or two of ours were among them, and more of our suppliers padded those numbers.
"Who the hell was that?" He demanded, dusting himself off with a furious shade to his eyes.
"No idea," Lev muttered, going over to one of the dead men to nudge at his limp body. "They didn't manage to take anything, at least."
"Obviously, they somehow caught wind of this going down...it seems targeted, but why?" I asked, looking between my brothers.
Dima shrugged. "Don't know...all they did was charge in and get themselves killed. Maybe they overestimated their firepower."
"Or they had no idea what they were doing," Lev murmured, looking vaguely irritated. "Either way, we've been seeing an uptick in activity like this recently...we'll need to keep an eye on this."
Nodding, I knew he was right. There had been a suspicious amount of targeted interferences lately, and if we allowed it to get out of hand, that would only mean bad news for us.
"Whoever's behind this won't continue for long...we'll get to the bottom of it."
Our supplier scoffed and looked disinterested in standing around. He waved at his right-hand. "Get the shit moving so we can leave...I've had enough."
With the shootout behind us, our guys worked with him to move the substances into our own vehicles, hoping to get the exchange done as soon as possible. All the while, I couldn't help but wonder what was really going on.
Between us being shorted on shipments, trades being intercepted, and a higher rate of chaos in general, I knew something was going on behind the scenes...I just didn't know what.