Chapter Two
As soon as he hit the trees, Felix heard a birdcall. Halting, he looked up into the trees above him and he made out a figure in black.
One of the Ghosts was perched there and he pointed in the direction Briar went. The exchange was done in silence as that’s just how it was with the Ghosts.
Felix nodded and turned in that direction. He moved carefully and soon he saw her ahead of him.
She was staying in the shadows and watching everything that went on around her. After a long moment she stayed as still as a statue.
Felix stood in the darkness waiting for her to move. He frowned when she didn’t and was about to step out when he felt someone behind him. He froze and raised his hands slowly showing whoever was behind him that he wasn’t carrying a weapon.
Someone stepped close and an older voice whispered in his ear, “Who are you and why are you following Briar?” The voice sounded gravely.
Felix could smell old cigarette smoke on the man. He slowly turned around.
Pippy stood beside him, but he wasn’t alone.
Felix could sense others standing there in the shadows.
He looked at Pippy and said, “There was trouble earlier and Briar had to defend herself. Nikoli Silvanic was there as well and between them they had to kill three men. Then a fourth man stepped out and a man Briar calls Willy, tackled him. A man we knew a long time ago in a place a long way away from this city. He turned out to be a traitor to the Bratva and he and his family formed a cult. The cult was nothing but a band of dissidents that want to topple Russia, and the Bratva. They even brought their fight here to America.”
Pippy nodded. “Yeah, we've been tracking them for a while now. Just watching...you understand, trying to protect New York. We live here too and we don’t want the likes of them causing trouble here.”
“Neither do we.” Felix nodded. “Briar is looking for them and I want to be her backup. We are also looking for Sergi’s son.
He was taken from the airport but we are unsure who has him.
We’re hoping it’s his own security but it might be the last remaining family members of the Dmitircoffs.
If it is, Misha could be dead soon. I hear his sisters are vicious and would kill him to make their own escape. ”
Pippy looked over Felix’s shoulder.
Felix immediately got the impression someone else had joined them. He turned his head.
Briar stood behind him. She had known all along that he was following her. “Felix, it would be better if you went back to the hotel and waited until we could find out where the sisters are staying.”
Felix shook his head. “I can’t leave you alone. You might get hurt.”
Briar chuckled.
Felix heard the soft chuckles coming from all around him. He didn’t need to look for these street people, he knew he wouldn’t see them anyway.
“I can take care of myself and I know these streets a hell of a lot better than you do,” Briar assured him.
Felix just stared at her and said, “That might be true but I cannot in all good conscience leave you to go forward without backup. Artem would want me to do that.”
Pippy cleared his throat and said, “She’s got all the backup she needs. The whole city will step up for her.”
“Da, I can see that,” Felix acknowledged. “And I can even appreciate that fact, but she is still one of us too. She is also my long-lost cousin and I just can’t leave her out here alone. Please understand that.”
Briar sighed hard. “You call me cousin and while that might be true, I don’t know you.
I left home a very long time ago. The man that brought me so far away from the place that I was born, just left me alone here when I was nothing more than a child.
Pippy found me on the streets and he raised me on the streets.
It might not be ideal for you to understand that, but that’s how I grew up.
These....” She pointed out Pippy and several of the others still hiding in the trees.
“...people are my family. They watched over me as I grew up. They never left me alone. I grew up with a hundred uncles and aunts and more cousins than I can name. A few of them are old enough to be my grandparents too. That has been my life so far. It’s been hard and at times I’ve been cold and hungry but I survived because of the people I call family.
With them, I am never alone, I was never looked down on and we all helped each other. ”
“But we found you after almost twenty years,” Felix stubbornly insisted. “You are our cousin too.”
“Yes you are, but like I said before, you don’t know me,” Briar insisted. “You and your brothers haven’t even tried to get to know the real me. You just assumed I was like you because we’re family.”
“That’s not fair,” Felix told her quietly.
“Isn’t it?’ Briar asked softly. “When is my birthday? What do I like to eat? What’s my favorite color? What am I allergic to?”
Felix couldn’t answer because he didn’t know the answers.
Briar just shook her head and went on to prove who knew what, “Your birthday is November 26th, your favorite color is teal blue, you like to eat lobster and steak. You love your wife and daughter. You are the oldest brother of three. You like your eggs over easy so you can dip the toast into the yolks.” She paused then added, “You and your brothers love being Bratva, you protect Sergi with a passion because you believe in what you do. You and your two brothers all love to go fishing and camping. You and your Bratva brothers respect women and children and would never hit or hurt them because your father and uncles taught you that.”
Felix felt his heart slam in his chest when he thought about her words. She knew them better than they knew her. So while they had ignored her for the most part, all she had done was watch them. She knew them by their actions and stories while none of them had even asked about her life.
Briar looked at Pippy and she saw him shake his head. “But right now we have to find Misha. And stop the sisters.” She looked at Pippy, ignoring Felix altogether now. “Can you get word out to the boroughs and see if anyone out there knows where these Russian sisters are staying?”
Pippy nodded.
Then suddenly, Willy stepped out of the shadows.
“I might know where they are.” Shrugging he admitted, “I move around a lot. After Red and his crew did what they did, I didn’t want them to find me again but about three months back I noticed someone was setting up camp down by the water.
It was a whole family group and they were as mean as a nest of rattlesnakes.
” Then he looked at Briar then at Félix.
“But I noticed one thing about them that made them stand out to me. They spoke of Russia in Russian.” He shook his head.
“I think they were the Dmitricoff family. They used to talk about a man they called Anton and someone else called Artemy and how they were going to bust him out of prison and bring him to this country so the Bratva would never find him. They used to boast how the Bratva would look under every stone for him back home and they would laugh because they knew he wouldn’t be there. ”
Felix stared at him and asked, “Where down by the water?”
Willy shrugged. “They got set up in an abandoned warehouse that used to be a loading place for boats but it’s been shut down for about ten years now.
They cleaned it up some on the inside but they left the outside alone as they didn’t want to draw anyone’s attention.
They get their water from the river and clean it up inside.
I think they got generator power for the light and they use it for heat in the winters too.
They’ve all been living there for a few years now.
They’ve also been watching the hotel. One day it’s one of them and the next day it’s someone else. ”
Felix looked at Briar and shook his head. “That’s not good news.”
Briar nodded. “But no one has seen them because they don’t stand out and no one knows who they are here. They have been living underground for a long time now and that’s why they’ve gone unnoticed for so long.”
“Well, that’s about to change now.” Felix growled as he reached for his phone. He spoke for a couple of minutes to update Sergi. When he finally ended the call, he looked at Willy. “Can you show us where that warehouse is?”
Willy looked at Briar then back at Felix. “I can take you there but you won’t get close enough. They have people of their own and this time of night they have people on the roof with guns.”
Felix smiled. “Don’t you worry about that. The Ghosts will take care of them.”
Pippy shook his head. “I’ve been hearing rumors about your Ghosts. I hear they can get in, do damage then get out without being seen. Is that really true?”
Felix nodded. “Da, that is true enough.”
Even as he said it several men in black stepped out of the shadows, catching everyone by surprise.
The only one who didn’t jump in surprise was Felix.
He’d known all along the Ghosts were there.
Felix turned his head to look at Willy. “All we really need is an address.” Looking at Pippy and the others standing there, he added, “We need to move quickly and quietly. If they did manage to get their hands on Misha they won’t hesitate to kill him if they know we are there. ”
Willy stiffened and looked Felix right in the eyes and said, “I will show you where this warehouse is and if he is there as a prisoner I will help him get out. I failed him once, I will not do it again.”