Chapter 26
There’s a buzz of activity around the docks as I pull up in my car. Three heavily tattooed Chinese guys—strangers I’ve never seen before—are lined up, moving boxes of rifles in a human chain to another lorry.
“It would be quicker to use a forklift. This isn’t the dark ages.” Sasha’s voice rings out from inside the metal containers as I climb out of the car. My eye is drawn to a muscular Asian guy with an air of authority.
Sasha emerges from the shipping container with a box of guns, which he passes to one of the men with a grin before walking up to the man I was watching . He pulls him into a one-armed hug, but the Chinese guy’s lips twist and he shrugs Sasha’s arm off his shoulder.
“Kai, this is Vadim, my right-hand man. Vadim, Kai saved my life when I first got to China. We’re old friends.”
They don’t look particularly friendly, but I raise a hand in greeting.
“What’s with all the manpower? You checking all this by hand?” I nod at the men moving weapons.
“They don’t trust you. You’re not one of us,” Kai says, and I catch Sasha’s wince before he beckons me toward the container at the edge of the dock where a desk and a couple of stools balance unsteadily on the metal floor. Not Russian enough for the Night Governor, but not accepted by the Chinese either.
Once we get inside, the smile drops off his face and lines of exhaustion bracket his mouth.
“I’ve got you two places to hide if you need to. One of them is linked to Kai, so Guelman won’t know about it. I called in a favor.” Sasha pulls a crumpled packet of cigarettes from his pocket, drawing one out with his teeth before throwing it my way.
I snatch the packet as it flies toward me, and then I light it up and pull out a stool. “I owe you.”
Sasha walks over and drops two sets of house keys into my hand. “You don’t. I fucked up with Polina. The fact the Night Governor wants a woman who looks like my sister...” He shudders.
Unsaid words hang between us in the smoky air.
Sasha takes another drag, blowing the smoke in a ring that breaks as it rises higher. Then he looks up at me and purses his lips. “I’m sick of pacifying the boss. He’s a monster and he’s never going to let us out from under his thumb. Kai is my best hope. Everything’s shifting, which means it could be an opportunity or...”
The silence is pregnant with all the ways this could go wrong. I close my eyes, and images jostle for space. The Night Governor grinning as he talked about the new toy he planned to marry. The woman in the back seat of my limo talking about the child I never wanted our boss to find out about. Christ. The ways this could blow up in our faces are endless.
“Do you trust him?” I ask.
Sasha doesn’t get a chance to reply before the sliver of sunlight from the doorway is blocked and footsteps ring on the metal floor. There are a dozen unfamiliar gangsters moving guns around our docks. The Night Governor is making threats. I’m losing control of everything at the worst time.
Sasha won’t trust anyone who won’t drink with him. Kai must know him well enough to know that because he walks silently to the table and slides the bottle of vodka toward Sasha, but I’ve got no idea what’s going on.
Sasha watches him as he pours, and Kai throws the drink back and then looks between us without saying a word.
“The chess pieces are moving on the board, and I need the Spataro girl out of the way.” Sasha slides his glass toward his so-called friend and watches the spirit glug into it.
Kai picks up the drink and twirls it in his hands before confirming my instinct that nothing about this is a done deal. “You’re not Gary Kasparov. What’s in it for me?”
Sasha watches his friend’s face until Kai finally puts the glass to his lips, and then he seems to come to a decision. “Do those guys outside trust you?”
Finally, Kai cracks a smile, leaning his forearm on his knees. “You know they don’t. If you don’t speak Wu dialect like the rest of the snakeheads, you aren’t one of them.”
“Well, the Night Governor doesn’t trust me either, and if he marries this girl, he’ll be unstoppable, so...” Sasha pauses to inhale. “I’m asking you to gamble on me.” He hitches a thumb toward me. “On both of us. To see if we can’t become more powerful.”
Kai doesn’t answer the question. He places the shot glass on the table and rises to his feet. “I’d better get back to the men outside.”
Once Kai’s out of earshot, I stand. “The triads? You sure that’s a good idea?” I step toward the door, but Sasha’s fingers circle my arm and he drags me backward.
“You got any better ones?”
Turning to my best friend, my stomach twists and I blow out a long breath. I’ve got nothing to offer, and Sasha is doing what he always does. Finding a way out.
He shrugs like it’s no big deal. “Kai always comes through. He just needs a while to think about it. The Italians will be looking for the Spataro girl, but they’ll be following you. If we can get the Italian chick out of the way while I figure out exactly who is pissed off and how much, perhaps we can come out of this with a way to make more money.”
He pulls me back to the table and pours another vodka shot. It’s warm, but I sling it back like it’s the best thing I’ve ever tasted. Then I pull my knife from my pocket and run my finger over the blade. “I need to get my kid and the woman out of the way.”
Sasha’s eyes follow the blade I’m spinning in my hands. It’s something I do when I’m nervous.
“You worried?” he asks.
“Hell yes. What am I supposed to do with a ten-year-old?”
Sasha sputters and doubles over with laughter. “He’s started a fucking mafia war, and what really freaks him out is babysitting.” He’s wheezing as he wipes his eyes. “Fucking brilliant, man. This is brilliant.”
“Why?” I regard him over the knife blade. “What’s so funny?”
“Come on. It’s absurd. You’ve got to see the funny side.” He’s still chuckling to himself as I glare at the table.
“And if I get my own daughter killed? I stayed out of their lives to prevent this kind of shit from happening. Now that I’m back, it’s exactly as I predicted.”
“Only because you decided to go and play savior.”
It’s my fault. Yet again, my best intentions are warped by the world we live in.
Sasha senses my anguish and grips my shoulder, giving me a shake. “We’ve put men on them, and so far we haven’t seen anything. Get them to a safe house outside the city. If it comes to it, grab a go-bag and a suitcase of cash and take them on a road trip.”
“Kesera said she had a place we could use in upstate New York. One of our guys is seeing how well we can secure it. Perhaps a couple of days on the road wouldn’t hurt.” I’ll pick her up in the morning and text her with the new plan.
I listen for the sound of a truck door slamming and the Chinese pulling out with the guns.
“Can we get out of here?” I say. I feel itchy and when I get that feeling, I know it’s time to move. Listening to my gut has saved me on more than one occasion.
“Give me a second. I’ll just check the guns are gone.”
Sasha strolls out to the dock and looks at the concrete. I follow him, and it’s empty. I breathe a sigh of relief, but before I can ask my best friend about the safe house, a screech of tires breaks the soft slap of the tide before a burst of gunfire rings out. He’s scrabbling for his gun as he runs out and ducks behind my Mercedes, frantically looking around for the source of the shots.
Exactly how vulnerable I am hits me like a fist to the gut. Because I’m not helping my friend shoot the intruders. I’m fishing in my pocket for the Nokia, trying to reach the woman I can’t stop thinking about. I lie on the floor, one hand on my gun and the other on my phone.
Come on. Come on. Pick up. Don’t mess about now, I pray.
Her soft voice comes over the line as another crack of bullets rings through the twilight.
“Kesera. Take the kid and Nona and go to the deli across the street. Don’t wait. Take what you can carry and look for the kid with the spider tattoo. It’s not safe. You need to get out of the house right now. Andrei will get you out of town.”
The sound of shooting drowns out her reply.