Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Harrison
When I get off the phone with Natalia, I sit for a moment and think.
What the hell am I supposed to do? They can’t abduct my family members — or those of Natalia — and think we’re going to just go peacefully to the meeting and shake hands and agree to do business.
Maybe the Russians do it that way, but not us.
Not me.
I could go in with guns blazing, but that would accomplish nothing. I haven’t been planning an attack, so anything I do on the spur of the moment would be foolish. I know enough about war to know that.
Planning is essential.
I’ve done none, and so whatever happens today, it won’t be me going in with a gang of thugs to fight it out.
Instead, I have to be strategic.
Andropov thinks he can use us as pawns in a game of chess. Well, I’m a pretty decent chess player.
I call up Fogarty.
I tell him everything. I tell him about Tommy and my father’s murder by an Andropov operative. I tell him about the abduction of Natalia’s grandfather.
Fogarty is furious. “What the hell, Harrison? Why would those bastards take Natalia’s grandfather? Do they really think that’s going to settle the issues between your two families?”
“They think only in terms of power and who has what and when. That’s it. They want something from us, and so they see us all as game pieces on a big chessboard. You know, kind of the way the FBI sees Natalia and me…”
There’s a brief silence on the other end of the line as that hits home with Fogarty. He will have to admit to himself that it’s a fair comment.
“Hold on a sec,” he says, and I expect he’s going to confer with his fellow FBI Special Agents. Try to decide what action to take, if any.
Of course, I know that the FBI has no choice but to respond the way it does to organized crime. They see the bigger picture and are after the top dogs. They don’t want to go after petty pieces when they can take the King himself. Or Queen…
“Here’s what we’re gonna do,” Fogarty says after a moment.
“We’re gonna have you and Natalia go to meet with Andropov as planned.
I’m sure Andropov wants to continue the relationship because your business is a key part of theirs.
But there’s going to be an operation to take the building.
That’s all you need to know. When it goes down, keep your and Natalia’s heads down. You know how to take cover. Do it.”
That sends a chill down my spine. An operation to take Andropov. With us as decoys. Andropov will think we will come to some kind of agreement to work together. I won’t shut down O’Connor Enterprises, and I won’t jeopardize the work that Andropov wants to do with Tommy or with us.
In reality, both Andropov and my Uncle Tommy will be taken in. I’ve reviewed the info that I have on Tommy’s role in my father’s death with Fogarty.
It’s enough to put him away, the bastard.
“Jesus, Harrison,” Fogarty says, shocked at the story I’ve told about Tommy. I haven’t told him that Ryan knew as well and did nothing to stop it.
I’ll deal with Ryan myself…
At a later date.
I drive to the warehouse in Brooklyn where Andropov is holding Natalia’s grandfather. When I arrive, I see one lone security guard standing at the door, glancing at my vehicle like he already knows who I am by the make alone.
I stop, get out and look around at the streets surrounding the warehouse. Sure enough, there are several guards looking like they’re just passing time, but they’re sentries, watching and will alert a central command if they see anything questionable.
I don’t know how the FBI will move in, but there must be some way they have that will escape the notice of the sentries.
At least I hope so…
When I meet with the guard, he checks my ID and then pats me down. He takes my phone, and I’m glad I have a face lock on it, so he can’t use it to see my last call, even if it is to an unregistered cellphone.
I walk inside and take the stairs as ordered, noticing the warehouse is pretty much empty, except for some old boxes and a few large spools of some kind of metal wire. It must be used for meetings rather than business.
When I get to the second floor, I’m met by another guard in a black business suit, wearing an earpiece. I could barely tell the difference between them and the CIA…
He points to a door, which another guard opens to admit me.
I enter, and there, sitting at a small sectional sofa, is Natalia’s grandfather, Natalia and Yuri Andropov himself.
“Harrison!” he says and stands, ushering me over with a wave of a hand.
“Please to accept my apology for the method of this meeting, but I did not expect you would agree to meet, especially after what happened with the diamonds. But you must admit that we need to talk and put all this behind us, no? Business is business.”
“Yes, of course,” I say and shake the hand that he extends, despite my absolute hatred for him personally and for his entire crime enterprise. “Business is business. I understand.”
“Yes, as a successful businessman, you understand. Now, please, let’s put all this behind us and move forward.”
I nod, waiting to hear what he has to say, but of course, I can never put it behind me until he’s behind bars or in the grave.
Business is what cost me three lives. Andropov must be so inured to murder and death that for him, it means just a snag in business to be overcome by a better deal, a higher number, more profit.
I will never become someone like that, no matter what.
“Before I hear more, please allow Natalia and her grandfather to leave. You and I can conduct business without them present.”
Andropov shrugs, like he doesn’t approve.
“You have me,” I say and hold up my hands as if in surrender. “What else do you need? If I know they are both safe, I will be happy to negotiate a deal. The two of us: leaders of our families. One king to another.”
He nods, finally, and points to one of the guards at the door. He speaks in Russian, and the guard goes over to Natalia and her grandfather and points to the door.
“Please to come,” the guard says.
Natalia looks at me quickly. “Are you sure?” she asks, her face pale.
“Yes, yes,” Andropov says. “No need for women or old men to be involved.” He forces a smile and then turns back to me, expectantly.
I watch as the guard escorts Natalia and her grandfather out the door, and then I turn back to Yuri, taking in a deep breath as I do. I will need every ounce of patience as I wait for the FBI to make their move.
Hopefully, Natalia and her grandfather will get out of the building and away from the area before they move in.
“So, Harrison. Tell me. What do you need from me so that we can put the past in the past and work together? I understand from your uncle that you want to extract the business from, shall we say, old connections. Unfortunately, from my perspective, that is not going to work.” He makes a face of pain and holds his hands up as if he’s helpless.
“My business and your father’s business?
They are like hand in glove.” He mimics putting on gloves and smiles at me.
Of course, that’s the last thing I want, but I have to appear to be willing to negotiate. “Tell me more. Tell me what you know about my father’s plans for O’Connor Enterprises. Then, I will know where we can compromise.”
He shrugs and leans back in the chair. “Before he died, he said he wanted the business to be completely free of the shipping industry. Just construction, no transportation, despite the very important trips the cargo ships and trucks you use for shipping make to and from the port. It works perfectly with my own business needs. All I ask is that we have access to your routes into and out of the city. We leave all the rest, the construction part, free.”
“Are there no alternatives to using our transportation routes?”
He shakes his head. “No. None of the alternatives is acceptable. O’Connor Enterprises has been our best provider.
Your father and I,” he says, looking off into the distance as if he’s truly sad that he had to kill my father, “we work together very well for all these years. Now is not the time to change.”
It’s at that moment that I hear a shout from outside the office, and I know the FBI is making its move.
At that, I can’t help myself, and I lunge across the space separating us and take his neck in my hands.
“Now is precisely the time to change,” I say as I choke him, his eyes bulging out of their sockets.
My timing is impeccable, because the door is blown open and the guard standing there is knocked down by the force.
Smoke and debris fill the room, leaving me with my hands around Yuri’s neck, the two of us on the floor from the blast.
I’m too focused on Yuri’s face and the look in his eyes to watch what’s happening around me, but soon, I feel arms attempting to pull me off Yuri, to remove my hands from his neck, but I fight back.
“Harrison!” someone shouts, but my hearing is dimmed because of the explosion, and I finally glance up into the face of Fogarty.
He wrestles with me, finally prying my hands away. Yuri is unconscious by this time, but he’s alive.
I prop myself up on the floor and watch as they drag Yuri away, and also the guard at the door, who is injured but alive and able to walk.
“That was close,” Fogarty says, and he reaches into his pocket and hands me a tissue, which I use to wipe blood off my cheek.
Some piece of the door and its hinges must have blown across the room and cut me, for I’m bleeding pretty profusely.
I know from my battlefield medic training that it’s just superficial, and I hold the tissue to my skin.
“A little too soon,” I say. “I wish I could have succeeded in killing the bastard.”
“No, just in time, Harrison. I don’t want to see you in prison for the rest of your life for killing a Russian mafia head, even if he is a bastard. You are key to my plans for New York, and I need you to stay as head of your empire.”
I shrug. Of course, he’s right. I want a life with Natalia and our new baby when it is born, not a life in prison.
Still, it would have given me immense pleasure to kill the bastard. He’s responsible for my family’s death, and by ancient rights, it would be me who pulls the trap door under his feet so I can watch him dangle until death.
But we live in the modern world, and the death penalty is off the table in New York State.
I find myself thinking of ways I could arrange Yuri’s death, using my personal ties to various retired Army Rangers, but then stop myself.
That’s the kind of thinking that Andropov himself used to rise to the top of the Russian Mafia in New York.
I can’t become like him.
I won’t…
“Where’s Natalia? Her grandfather?”
Fogarty nods. “They’re safe. We got them out before we blew the door. Let’s get you treated and out of here.”
I stand and follow him out of the office, while several FBI agents arrive to process the place.
Outside the building is a waiting ambulance, and Fogarty takes me there so an EMT can patch up my wound.
“You’ll need stitches,” the man says, eyeing my injury. “Won’t take long.”
“I’ll take him,” Fogarty says, and as much as I want to go to see Natalia and Gramps to make sure they’re okay, I give in and allow Fogarty to take me to the closest ER.
For the moment, compliance is necessary.
Natalia’s safe, and that’s all I really care about.