(2012) Blood on Blood (21 page)

“Okay?” I’m still not sure where this is headed.

“Kos?” He asks me this right out of the fucking blue, like I mentioned it or something. Before I can answer, he goes on. “He will die tonight. We have found him, know where he is. It will be easy.”

“Well, the only thing I don’t like about that is I won’t be the one killing him.”

“Dead is dead.”

“True, but I’d sure like to see it.”

He shrugs, and sighs, “Here’s the truth, my friend.”

I take a deep drag and I see Andros push off the couch and walk to a roll top desk in the corner. I’m ready, watching him like a fucking hawk, but all he does is grab an ashtray and comes back over with it.

“This is the only kind of situation where the truth is any good, eh?” I smile and he doesn’t.

“I sacrificed Dobry. Killed him and then delivered his body to them. To the Russians.”

“Some kind of truce or a deal?”

“We have been in relayed communications off and on with them the last two days. A group flew into Chicago the very night Skansi was taken out. In this group was Nikolay Popov, the number three man for them in New York. He is a tough bastard. Young, hungry and merciless. It’s the very worst thing that could have happened for us.”

I didn’t say anything. Just put the cigarette out and kept listening.

“He has brought more people. Not out of some respect or revenge for Skansi. The New Yorkers see the opportunity for Popov to pick up the pieces, set up shop. He has vowed to get those who killed Skansi but only to gain loyalty with the ones still here.”

“So, are you losing, Patrik? Are you fucked? The truth, as you said.”

“Yes and no.”

“Right. What the fuck does that mean?”

“We’ve killed many of their men that you won’t ever hear about in the news. They have killed many of ours. Both sides have been recruiting new men. But if they knew how weak we really are right now, there would be none of this peace talking between us. Are we losing? Yes. Fucked? No.”

“So, Dobry was an offer of some kind, then?”

“Yes, but it will never be Andros. They don’t know about his involvement and it wouldn’t matter to me if they did. Never Andros.” He slid a quick look over to Andros and nodded at him.

“Well, that’s fucking swell. I’m sure Andros is glad to know that he won’t be getting thrown under the bus. Not tonight, anyway, huh?” I decided on the spur to get a little shitty with him. Get the all the fucking cards laid out on the table, like right now. “So how ‘bout that third guy involved Patrik? Just where the
fuck
does that asshole stand with you?”

I notice Andros turn his head slowly to look at his boss. He looks like a big dog that’s just waiting for a reaction from his owner. Waiting for a look.

“Jerzy, that guy stands where he has always stood with me. There is personal and there is business, though.” He’s holding his two hands out like weight scales. Now, Patrik does smile and it’s about the worst smile I ever saw. “First of all, I did not put Kos in that park, fate did. I did not think the Russians would be this strong, but they are. And if my plan was to have you go the way of Dobry, you would already be dead.”

“Keep going.”

“I, of course, do not trust any deal making with them but I’m buying time by showing this
supposed
effort to settle our differences. I’m buying time that I desperately need to keep adding new men. I told them just this morning, I said; Chicago has always been big enough for everyone.”

I change gears and go the other way now. Not as shitty.

“Besides this fucking state of the union address tonight, why am I here, Patrik?”

“I have told them that you acted on your own, out of some personal vendetta that goes back to Bogdan Skansi.”

“Yeah, well, okay. I mean, I did get made in the park, so they’re gonna want me dead either way. Don’t matter whether you were behind it or not. I can understand you sidestepping that.”

“I also told them that if I find you, I will deliver you up, just as I did with Dobry.” His nose is starting to do the coke runs and he sniffs it back.

“There we go,” I say. “I knew you could finally spill it, my old
kumpel
, my old fucking pal. The sacrificing me like Dobry part, though, that I’m not so understanding about.”

It’s quiet for a second. I light up another cig and this time put the pack back in the pocket that has the Berretta in it. I lean back a little and casually look at him, no visible anger but I know he can feel the hate.

“Jerzy, this house is safe for tonight and tomorrow. This I swear to you. Andros goes with me now but I will leave the man down in the kitchen and one in a car outside for you.”

I just stare at him.

“After that, though, after four o’clock tomorrow afternoon, I cannot make any more efforts on your behalf.” He shrugs and puts a shaky finger across the bottom of his nose, sniffing again. “Sooner or later they, or we, will find you in Chicago. This is a fact, Jerzy. You know that. Earlier, you mentioned to me that you were leaving for a long time. Please do that. Go away…far away.”

I glance at Andros and his chin is down, staring at his shoes.

Sighing, I stand up, with my hands in my pockets. Patrik’s eyes follow me up. Andros is watching me very close now, too, his hand going slow but sure to the pistol grip.

Time, everything, just kind of stops for a second. The air is a little thin in the room.

Without taking my eyes off Patrik, I say, “It’s okay, crew cut, stand down. I ain’t that dumb.”

Patrik gets up now.

“Look, Patrik, I’m a big boy here. There’s never any guarantees in what we do, huh? Never. I might have done the exact same thing you’re doing to me…but probably not.” I let that sink in a little. “I also know you didn’t have to do this tonight and I appreciate the chance you’re taking. The head start.”

“Very well. This is not a good day, huh? Time is very short. Goodbye, Jerzy. I must go now and take Andros with me.” He actually looks sad when he says it. I’m not some gullible asshole for sure, but I actually think he is.

I look over at Andros and give him a nod and he gives me one back.

“Patrik, I want to tell you something else. The offer of the house here for tonight is great but that just ain’t gonna work out too good for me. I’ll be walking out, side by side, with you.” I go over to the desk, pick up the bottle of Makers Mark. “And this.”

“Very well, but it’s perfectly safe here. I give you my word.”

“Yeah, I hear you, but you know, it’s that personal versus business thing you mentioned a minute ago, huh?” I mimic him from earlier, holding my hands out like scales and going up and down with them. “Besides, I might oversleep, or your watch might be running fast. You just never know about those things.”

Patrik flashes me that shark smile and then turns to Andros. “Call the car around, have them pick us up right now. We are very late.”

Andros gets his cell out and makes a quick call, speaking in Polish. All three of us head out of the room and down the steps.

When we get to the porch, the car has already pulled up and it looks like the same silver Lexus I saw earlier.

Andros leads the way down the steps to the car, head swiveling around in every direction. He’s got his shotgun in clear sight and ready. Patrik stops at the gate, looks back at me.

“Don’t ever let me see you again, my friend.”

“Yeah. Likewise. What would happen if we did, works both ways…promise you that.”

“
Do widzenia
,” he says and turns, getting into the car. Andros shuts Patrik’s door and doesn’t look back at me as he gets in the front passenger side. The Lexus slides smoothly away from the curb.

I don’t waste any time. I’m outta here too.

TWENTY-TWO

Mick

Around eight, my cell phone rang again. I glanced down at the number and even though I’d only seen it once before, I recognized it immediately.

“Hello?”

“It’s Ania.”

“I know.”

“I got someone to cover the rest of my shift. Can you meet me now?”

What did she think I’d been waiting for since she called? “Of course. Where?”

“Not my place,” she said. “It isn’t safe.”

“Someplace public?” I suggested. “A bar or some restaurant?”

She paused. “No.”

“A park?”

“I don’t think so. I need privacy.”

I swallowed, then asked. “A hotel?”

“That’d be best. Do you know The Drake Hotel?”

“That’s like asking if I know Wrigley field.”

She actually laughed a little. Just a small chuckle that lasted less than a second, but the sound was beautiful. “I guess you’re right. Sorry. Can you meet me there?”

“I can.”

“How soon?”

“Forty minutes or so.” I had to hop a train to get there.

“I’ll be there in fifteen. I’ll get a room. Ask for Mrs. Pierce at the desk.”

“Okay.”

She paused a moment, then said, “See you there, Mick. And thank you.”

I was too gaga over the way she said my name to say goodbye before she broke the connection. I stood at my kitchen counter, enjoying the fading, wispy tendrils of her voice in my ear before I grabbed my pistol, slid it into the small of my back and left my apartment.

I stood on the train, swaying in that familiar rhythm as I held the handle. I tried to shake off the fog in my brain that Ania had induced. Yeah, she was beautiful. Yeah, she had something else going on, something visceral and powerful and mysterious. But she was mixed up with Jerzy and worked at Patrik’s bar, which was basically the headquarters for the Polish mob in Chicago, so I had to be careful. I had to be smart.

That’s not always been easy for you where women are concerned, has it, Hero?

I heard Jerzy’s voice in my head when that thought passed through. A tickle of irritation sprang up in my chest, but I pushed it away. The thought was my own, Jerzy’s voice or not, and the thing is, it was accurate. Connie wasn’t the first mess I ended up in that centered around a woman. Even the deal that drove me off the job had a female element to it that was the same damn thing.

Of course, women make up fifty percent of the human race, so no big surprise that a lot of my problems would involve them, right? But it wasn’t that women were involved, though, was it? No, it wasn’t. It was
how
they were involved.

It was always the romantic connection. Always love or at least lust, and me being stupid about it. I picked out the ones who needed rescuing. Or the ones I knew would never stick around because they weren’t the type or they had something else going on. Hell, in Connie’s case, I had found both.

Why?

“Fuck it,” I muttered. I was glad the train car was mostly empty and there was no one to hear the crazy guy talking to himself. “Now is not the time to play psychologist.”

It wasn’t. It was time to see what this Ania wanted. See what her play was, because that’s what it was sure to be. Some kind of play.

Right?

I walked into The Drake and glanced around the lobby in as casual a manner as I could. I didn’t see anyone I recognized. No one seemed interested in me, even if I was a little under-dressed for their regular clientele. Of course, maybe I fit right in. We live in a casual age now, where billionaires wear blue jeans and their heirs wear flip-flops.

The Latino at the front desk wore a name tag that read “Jorge.” He looked up at me with a practiced smile. “Welcome to The Drake, sir. How may I serve you today?”

“I’m Mr. Pierce,” I told him. “My wife checked in a little earlier.”

“Of course,” Jorge said, his voice betraying only a hint of his native accent. He tapped the keys of the computer to his right. “She is in room 1789, sir. The elevator is right over there.” He pointed.

I thanked him and made my way through the lobby to the elevator. Another scan of the area came up with the same results. Nothing suspicious. No one seemed interested in me.

I stepped into the elevator and pushed the number seventeen.

Every meet has a feel to it. A vibe. It doesn’t matter if it’s on the dark side of the law or if it happens in a corporate board room. There’s always a character to each meeting, a tone. I didn’t feel like I was being set up here. At least not for something bad to happen to me at this meeting. I had no clue what Ania wanted, but I didn’t think it was to hurt me.

But could Jerzy have sent her? Did he want to eliminate me? Hell, would Ania even be the one to answer the door?

Only one way to find out.

I got off the elevator, headed down the hall and stopped at room 1789. The numbers on the door were ornate and stylish. The hotel spared no expense. Was this someplace a guy like Jerzy would set someone up to be killed? Somehow, I doubted it.

I stood to the side of the door, anyway. No sense in abandoning caution entirely. I gave the door three solid raps with my knuckles. My right hand closed around the grip of my pistol.

A few seconds later, the door swung open. Ania’s head poked out. When she saw me, her features lit up. “Good! You came.”

I released my hold on the gun.

“Come in,” she said, pulling the door the rest of the way open.

I walked past her into the hotel room. As I brushed close to her, I could smell perfume. It was light and airy but had a musky hint to it, like walking in the forest on a bright day where you could smell the earth beneath you.

She closed the door, then stood leaning against it. She took a deep breath and let it out. I stared at her, waiting. My entire body zinged with electricity, almost as if there had been a chemical reaction when I walked into the room with her.

Jesus, what was going on?

“I’m glad you came,” she said.

“So am I.”

“It’s asking a lot.”

“Not a lot,” I said. “It’s a short train ride, that’s all.”

She smiled, and looked away for a second. When she looked back, her eyes had an intensity to them that reached out and grabbed me in the chest. “No,” she whispered. “It’s more than that. And we both know it.”

I had no answer to that.

Ania pushed away from the door slowly. She walked toward me. No,
flowed
toward me is a better way to put it. Her eyes, those ice blue daggers, remained locked on mine with fiery intensity. She didn’t stop when she reached a comfortable talking distance. Instead, she slipped inside that range and kept going. Right up to me. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me to her. Her body pressed against me as her lips reached for mine.