Hotbox (79 page)

There was one thing in particu
lar that interested me.
Cole’s team had acquired a list of names—names that were associated with
Kristof
Olevsky
. He informed me that I was not on
it, and neither was my father, but
I didn’t recognize a single name on it. The names had been
seen
by one of his undercover agents within the past six months. That agent was still on the inside and would remain nameless to me.

“You’re not exactly a
known
part of
Olevsky’s
operation,” Cole informed me. “Your name has
n’t been uttered a single time.”

“Who composed the list?”

“It came from a location in Russia where we believe
Aleksey
Meinikov
lives. We intercepted a coded email that was sent to one of his associates that we’ve been monitoring here in the states.”

“Was this recent?”

“A few months ago. You weren’t on the list, so that’s why I never m
ade any sort of move with you. But t
he thing is…we believe the list originated from someone in
Olevsky’s
organization.”

I raised my eyebrows. “He planted a false list for them to get their hands on?”

“Yep. And
something huge has happened that has caused the
Derevenkos
to be ready to wage war.”

“The
Derevenkos
?”

“Another crime family.
Meinikov
actually works for them. But whatever is going on,
Olevsky
is putting out every defensive tactic he can think of—probably until he can eliminate
Meinikov
himself.”

I considered that for a moment. “Hmm. So this big deal or whatever that he’s been talking about… Do you think it had to do with
Meinikov
?”

“Yes. We’ll figure it out eventually, but until then, we’re going to keep pinpointing key players while our plan is getting ironed out.”

“A plan you’re not going to inform me of,” I stated dryly.

“
Mmm
, not entirely. I’ll tell you what I need to.”

“You mean when it’s unavoidable while you get information from
me
.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, something like that. We’ll help each other, Ty. I promise.”

We still continued to discuss the case
as we left the diner,
and then we headed
back
to
the garage so I could get my truck. Before I got out Cole said, “Oh, and by the way… Jayden has a new boyfriend.”

“
What
?” I exclaimed.

“Whoa, easy,” he chuckled. “Not a real one. Someone
that’s been keeping an eye on her a little
closer.”

“And this guy knows what he’s doing?”

Cole smiled. “Absolutely.”

“Jayden doesn’t know him
too, does she?”
             
“No. He’s another…new arrival
in town
. Now he works at
Zero
for Chuck McGhee as a lighting specialist. That’s how he ‘met’ Jayden.
They also ‘live together.’ That’s why she moved. We just wanted to play it safe.”

“And Jay knows he’s a cop, right?”

“Yes, Ty,” he chuckled. “Like I said, it’s for the sake of appearance.
You have nothing to worry about;
I just wanted you to know in case you heard something.”

He went over instructions one more time before I got in my truck and headed home.

I barely got any sleep that night. I had so much to think about and it really bothered me that I couldn’t talk to my dad about it. I decided that God would be the recipient of all my questions that night. I must have talked His ear off for hours.

Chapter Forty-Three

Olevsky
called
two days later
, and at that time I was given the undeniable
feeling
that I should finally go to Russia. I had no idea what was over there for me, but
the feelings I had were so strong, I couldn’t ignore them.
Maybe Cole’s disclosure had to happen first, I wasn’t sure, but I felt there really were answers for me over there.

I discussed the possibility with Cole, and after he spoke to…whomever it was he spoke to…he gave me the go-ahead.
It didn’t come without a lot of worry
and planning
from
his
end, though. There were so many stipulations and instructions given to me that I became
even
more anxious than I already was
.

It was the scariest thou
ght in the world for me to be
going to a foreign country. For one, I knew nothing about where I was going, or
even the language,
and I had no idea why the
hell
I was going there in the first place.

Olevs
ky arranged for someone to be my
escort for the entire trip, a
bulk
of a man named Boris. I was picked up from my house one morning, driven to a private airstrip, and loaded onto a private jet. Boris mostly spoke English to me—heavily accented—but
he slipped in a lot of Russian
as well. He wasn’t
exactly
friendly, and he usually o
nly spoke when he was spoken to
or when he needed to instruct me of something, but
he treated me as if I were his superior
. He even called me ‘sir’ on several occasions.

I had never actually been in a plane before. Yes, I was a pretty deprived child growing up. Boris realized this right away when he watch my nerves act up
as
the jet took off.

“You will be fine, sir. This is a very safe aircraft. Mr. Olevsky has only the best.”

I nodded, but it still took me almost an hour to finally relax a little.

Within
the next few hours, Boris informed me of the travel plan, where
“
in general
”
we were heading, and what I could expect when we got there.
At the mention of “helicopter,”
I also admitted to Boris that I had never been in one of those, either. He actually smiled and nodded his head.

I also learned Russian along the way. Boris tutored me on basic
s
, convers
ati
onal phrases, and customs. I already knew a little bit—stuff I’d learned over the past few years—but the added instruction was beneficial. B
y the
next day,
after
we
had
slept
for
several hours, conversed some more,
and finally made it to our destination,
I could actually carry a basic conversation with him.
He even made me speak to the four-person flight crew in Russian
, but not with
out a lot of assistance from him.

“You are a fast learner, sir,” Boris
said after I’d had a short conversation with him about the food we
were
eating.

The jet pulled into a hangar when we arrived at another private airstrip. It was the middle of the night when I was escorted to the top of a building and loaded into a helicopter. I nearly lost my lunch when the pilot took off right away, swooping sideways as he turned a hundred and eighty degrees within
a second
.

Boris lightly laughed. “We will need to get you some, eh, medicine next time?”

I puffed my cheeks for dramatic effect. “Yeah, maybe.”

Although Boris had
explained where we were going—
one of Olevsky’s private estates—he didn’t inform me where exactly in the country we were. Apparently it was supposed to be top secret. So, needless to say, I was in a foreign country without a single familiar face, and I didn’t even know where I was
precisely
. It was a little nerve-racking.

When we finally landed thirty minutes
later, I couldn’t have been more relieved. But then that thought hit me—you know, the idea that you’re in Russia but you don’t exactly know where
or why
—and I became nervous again. Boris grabbed my bag and I followed him through a door from the roof. I tried to look around to see what surrounded us, but all I could see (besides
a
dim light on the building) were several lights in the far distance. Wherever we were, we weren’t near much.

After turning down two
cold,
gray
hallways
,
we reached an elevator. As we stepped onto it and Boris pressed a button, he turned to me and asked, “You are nervous?”

I suppose it wasn’t hard to miss, so I just replied, “Uh, yeah, a little. I hav
e no idea where I am or what I’
m doing here.”

He nodded. “You will soon find out. Mr. Olevsky is very excited to see you.”
I guess I couldn’t hide my surprise and Boris smiled. “Mr. Olevsky
is very fond of you.”

The doors opened and it was as if we were transported into a different world. In front of me was the hallway of an exquisite hotel—or just Olevsky’
s thirty million dollar mansion
.

I followed Boris down the hall of gold and burgundy
tones
, passing several pieces of art and paintings along the way. I had no idea what the values of such things were, but I could only imagine. Finally we stepped into a very large room, ornate with
a
crystal chandelier, high quality leather and upholstered furniture
(I assumed it was high quality)
, and a grand window that was probably twenty feet high.

“Tyler, you are here.
”

It was Kristof himself, and I was so distracted by all the ridiculous décor, I didn’t even see him sitting in one of the chairs. He quickly made his way across the room as Boris stepped aside and stood a distance away. Kristof came to me and paused, and I almost thought he was going to
hug
me—which would have been the
oddest
instance
ever—but instead, he put his hands against my upper arms and squeezed.

“It’s so
good to see you.
Welcome,” he motioned into the palace. “My home is your home. Please, make yourself
comfortable.
Thank you, Boris,” he called behind him as an afterthought.

Bo
ris tipped his head
and left.

“I hope your trip was well,” Kristof said,
sitting and motioning me to sit
as well.

“Uh, it was l
ong.”

He smiled. “Yes, it is a long trip. But the accommodations were satisfactory?”

“Uh, yeah, they were fine.”

“Good, good. So? You look… Well
, you look the same,” he smiled
. “I suppose it hasn’t been that long, but it does feel like it.”

“Actually it has been a while. A
very
long while.” I could tell he was processing my tone and he knew how unhappy I still was.
“I want to know why I’m here. I want to know why I had to come halfway across the world to get some answers.”

His slight frown was apparent
, but he sighed and sat forward in his seat. “Shall I show you to your room? You can get some rest and then freshen up when you—”

“I want to know why I’m here,” I said impatiently.

The room was silent for several very long seconds, but what surprised me most was that he was softly wringing his hands together. I had never seen him do that before. Was he nervous? At that discovery,
I
became nervous
again
. What was going on?

Finall
y he took a very deep breath
. “Yes, Tyler. I want you to know why I brought you here.” He reached over and pressed what appeared to be a button on the gold and glass end table.
Five
seconds later Boris appeared.

“Yes
?
”

“I guess we are ready,” Kristof said.

I didn’t miss the slight raise of an eyebrow from Boris, but he quickly replied, “Yes, sir. I will be right back.”

After
a period
of silence, Kristof
finally
turned to me and said, “Tyler, what you are about to see will shock you and- and I’m not sure how you are going to react, but—” He cut himself off and took another breath. “I want you to know that there is an explanation for this if you will just give me a chance—”