Misha

by K. J. Dahlen

  The Bratva was rounding up the names in Ivan’s book. They had agents all over the world and they ruthlessly took everything Ivan’s players had. They knew there was nothing they could do about it. They couldn’t go to the police for fear of being arrested and the Bratva made it clear what they would do to them if they did. They were working with their counterparts in several nations all over the world.

  Nikoli doubled down on his security at the hotel and in the late afternoon one of Ivan’s hit squad made it past the guards. What he was looking for was made clear when Zhora found him sulking in the halls. He turned at Zhora’s call and when he turned the man smiled as he drew his knife.

  Zhora nodded and drew his own knife. The two men circled each other as they jabbed and sliced but neither of them called out their pain. Blood ran freely and dripped to the carpet as the men continued to circle each other.

  “I will gut you like a fish,” the assassin growled. “Something I should have done years ago.”

  “At least this will be a fair fight,” Zhora agreed. “And I won’t be the one dying today.”

  The other man snorted. “You think you can kill me? Bah, I will school you in the art of street fighting.”

  Zhora motioned the other man forward. “Come on then, school me.”

  The other man came forward thinking the fight would be over soon but that was his first mistake. His second mistake was thinking Zhora didn’t know how to street fight. He faked a left duck then brought up his knife and sank it into the other man’s belly. His third and final mistake was looking into Zhora’s eyes. They were cold and empty at the moment. “You damn fool. I grew up in the streets of Hell. You never stood a chance against me.”

  “Ivan said you were good with a blade.”

  “And you should have listened to him,” Zhora told him quietly.

  The other man’s eyes widened as Zhora’s twisted the knife and pushed it up into his heart.

  Warm blood spilled over his hand and Zhora watched as the other man’s eyes dimmed for the last time. He pulled the knife out and the other man slid to the floor with a thud.

  Doors opened up and down the hall as Maxim and Sergi and some of the other men rushed out of the rooms.

  “What the hell happened here?” Maxim demanded. He knelt and turned the man over to see his face. No one said a word but Maxim looked up at Zhora. “He found you here?”

  Zhora nodded and turned to Sergi. Handing him the bloody knife, he turned and walked back to his room. He almost made it to the door but his knees buckled and he dropped to the floor. Two of the other men jumped to his aid. They hauled him to his feet and Sergi yelled at Misha to call the doctor.

  When the men got him inside his room, they began stripping his jacket off and that was when they saw the blood. They quickly got his shirt off to see the cuts and stab wounds.

  Dima went to the kitchen and got a bowl of warm water and a dish cloth. When he returned, Sergi was asking Zhora questions about what had happened.

  “How did he get past security?” Sergi spoke in a low tone.

  “He never said but if he came here, Ivan knows where we are.” Zhora hissed as Dima washed the blood away.

  “Da, he does or he will when his man doesn’t come back,” Grisha admitted. “I checked the cameras around the compound and found someone had been there. They tore everything apart. I’m surprised they didn’t find the cameras.”

  “Are you sure it was Ivan?” Maxim asked.

  “Da I’m sure.” Grisha growled. “I saw his ugly face on the camera. He was there with the hit squad. There were six men altogether. The sixth man must have been his pilot.”

  “But how did they know to come here and check for us in this hotel?” Dima asked.

  “This is Nikoli’s hotel. Everyone in this city knows that. They all know Nikoli is Bratva,” Sergi stated the obvious. “Perhaps Ivan knew that this would be one place to check out. Did the man say how he found you?”

  Zhora shook his head. “Nyet, but he did seem surprised to see me in fact.”

  Sergi nodded. “Ok, so he was just searching for you. He doesn’t really know where you are then. With his man dead, Ivan may never be sure.”

  “Maybe but if he told the man to come here when his man doesn’t come back, he’ll know then,” Maxim reasoned.

  “True but then we’ll be more ready for him to come in force.” Sergi snarled. “If he comes here for you, he won’t be leaving a free man. He has an appointment in Moscow before the High Council.” Sergi smiled but his smile held no mirth. “And I will drag him back to Russia in chains if I have to. He will answer for what he has done to our people, and to you all.”

  The doctor showed up a few minutes later and began doing his job.

  Zhora was cut in three places that required stitches and had lost a good amount of blood but he would survive the attack. The doctor ordered bed rest and a good healthy meal along with plenty of fluids to help his body replenish his blood supply.

  When everyone went back to their own rooms, Sergi stayed behind. He wanted a moment alone with Zhora. “I wanted to let you know that your cooperation with this investigation has given us what we needed to stop at least for a little while a very bad trade of slavery. Someone else will start it up all over again but for now, the women and children of the world will sleep safely for a while.”

  Zhora nodded and leaned back against the headboard of his bed. “Then maybe my suffering was meant to mean something after all.”

  Sergi shook his head. “You cannot take on the suffering of others. You are blaming yourself for something that happened when you were a young man. We all do things we regret when we are young and foolish. You have to let it go.”

  Zhora stared at him for a moment then told him, “I will let it go and forgive myself the day I face Ivan and watch him realize what he did to so many people was wrong. I will face him one day but he will never see what he did was so bad.” Zhora smiled and asked. “What will happen to all his money?”

  Sergi grinned. “The Bratva is claiming it.” He shrugged. “He earned it while representing us. As he didn’t pay what he owed the organization, we are claiming it all. We will build a school with the money.”

  “And the prison?”

  “That will be torn down and the people buried there will begiven proper funerals.” Sergi shook his head. “That place was hell for some and a death camp for others. It will never be that again.”

  Zhora nodded. Closing his eyes, he let a wave of weariness wash over him.

  Sergi turned and walked to the door. He saw a guard standing there and he nodded to the man. “Watch over them tonight. They will all need their rest for the days coming.”

  The guard nodded and took his post as Sergi walked down the hall to his own room.

  Chapter Ten

  Zeta sat alone in the dark and looked out over the city from the big bay window in the living room. She picked up her glass of vodka and took a sip. She’d had another nightmare but lucky enough it hadn’t woken Misha. She tried to look up at the night sky but there were too many lights of the city that never sleeps obstructing her view of the stars.

  Always from the time she was a child, the view of the stars in the sky at night helped her relax when the nightmares came for her. Not being able to see them tonight was making her jumpy. She wasn’t really surprised by the nightmare tonight of all nights.

  With what happened to Zhora today and the knowledge that Ivan was coming for them, she almost half expected her night terrors to come. Taking another sip of her drink, she heard a door open and heavy footsteps coming her way.

  “Little one, can’t you sleep?” Misha asked as he sat down beside her. He lifted her drink and took a sip.

  “I came out here to look at the stars but I can’t see them tonight. I’m sorry if I woke you.”

  “You didn’t wake me. I wanted to feel you in my arms and I found you were gone. That’s why I came looking for you.” He looked at her for a moment then asked, “Are you
all right?”

  Zeta thought long and hard how to answer him but in the end, she told him the truth, “No I don’t think I am.”

  “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” He gathered her into his arms and just held her. He felt her trembling and tears began soaking his chest. He held her for the longest time and finally her tears stopped. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked in a whisper.

  “No I can’t talk about it.” She shook her head. “This is my cross to bear.”

  “Zeta, you belong to me now and I do not wish you to bear this alone. If it hurts you this much, I feel helpless. Maybe talking about it will help ease the pain.”

  “It has to do with the night my mother died,” she whispered.

  Misha hesitated. “Does Maxim know what this is about?”

  Zeta couldn’t look at him but she shook her head anyway. “I’ve never told anyone about that night. He wanted to know but I just couldn’t tell him.”

  “Maybe he should be here for this then. Maybe its time for him to know what happened.” He offered gently. “She was his mother too.”

  Zeta looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “Maybe. I think maybe I can finally talk about that night. I just don’t want him to hate me when he finds out. I don’t want you to think I’m a bad person.”

  “Sweetheart, you could never be a bad person in my eyes and your brother loves you too much to ever turn you away,” Misha reminded her.

  “You don’t know what really happened that night.”

  Misha got up and sent a text to Maxim then a few minutes later, they heard a knock at the door. Misha let him.

  Maxim went over to where Zeta was sitting and knelt in front of her. He brushed a strand of her hair out of her face and grabbed her hands. “Another bad dream?”

  Zeta nodded. “I came out here to look at the stars but with all the lights, I couldn’t find them.” She leaned against him and sobbed. “I’m so sorry.”

  Maxim glanced up at Misha and saw he was upset but didn’t know what his sister was talking about.

  Misha sat down beside her and pulled her into his lap.

  Maxim still held her hand. “What are you sorry about sister?” he asked. “What could you have possibly done to be this sorry?”

  “Every month, like clockwork, one of Ivan’s men would come around to collect the money Ivan demanded we pay him to keep you alive in his prison,” she began. When Maxim’s hand began crushing her fingers, she stopped at looked at him.

  “Do you mean to tell me that bastard made you pay to keep me in his prison?” Her brother snarled.

  Zeta shook her head. “No you misunderstand. He made us pay to keep you alive in his prison. At first, he told papa the price would be 500 rubles a month. He called it a surtax for your food and water and to guarantee you twenty minutes a day of sunshine.” She winced at the power of his grip. “I thought you knew this?”

  “No I didn’t know this.” Maxim gritted his teeth.

  “When papa told him to go to hell, the price went up to 1000 rubles a month and papa had no choice but to pay him. In order to do that he had to work twice as hard to get the money together. Almost four years later, he collapsed in the fields. I wasn’t strong enough to help him like you always did. We buried him two days later. Ivan’s man still came to collect the money but we didn’t have it, well not all of it. He told us Ivan would not be happy but he took every single ruble we did have. Mama and I tried to keep up with the payment but soon, we fell so far behind. Mama never slept, there was never enough to eat because we had to save every bit of money we could get to make that payment every month.” She hung her head for a moment then looked up at her brother. “I think that is what finally broke her spirit. She felt she was failing her children. Without papa, we couldn’t keep up with Ivan’s demands and she and I were working ourselves to death. You were in prison for something you didn’t do and she just broke.”

  Maxim’s body was shaking as rage glowed in his eyes. He tried to conceal it but he couldn’t.

  Zeta knew she needed to tell him the rest, though the truth was horrible. “We both knew Ivan’s man was coming that night and we had nothing to give him. She told me to stay away. She said to take myself out to the field and not come to the house no matter what I heard. Then she told me at dawn go to town and catch the train and begin my life over somewhere, anywhere but there. She pushed all the money we had managed to save into my hand and begged me to do as she bid.” Tears rolled down her cheeks as she paused.

  Misha caressed her hair and held her tight as she sobbed for a few minutes.

  “S-she pushed me out the door and told me to do what she asked me to do! I hid but not very far away. I watched as Ivan’s man came and I watched him walk into our house as if he owned it. I heard when the yelling began and I heard every sound when he began breaking what little we had left.” She hung her head again and both men saw tears dripping from her face and splashing on the floor.

  “What happened, Zeta?” Maxim asked his sister.

  “God forgive me, I couldn’t stay away. I rushed inside and saw him. He had his hands around her throat and she was struggling to break free. The man’s eyes were wild and terrifying but he wouldn’t let her go. I don’t know what I grabbed but I swung something and I hit him. I hit him hard. He dropped mama on the floor and I hit him again and again. I couldn’t stop. I’ll never forget the sounds those blows made. Finally, I couldn’t hit him anymore.” Zeta’s body shuddered with the memory.

  “Shh, shh, little one. Just breathe, it is okay,” Misha soothed.

  Shaking her head, she went on, “No, it is not okay. I dropped the wood, and I looked down. I was covered in his blood. Then I saw mama laying there and she wasn’t moving. I dropped down beside her. She opened her eyes and she looked at me. She couldn’t speak, she couldn’t even move. The last thing I was able to tell her was that I loved her. Then I noticed blood was coming from the corner of her mouth. I tried to find her pulse but she was gone. I heard someone groan and I thought it was mama. I didn’t see the man get up from the floor. He told me he was going to beat me to death and I never heard him. All I could do was look at our mother, lying on the floor. She died when he broke her neck. I didn’t feel the first time he hit me. The second time I flew closer to the fireplace. He never got a third hit. Somehow, my fingers grabbed the fire poker and as he was coming at me, I lifted the poker and it went through his chest?” She cried into her hands for a long minute then went on, “I don’t remember what happened then. I think I blanked out for a while. When I woke up again, it was still nighttime so I knew I hadn’t been out long. When the man fell, he’d fallen on top of me. I pushed him off and saw the poker in his chest and I realized what I had done. I just sat there for the longest time, then about dawn, I knew what I had to do. I dragged the man’s body out of the house and into the woods. I dragged him as far as I could then I left him there. I’d hoped the wolves and wild animals would take care of him…” Shivering, she paused.

  Maxim felt her tighten her grip on him.

  “I went back to the house and took care of Mama. I cleaned her up the best I could and wrapped her in a blanket. I couldn’t let anyone know what happened. I knew if I did, Ivan would find out what happened to his man and then he would come for me. I’d be damned if I let him come back for me.”

  Maxim shook his head as tears sparkled in his eyes.

  “I buried our mother on the property.” She lifted her head and stared at her brother. Tears were falling down her face. “I’m so sorry. I couldn’t even give her a proper burial or lay her to rest beside our father on holy ground. Then when you showed up a few days later, I didn’t have time to tell you what happened.”

  “Baby girl…” Maxim leaned forward and laid his forehead against hers. “You did what you had to do. I can’t blame you for that. I don’t blame you for what happened or how you handled it. You did what you had to do. That man whoever he was deserved exactly what he got.”

  “I should have
been there with her!” she yelled. “She shouldn’t have had to face him alone.”

  “No.” Maxim shook his head. “She knew what would happen to her and she did it anyway. She didn’t want you involved. She didn’t want you to get caught and dragged to Ivan after everything they did to protect you.”

  “And what makes me so special?” she cried out. “You went to prison to protect me, papa died working the fields and mama died because we couldn’t pay. My whole family paid the price to keep me safe. Everyone paid but me!”

  “Honey, you paid more than we ever could,” Maxim assured her. “I did what I did because it was the right thing to do. You were my sister and I know if he’d been after me and you were older, you would have done the same thing. Our father protected both of us because we were part of him and he loved both of us. Our mother did what she did because she loved us too. She knew I would find a way to get out and come back to protect you.”

  “But mama isn’t buried on holy ground. I left her on that farm and god only knows what’s happened to her after five years!” Zeta cried out.

  “Sweetheart,” Misha growled. “We will take care of your mother’s remains. We will bury her beside your father where she belongs. I promise.”

  Zeta looked up at him and smiled faintly. She lifted her hand and laid it on his chest. “Do you hate me?”

  Misha frowned. “Why would I hate you? You did nothing wrong.”

  “But I killed a man,” she whispered in a shaky voice.

  “No, you defended yourself.” Misha shook his head. “If anyone deserved killing, he certainly did. No one is going to fault you for that, least of all me.”

  Zeta closed her eyes. A heavy burden had been lifted from her heart and she finally felt she could breathe again. “Do you think we will ever go back to Russia?”

  “I’m hoping you will,” Misha told them both. “We will go before the High Council and they will make things right again.”

  “And if they don’t believe us?” Maxim had to ask. “If they take Ivan’s word for everything?”