by R. M. Olson
Vitali chuckled. “You will never cease to impress me, Lev, but I am no longer surprised by anything you do. And so when I heard about the misfortunes Grigory had suffered, I knew who had to have been responsible. And when I thought about the potential fallout of your actions—” Lev could hear the slight smile in his voice. “You aren’t the only one in the family who can make educated guesses, boy. Grigory would hunt you until he killed you. You had two options, and two options only—run and hope you’d escape, or turn and try to take him down. And you, nephew. You were always going to try to take him down. What better place to do that than the one planet that holds most of his investments, and brings in most of his income?”
“You were waiting for us, then,” said Lev quietly.
There was something cold in his chest.
Another complication he hadn’t anticipated.
“Of course. I was hoping I’d get a chance to pay you a visit, in return for the delightful visit you paid me.” He paused again, and when he spoke again, his voice had dropped any pretence of amusement or good humour. It was the man Lev had always known existed under that cultured exterior, the man his father had so feared and loathed that he was willing to let his children go hungry rather than go to him for help.
“Since the day you left my compound, I swore I would hunt you down. I wanted to watch you suffer. I wanted you to watch your friends suffer. I thought there was nothing in the world I’d enjoy more. But then I spoke with Ysbel, and I realized there was one thing, one thing in the system, that would be more satisfying than what I had planned. And that was, letting you betray Masha to me.” His cold tone took on the mockery of concern. “You wouldn’t have thought up a plan like what you did to me on your own. You’re smart enough to have, but you’ve always been a good boy. I knew that came from Masha. And when I talked to Grigory, he confirmed my suspicions. As I said, I don’t like to kill family if I can help it. So I talked to your friend.”
“Alright,” said Lev, his voice steady, even though his hands were trembling slightly. “You spoke with her. Why do you need to talk to me?”
“You’re very smart, Lev. I think you’ve already figured it out.”
Lev closed his eyes for a moment.
He had, by the time Vitali had made it through the first two sentences. He’d had his suspicions even before he’d called.
“Perhaps,” he said levelly. “But why don’t you confirm it for me?”
Vitali chuckled, a low, amused sound. “If you insist. I called you to explain to you the stakes. You seem to think that you can tease me with an offer of Masha, and I’ll sit waiting like a well-trained dog. But you see, I wasn’t waiting for someone to find a way to hand me my prize. I was looking for a way to kill you. So I propose a deal.” He paused a moment. “You will turn over Masha, and when I come to get her, I will make sure she knows who turned her in. You do that, and I will stop hunting the rest of your friends. Or, you don’t accept my offer. And I will kill them slowly, and I will make you watch. As much as I hate to kill family, I hate it even more when family disappoints me.”
Lev glanced up at Ysbel again.
Her face was pale, and as grim as he currently felt.
“I’m not looking for an answer right now,” said Vitali. His tone had regained its old good-humoured amusement. “I wouldn’t believe anything you told me anyways. You give me Masha, and I’ll leave. Or, you don’t, and—” he let the unspoken threat hang in the air.
Lev closed his eyes for a moment, glad that at least this time he didn’t have to plaster a calm, amused look on his face.
First Evka, now this.
Apparently everyone in his damn past was going to track him down and threaten to kill everyone he loved, because why the hell not?
“So,” said Vitali at last. “I’ll leave you to think on it. Don’t feel bad. Your friend wanting to talk to me was a stroke of luck for you, really. I’d begun hearing rumours of your whereabouts, and I was only thinking of the best way to get to you. At the least, her offer put my plans on hold. So you’ve been remarkably lucky.” Vitali chuckled again, and the sound sent ice through Lev’s veins. “It was a pleasure to speak with you again, Lev. Please, consider my offer.”
The com clicked off.
Lev let out a breath, and Ysbel did the same.
“Well,” he said at last.
“Can he do it?” asked Ysbel brusquely.
He gave a small, shrug. “It’s possible he’s lying. But I doubt it. He has the resources and the people to do almost anything he wants. He’s on good terms with Olyessa. He could almost certainly buy her off, if he offered enough, and we know she needs credits, and she depends on her relationship with him.”
“So. It’s Masha or the rest of us, as you said,” said Ysbel. “Only not exactly in the way we’d supposed.”
“You’re—taking this very calmly,” said Lev.
Ysbel watched him for a moment, face deadly serious. “Here is something I learned the hard way,” she said at last. “You trust someone, if they earn your trust. You trust them with your life. Like I did with Masha. But if they betray you, you can’t afford to forget that. They’ve shown you what they’re capable of.”
“You’d give Masha up, even if she played this job straight.” He wasn’t sure why the thought disturbed him. He’d been the one to push for a backup plan, after all, a way to protect themselves from Masha.
Maybe it was the look on Jez’s face, the stubborn trust when she talked about the woman who’d lied to them and betrayed them weeks previous, listened impassively to their plans that they’d willingly shared with her, and then actively worked to subvert them.
But at this point, he wasn’t certain what the alternative would be.
He sighed. “I’ll—talk to Jez, explain the situation to her, and we’ll see what we can do. Maybe she’ll have an idea that I don’t.”
“And if you don’t find a solution?” Ysbel asked.
“If we don’t find a solution—” he paused a moment.
They’d worked together as a crew for months at this point, although it felt like years. It felt like he’d known these people his entire life. He felt like he’d worked with Masha his entire life, the constant, unspoken battle of wits, the tension between suspicion and trust, affection and antagonism.
But he’d let that lure him into complacency before, and it had almost led to their deaths.
Ysbel was right. He couldn’t afford to underestimate Masha again.
“If we don’t find a solution,” he said slowly, “I suppose—we give Vitali what he wants.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“TAE? ARE YOU in there?”
Tae jerked his head up, then shoved the heels of his hands into his eyes. There was a headache building behind his eyes from staring at the screen, but honestly, there wasn’t much he could do about it at this point.
“I’m here,” he called, and the door opened, revealing Lev standing in the hallway.
“Can I come in?”
Tae gestured with his hand to the empty room. “Not much happening in here.”
Lev came in and sat down, and Tae looked him over surreptitiously. There was strain under his expression, and a tension in his posture that hadn’t been there a few days ago.
Still, Tae was one to talk. He wasn’t sure he’d been able to relax for one second since their near-disaster with Ivan.
“How’s it coming?” asked Lev, pulling up a chair and peering at the holoscreen Tae had been pouring over.
“I don’t know,” said Tae. There was an unease stirring in his stomach, and he couldn’t seem to get rid of it. “I’ve done everything I can, anyways. The account needs constant maintenance if I want it to mimic the security measures at the Svodrani Bank, and I can’t stop until the funds come through.”
“If it makes you feel any better, it looks like Grigory’s found his credits. The bank is sending through the funds he’s leveraged off his pleasure houses, from the look of it, so it should o
nly be a day or so longer.”
Tae nodded, trying to smile.
It was good news, but that still left a day or two of the constant tension-headache, wondering if he’d make a mistake, since any mistake, no matter how small, would be enough to doom him, or kill his friends.
Wondering if he’d done enough.
Knowing that no matter how much he did, it might not be enough.
“No word from Zhenya?” Lev asked.
Tae shook his head. “I haven’t heard anything. I don’t know if that’s good or bad.”
Lev raised his eyebrows wryly. “At this point, if it’s not actually about to kill us, I’m going to go with good. I could use some good news, honestly.” He leaned back in his chair, and for a moment the strain and exhaustion in his posture was clearly visible.
“Jez?” asked Tae.
Lev gave him a small smile. “You know Jez. She says she’s fine, and she looks like she’s about to go completely mad. Galina’s been talking to her, and I think it’s helping. She took that kid’s death pretty hard.”
“I know,” said Tae softly. He sighed. “Anyways, I’d best get back to—”
“Tae!”
He swore under his breath and hit his com. “What is it?”
“This is Artur. We’ve sent a group of people through the gates on schedule, but I’m getting feedback from one of the coms. I think the blocker’s not working.”
Tae swore again, and sighed heavily. “Sorry, Lev, I’ve got to go.”
“This happen often?” asked Lev, eyebrows raised.
“About five damn times a day. If I’m lucky,” Tae grumbled. He shoved back his chair and tapped the screen off on his com. “There’s something about going through the city force-field that screws with the blockers, and if I had one damn hour to myself I could fix it. But I don’t, so instead I spend two hours every damn day trying to keep us from being spotted.”
“I’m sorry,” said Lev, his tone sympathetic, and Tae gave him a rueful glance as he headed out the door.
“Send me the coordinates,” he muttered into his com as he took the stairs two at a time. “I’m on my way.”
“Tae?”
He looked up quickly, and barely avoided running straight into Ivan.
“Where are you going?”
Tae gestured helplessly to his com. “More issues with the blockers on their coms. Hopefully it won’t take long.”
Ivan smiled at him, and something in Tae’s chest unknotted slightly at the smile.
Yes, there was still a trace of that haunted look behind Ivan’s expression sometimes, but his smile was genuine, and the familiar smile-creases at the corners of his eyes transformed his face, like they always did.
“Let me come. I just finished dish duty, and I wasn’t going anywhere.”
Tae found somehow that his face had relaxed into a smile as well, despite everything. “Sure. If you want to.”
Ivan’s smile deepened. “I did volunteer.”
It wasn’t a long walk from their building to the force-field entrance, which was the whole point of setting up where they had. Still, even walking quickly it usually took at least fifteen minutes, and Tae usually resented every lost moment.
With Ivan walking beside him, though, it seemed much shorter.
The day was warm, as usual, and they pulled their scarves over their heads to shield them from the beating heat of the sun.
“Lev said probably just a couple more days before the money comes through,” said Tae quietly as they walked.
Ivan smiled. “That’s good to hear. I wouldn’t mind seeing you actually get some sleep now and again. Some of us do it on a regular basis, you know.”
Tae chuckled despite himself, and Ivan grinned.
“I guess that’s the price you pay for being a genius. If you were average like me, you’d get a good night’s sleep much more often, I imagine.”
“You’re not—” Tae broke off the sentence before he could finish it. He wasn’t completely sure what he had been going to say, except to point out that someone who was willing to let himself be carved up with knives to keep a bunch of kids he’d never met safe was about the farthest thing from average Tae could imagine. And Ivan would just shake his head fondly and say something self-deprecating, like he’d done a million times already.
Ivan laughed softly. “I’m glad someone thinks so, anyways.” He glanced up, then frowned suddenly.
“What—” Tae began, then Ivan grabbed him and shoved him bodily sideways into an alley. He stumbled, barely catching himself against the wall, and Ivan fell hard on the cobblestones next him, as the air at the entrance to the alley wavered from a searing burst of heat.
Tae scrambled to his feet and grabbed Ivan’s hand, hauling him up. “Come on, this way,” he said through his teeth, and they took off running.
Another heat-blast followed them down the alley, scorching the wall beside them, then they were out onto another street.
“Who was that?” Tae asked through gritted teeth.
Ivan shook his head. “I don’t know. But my money’s on Grigory’s people.”
Tae swore. “I thought Jez’s gangster friends were keeping the streets clean.”
Two more damn days before they should be able to just walk out of this, but no. He was out in the damn street getting shot at.
“I thought so too,” said Ivan grimly. “Maybe the Blood Riots finally took the street.”
“This way,” Tae said, ducking into an alley, and Ivan followed close behind. They ducked down two more alleys, and then back onto the main street, and finally, he slowed.
“Did we lose them?” asked Ivan. He was breathing heavily.
Tae looked around quickly, his stomach tight.
Damn it, he didn’t know, he had no damn idea, and he had to damn well figure it out, find a way to keep someone he cared about from being hurt, again—
Ivan stiffened. “Ahead,” he said, his voice low and urgent. “Look down, and keep walking.” He reached over and pulled Tae’s scarf further down over his face, then adjusted his own.
Tae’s heart, which was already pounding from their mad sprint, beat painfully fast. “Ivan,” he muttered, panic choking the words in his throat. “I don’t know—”
“Just do what I say,” said Ivan quietly. “I’ll deal with it.”
Tae closed his eyes for a moment, almost dizzy with panic.
“Tae.” Ivan’s voice was warm with concern. “Trust me, alright?”
He looked up, finally. Ivan was watching him steadily.
And finally, because he didn’t know what else to do, Tae sucked in a breath and nodded, and Ivan stepped in front of him.
For a moment panic welled in Tae’s chest again, because damn it, he’d almost let Ivan die twice in the past couple weeks, and he wasn’t sure he could handle a third time, and then someone said gruffly, “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
“Getting out for some fresh air,” said Ivan, his voice friendly and confident, and nothing like as shaky as Tae currently felt. “Had a fight with my boyfriend.” From the edge of his vision, which he’d fixed firmly on the street, Tae saw Ivan gesture casually towards him. “Going for a walk, see if we can talk it out.” His voice was slightly amused, and gave no hint whatsoever that he knew that the people in front of them would shoot him without thinking twice if they had any idea who he was.
There was a coarse snort of laughter. “Might be a long walk. He doesn’t look very happy with you.”
“Well, you know what they say. Blisters hurt less than broken hearts.”
The boyeviki chuckled and stepped aside, and Ivan started forwards again, putting his arm casually around Tae’s waist and pulling him close. And the motion was so natural that Tae found himself leaning into the warmth of Ivan’s shoulder, and he had to stop himself with an effort.
At last, they reached the force-field entrance and slipped through, and Tae breathed a long sigh of relief. Ivan dropped his arm, and Tae looked up inv
oluntary. Ivan was watching him, that small smile on his face, and for a moment Tae’s heart stuttered.
“That was a little more exciting than I’d imagined it would be,” said Ivan, his voice amused. “Come on. Let’s get the coms fixed for those ex-cons of ours.” He frowned and shook his head. “And we’ll have to let them know that the streets aren’t as safe as we thought. I’ll call Galina, get her to send someone to scout out a route our people can get in safely. I think we’re going to have to nix putting on a show of customers for today.”
He smiled at Tae and turned, but there was something about the thoughtless courage of his ridiculous gesture that made Tae look after him for a long moment before he could clear his head enough to follow.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
LEV GLANCED DOWN at his com for probably the twentieth time in the last hour, then leaned back against the hallway wall.
“Anything?” Ysbel asked quietly, stepping out into the doorway.
Lev shook his head. “Nothing yet.”
The credits should have come through already. They’d received the notification showing the funds leaving Grigory’s account. But even accounting for the time delay for the actual transfer, the credits should have appeared in their account already.
“Should we be worried?” asked Ysbel, lowering her voice further and glancing back into the conference room, where Tae was scowling down at his holoscreen.
“I—don’t know.”
The truth was, Lev was already worried.
If Grigory suspected something, Tae’s friends were probably already dead. He glanced through the open door at Tae as well, then looked away quickly to avoid catching his eye.
“Grigory’s people ambushed Tae and Ivan yesterday,” he said quietly. “You heard?”
Ysbel nodded, and Lev bit his lip.
Why now? Why when things were so close? What was Grigory playing at? And why hadn’t the Rims warned them?
The rest of the crew had wandered into the conference room one by one over the last hour, waiting for news. He’d be the one to give it, assuming it came. Ivan and Radic had volunteered to keep things running downstairs, and Galina had stumbled to bed less than an hour ago. She was running this thing practically single-handedly, handling the logistics of everything from the people to the kitchen schedules.