by Jonas Saul
She turned her head around. “Can’t you see I’m busy here?”
“Fuck off,” Darwin said. “Now.” He showed her his gun.
She yelped like a little terrier and scuttled away, her arms over her breasts.
The man sitting in the booth wasn’t Yuri.
It was Arkady.
He wore a smile and a gun rested in his hand as if it came out of nowhere. Before either man said a word, they both aimed and fired their weapons.
Darwin felt a punch in his lower abdomen. He fired his weapon over and over but only two bullets came out as he’d already used the others. He frantically reached in for the gun on his right side. Arkady had dropped his and was slouched to one side.
The gun in his right hand, Darwin kicked Arkady’s weapon out of the way and moved in on him. He set the tip of the barrel at the base of Arkady’s mouth and held it firmly against the skin.
“Where’s my wife?”
“Fuck you, you shit. I die first.”
Darwin pulled out the scythe with his left hand and sliced along the top of Arkady’s legs. Arkady screamed and writhed under the blade.
“You will burn for this,” Arkady yelled. “I will have every Russian in the continent after you.”
“And I will kill all of them as well. Where’s Rosina?”
“I have no idea,” he shouted.
“Yes, you do.”
He kept cutting. In a matter of seconds, Arkady’s legs were unusable chunks of red meat. He made sure to stay away from major arteries and not to go too deep. Arkady bounced around in his seat in a vain attempt to get away from the blade of the scythe, but couldn’t.
“Where is she?” Darwin screamed at him, grabbing his hair and yanking Arkady’s face up to his.
“With Yuri,” Arkady panted, the color leaving his face. “That’s all I know.”
Something banged to his left. Darwin looked up at the door and saw a crowd of men watching him. The dancer he’d told off was with them. He raised his gun to scare them and fired wild into the ceiling tiles.
He turned his attention back on Arkady.
“I told you I would be back. After you die, I will go and get my wife and live a nice life in Europe. You fucked with the wrong man, Arkady. After what I did to the Fuccini Family and the Gambinos, how did you think you were above that?”
“Wait,” Arkady shouted. “I will tell you where Yuri has her. But you walk away. No more cutting.”
“Of course.” Darwin smiled wide. “No problem. That’s all I want.”
“He’s got her at the Park Road Hotel. It’s about ten blocks from here. Room 456.”
His side began to ache where Arkady had shot him.
“How do I know you’re not lying?” Darwin asked.
“Because I want to live.”
“Fair enough. I hope to never see you again.”
Amid the pain, Darwin detected a look of relief pass over Arkady’s face.
Darwin leaned in and, before Arkady knew what was happening, pulled the scythe across Arkady’s neck as hard and as deep as he could go. He wiped the bloody blade on Arkady’s silk shirt and stepped away as Arkady grasped at his neck, trying to keep the flow of blood in and not finding success.
The VIP room had emptied. The people at the entrance had disappeared. There were no windows or back doors to escape. The door he had entered through was the only way out.
Should he go out guns blazing, hitting anything in his way and hope he made it? Or should he negotiate his way out? The police would be here any minute. He needed out of the building and he needed out fast.
Pain crept into his heightened consciousness. He looked down and saw a red stain forming on the lower part of his hoodie jacket.
“Shit.”
He lifted the hoodie and looked. A bullet had gone in just at the edge of his side and exited clean on the other side. It probably missed his kidney as it was so close to the edge of his side.
He lowered the jacket and moved to the door.
“I’m coming out,” he shouted.
No one answered him. It was absolutely quiet outside the VIP room.
What happened to everybody?
He looked around the corner. The lights of the club had been raised enough to see everything. It was nearly empty except for five men standing around in random places. They were all watching the VIP door. None of them had weapons in view.
“What’s going on?” Darwin asked.
No one answered.
“Where is everybody?”
Through the speakers, someone cleared their throat and said, “The dancers and customers have exited the building for their own safety.”
“Who are all of you?” Darwin asked. “Why haven’t you left?”
“Are you here because of the Mafia war?”
Darwin wondered what the right answer was. Then he decided on the truth since it was his personal war against the Mafia.
“Yes. This is a war.”
“Please leave before the police get here.”
What the hell? A free pass?
“You’re just going to let me walk out?” Darwin asked.
“Is Arkady alive?”
“No.”
“Then yes. Just leave.”
“How can I trust you? I could walk out and get gunned down.”
“Arkady has been coming here for a year causing all the girls trouble. We’ve had three dancers disappear in that time. The Mafia has ruined the reputation of this club. When you walked in tonight and killed only the Russians who have been causing us trouble, we figured it out and want you to leave now. This is between you and them.”
“Why wasn’t there more security?” Darwin asked, still not sure if he was being told the truth, even though it sounded right.
“Some big boss was here earlier meeting with Arkady. When he left, they left with him. When Arkady is around, we just have normal bouncers and Arkady has his one bodyguard with him, who I assume is also dead, right?”
“Yeah.”
Silence fell between them while Darwin debated what to do. The five men scattered around the club retreated in a non-threatening gesture. Two of them put their hands on the bar.
“Please leave. The cops will be here shortly.”
The pain in his side throbbed, intensifying. If he stayed, it was over. He could seek medical attention, but Rosina would still be at the Park Road Hotel, room 456. Yuri would still use her at the meeting and the FBI wouldn’t be able to save her.
If he left, he could get to her.
Darwin stepped out, a scythe in one hand, a gun in his other. He moved the gun around, waiting to see if he needed to use it. He kept his hoodie over his head and stayed close to the back wall, making his way to an exit door.
“When the police ask who did this, you tell them The Scythe did it.”
“The Scythe?”
“Yeah, The Scythe. That’s my name.”
He reached the exit and hesitated. None of the men had moved. He heard scuffling behind the door but thought that was just the people who had exited the club minutes before.
Using his good side, he bumped open the door’s bar handle and stepped outside. As he did, he lowered the gun out of sight and slid the scythe back inside his hoodie jacket.
Dancers stood around with suit jackets over their shoulders, borrowed from caring customers. The parking lot had half emptied. The people milling about gave a wide berth to the back door where the two men lay bleeding or dead.
No one seemed to notice him as he slinked along the building in the shadows and crossed the street.
He slipped the gun in his pocket and continued moving up the street fast, blood seeping from his wound with each step.
Chapter 14
Darwin had to rest on a park bench after three blocks. He didn’t want to look, but knew he had to.
The lower hem of his hoodie jacket had a large, dark red stain. He lifted it gingerly and examined the wound. The blood had slowed but it still seeped. He had no
idea how to help it stop other than to apply pressure. He could be bleeding internally, too.
I could be dying right now and not know it.
He lowered the jacket and held his hand over the wound, adding as much pressure as he could without causing too much pain. He didn’t want to pass out. His wife was seven blocks away. All he left to do was go get her. Then he could go to the hospital.
No one would take her again. He wouldn’t let her out of his sight. And he would stay armed at all times.
He got up from the bench but found standing too difficult. He wavered on his feet, his head spinning, and sat back down hard. Pain shot through his abdomen.
Lying down and sleeping for an hour or so sounded like a great idea.
“Shit. Now what?”
Cars passed him on the street a dozen feet away. The sidewalk was closer. He couldn’t sleep here, even though it was semi-concealed in darkness.
He scanned the park behind him and saw what looked like a pond with park benches in a semi-circle around it.
Resting there would offer shelter from the street and enough darkness.
But how do I get there?
With the adrenaline worn off and the pain in his side increased, he gripped the back of the bench and forced himself to his feet. After a moment to make sure he wouldn’t pass out, he walked around the bench and started across the dark terrain of the park. With each step he grimaced with the pain.
How can I get Rosina now?
Halfway to the pond, it took shape in the darkness. Blood slithered down his leg, filling his shoe. He looked down and almost lost his balance, grabbing for a passing tree for support.
Bent over, leaning into the tree, he focused on his breathing. In through the mouth, out through the nose. The ground trembled as his equilibrium gave out.
Darwin dropped and sprawled on the dirt floor under the tree, the exit wound in his back pressing directly on a piece of the tree’s root sticking up. He yelped in pain, dropped his hand on top of the wound and pressed.
Then he passed out.
Chapter 15
A cool morning breeze crossed his face. He opened his eyes and panicked. A sick dread twisted in his stomach.
Where am I? What happened?
It came back to him in a rush. Arkady, the strip club, getting shot, passing out under this tree.
He hadn’t moved all night. The sun was high enough for it to be at least nine in the morning.
Why didn’t anybody see me?
He turned his head to scan his surroundings. He didn’t want to move his body for fear of causing more damage. On the other side of the pond, an old man tossed something at pigeons gathered at his feet. A young woman jogged by on the sidewalk twenty feet away. In the slight recess where Darwin lay, it would be hard for them to see him. Toronto was up and awake and no one cared about the bum with blood seeping out of him on the ground in the public park.
Why am I not surprised?
He leaned up to look at the wound and was happy to see that the bleeding had stopped. His head spun and he felt weak. Getting to his feet could reopen the wound, but he couldn’t stay under the tree all day. What if Yuri checked out of the hotel today and chose another one before the big meeting tomorrow? Then what? If that happened, he would have no lead on where Rosina was. He needed to get up, buy another hoodie so he could get rid of this bloodstained one, buy painkillers and get food. Then he needed to break into Yuri’s hotel room and take his wife out.
He rolled onto his good side slowly, easing down onto his stomach. The dirt under where his wound had rested was stained with a dark red circle. The pain made him stop moving. He knew it would get better, easier, as soon as he was up and walking around. He had to get his adrenaline going.
How much blood did I lose?
He brought his legs up and lifted onto his elbows. After a small struggle and jabs of pain, Darwin got to his feet and leaned against the tree. He waited for the lightheadedness to abate. Other than the pain and the way he looked, he felt better than expected.
The two guns were where they were supposed to be, and both scythes were tucked snugly inside his jacket.
After his first step, he waited, holding the tree. Then he took another and let go of the tree.
He figured once he stopped losing blood some time during the night, he must have rested well, his body producing blood while he slept, recuperating after a harrowing day.
Rested now, he needed to shop and figure a way into Yuri’s room without shooting his way in. It was a public hotel and people would be coming and going throughout the day.
An idea occurred to him.
Darwin headed down the street, amid the stares of everyone passing by and walked inside a clothing store. He tried on a hoodie his size, transferred the scythes and guns into the new one in the change room, walked out with his old hoodie wrapped up in a ball and got the clerk to throw it out for him.
After paying, he bought over-the-counter painkillers at a pharmacy and a hundred-dollar pair of sunglasses with a beautiful sunglass case.
He was ready for Yuri.
After consuming two large sandwiches from a convenience store, and two energy drinks, he walked up the opposite side of the street facing the Park Hotel. There were no visible security guards standing around outside. He had figured they wouldn’t have that kind of presence in a public setting. As he learned at Yuri’s restaurant on Queen Street, they were attempting to quell the attention the Mafia was getting in the big city.
He looked up at the front of the ten-story hotel and imagined his wife inside somewhere.
“I’m coming, baby.”
When the traffic subsided, Darwin crossed the street, walking with only a slight limp now as the painkillers set in. He’d opened his wound twice since he woke up this morning. Once when he first got to his feet and the other time when he was buying his new hoodie. But it had closed fast, letting a minute amount of blood out. It was healing and he felt great, ready to take on Yuri Pavel and finish this.
His mind was clear, his objective sound. He knew what he had to do and who he had to kill.
It was almost over. After Yuri was dead and Rosina was back with him, Darwin would take his wife and leave the continent. They would live a simple life in a small Italian village where he would tend a garden with his wife and sip wine as the evening’s golden sun dipped over the horizon.
He entered the lobby of the hotel with the hood over his head. He kept one hand on his gun and the other free to grab a scythe if needed.
The sun shining through the large front windows of the hotel heated the lobby. Air conditioners worked tirelessly to control the temperature, but failed as the sun proved relentless.
He walked to the side of the lobby and pulled the sunglasses case out. Then he folded his last hundred-dollar bill and slipped it inside the case. He closed and snapped the lid shut.
When the counter was free of customers, he walked over. A man in his early twenties, wearing a name tag that said ‘Oleg’ asked if he could help him.
“I’m staying with some friends on the fourth floor and wondered if you could put this in their slot for them when they come down.”
“Absolutely. Can I have the room number?”
“It’s room 456. Oh, and when’s your shift change? I’m in meetings at the youth fellowship all day and don’t want your relief to make a mistake with this. Those glasses are Mr. Pavel’s personal property.” He made a gesture with his hands. “Very expensive.”
“I was supposed to be relieved an hour ago. When she gets here, I’ll make sure she knows that the glasses belong to Mr. Pavel in room 456. I would take them up myself, but his room has a note on file to not disturb for any reason.”
I wonder why. Maybe because he’s kidnapped my wife.
“Thank you. Enjoy your day.” Darwin turned and walked out of the lobby. As soon as he stepped away from the counter, a couple in their forties stepped up with luggage and handed Oleg their room key.
Oleg as
ked how their stay was, and then Darwin opened the door and stepped outside into the blazing summer sun.
He headed across the street and ordered a coffee in a small café. In a seat near the front window, he watched the hotel’s main entrance. No sign of Yuri or any of his Russian-looking bodyguards. Halfway through his coffee, Oleg exited the hotel, walked down the steps, and turned south.