Close Up: Exposure Book Three

by Jocoby, Annie

  “I am sorry, Alexei. I do not know English as well as you.”

  I was surprised about that. She certainly did seem to know the language very well.

  Then she explained. “I do know English. But sometimes I get confused. I do not always know, what’s the word?” Then she thought about it. “Slang. That is the word. I do not always know slang.”

  I supposed that would be the hardest part for anybody trying to learn a different language – the slang and colloquial expressions. Asher had mastered that part, too, but he had been living in America for a decade. Natalia, on the other hand, had been living in Russia up until recently, when she relocated to London with her father.

  “Well, that’s okay,” I said to her, trying to reassure her. “Asher and I will try not to speak in slang.”

  “Asher,” she said, looking at him. “Oh, yes, I forget how much you hate your Russian heritage, Alexei. How much you have forgotten everything Russian.”

  “Natalia,” he said, “I don’t hate my Russian heritage. You know why I changed my name.”

  “Certainly. But you could not have chosen another name that was also Russian?”

  Asher’s face got red. “I didn’t want there to be any suspicions. I certainly didn’t want the media in America to try to trace my roots back to Russia. I figured that I chose something that sounded sufficiently WASPy that I could get by without anybody trying to sniff around. I was right, too.”

  “What is it that you say ‘WASPy?’” she asked with a furrowed brow. Then she whipped out a little notebook and pencil, and wrote down the word.

  “White Anglo-Saxon Protestant,” Asher said. “It’s the paragon of all that’s good in America. At least in some circles it’s considered to be that.”

  She wrote down the words “White Anglo-Saxon Protestant” and smiled. “You certainly look like WASPy, Alexei.”

  “Thanks, I guess,” Asher said.

  The bottle of wine arrived at the table, and the waiter poured a glass for Asher and me. “I am not going to, what you say, beat the tree,” Natalia said, apparently trying to say that she didn’t want to beat around the bush. “CJ, I think that Alexei probably told you about me.”

  “Beat around the bush,” Asher said.

  “What?” Natalia asked.

  “You said ‘beat the tree.’ You meant to say ‘beat around the bush.’”

  At that, Natalia got her little notebook out again and wrote the phrase down. “What a peculiar saying. What does that mean?”

  Asher shook his head. “I often wonder myself where these sayings come from. For this saying, I’m at a loss. I should really look that up sometime.”

  “Okay,” Natalia said. “I cannot beat around the bush.” Then she looked at Asher, who nodded his head and smiled. “You probably know about me, CJ.”

  “I do,” I confirmed. “And I don’t judge you.”

  She shook her head. “You should. I do not like what I am or what I am doing. But I have no choice.” Then she shot a look at Asher. “Do I, Alexei?”

  “Natalia, you know that I tried.”

  “You did not try hard enough.”

  I looked at Asher, who was sipping his glass of wine and looking embarrassed. “I did what I could.”

  She rolled her eyes, and then addressed me. “I am not a bad person. I do not feel that I have a choice. I would like for Alexei to talk to our father again about allowing me into America. I could do very well there, I believe.”

  “Uh,” I said, looking to Asher. The conversation was taking a turn for the worse, that was for sure. It seemed like that there was one more thing that Asher was hiding from me – the possibility that Asher might have been able to negotiate for Natalia to be released, yet failed to do so. In looking at Asher’s face, I knew that he felt some degree of guilt about it.

  She looked over at Asher, and then back to me. “I guess Alexei never told you about how I could have gotten out of working for my father and join him in America. But he’s too much of, what do you say – a chicken? So, here I sit.” She then glared at Asher.

  “Asher,” I said. “Can I talk to you privately?”

  “No,” Natalia said. “You can talk right here in front of me. There can be no secrets.”

  Asher’s face was white, and his hands were shaking. He brought the glass of wine to his lips and sipped it lightly. He wasn’t saying a word, so I felt that I needed to prod him into a new confession. “Asher, what was Natalia talking about?”

  Then his face went from white to beet red. “Natalia is right. I was a chicken.”

  Natalia smiled and then got out her little book and wrote in it. She wrote the words I used the word chicken correctly. It means a person without courage. Then she stopped writing and looked at Asher expectantly.

  I, too, looked at Asher expectantly. I couldn’t believe that there was something more that he didn’t tell me, but there apparently was.

  “Four years ago, right when I founded my company, I had the opportunity to bring Natalia into America to work for me. Our father had just had heart bypass surgery and he didn’t think that he would be in business for much longer. He was very weak,” Asher said.

  I felt my eyes get wide. Asher was apparently still lying. “What? What do you mean? You told me, point blank, that Natalia had to work for your father now because he hasn’t released her.”

  Natalia put one perfectly manicured hand on my forearm and put the finger from her other hand up to her lips. Then she shook her head.

  I took her cues and let Asher keep speaking. “That’s not a lie. That reflects the situation right now. Natalia is currently trapped. She can’t leave my father’s business.” Then he took a deep breath. “But there was a window four years ago when Natalia could have left. Unfortunately, that window shut when our father recovered from surgery and got back into business. When he resumed his business, he needed Natalia to keep working for him. So I lost my chance to get her out of the trade, and Natalia lost her chance to come to America.”

  I felt a little stunned. This was yet another omission that was coming out. It wasn’t quite a lie, because he had only told me that, presently, Natalia was stuck. That appeared to be the truth. But it wasn’t the whole truth.

  “Why, Asher, didn’t you get her out of Russia when you had the chance?”

  “He is a turkey,” Natalia said. Then she shook her head. “I mean chicken.”

  “Sounds like he’s a turkey as well,” I said, looking at Asher suspiciously. “Answer my question.”

  He sighed. “I wish that I could go back in time and change things. I would have done things much differently. But, I admit, that I was selfish. I thought that Natalia might blow my cover in America, so I blew it. My father would have only sent her to America if I agreed to make her a part of my new business, which was then just called Sloane, Inc., and I…refused.” His face continued to look ashamed, and he hung his head. “I didn’t want to explain to people who she was. I had long since lost any trace of an accent and had adopted my new name. I wanted to pass as American, and having Natalia around would have brought questions about my background.”

  Natalia shook her head. “Chicken.”

  And, just like that, I got an idea. “Asher, what’s the situation now? Is there any way possible that Natalia might be able to get out of your father’s service if enough money changes hands?”

  Natalia shook her head. “No chance. My father has come to rely on me. I cannot stand to look at myself in the mirror anymore, but that does not matter to him.”

  Asher drew a breath. “Natalia is correct about that. I’ve spoken to my father many times, and every time I talk to him, it’s the same – he won’t let Natalia come to America. He says that he can’t lose her.”

  “Well, maybe it’s time to ask again,” I said.

  Natalia gave me a look of puzzlement. “Why do you care so much?” she asked.

  I looked at Asher, and he nodded to me. “It’s like this,” I said. And then I proceeded to t
ell her everything about Sophie and what she was trying to do, and how Asher and I wanted to be married, but Sophie was standing in our way. Natalia listened intently and said very little while I told her our story.

  Finally, after I told her the entire sad story, she said “sounds like the two of you are in a pepper,” she said. “Did I say that right?”

  I suppressed a smile. “I think that you meant to say ‘pickle.’”

  “Oh, okay.” And then she got out her little book again and wrote “pickle, not pepper.” Then she put her pencil away. “You and Alexei are in a pickle. And you need my help, no?”

  “Yes,” I said. Asher wasn’t going to make the request himself, as it was clear that there was still some residual hard feelings, which was understandable, considering the fact that Asher basically left Natalia high and dry. “And we need your help.”

  “My help? How can I help?”

  “Asher and his father aren’t on the best of terms,” I said. “Asher’s afraid that his father won’t believe him, but will believe Sophie instead. I understand that you and your father are on better terms than Asher and your father. So, the hope is that he’ll listen to you.”

  Natalia nodded her head. “What is in it for me?” Then she raised a single eyebrow at Asher, and Asher didn’t meet her eyes. “Well, Alexei? I can do that for you, and our father will probably believe me. I have never given him reason not to trust me. But am I supposed to do this because you ask me, Alexei, or can I actually benefit from this in some way?”

  Asher picked up his glass of wine and contemplated it. “Natalia, I don’t know what you’re getting at.”

  “Yes, you do.” Then she narrowed her eyes. “It seems that I finally have something that you really want and need. Now, perhaps it’s time that you make some sacrifices to give me what I really want and need.”

  “Natalia, if I do that, then we’re both dead. You know this.”

  “No, I do not know this.”

  I looked at both of them. I had no idea what Natalia was getting at. No clue. “Asher, what’s going on?”

  Asher drew a breath and looked defeated. “Natalia wants me to help her fake her own death. She’s been giving blood over in Russia, once a month, and has stored it in a blood bank. She wants to use this blood to create an elaborate crime scene and then just disappear. I think that’s a terrible idea and our father will be wise to that immediately. Then she really will be dead, and so will I.”

  “Alexei, it can work.”

  “No, it can’t. What happens when you come to America and start working for me? You forget that our father has men over in America who are, in essence, protecting me. They’re the ones who are neutralizing any kind of conflict that might occur between the Pushkin interests and all others. Then you start working for me, and the jig is up right away.”

  Natalia made a face and got her book out. “What do you mean, ‘the jig is up?’” she asked, writing in her book.

  Asher sighed. “It means that all is revealed,” he said. “In plainer English, when you come to work for me, our father will immediately know what happened, and then neither you nor I will be safe.”

  “Alexei, you make a point. And I am willing to help you out, but you have to scratch my leg first.”

  “Um, it’s ‘scratch my back,’ not ‘scratch my leg,’” I told her, and she got out her book again and wrote it down.

  Asher started to look pissed. “I see. So, you’re not going to help us unless we figure out a way for you to come to America?”

  “Yes. You need me, that is clear. If I do not help you, it sounds like you will have no choice but to marry Sophie. You need me, and I need you. I have waited for years for this moment. I have always wanted for there to be something you need from me so that I could use it for....what's the word?"

  "Leverage?" I volunteered.

  "Yes," she said. "I guess that's the word. Leverage."

  Asher took a deep breath. “You haven’t changed. You’re still very much about what’s in it for you.”

  “Listen, Alexei, you do not get to lecture me. You left many years ago and just forgot that I was even alive. You had a chance to help me out and get me out of here, and you did not take that chance. You did not take that chance because you were more concerned about people finding out who you were than in helping me. So, yes, I would like something from you if I give you what you need. I do not think that you should blame me for this, and I do think that you would be the same.” At that, she leaned back in her chair and looked at him with a look of clear contempt.

  “But Natalia, what you’re asking from me is…”

  “Do not say that it is not possible, Alexei, because I know that you can come up with something. You’re a very intelligent man, of course. You could not be in the position that you are in unless you were very cunning. I believe in you. I believe that you can think of some way for me to come to America and work for you. I would love to learn about alternative energy.”

  Asher just shook his head. “There’s only one thing that I can think of that might accomplish what you need. But it involves bribery and it could very well backfire.”

  I was surprised. It sounded like Asher somewhat had an idea on what he could do to help his sister. Granted, it didn’t exactly sound legal, but if there was any chance at all that Natalia could get out of her hell, then it was going to be worth a shot.

  Natalia nodded her head. “I am listening, Alexei.”

  Asher drew a breath and looked up at the sky. “What am I about to get myself into?”

  I was about to find out.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The waiter came around again and brought another bottle of wine to the table. Natalia and I were just sitting there looking at a silent Asher, whose face said that he knew that he had been beat. It seemed like we had been sitting there forever, just watching him struggle with whatever it is he was about to say.

  Finally, he started to talk. “This is a plan that might or might not work. It would involve a great deal of danger, really. But….” Then he shook his head. “I can’t even believe that I’m saying this. That I’m bringing this idea to light. It’s ridiculous, really, and it probably won’t work.”

  “Well go ahead,” I said. “Natalia and I are waiting. If it’s too out-there, I assure you, we’ll tell you.”

  “Ah, well,” he said. “Here’s the plan. We have to remember one thing – when my father got a major health scare, it made him reassess things. It wasn’t just that he thought that he was going to have to retire. But it was also that he faced his own mortality. He had the best surgeons doing his open-heart surgery, but that was no guarantee that he could make it through. He admitted to me that he was afraid that he was going to die, and that made him want to re-evaluate Natalia’s role in his organization.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Okay, so it was more or less some kind of death-bed conversion. Which makes it even more crappy that you turned it down. But go on, Asher.”

  Asher’s face showed clear shame. “Yes, I know. I know. I should have had more courage. I plan to rectify that this time around, assuming that this whole plan works. That would mean that I will tell everyone who you are, Natalia,” he said. “Which will no doubt expose my own background. That will be a huge story, considering my stature in America. But it is what it is. It’s time for me to finally own my past in every way.”

  I cocked my head. “The media is going to know that you were in the mob and that you killed people? Don’t you think that’s risky?”

  “No. There is still far too much secrecy on what I did. But, yes, the media will probably know that I was in the Russian mob. They won’t be able to find out what I did for the mob, though, no matter how much they dig. There’s an absolute code of silence on that, on both sides of the Atlantic.”

  I felt myself relax just a little bit after he said that. But just a little. “Good. Go ahead and tell us your plan, then.”

  Asher took a deep breath. “This is going to sound lik
e a crazy plan, just a fair warning. But, here is what I’m thinking. I pay my father’s cardiologist to give him a false diagnosis. Something that will make my father believe that he has heart disease. Then I could maybe talk to him about letting Natalia go. Then, when she’s safe in America, my father will get the news that the diagnosis was wrong.”

  It sounded like a decent plan, but I could certainly see the flaw in it. “Okay, so he finds out that he’s not dying after all. What will prevent him from demanding that Natalia comes back to him? And how are you going to work it? And what happens if he wants to get treatment right away? I don’t know, Asher, it all sounds risky and like it won’t work.”

  Natalia chimed in. “You are on the right road. What is something that would make our father want to retire? It might be a health scare, but it could be something else. And the health scare – CJ is correct. It has to be something that our father would not seek treatment for right away. We could possibly bribe the doctor to tell him that his arteries are clogged again and he needs another bypass surgery.”

  I nodded. “That could certainly work. Perhaps your father will be scheduled for surgery in a six week period of time or something of the sort. That would give him time to get his affairs in order, which hopefully will include allowing Natalia to come to America to work for you. But that still begs the question of what will happen when your father finds out that he’s fine? What if he demands that Natalia comes back?”

  Asher shook his head. “I don’t see that happening. My father is a man of finality. Once he makes a move, he doesn’t take it back, no matter what. He might feel regret about losing Natalia, but he can certainly replace her. But once she’s gone, she’s gone.”

  Natalia was finally looking a little bit hopeful. “Alexei, do you really think that this will work?”

  “No,” Asher said. “But I think that it’s the best chance we have so far. I do believe that his doctor will take a bribe, too. I know his cardiologist, and he’s very money-hungry, has alimony payments and astronomical gambling debts. He would certainly be the kind of man who will fake some tests to give us the results that we need.”