by Jonas Saul
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 expe
nsive.”
“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 asked 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.
His shift was over.
Time to move inside and get my wife.
He took one more sip of his coffee and left the café. When he entered the hotel, a young girl was at the counter talking to two men who were checking out. She couldn’t be more than eighteen.
The lobby was almost empty but for the men at the counter and an old man with graying hair sitting alone in a plush chair beside his luggage. Darwin waited. After a minute, the two men thanked the woman and stepped away from the counter.
Darwin walked up. “Good morning,” he said, sounding cheery and bright.
“How can I help you this morning?” the girl asked.
Darwin looked down at her name tag. “Jessica, my friend and I are staying in room 456. I understand he left something for me.”
“Let me look.”
She turned away from the counter and checked a row of small boxes.
“It should be a sunglasses case,” Darwin added. “I have a note on room 456 to not be disturbed.”
“Yes, here it is.”
She turned around with the case in her hand.
“Great, thanks.” Darwin took the case.
“And your name was?” the girl asked as she typed on the computer.
“I’m with the Yuri Pavel party in 456. And if I’m right, he left me a one-hundred-dollar bill inside this case along with my shades. At least that’s what he said he would do.”
Jessica looked over and watched as Darwin opened the case. The money popped up when he did.
“Perfect. Just like he said he would.” He turned to her. “I told him I forgot my wallet at home and he said he’d put the money in the case for me so I could pick it up at the counter on my way back to the room.” He stepped away. “I’ll just head back up—” he patted his pockets and stopped walking. “Oh, damn. My key card was in my wallet, too. Can you give me a replacement?”
“Of course,” Jessica said. She typed on the computer a moment. “Checkout is eleven this morning and the room was only booked for the one night.”
“Has Mr. Pavel already come down to checkout?”
“Not yet, but sometimes guests just leave the key in the room and leave the hotel. Housekeeping confirms to us down here that they’ve vacated the room. I haven’t got confirmation yet, but,” she checked her watch, “you’ve got twenty more minutes until eleven.”
A sinking feeling dropped into his stomach. He was too late.
“Well, as I said, I’ve forgotten a few things up there. The rest of my things are in the room. I’ll come down and give you the key back within fifteen minutes so we’re out on time.”
He smiled wide, showing teeth, trying for the innocent look.
“Of course,” she said, smiling back at him.
As conspicuous as he could, Darwin took in the lobby. It was still empty except for the old man in the chair. At this time he assumed most of the guests would’ve checked out by now. He only hoped Yuri hadn’t. Losing him now would be a catastrophe. If sleeping in the park meant he lost the trail, he would go insane with anger.
Jessica handed him the key card.
“Thank you so much,” Darwin said. “Have a fine day.”
At the elevators, Darwin pressed the button. He waited until the doors opened and then stepped on, hitting the fourth floor and the close-door button at the same time.
When the door closed, he exhaled the breath he’d been holding.
The elevator crept to the fourth floor. As it slowed, he tightened the grip on the barrel of the weapon. His heart raced and his pulse pounded in his head. He was close to Rosina. As close to her as he’d been in weeks. Sweat lined the inside of his hand on the weapon. His grip slipped so he let go of the gun, wiped his hand on the outside of his new hoodie and grabbed it again.
The door slid open.
He waited inside the elevator in case a Russian bodyguard watched all access to the floor. When the doors began to close, Darwin placed his free hand between them. They clunked to a stop and slowly reopened.
He listened but heard nothing. No soft patter of feet on the carpet, no whispered warnings.
He stuck his head out. The hallway was empty. With his gun low and hidden in his left hand, he walked into the foyer of the fourth floor.
The sign on the wall directly in front of the elevator told him room 456 was to the right. The hotel was constructed in an L-shape with the hall on the right going south and the hall on his left going east. That meant he only had to watch his back for as far as he walked toward room 456 and not the length of the other hallway.
Each corridor had cleaning carts topped up with toilet paper, pads, pens and garbage bags as the hotel’s maids cleaned in various rooms. As he drew close to room 456, the door was closed and the nearest cleaning cart was one door down.
If Yuri had vacated, the maid would see that soon enough. Darwin put his back to the wall beside the room and waited, listening for anything behind the wall. Maybe a distant voice, a slammed door, a TV, but there was nothing. He couldn’t wait long. At any second a maid would see him and question his intentions.
He knocked on the door, stepped back three feet and brought the gun up. The time to be discreet was over. If Rosina was inside the room, he would shoot the thug who opened the door and barge in with one less man on their team. If a maid saw him with the gun at the ready, she could call downstairs, but Darwin would have Rosina by then and even if the police showed up and took them into custody, it would be better than leaving Rosina with the Russian Mafia.
But no one answered the door.
A maid stepped out of the room next door. He lowered the gun beside him just as she looked up. She smiled. He smiled back. He raised the key in his hand, twisted it back and forth in the air and nodded at her. She returned the nod, gathered a small pile of towels and disappeared backwards into the room she had been cleaning.
“That was close,” he whispered under his breath.
If Yuri had left with Rosina, the last thing Darwin wanted was to be picked up by the authorities now.
He inserted the key into the slot on the door, pulled it back out and watched the light turn green. Then he pulled on the handle, and opened it with most of his body hidden behind the wall.
“Housekeeping,” he said into the open door.
After getting no response, he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. The room was a mess, the three beds unmade. The room came with two doubles. A cot had been brought in to handle a third person.
Probably Yuri took one bed, Rosina the other, and his bodyguard the cot. Or they made Rosina sleep on the cot.
He checked the bathroom and the hall closet, but it was clear Yuri had left the hotel.
“Damn,” he slammed his hand against the bathroom door.
How would he find his wife now?
He had at least ten minutes. That was enough time to search the room. Maybe they left something behind that would lead him to their next stop of the meeting place.
He started in the bathroom but found nothing in the garbage other than a spent razor and used Q-Tips.
In the main room th
ere were two empty Vodka bottles and two cigars doused in an ashtray. The window sat open, otherwise he would’ve detected the residual cigar smell right away.
There was nothing else in the room other than messy beds. No other garbage or notes or business cards. He was at a dead end.
To lose Rosina when he was so close meant that he had failed her. His eyes watered. He had no idea where to go next.
Then he remembered the papers in his back pocket that Agent Williams had given him in the Crown Victoria after picking him in Barrie. He pulled them out, unfolded them, and placed them flat out on the room’s desk.