Zipper

by KJ Dahlen

  Nikoli joined him at the bar.

  Yuri refocused his thoughts to what was happening today as he poured him a shot and they raised their glasses.

  “Salu!”

  After they sat their shots back down, Nikoli stated, “Time to meet the man who is supposed to die with you.”

  Yuri blinked his eyes and stared at him.

  Chapter Eight

  Zipper had it all set. He was feeling more than anxious. Every hour that passed was an hour closer to this Manhattan Girl attempting her deadly escape. It was minimum a three and a half hour ride to New York then over to Jersey and that added maybe another hour depending on her location. And the fucking traffic. Shit! He forgot about that. It was back to back in that damn area.

  He hadn’t even had time to research the address. So, he set up the monitors for himself and Deke.

  Sam, Gator and Wiley came in and sat down. He figured they would be the team to go with him to New Jersey. He tapped his keys on his laptop and had the screens all set. He opened another window and went to work looking for who owned this property.

  “Zipper?” Deke called out as he was suddenly sitting across from him.

  He looked up. Then switched windows and hit enter.

  The screens came on.

  Nikoli sat there with another man. He was even larger than bones.

  Zipper blinked. Talk about fucking muscles.

  “This is your brother in death,” Nikoli drily introduced them.

  “That ain’t funny, Nikoli,” Sam grumbled.

  “We will not allow that to happen.” Nikoli looked stern suddenly.” Of this, I am confident.” He nodded to Yuri. “Yuri, meet Deke Tory.”

  The men nodded at each other.

  “Do I know you?” Yuri asked.

  “Nope.” Deke shook his head. “I would never forget us meeting.”

  “Me either. So who did we cross? Who do we know that knows us?”

  “Me,” a voice came from the doorway.

  Zipper looked up.

  Pappy Masterton came in with his VP, Dewey and 3 other men.

  Deke stood and motioned to the chairs.

  They all sat close so they could also see the screens.

  Zipper was frustrated to say the least. Here again, he didn’t have time to research this damned address. He jumped up and grabbed the extra laptop then tapped some keys and it came on. He turned it to Pappy.

  “Thank you son,” Pappy said. “So what do we know besides the fact that Hell’s Fire Riders MC connects us all?”

  “We still are unsure about that part,” Deke replied “Did your IT find anything?”

  He shook his head. “No connection as far as we can find. If it was there, my IT would find it."

  “Yeah, that is true,” Sam agreed.

  “Ours haven’t found it either,” Nikoli added.

  “However, we have an address now for this Manhattan Girl,” Deke announced.

  They all looked at Zipper.

  He nodded and cleared his throat then told them what she’d said. And his fears that if they all stormed in there she might get hurt.

  Nikoli scoffed. “Young man, we are Bratva. We never storm anything until we know Everything.”

  “Da... this won’t be how you say, our first rodeo,” Yuri added with a slight smile. “So this girl... she claims this man is after us both?”

  Zipper nodded. “She says there are two men, partners. She also spoke about a bomb but she didn’t know where it was.”

  “And what do you know about this girl?” Yuri asked.

  Zipper paused.

  “Not a damn thing,” Sam answered.

  Zipper glared at him. “We know that she warned us and gave us your name as a victim too. That this person wanted you both dead.”

  “But we only heard this after the fact,” Sam argued. “After Deke’s accident and after Yuri was sniped at.”

  “Yes, but she...” Zipper was aggravated now. He knew in his gut that she was genuine. “She is well known by all the ITs. Me, Phantom and Your team there. “

  “They know of her,” Sam corrected. “They have never seen her nor have we.”

  “I know that but she never had to tell us anything.”

  “And what did she tell us?” Sam again countered. “I feel it could be a trap. Lure us there.”

  “Oh really? Then how do you explain that Phantom gave up her address then? We never could have found her if not for that.”

  Sam grunted. “Still, she tracked the address which Phantom can do in her sleep. It doesn’t mean—”

  “That’s enough,” Deke cut him off. “It is our only lead. Our only way to find these fuckers.”

  “I agree,” Yuri nodded.

  Pappy chuckled. “You two would be a great team.”

  “Yeah we would,” Deke nodded.

  “Too bad you ain’t getting’ near this man though,” Sam butted in again.

  Deke now glared at him.

  “I have to agree,” Nikoli said. “They have to be kept inside, under wraps until we find these men.”

  Yuri grunted and crossed his arms over his chest at the same time that Deke did the exact same thing.

  Nikoli looked back and forth at the two men, as did Pappy.

  “Damn... that is too funny!” Pappy laughed.

  Nikoli nodded as he smiled a little. “So, give me the address. Nicky and Serenity are right here.”

  “Hey!” Serenity waved at the camera on the laptop in front of her father n law.

  Nikoli shook his head.

  They all again stared at Zipper.

  He took a deep breath and let it out. “Only if I get to go.”

  Nikoli blinked.

  Deke shook his head.

  Sam snorted and rolled his eyes.

  Pappy stared at him. “You’re an IT, kid. Why would you want to go in there?”

  “Yeah, there is no telling what traps are laid,” Dewey his VP added.

  “I need to go. I found her. I also have been on this from the start. I need to be there.”

  The men all stared at him.

  “Da, okay.” Nikoli nodded. “Deke?”

  Deke slowly shook his head, arms still across his wide chest. “He is trained and can use a weapon. He may be a nerd...”

  Sam laughed.

  Zipper glared at him again.

  “But he can handle himself, he ain’t puny by any means.”

  Zipper looked around at the men then the screens.

  “Alright then. The address,” Nikoli stated his blue gray eyes like steel.

  Zipper looked at his screen then typed it in.

  “Got it,” Serenity replied. “Give me a few minutes.”

  Zipper nodded and let out a breath. “I never got time to do it.”

  “No worries,” Nicky came on. “So, did you actually talk to her?”

  “Just text.” Zipper sighed.

  “I wonder if she’s like old or young or even a girl?” Nicky looked fascinated.

  “Who cares?” Sam launched in again. “As long as she ain’t standing there with a god dammed Uzi.”

  Zipper shook his head at him.

  “Well, I got a plan,” Pappy spoke up.

  They all looked at him.

  “I think after we find out a bit more. We should buy a few coffins.”

  “What?” Zipper sat forward.

  Dewey nodded. “It’s a hell of a deal.”

  Deke scowled at him.

  Nikoli did not laugh at this one. “What’s this? Coffins?”

  “Yeah... see we need to find a way to end this once and for all.”

  “That is a given,” Yuri agreed. “But don’t pick mine out.”

  “Me either, Pappy,” Deke growled. “What the hell is the matter with you?”

  Sam stared at his old friend. “I have said this before. But Pappy has laid out plans and traps that have caught the baddest most foul people walking the earth. I back his plan one hundred percent without even hearing it.”

/>   Silence fell for a few seconds.

  Then it was broken, “We got it!” Nicky shouted.

  “Oh, my...” came serenity’s voice. “Zipper I am...” She smiled as she paused. “Zapping this to you.”

  Nikoli chuckled.

  “That was a good one Serenity!” Nicky high fived her.

  “God damn nerds,” Sam grumbled.

  Pappy laughed. “Without them we’d all be in the dark there Tory.”

  Zipper ignored the banter as he studied what Serenity sent. He whistled and raised his head. “Boris Zephany?”

  Yuri sat forward as his face looked tight. “What?”

  “Boris Zephany,” Serenity piped up. “Local thug that owns half New Jersey apparently. Drugs, illegal gambling, prostitution, you name it.”

  Yuri looked over at Nikoli.

  Nikoli then sat forward as if he’d just had a full realization. “Bylad! I remember now!”

  “Remember what?” Nicky asked.

  “This man. I caught him in Russia,” Yuri explained. “It was so long ago now. He was running illegal activities while working for Bratva. The kind we didn’t want.”

  “Yes,” Nikoli picked up the story. “We sent him away for three years. It wasn’t that long of a sentence rally.”

  “And he is after you for that?” Sam asked.

  Yuri shrugged. “I was doing my job and he even confessed to the judges. It got him a lesser sentence.”

  “So he waits all these years?” Pappy asked. “To get revenge for that?”

  Yuri shrugged. “Maybe? We Russians are a mean lot when you cross us.”

  Nicky’s laughter could be heard. “Amen to that.”

  Nikoli shook his head and gave his son a look.

  “So, is that where Manhattan Girl is?” Sam asked.

  Zipper had been into the archives at his favorite hidden site run by the government. “She has to be Zeta Zepahny,” he announced as he found an old newspaper article. As far as I can find, Boris has never married and has no other living relatives. Her parents were killed when she was ten. Unknown hit and run. Then...” he read on. “Nothing about her. Just this announcement of the funeral for her parents.” He typed again.

  “She did not go into the foster system,” Serenity spoke up.

  “And no school records anywhere for her,” Nicky added.

  Zipper nodded. “So Boris is her uncle.” He looked up at Sam in particular. “She is real.”

  Sam shrugged. “Still don’t mean she isn’t setting our asses up for him.”

  “Come on Dad, that’s stretch.” Deke glared at him. “His hits were already in motion. What I cannot figure is I never met him, nor had anything to do with him.”

  “They are partners, she had said,” Zipper spoke up. “His partner is the one that perhaps wants you dead?”

  Deke cocked his head.

  “Da, that sounds possible,” Yuri spoke.

  Zipper then looked at all the screens as he spoke, “She told me that tomorrow morning she was going to escape and may not make it. Now I release he must have kept her prisoner for all these years.”

  “How the hell do you know that?” Sam asked.

  Zipper looked over at him. “Cause even nerds have instincts, old man.”

  “Damn straight!” Nicky exclaimed.

  Nikoli nodded. “We have to move fast then. We have eight hours till daylight.”

  “Okay,” Pappy replied. “My team is here to assist.

  “He owns that whole side of town, guys’,” Zipper said as he typed in more searches. “That whole neighborhood too. How can we get in there without having a war in the streets?”

  Nikoli clasped his hands together and sat forward, his steely blue eyes glinting with hardness. “You leave that to me.”

  Zipper stared at him. Then looked over at Pappy.

  Pappy nodded. “He’s good for it.”

  Deke also agreed, “He is.”

  “So we all...” Pappy paused. “With exception to Deke...” He looked over at a screen. “And Yuri. We meet in New York City in what?” He looked down at his watch.

  “My jet is refueling now. I caught them before they took off. You can be here in an hour after you board.”

  “Wow,” Sam exclaimed.

  “Yeah, Sam...” Pappy laughed. “I swear I blinked and it was over.”

  Sam stared over at Pappy. “That’s what She said.”

  Pappy stared back at him for a second, then he got the joke and laughed hardily.

  All the men chuckled.

  Zipper heard the joke but his insides were like tightly coiled wire. He worried about Zeta. A girl he never seen, never met really. But already she meant something to him. He shook his head. I must be tired. Or too strung out on coffee and nerves. But deep down, he worried. To think if his idea was true. The poor girl had been locked away her entire life or at least kept in some kind of captivity by her uncle. But why? Maybe he was just insane because none of this made any sense anyway.

  He got up to gather some things he felt he would need.

  Chapter Nine

  Zeta couldn’t sleep all night. So she gave up trying. Everything was set. She had taken a few things over the last few weeks from the cleaning lady and she had collected the rest of it in bits and pieces from things she had asked Boris for, “Anslem’s potion” as she now thought of it, was ready.

  Her sling bag was set. She never went anywhere and Boris never bought her one so she’d made it herself. It would carry her laptop.

  Then she had worked on the door hinges on and off all night as well. Only two screws held it in. So when Anslem came to bring her breakfast, she would be the one to help open the door. In planning this, she had started doing that six weeks back, so he was used to it now and wouldn’t think anything of it. She would then close it too. As she had also been doing.

  Then the rest of her plan was a bit shaky but it was the best she could do. Boris always left at 8 am. Then Anslem brought her meal in, as far as she knew Anslem would then go back downstairs and sleep on the couch. She only knew this as Boris had been yelling about catching him sleeping there.

  She would finish undoing the door, then sneak downstairs. She hoped he would be sleeping. She would have to wait at least an hour after breakfast. It was all timed out, thought out and planned out.

  Then she would sneak up on him and use her spray as he laid there. The man was huge and that was why she had planned it this way. There was no way she could fight him. First, it would hit his eyes, then his nose and he wouldn’t be able to see. Next, she hoped he fell asleep again and she would wait a few minutes to be sure he was out then grab his keys that she knew unlocked every door in the brownstone.

  Then it would be down the stairs and out the door.

  Zeta had studied the subway routes, times and all of it. She felt with all the people there, she could lose herself in the crowd if there was anyone who followed her. There was an ATM right there by the ticket styles. There, she could remove enough cash to get far, far away. She felt excited about actually see so many people at once. It would be so surreal.

  There was just one thing...she had never been let out of this apartment since they moved here 5 years ago. So, if there were others in the brownstone, she would never know it. Her only window also wasn’t at angle where she couldn’t see who went in or came out. So, that was the wild card part. Who was here? Just Anslem, Boris and her as far as she ever knew. Yes, she had thought about that many times but truly, this was the only plan she had. Her only choice.

  Her hands were sweaty and they were shaking. If she didn’t get it together, she would blow this whole thing. Anslem would know something wasn’t normal.

  She went in and took a shower as she still had a whole hour till he would come in. It would help as she had labored all night with the last 3 screws that needed to come off.

  Then she would be ready. Was she ready? This was it. And if she got caught she would make sure... well, that she was ready when Boris came home.
This time, she planned to fight him, make him so angry that he would kill her or she would kill him.

  Zeta hoped it never got that far. She wanted to live—she wanted a life to live.

  It was two hours before dawn when they were all finally ready.

  Nikoli met them at his private airport of all things. He had said it belonged to his organization. Then they all drove, not to his hotel but to another building.

  Nikoli led them all inside.

  Zipper stopped in his tracks. It was a veritable war room. The kind the military had.

  Pappy whistled. “Well, hot damn. I could live here.”

  Nikoli nodded as they all looked around. “It is a rather well equipped operations room.

  “Room?” Sam exclaimed.

  Sam was right. It was warehouse sized military like command center.

  Zipper wandered up to a computer or rather he’d been drawn to it like a magnet to metal. “Fuuuuccck...” He shook his head. “A DVS 9,000? Top of the line! This PC costs at least 100k!”

  A man walked up and stood next to him. “Yeah, at least 99k. You feel like you are actually floating out into cyber space when on it. I’m Vilad. Nice to meet you.”

  Zipper felt confused why was he introducing himself, like Zipper was important. He’d never been comfortable with being that. It was why he did computers. “Um, Zipper. Same here.”

  He nodded. “I am to show you the set up.” He turned and walked away.

  Zipper hated to leave this PC. The things he could do with it. The places he could go. It would make any IT a fucking super hero. It might be the only time he could stand this close to a supreme piece of technology that was so close to being AI that it might be scary. Reluctantly, he turned and followed Vilad.

  Nikoli stood with the group as Vilad slipped in and sat down in front of a multi screened panel.

  On the screens was a street lined with dim street lamps and normal brownstones. Along with sidewalks were flowered lined entrances.

  “This is Bador street,” Nikoli announced. “We now have eyes on it.”

  “Cool,” Zipper replied. “Is this...” He pointed to the brownstone where he could actually see the number above the door. It was the address he’d gotten for her.