“But I’m just a bartender,” she protested. “I mean, I’ve messed up a drink or two but nothing worth dying over.”
“Think, Nikki,” he urged, his eyes boring into hers. “Did you ever make anyone mad there? Maybe turn down some guy who tried to make a move on you?” She kept shaking her head. “Flirt with a guy one of the dancers was involved with?”
“No! I’m telling you I just do my job. No one ever gets mad at me! Well, except,” she hesitated.
Gage’s gaze turned predatory in an instant. “Except what?”
Nikki squirmed on her seat. “It was nothing,” she hedged, knowing he wouldn’t think it was nothing at all. “My boss got mad at me Friday night because he thought I was snooping outside his office. But I wasn’t!” she insisted. “One of the soda guns broke and I just wanted to let him know to grab one at the restaurant supply house before the next night.”
She could see Gage was holding his breath, waiting for her to give him more. “I think I overheard him talking about pimping some of the dancers out on the side. He was arguing about it with his cousin. He hates his cousin so they’re always arguing. I wasn’t paying attention.”
“I need you to think very hard now, Kitten. Remember what you heard and tell me every word of it.”
She closed her eyes and tried to remember that night. It seemed like a lifetime ago now considering all that had been going on since. “His cousin was yelling at him that they couldn’t trust him. I don’t know who ‘him’ was. He was worried about someone called The Bear finding out. He mentioned running girls.”
“Is that all?” Gage’s eyes were sharp and bright now, his body tensed as if he were about to pounce. Nikki saw the professional side of him in that moment, cold and merciless, eager to move in for the kill. It was scary, but also comforting. She was grateful he was on her side. If only she could clearly remember what she’d overheard. The broken soda gun and getting home to her comfy PJs and a bowl of cereal had been all she’d been interested in at the time, at least until Yefim started yelling at her for snooping.
“Kilos,” she added. “Yefim said something about kilos. And... smurfing? But Ruslin, that’s my boss’s cousin, he was upset about something else. I don’t know what. They didn’t say.”
“Kilos would indicate narcotics,” Gage mused. “Smurfing means he’s been shrinking some numbers somewhere to make it look like there’s less money flowing than there really is, most likely so he can skim off the top. I imagine whoever he’s stealing from would kill him if they ever found out.” Gage leaned back in his chair and whistled softly. “And your boss knows you know about it.”
“But I don’t know who he’s stealing from!” Nikki cried. “Why would he think I would tell anyone?”
“That’s what we need to figure out,” Gage said as he got up and came around to sit beside her on the couch. “It’s going to be ok, Kitten, I promise.” He pulled her into his lap and held her close as tears threatened to spill down her cheeks again. Wrapped up in his strong arms, Nikki closed her eyes and tried to calm down. Even though she barely knew him, she knew she could trust him to fix things and keep her safe. It was hard to believe her boss would do such a thing though. Yefim had been difficult to work with at times, but she never thought he was a bad man. She’d always viewed him as a gruff-natured uncle in a way, grouchy and negative but still family. Now she knew better and it hurt more than she wanted to admit.
“Do you know who the club is owned by?” Gage asked.
“Some company out of Kansas,” she replied, snuggling against his warm chest while he stroked her hair. She adored having her hair brushed and played with. “I probably have a paystub in my backpack though,” she added, hoping he wouldn’t make her get up and get it. Although she’d gotten plenty of rest, being held in Gage’s arms while he stroked her hair quickly drained all the tension out of her and before she knew it, she’d drifted off to sleep.
* * *
When he was sure she was fast asleep he carried her to her room and tucked her back into bed, then retrieved her backpack. As he rummaged through it in search of a paystub he marveled at the nonsense women put in their purses. Especially ones as unconventional as Nikki. Cherry Bomb lip gloss. Five nail files. He assumed one regular one and four backups but he didn’t understand the requirements of female nail maintenance and didn’t care to learn. Two packs of gum, one travel pack of tissues, and a tube of mascara. A folded business card with some chewed-up gum stuck inside. A coupon for a free taco at a taco hut in Coral Gables. At the bottom of the mess he uncovered what he was looking for; a wadded-up collection of paystubs from a company called Diamond Gem Entertainment LLC out of Topeka, Kansas. “Of course it’s out of Kansas,” he said dryly. No doubt a little research would discover Diamond Gem Entertainment was owned by another company, most likely out of Guatemala or perhaps the Cayman Islands. With enough digging the real owner would surface, but that wasn’t his area of expertise. When it came to finding people, places, and bank accounts, he relied on Stitch.
A call to Stitch’s number went directly to voice mail. It always did. At the tone he said his name and hung up. The return call came in less than a minute. Gage had been using Stitch for nearly five years with excellent results. Tracking the money trail behind the Velvet Jacket Cabaret would be an easy task for her. Gage had always imagined Stitch was a woman but he had no way of knowing. Whoever it was, they used some sort of software that filtered their voice as to be unrecognizable. He knew the Hollywood version would be either a twentyish male with a million computer screens in some industrial loft, hyped up on Red Bull and too much time playing GTA, or else a quirky female of around the same age, complete with a lot of tattoos and smartass comments about anything and everything. The reality was probably a lot older and a lot less hip. Not that it mattered to him. As long as the intel was reliable, he didn’t care if came from a senior citizen tucked away in a swanky nursing home.
“I have two research jobs,” he said as he quickly read off the pertinent info regarding the target, Kaito Kobayashi. The guy looked like your typical rich Asian playboy and Gage knew those sorts were prone to a host of enemy-creating scandals. Stitch would uncover everything from where the guy liked to party to what his favorite brand of socks were. Armed with a solid map of Kobayashi’s comings and goings, Gage could move forward with the job.
“The second is a company called Diamond Gem Entertainment LLC, based out of Topeka, Kansas. It’s listed as owner for a strip club called the Velvet Jacket Cabaret located in Miami, Florida. I know it’s just a front. I need to know who the primary ownership lies with.” He waited until the keyboard clicking on the other end stopped before continuing. “Find out everything you can about the owner.”
Gage thought for a minute and then added, “Make that three jobs. See what you can dig up on a Yefim Vashchenko. He’s the manager of the strip joint.” Although it wouldn’t be his first choice, Gage had no qualms about paying the manager a visit when they returned if no other option had presented itself. No doubt the contract could be rescinded with adequate persuasion, and if the manager were to go missing soon after he doubted too many questions would be asked.
Stitch quoted a price, half up front which Gage transferred immediately before hanging up. Luckily she still accepted old school bank transfers, which was another reason he’d always pictured her to be at least as old as he was. The younger crowd all demanded bitcoin, and he’d never quite grasped or trusted cryptocurrency. Probably Nikki could bring him up to speed but the less she knew about what he did, the better. He’d never given much thought to the opinions of others, and that disregard had only intensified as he’d gotten older. Now he found himself feeling uneasy and even a bit ashamed to imagine what she might think of him.
Gage had never been one to let feelings affect his judgment but Nikki had thrown a monkey wrench into his world and the last week had been an emotional roller coaster for him. One minute he worried if she was eating right or if she’d brushed her t
eeth, the next he wanted to pull off her footie pajamas and spank her naughty bottom for throwing a plate or rolling her eyes at him. At the same time he yearned to wrap his fingers in her always messy hair and pull her close, kiss her as she melted into him. Most important, he wanted to protect her from all the bad in the world, and it disturbed him to know he was most certainly part of the bad.
While he waited for Stitch to get back to him, Gage did a little sleuthing of his own. A search of Koshkas living in Miami revealed little. As she’d told him, her parents had been killed in a car crash and there’d been nothing to indicate foul play. Between the estate and a sizable life insurance policy, Nikki had been well provided for. If there had been anything shady connected to the Koshka name, it wasn’t turning up online.
Less than an hour had passed when he finally closed his laptop, feeling dirty for having even snooped into Nikki’s private life. Gage hadn’t wanted to pry about her parents’ deaths or where her money came from, but knowing all the details was critical. Easier to check online than ask her directly and perhaps dredge up bad memories of the past. He’d found what he was looking for anyway, and was about to check on Nikki and see if she was still asleep when his mobile rang. It was Stitch.
“You should have files on Kobayashi and Vashchenko in your inbox,” she said.
“That was fast,” Gage said, impressed as always with Stitch’s efficiency.
“I’m good,” she shot back.
He could picture her grin as she said it. “What about Diamond Gem?”
“Give me a few days,” she replied. “I’ve already run down five shell corporations behind it and the trail doesn’t look like it’s going to end anytime soon.”
“Call me as soon as you get something,” he told her.
“Whoever owns it knows what they’re doing.”
Gage was amused to hear the frustration in her voice come through despite the filtering software. “I can give you until Saturday,” he said.
“If I need that much time I’ll retire in shame,” she shot back before hanging up.
As promised two files awaited him in his inbox. He started to open Kobayashi first, then clicked on Vashchenko at the last second. The job should have priority, but as far as he was concerned Nikki was far more important. He needed to know who Yefim Vashchenko was, and why he would go to so much trouble to have her killed.
Reading the dossier on Yefim shed no new light on the whole mess. If anything it only made him more confused. Yefim Vashchenko, DOB 12-15-1965 in Saint Petersburg. Lengthy list of petty crimes as a juvenile, though nothing particularly interesting or imaginative. In 1984 he married the youngest daughter of a local, minor level crime boss and two years later the couple immigrated to the United States. He’d been put in charge of a number of businesses over the years, but by the looks of them Yefim’s value to whatever family he was affiliated with had been in steady decline for decades. He’d been installed as general manager at the Velvet Jacket Cabaret nearly four years ago and Gage suspected it was the end of the road for him. With no chance at moving up it was not surprising Yefim had begun ripping his bosses off. Perhaps he thought they owed him, or maybe he was just bored. Either way it didn’t matter. Gage had seen a hundred guys do the same thing over the years and it never ended well for any of them.
Still, it made no sense to call the Switchboard. Gage was missing something, something big enough to warrant Yefim opening his shallow pockets for a professional hit. He hoped whatever Stitch dug up on the parent company and its owners would tie everything together and offer Gage a way to get Nikki out of the mess she was in. It would be easy enough to eliminate Vashchenko, but without knowing who else was connected, that might be the equivalent kicking a hornet’s nest. Yefim and his cousin were obviously afraid of someone called ‘The Bear’ and Gage was certain finding the owner of the club would lead him right to this person. With luck he could throw Yefim to the wolves, or in this case The Bear, and Nikki’s problem would be solved. He only hoped everything became clear before they headed back to the states. He hated going into a situation without knowing all the angles.
At last he turned his attention to the job he had come to do and clicked on the Kobayashi file. The guy staring back at him looked every bit as dangerous as a day-old donut, but the reason for the hit soon became clear. Kaito Kobayashi, not to be confused with the famed Japanese child pianist, turned out to be the youngest son of one of Japan’s wealthiest financiers. The spoiled playboy was well known for his love of fast cars, married women, and hip night clubs, all of which could be found on his many social media accounts.
There was a darker side to Kobayashi though and Stitch had uncovered it. Turned out he also had strong ties to the Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest Yakuza family in Japan. Despite a number of splits and general upheaval within the organization over the last few years, the Kobe-based crime family was still considered the largest criminal organizations in the world. The amount of money it generated every year was staggering, its enterprises ranging from the usual extortion and gambling, prostitution, drugs and illegal firearms, to the more white-collar scams involving real estate and construction, as well as stock market manipulation, and Kobayashi had his fingers buried deeply in several of their cookie jars, including blackmail and human trafficking.
It didn’t particularly surprise Gage that Kobayashi got mixed up with the Yakuza. If there was one constant across the globe, it was that young people tended to romanticize the life of a gangster. Wealthy, well-educated youth were hardly immune. If anything they were even more eager to embrace the notoriety that came with the criminal underworld. Whatever reasons Kobayashi had for getting mixed up with the Yamaguchi-gumi, Gage doubted they were worth the price on his head now. Not that he really cared, especially not after learning of the guy’s involvement in human trafficking. It was just a typical job now, one criminal wanted another criminal dead and was willing to pay a lot to make it happen. The fact that they didn’t take care of it in house didn’t surprise him either. It just meant the client was close to Kobayashi and didn’t want to risk being tied to the hit.
Gage suspected the contract on Nikki had been taken out by someone close to her as well, but he had to stop thinking about that now. If he was going to take care of business he needed to put a little distance between himself and Nikki. She was proving to be a much bigger distraction than he would have ever imagined. He had surveillance to run, addresses to watch, exit plans to make, and all he could think about was giving her a bath and brushing her hair. He needed to get out of the hotel room and clear his mind. Otherwise he was liable to make stupid mistakes.
Nikki had his head spinning in circles. One minute she was a sensual, beautiful woman, the next a precocious, sassy brat. Just being near her took his breath away, and it didn’t matter if she was asleep with her thumb in her mouth or coming out of the shower wearing nothing more than a towel and a smile. For now he had to put thoughts of her aside. She was still napping peacefully, so he scribbled a quick note and left it on the nightstand next to her bed. He would spend the day checking out the addresses Stitch had sent him for Kobayashi and craft a plan. Hopefully putting a little space between him and his sweet kitten would clear his head and let him focus on the job.
Chapter Thirteen
When Nikki finally woke up it was midafternoon and she was all alone in the hotel suite. There was a note by the bed explaining that Gage had stepped out and she was to stay in the room until he returned. That suited her fine. She was still exhausted from the flight and everything that had led up to it. Lounging in bed alternating between watching Japanese game shows and napping sounded perfect, even if she had no clue what they were saying on the TV. It was almost dinnertime when Gage called and told her to get cleaned up. They were going to go out to dinner.
Whether it was a date or not she wasn’t sure, but the butterflies in her tummy thought it was, so she’d taken extra care to get ready. Gage had allowed her to order some clothes for the trip on his credit ca
rd, and she’d intended to get a few cute dresses like the ones she’d left behind, but when she spied a blue cocktail dress on the website she hadn’t been able to resist. It was uncharacteristically sexy for her, but dressing big was fun too. Looking at herself in the mirror, she couldn’t stop giggling. She looked like a movie star. It rode high on her thighs, low on the neckline, and the back was missing entirely. Cyla would have squealed with delight and told her she’d finally joined the big girl club. Nikki felt like a million bucks in it. That figure jumped to two million after Gage got back and was left speechless at the sight of her. It made the constant concern over her butt peeking out under the hem of her dress totally worth it.
He took her to a cozy little restaurant not too far from where they were staying. The intimate sushi bar only had one other patron, a lone man sitting at the far end who was much too focused on his tasty dinner to notice their arrival. They sat at a small table next to a window overlooking a tiny, but elegant garden with a little pond. There was no menu, Gage explained. It was chef’s choice so whatever he felt like serving them was what they would get. “And you will at least try it all,” he’d warned before she could protest. Nikki had been worried about getting gross stuff like jellyfish but after the second plate came it was clear her concerns were baseless. Everything the chef sent their way looked like it came out of a foodie magazine and tasted equally amazing.
After seeing her struggle with her chopsticks, Gage motioned the lone waiter over and quickly conferred with him in Japanese. Nikki watched as the waiter gave a short bow, then went to retrieve something from behind the counter. When he returned, he presented her with a special pair of chopsticks that featured a white cat wearing a red bow on her ear at the top. “Hello Kitty!” she exclaimed as she showed them to Gage. The sticks were joined, connected to Hello Kitty’s paws, and each stick had special rings and rests for her fingers. “I love them!”
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