“Hold on to him!” he had said, picking his son up and throwing him on his hip.
“I’m sorry,” she said, tears in her eyes. “I’m trying as hard as I can, Yakov.” Her tears and pleas fell on deaf ears that night.
Heart in his chest, he made his way to the baggage claim area where a large crowd of people waited. It seemed even with the long wait and delays, they were in a happy mood, moving as slow as possible and bringing him to a hot boiling edge.
He looked up at the monitors to see if their bags had been released and then back at his wife. “This is fucking ridiculous,” he said, looking at his watch.
They had already arrived over an hour and half later because one of the key radar facilities was down due to a fire, now his bags were taking forever to get to him.
“Be patient, Yakov,” his wife hissed. “You’re driving me crazy, and you’re scaring our son.” She looked at the boy, who was confused by all of the ruckus. “Maybe we should just go home.”
“We can’t go home,” he said, looking back up at the monitor. “We can never go home again until Leo is caught.” Shaking his head, he grabbed her arm. “Forget this shit. I’ll come back for it later. Right now, we have to go.”
“What’s left of my life is in that luggage,” she complained. “Why can’t we wait to get it?” She stalled, pulling away from him. Suddenly, none of this seemed like a good idea. She just wanted to go home to her family and forget the diamonds.
“No,” he said, grabbing her again. “We have to go now.”
Starting to pout, she finally followed him down the long terminal with hordes of people headed toward the rental cars.
As he passed a kiosk of cell phone accessories, a young man in jeans and a gray hoodie spotted him. He looked down at his cell phone to make sure he had the right man. Even though he’d never gotten a target wrong in the past, he couldn’t make a mistake tonight of all nights. Sure that he had identified the right person, he waited a few seconds, put in his ear buds and then trailed a few feet behind the family.
He quickly sent a text to his boss.
He’s here. Got a kid and a woman with him.
The text was quickly answered.
Take a pic. Follow close. Don’t lose them.
Pavel did just as he was instructed. He took a picture of the three of them as they scurried quickly down the terminal, then went back to bobbing to his music, back pack thrown over his arm.
From the outside, Pavel looked like a regular teenager traveling alone, but actually he was a 20 year old runner for the Chicago branch of Dmitry’s extensive family. When they got a call from the Medlov men in Memphis, everyone jumped to their jobs. It wasn’t every day that the boss asked for a favor.
With sweat pouring down his face Yakov looked back, eyeing everyone. He immediately spotted Pavel, but couldn’t be sure if the boy was a threat. The baby faced kid could have been just a traveler. There were at least a hundred like them passing by. Plus, in this day and age, no one wore visible tattoos anymore.
“We’re getting a cab,” Yakov said, changing directions.
“What about a car?” his wife said, confused.
“Fuck a car. We can catch a cab and be out of here quicker,” Yakov said, moving his son to his other hip.
They headed toward the entrance, moving as quickly as their feet would take them. Pavel knew that he’d been spotted, so he put his phone up like he was talking as he passed Yakov.
“Did you see that motherfucker?,” Pavel asked into a dead phone. “Man, I have never been able to wield a skateboard like that. I need to work on my skills.” He made sure that Yakov heard him, and instantly he could see the man’s shoulders begin to relax. “Dude, I’m going to catch a cab. Meet me at the Square for a beer before we go to Lena’s house.” Why he chose the name Lena, was beyond him, but he made it sound convincing.
“Daddy, I have to use it,” Yakov’s son whined.
“Hold it,” Yakov snapped.
“Yakov, he has to use the restroom,” his wife said stopping. “Let me take him. You can’t expect him to hold it all the way to where we are going, do you?”
Pavel slowed down but only a little. “Is Amy going to be there?” he asked, his American accent throwing Yakov off more.
Yakov eyed the boy, but when he kept going, he finally looked around for anyone else who might be suspicious. “Fine. I’ll take him and then we go,” he said, headed toward the restroom area.
***
Vasily, Gabriel and Anatoly sat with five of Dmitry’s top men inside of Budem, a Russian restaurant in the heart of downtown Chicago waiting as they gave instruction to Pavel. On a struck of luck, they had been able to locate him with less trouble than they had first thought. All the planes coming from New York had been slowed due to an unrelated but fortunate event at the airport. It had allowed them to get their men in place. They had also sent men to the train stations, although they were sure that he would neither drive nor take a train because of his urgency to get out of Brighton Beach. Their calculations had paid off. Now, it was time to find out where he was going and make their final move.
Vasily looked at his watch again realizing that Lilly would be arriving in a few hours. He hoped by then to have Yakov neutralized and be able to move on to finding and stopping Leo once and for all.
Anatoly sat in the back of the fine dining restaurant, under dim lighting and fine china and quietly ate Ukrainian borscht while perusing the newspaper. Confident that his men would find Yakov, he had moved on to other business on his cell phone in between texting his wife and talking to Gabriel, who was still in a quiet uproar over Briggy.
Vasily felt more in his element now. He was doing what he was born to do - Tracking, chasing, and ultimately, if he was really lucky, killing. One of the men brought him a gun case and set it quietly on the table in front of him. Vasily took his eyes off the front door for a moment and opened it.
Just what the doctor ordered.
“It’s untraceable,” Ruslan said proudly.
Vasily rubbed his hands over the guns quietly. It’s beautiful, he thought to himself. He could feel the anxiousness coursing through him. He wanted … no at this point, want was such an inappropriate word … he needed to get this done. He pulled the twin Glocks from the case and held them up. They were the exact same size and color that Leo’s man had used to shoot him in his back. He’d be happy to return the favor.
Ruslan checked his phone again. “They are on the move, Boss.”
Vasily nodded. “Let me know when they arrive at their destination,” he said, standing up. He walked outside in the night air and pulled out his phone. A picture of Dylan sitting in his bed with pajamas on was now his screen saver. He swiped the phone open and dialed Boris.
“Da, Boss,” Boris answered on the first ring.
“Got any sleep yet?” Vasily asked.
“Not a wink” Boris said, watching the doctor load his small bag of equipment back into his car.
“How is Dylan?” Vasily asked.
“Went right back to sleep after the doctor swabbed his mouth. We told him that the doctor was checking him to see if he had strep throat.”
Vasily was relieved. “So, it didn’t scare him?”
“Nyet,” Boris smiled. “He’s a trooper. He barely moved.”
“Do me a favor and make sure that he gets downstairs in the morning to get breakfast and that he brushes his teeth and puts on clean clothes. He doesn’t always remember everything if you don’t remind him.” Vasily felt odd for sounding so paternal, but he wouldn’t be able to focus if he didn’t say something.
“He’s taken care of, Boss. We’re running a regular baby factory here. I know what to do,” Boris assured. “You find that bastard yet?”
Vasily looked back at the men circling around Anatoly at the back table of the restaurant. “Yeah, we’ve found him. Headed there now.”
“Send a bullet for me,” Boris said, headed back inside of the compound as the doctor drove
away.
“Oh, I will, brat,” Vasily said, hanging up the phone.
As he walked back inside, Anatoly stood up from the table and stretched. Slipping his gun holster on, he winked at Vasily. “We’ve got a tail on him. He’s headed to Lincolnshire.”
“Alright, everyone. Let’s load up and head out. I want this fucker’s head on a plate before dawn,” Vasily said, going back to the table to retrieve his magazine clips.
Chapter 22
Yakov’s tension began to subside as he and his family pulled up to his old condo off Rivershire Lane. A sight for sore eyes, it sat in the same state that he had left it. It was dark and quiet with only the street lights to illuminate the tree covered path. Bugs flew up into the halogen lamps and lightning bugs played around the rows of bushes up against the contemporary building. He quickly paid the cab driver and jumped out with his family. Digging in his pocket for the key, he walked along with son on his shoulder sleeping and his wife dragging slowly behind up to the front door. Putting in his code, he heard the door unlock and as it swung open, cold air rushed over him, cooling his burning body.
Muriel looked up at him with a look of desperation in her eyes. Were they finally here? It felt like it had taken forever. She followed him through the quiet lobby to the bank of elevators and waited as the bell rang and the lift opened.
They loaded in quietly, drained of words.
A short minute later, they were on the eighth floor.
He led them to the condo that he had kept to himself as his own personal secret for over a decade. Slipping the key into the lock, felt like freedom. He opened the door and stepped inside.
Everything was as he had left it.
“How did it stay so clean?” Muriel asked. True the furniture was dated, but everything was clean and quiet.
“I pay the neighbor,” he said, closing the door behind him.
“All this time?” she asked, frowning.
As he turned on a lamp in the small living room, he passed her their sleeping son. “Let me check everything.” He walked through the small condo, turning on each light, checking in the closets and under the bed, pulling at the windows and looking for anything that might be out of place. “All clear.” He waited as Muriel walked into the small guest bedroom.
She looked around approvingly. “So is this our new home?” she asked.
“Only for a while.” He walked over and kissed her on her forehead. “Everything will be alright. Trust me.”
She tried to smile back, to provide him that vote of confidence that he surely needed. “I do trust you,” she said, resting her head on his rock hard chest.
He took his son and laid him in the bed. Pulling his shoes off of him, he slipped the covers over his body and stood over him. “I’m going to provide the life for him that I never had.”
The promise made Muriel’s heart began to beat slowly again. It was his confidence that had sold her on this pipe dream, and she needed him to have that same confidence now to see them through.
Grabbing her by her small hand, he led her out of the room and closed the door. “I’ve got to call my contact tonight. It’s imperative that we move these diamonds by tomorrow and get ready to leave the country.”
She yawned but agreed. “Do you have anyone in mind?”
“Yeah.” He took a seat on the leather sofa and patted the place beside him for her to sit down. “I know a guy. I’ll call him and get things in order. You should try to get some rest now.”
She sat beside him and melted into his large body. Resting her head on him, she listened to his heartbeat. “Yakov, are we going to get that woman killed?”
Yakov took Muriel’s face in his hands. “My only job is to watch out for you and Stepan. Lilly made her bed. Let her lay in it, da.”
She nodded. “It just feels wrong, is all.”
“Life is wrong,” he said, pulling out his cell. “I better get on this.” Standing up, he passed her the remote. “Watch some television. Watch a DVD,” he chuckled, “or a video cassette.” There was a massive collection of dated movie tapes and more modern DVDs waiting for her pick from.
She laughed, lightening the mood. “Wow, it’s like walking into history,” she said, getting up to take a closer look at his collection in the entertainment center across the room.
Yakov walked to the door of the master bedroom and looked in. “I’m scared to see what type of clothes I have in there, but they’ll have to do. There is washer next to the kitchen. You can wash your clothes and Stepan’s. While I’m out tomorrow, I’ll pick up something for you and maybe stop back by the airport.”
“That would be great,” she said. “Right now, I’m starving. I don’t suppose that you have something in the fridge?”
“Afraid not,” he said, fishing through the mail in a milk crate by the garbage can. “I’m sure there is a pizza place open around here. Why don’t you just order something, but pay cash?” He pulled out a wad of hundred dollar bills and passed her several twenties, then passed her a pizza ad. “Will you be okay, while I take care of this?”
She took the piece of paper from him. “I’ll be fine,” she said, looking around the room again. “Go on, baby. Do what you have to do. I can handle the house stuff.”
Yakov walked over and kissed her again. This time on the mouth. It was a slow, sensual kiss, the same type that had stolen her heart. He knew that he had been a complete asshole for a couple of hours and now sincerely regretted it. “I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you,” she whispered.
***
The convoy of SUVs could not be mistaken as they trailed up the quiet lane toward Yakov’s condo. In each vehicle one Medlov sat surrounded by a truck full of Chicago gangsters, strapped and ready to destroy. For them, this event was on a timer. They knew that they could not be in the city for long, and they knew that they had more than one object. With time of the essence, everything had to play out right.
As they pulled up in front of the building, the men jumped out and headed straight for the front door. A couple was headed back in from a date and had just put their code into the security system when Ruslan, a tall, broad man with so many tattoos on his body until he looked like a circus freak, stepped in front and grabbed the door. His very appearance startled them into shock. Black as night eyes. Black as night hair. Full pink lips and dark tan skin.
“After you,” he said, as they quickly rushed inside.
He held the door as nearly 15 men strode inside, then closed it carefully behind him.
The doorman, who had been asleep for nearly two hours, quickly woke up. He stood rigid behind the desk as Vasily approached. He tried to straighten his ridiculous uniform to no avail. Wiping a hand over his balding head, he cleared his throat.
“I’m looking for this man,” Vasily said, sliding his phone across the marble top. He eyed the man as he looked at it.
He shook his head. “I’m not supposed to give out…”
Vasily cut him off with a dismissive wave. “Do you want our next visit to be to your home? Maybe to your mother’s home?”
The man shook his head emphatically.
“Then where’s this guy?” Vasily urged.
“I don’t know,” the man answered sincerely. “I’ve been asleep, sir.”
“Figures. Do you have a surveillance camera around here?” Gabriel asked.
The man moved back from the view of the cameras so that Gabriel could see.
“Rewind it and find him,” Vasily ordered.
Five minutes later, they watched Yakov enter the building on camera system.
“Eighth floor,” the man croaked. “Apartment 815.”
“Now, was that hard?” Gabriel asked, hitting the man on the head. “Call the police and it will be your last neighborhood watch. Got it chief?”
“Got it,” the man answered, looking around at the lobby full of men. There was no way that he wanted to get caught in this shit storm.
“Three stay here with Mr. Bel
vedere, three take the stairs, six take the elevators,” Vasily said, headed toward the elevators himself.
The men all took their positions or headed to their destination while Vasily entered the elevators with Gabriel and Anatoly along with three other men. Cocking his gun Vasily stilled his disposition.
Anatoly pulled out his cell phone.
“Really?” Gabriel asked.
“It’s Papa,” Anatoly said, reading the text. He sighed and raised a brow. “We have to make sure that the diamonds are there before we kill him.”
“What?” Gabriel said, rolling his eyes. “Why?”
“That’s what the fucking man just said.” He showed his phone. “Don’t kill him unless the diamonds are there. See, it says it right there.”
“Well,” Vasily said, cocking his gun. “Let’s hope that the diamonds are there.”
As the doors to the elevator opened, they carefully exited, seeing their men meet them at the emergency exit. They slowly made their way down to Yakov’s door.
Standing on either side of the door, they waited as one of the men knocked on the door.
Muriel was sitting in the living room watching television while Yakov took a shower. “That was fast,” she said, looking at the clock. Grabbing the money off the end table, she walked to the door. “Coming,” she called out.
Yakov heard the door, from the shower and turned off the water. Looking at his watch, his heart dropped. It would take a pizza guy a hell of a lot longer than that to deliver food. “Muriel, don’t answer it!” he screamed as he jumped out of the shower and ran for the door naked.
It was too late.
As soon as Muriel opened the door, the man on the other side pointed the gun at her and pushed her back inside of the apartment. Screaming, she fell back on the floor, moving away from him.
Yakov came barreling out of the bedroom toward her and ran directly into Vasily. His feet halted on the carpet as he looked at his wife, being held at gun point. Vasily took one look at him and punched him dead in the nose. Blood flew against the wall and Yakov fell backwards.
“Stand up, you piece of shit!” Vasily ordered.
Vasily's Revenge: The Complete Story (The Medlov Men Book 1) Page 17