Chapter Nine
Raven stopped the car about three blocks away from the house, she lived in for two miserable years. The house wasn’t in New Orleans but in a small town about fifteen minutes outside the city called Metairie. When everyone joined her on the street, she was checking out the neighborhood. From where she stood, she could see his house down the street. She didn’t want to get too close.
“Which house was his?” Yuri asked.
“The blue one toward the end of the street. The one with the white fence around it.”
Yuri and Kosta searched down the blocks and finally saw the house Carlos lived in. The same house that Raven and Nicky lived in for a couple of years a long time ago. It looked a bit run down now, and the yard looked full of old cars and trash.
“He didn’t take very good care of his home did he?” Kosta asked.
Raven shrugged. “I don’t suppose it mattered to him very much. He didn’t stay here during the day and he could have cared less about this neighborhood. He preferred his place in New Orleans.”
“He had a place in the city?” Yuri asked.
Raven nodded. “A place for his business but he often stayed there as well. I think he had an apartment above his business.” She waited and searched the area for something.
“What do you see that we do not?” Kosta finally asked her when she wouldn’t move forward.
“Carlos has his people on watch,” she told them.
“I can see several people watching us.” He noted as he watched them watching her.
Raven nodded. “Mike is looking at us from the grey house.” She turned and saw Gary watching them as well from a house down the block. “Gary is there as well but there should be one more.” She turned around again and nodded. “There he is. Peter just came out.”
“He has three people watching his house?” Yuri asked.
“Carlos has a lot of friends and even more enemies, I think.” She shrugged.
“Where is his safe house?” Kosta asked.
She turned away from the house and walked down another block to what looked like a warehouse. She stopped at the second building on the right. The entire next few blocks were small warehouses.
“This is Carlos’s safe house?” Yuri questioned.
Raven nodded.
Kosta scoffed. “It doesn’t look like much.”
She nodded. “Yeah I know, but he came here often and he always had someone who was packing a gun with him. He would bring different clients here as well. Not everyone walked away happy.” She paused then added, “Andria was one of those people who wasn’t happy when she walked away.”
“Let’s get this over with. I have other things I have to do.” Yuri urged her toward the rundown warehouse. The door squeaked as he pushed the door open. Once they saw the inner door, they understood that somethings had been updated. There was a brand new steel door in place just beyond the outer door. The floors inside were spotless and the inside looked much better than the outside.
“Ok…” Kosta rubbed his jaw. “How do we get through that?”
Raven went closer and looked over the door then she unbuckled her belt and reached for the back of the buckle. She took the back off and pulled out a set of lock picks. They weren’t very long but when she applied them to the lock, they worked.
Moments later, she was pushing the door open.
Kosta paused beside her and said, “You scare me. I would have said that door was un-pickable. How did you get past the lock so fast?”
She shrugged. “Carlos taught me well how to pick a lock. He should have remembered that.”
“Did you actually break into the penthouse? I’d heard that you got in at least once,” he asked in a whisper.
Raven grinned and held up four fingers.
Kosta choked. “Four times?” He glanced over at Yuri who just raised his brow.
“I told you someone had been in there before but you chose not to believe me.” Yuri shook his head. “Maybe next time, you will.” He turned to Raven and asked, “Really? Four times?”
“What can I say?” Raven grinned.
“How the hell did you get past all the security?” he queried.
“It really wasn’t all that hard.”
Yuri pointed between them. “When this is over, you and I are going to meet with security. I don’t want this to happen again.”
“Whatever.” She then turned to the office.
There was a desk and several file cabinets lining one entire wall. All Yuri’s men went to the cabinets and opened the drawers. They began boxing file after file.
Raven went to the desk and sat down in Carlos’s chair. For a moment, she just sat there. Then she closed her eyes and imagined she was Carlos. She could almost imagine what steps he would take to do his business. She opened the drawer and found a set of keys. With the keys in hand, she scanned the room for a safe. She got up and went over to a painting on the wall then swung it away. She scanned the outside of the wall safe for a moment then pressed her ear against the door. Carefully, she spun the tumblers. First one way, then the other, and back again. When she heard the final tumbler drop into place, she spread out the keys and selected the right one. Turning the key into the lock, she smiled when the heavy door opened.
Raven looked inside the safe.
Yuri joined her and together, they viewed what Carlos placed inside.
A huge stack of money sat there and several jewelry boxes on the lower shelf. On the upper shelf was a leather bound account book. Reaching for it, she was surprised by the weight of the book. The book was stuffed with extra pages and receipts. She handed it off the Yuri.
He then took it over to the desk where he sat down and opened it. He studied the first couple of pages then closed the book. Looking over at Raven he said, “We need more time than we’ve got left here to know what all this stuff means.”
“Take it with you then.” She shrugged. “I doubt Carlos will mind.”
Yuri grinned. “Oh, I think he will mind a great deal, there just isn’t anything he’s going to do about it. There is enough stuff in here to bring down his little empire.”
Kosta came up to her and handed her a file.
On the tab was the name Andria Waterson.
Raven quickly looked at him and then at the name on the file. She turned to Yuri and handed the file to him.
He took it from her and asked, “You don’t even want to know?”
She shook her head. “I don’t. She might have had a good reason for what she did but I don’t want to know why. She wasn’t a good woman to me and there is no good reason for what she did. If you or Nikoli need to know then you look.”
Yuri put the file under the account book and glanced at his men. “Are we ready to go?”
Kosta nodded. “We have all the files.” He threw the keys to Demetri. “Go get the car and drive it around. We’ll need to load this stuff up.”
Stephanou and Sasha went with him and they stood guard outside the warehouse. A few minutes later, Kosta and the others began loading boxes.
When they finished, Yuri and Raven got into the vehicle and they drove away.
On the way back to the hotel they swung past the apartment, Raven shared with her brother. Raven quickly packed the things that could be carried along with them and they left the rest. They had very few material possessions and barely any clothes but she took what she wanted. At least, she would have clean clothes.
When they got back to the hotel, Yuri carried the file and the account book with him while Kosta and the others brought the rest of the files upstairs. Yuri had said he wanted to look at them personally. He wanted to know exactly how big Carlos was and just where his boundaries lay.
Yuri opened the door to the penthouse and found Nikoli and Nicky waiting for him. He cocked his head as he stared at the pair of them.
Nikoli got up and poured him a drink and when he handed it to Yuri he said, “We have something to tell you. Something you aren’t going to want to hear but you need to hear it anyway.” Nikoli glanced at Raven and added, “You both need to hear this.”
Raven went to sit next to Nicky.
Yuri took a seat in the chair. “Ok, I’m listening.”
Nicky nodded his head and began, “About three months ago, I was sitting in a café on Canal Street, and the guys at the table behind me were discussing toppling the Russian Bratva. I mean I didn’t know any of you then and the way they talked, it wouldn’t actually hurt anyone, just discredit you with the Council. I didn’t know anyone there either. I didn’t think about hurting anyone but I was bored. So I decided to play their game.” He stopped to grin at Raven. “They had this schedule and they were going to flood the city with fake accidents in your territory, so people would think your part of the city was unsafe. This one guy said he had a bunch of money to pay the fake claims with and that all they had to do was wait for the timeline.” He looked over at Raven again and blushed a bit.
Raven glared at him.” What have I repeatedly told you?”
“I’m sorry but I couldn’t resist,” he defended. “Well, I followed him home and when he went to work the next day, I broke in. I knew I shouldn’t do it, but I did it anyway. I took one stack of the money he had set aside. The only problem was I didn’t know the money was fake. It was all hundred dollar bills. I really tried not to spend it but I just couldn’t help it. I didn’t spend it all at once and I tried to spend it in different places. It was only this morning I realized what was really going on here. This guy wasn’t talking about accidents in your territory but spreading fake hundred dollar bills all over the city. They were both plotting to discredit the entire Council.”
“But why? What would they hope to gain by busting up the Council?” Yuri asked.
“I looked into that today,” Nikoli stated. “I spoke to Mr. Choo and a few of the others then I spoke to my contact in New York. He told me something I found interesting. Someone new is trying to move in. But before they can do that, they have to bust up the Council that’s already in place.”
“And who is this man who’s trying to move into power?” Yuri wanted to know.
“His name is Joshua Huntington. He’s a high powered attorney and his only client is the Ukrainian mob,” Nikoli replied. “I placed a call to Demi Straus. When I explained what was happening here, he was very interested. There have been rumors of unrest within his organization. He’s tried to squash the rumors but he was very interested in the fake money plot. He seemed to know exactly who might be behind it. He said he would take care of the man behind the plot if we wanted to deal with the attorney. I told him I would leave it up to you as this is your area.”
Yuri grinned. “I can do that. I think it’s time to call an emergency meeting of the High Council. It’s time for them to pass some judgements.”
“That may take care of Carlos, Andria and this attorney Huntington but we still need to deal with the person who set this whole thing up.” Nikoli nodded. “We still don’t know who that person is or the reason behind the act. I’d like to know the who and the why of it all.”
“And we will find that out,” Yuri assured him. “Raven was right on target. She knew exactly where the safe house was and we took everything Carlos had. Now all we have to do is read through it and we’ll find out what we need to know to bust it all up. He deserves to feel the wrath of the Bratva. They both do. What they did to you and your family needs to be answered for.”
Raven reached out and touched Nikoli’s hand. “I hope you find out who put this plan in motion. What your son lived through no one should have to endure.”
“I agree.” Nikoli nodded. “But life is often like that where ever you live.” Looking over at Yuri he said, “I once knew five young men who grew up in the same way as you and Nicky did. They grew up on the streets of St. Petersburg. Russia can be a beautiful place to live as long as you don’t have to live on the streets. Not many survive living on the streets but those who do, never forget what they have endured.”
Yuri smiled at him, then checked his watch and saw they had two hours before they were to meet the guys for supper. The day had passed more quickly than he’d thought. They had managed to get a deal done today but there was much more left to do. They had to find the man in charge and for that, he would need to dig into the evidence they found at Carlos’s safe house.
A thought just occurred to him and he looked back over at Nikoli. “Have you spoken to anyone about finding your son yet?”
Nikoli frowned. “No I haven’t, why?”
“Because we don’t yet know who put this plot into action nor do we know why.”
“Okay, do you have any ideas how to accomplish that?” Nikoli asked.
“I think the answers lie in his files. We have those files now and we just need to know where to look to find the answers we seek.”
“Alright,” Nikoli agreed. “I don’t have to be back in New York for three more days. I’ll give you those three days to find the evidence we need to take down the one responsible.
Yuri smiled at Nikoli’s challenge. It was like reliving old times. Nikoli had issued challenges to the five of them. A series of puzzles he called it. A puzzle they had to solve to get to the end where a warm meal and a soft bed waited for them.
All five men tried to solve the puzzles on their own and failed. When they all worked together, they got the answers they needed and they managed to solve the puzzles. Yuri knew what he had to do. He had to get everyone involved. “We need the others in on this,” he told his old friend.
Nikoli agreed. “The five of you were always better together than you were apart.”
“I’ll ask them at supper.”
“Da this is a good thing.” Nikoli smiled. “It will be like old times.” Rubbing his hands together he suggested, “Maybe we should call them and get them all here now, instead of later.”
“I agree.” Yuri nodded. “We can have dinner delivered from the restaurant and we can begin going through the files.”
“Can we help?” Nicky asked.
“Oh course, you can.” Nikoli beamed. “You are after all, a part of this.”
“I need to shower and change my clothes before I meet your friends. I feel a little grubby,” Raven told them.
Yuri nodded. “We did stop by to pick up your clothes after all.” He narrowed his eyes to glare at her.
“Yes, we did.” Raven agreed quietly. She turned and picked up her bag from just inside the door and went to Yuri’s bedroom. When she closed the door, Yuri looked over at Nicky. “Is she always this damn stubborn?”
Nicky nodded his head and gazed at the door. “You have no idea. She’s proud and she’s stubborn. But it was those traits that got us through the worst of it. We could have taken the easy way out and continued to steal to survive while we lived on the streets but she wouldn’t allow it. She said any moron could do that, but we had a reason to be better than that. She said the odds were against us for sure but that didn’t mean we had to live like the dregs of society. We were going to hold our heads high and not be afraid of looking people in the eyes. She said we may not have much but we did have our pride.”
“Sometimes my son,” Nikoli told him “Pride is all you need to help you make the right decisions in life. You are the one that has to live with the choices you make.”
Nicky nodded. “There were times when I would have chosen different routes but she kept me on the straight and narrow path and it was for the best. Time proved her right and she taught me everything I needed to know.”
“I have to wonder where she learned everything she passed on to you.” Yuri shrugged. “It sure wasn’t from her mother.”
“She once told me that if you learned to watch people, you could learn any lesson you needed to learn. If you watched how the different people reacted with each other, you could learn how to deal with life. No matter where we went, she always watched the people around us. She’d laugh, she’d cry and sometimes she just shook her head at the way people treated each other. I never understood her when she would study people.”
“Did you ever get to go to school?” Nikoli questioned.
Nicky shook his head. “No not really. Andria never wanted us to go. Raven had to be at home to take care of me when I was little and when we went to live with her grandma, we were supposed to be in hiding. Social workers wanted to enroll us in school but we were so far behind it didn’t pay for us to start then. We were supposed to be home school but Carlos and Rachel didn’t bother with that. When we left that place, Raven was fourteen and could barely read. I wasn’t much better but when we got settled, Raven made us go to the public library where she taught herself to read and then she taught me. She got a hold of some out dated school books and we read them all.” He shrugged.
Nikoli’s and Yuri’s gazes met as they both nodded.
Niki, continued, “I never cared much for reading. I was more of a hands on kind of guy but she loves to read. She loves to learn something new. For two years, she would pick a different subject every few weeks and learn everything she could. We spent hours at a time at the library.” He chuckled. “I remember one time when we lived in Colfax, we got locked in the library overnight one time. We were in the loft and she was reading me a story and we were both so caught up in the book we didn’t notice when the library closed for the night. Nobody noticed us either.”
Yuri and Nikoli looked a bit worried for a moment.
Nicky shook his head. “Don’t worry. She made us both take the GED test. We may not have gone to school but we both passed the test. She made sure of that.”
Nikoli got up and walked over to the window as he looked outside for a moment. When he turned back to Nicky he said, “I owe her more than I could ever repay her. She raised you with the kind of love a mother has for her child. She taught you what you needed to learn about life and she taught you to be a good man. She did the job as well as I could have done.”
“She loved me,” Nicky said simply.
“She did indeed,” Nikoli agreed.
Yuri felt a moment of jealously rush through him. He knew it was a different kind of love but it was still love and he wanted that feeling from her. He’d fallen for her very quickly but he knew she was everything he wanted in a woman. He’d only known her a few days but he knew she was the one for him. Now, he just needed time to convince her of that fact. He had to convince her that she couldn’t live without him. He’d lived his whole life without finding this kind of love and now at the age of forty two, he’d finally found it with a woman almost half his age.
Yuri knew one thing for certain—he couldn’t lose her, not now. He’d only just found her.