Andrei
That morning, I woke up in my own bed. Never a good time. I preferred to wake up in Kelly’s arms, but I had vowed to stop doing that, at least so often. While I enjoyed spending time with her, there had to be boundaries…at least I thought there should be boundaries. We couldn’t get too comfortable.
And we were getting comfortable.
And I liked it.
But as much as I liked it, I didn’t want to risk falling for her. As wonderful as she was, she deserved more. She shouldn’t have to be dragged into my life. She was too pure and innocent.
Well…she sure wasn’t pure and innocent in bed. She was a tiger. She was willing to dominate and to be dominated, and I was slowly discovering that sometimes it was more satisfying to give over control, to allow others to do what they want to your body. Because Kelly was getting to know my body, and what turned me on, I was having a hard time keeping my hands off of her.
But for all the sex we were having, Kelly wasn’t pregnant yet. For all of my plans, things were moving, but they weren’t moving fast enough for me. I wasn’t getting close enough to formulize a plan for my revenge, which was eating away at me. The only time I felt like I was human was when I was with Kelly. Otherwise, I felt like a demon, consumed by rage and anger and the need to kill. Mikhail Vasilev had taken so much from me, and I wasn’t about to rest until I had taken everything away from him and then took his life, as well. I feared my obsession wasn’t going to end well, but who would be the one to pay the price?
I was like a caged animal all day, and I couldn’t be happy about anything. Breakfast tasted bland, and Kelly had slept in, so I didn’t even have her to talk to. No preoccupation from my dark thoughts.
After lunch, I tried to call Aleksey for an update, but he didn’t answer. Which wasn’t too surprising, but it fouled my mood even further.
When I couldn’t handle the wait any longer, I decided to take matters into my own hands. After his shop closed for the night, I sneaked to the back door with the intent of looking for anything I could use against Vasilev. I had learned how to burglarize without a trace in my youth, before I reclaimed my name. It served me well then, and the skill had continued to serve me well as an adult. Some of life’s most important survival skills were things you wouldn’t be taught in school but out on the streets.
The lock was a decent one, but I took my time and still managed to unlock it. A quick glance to make sure no one was around. Good. The coast was clear. I quietly slipped inside and closed the door behind me. It was dark inside, too dark to see, and I had to wait for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. I couldn’t risk turning on a flashlight in case someone was lingering around, though I didn’t hear anyone else, and I had watched everyone leave before breaking in.
Once my eyes adjusted enough that I could see, I made my way to Vasilev’s office. While the rest of the place looked rather messy — actually that was too kind, as the place looked like a tornado had swept through it — Vasilev’s office was stark and neat and empty. He wouldn’t be the kind to leave trails, so this might be for nothing, but on the off chance his hubris could help bring him down, I had to check.
I moved to the filing cabinet first and had to unlock each and every drawer, but quick glances didn’t reveal anything important. I didn’t want to stay here longer than was necessary, so I moved onto the desk. If I needed to, I’d return to the filing cabinet. He was putting on a show that he was legitimate business owner, so if he was laundering money, he was doing a superb job of hiding it. More than anything, I wanted to find out to whom he owed money. That information would be the first nail in his coffin.
There wasn’t anything on the surface of the desk except for a pen. There were plenty of locked drawers, but what caught my eye was the trashcan.
The not empty trashcan.
It was full of shredded papers.
The shredder was tucked away in the back corner of his office. He must have done a ton of shredding recently, because the bin was still filled even though he had put some in his regular trash. But the best part was that there was a large piece that hadn’t shredded completely and was sticking out of the top. Maybe the shredder had overheated or maybe the papers were too thick.
I pulled out them from the top and riffled through them. A faded paid transaction to Sanchez Trucking. Interesting. Then I ransacked through the bottom and discovered strips that looked like they had been other transactions. This must be the connection I needed.
I wasn’t stupid enough to think Vasilev came back to my city just to earn money to pay back this company, which was most likely a cover for someone else. With those guns he had recently acquired, was Vasilev’s big plan to take me down and steal my money to get this third party off his back?
Not gonna happen, buddy.
I grabbed the transaction from the top of the shredder, folded it, and tucked it inside a pocket. My time here had come to an end. I’d better get out of here before someone noticed me. After all, even though I didn’t see any cameras, it didn’t mean they weren’t hiding somewhere. Honestly this had gone a lot more smoothly than I had anticipated. If a silent alarm had been tripped, someone would’ve been here long before now.
After I ensured everything was the way it should be, that no one would be able to tell I had entered the office, I was ready to leave. But when I stood by the doorway, the hair on the back of my neck rose. Someone else was in here. I could tell.
Fuck.
I ducked down, and there was a whoosh above my head as someone tried to punch where I had just been. Pissed but also happy I could release some of my frustrations and anxiety, I dove forward and wrapped my arms around the assailant’s legs. He was too strong to be knocked over, but I did push him back enough so there was space between us. A good start.
Before I could get into position to launch my own attack, he was already going after me again. His fist connected with my jaw, and I was lucky I didn’t bite my tongue, but then his elbow slammed into my nose. Blood gushing, dripping down my neck and onto my clothes, and I was livid.
The man backed off slightly, snickering and smirking. He was dressed all in black, but I couldn’t see anything that made him easily recognizable, and my first thought was to wonder if he was the same man who had accosted Kelly, which made me all the more furious, but I couldn’t give into emotions. I had to be careful. Not only did I have to take care of the man in black, but I also had to ensure there wasn’t any evidence of the attack. So I couldn’t bleed on anything and I couldn’t make him bleed either…at least not here.
The man dove forward, forcing me back into the office. I ducked down and dashed forward at his legs. He tripped over me, his head knocking into the desk. Good thing there wasn’t a bunch of papers on top, or else there would have been a huge mess for me to clean up.
Unfortunately, the blow wasn’t enough to knock him unconscious, so I wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled tight. He slapped at me, clawed at me, wiggled around, but slowly, my chokehold cut off his oxygen enough for him to slump over. He wasn’t quite unconscious, so I pulled back and hit him hard right in the temple. Now he was out. Still alive, but down for the count.
I double-checked that everything was right where it should be. The pen had fallen down, so I returned it to its place. Perfect.
After cracking my knuckles and doing a few quick stretches, I dragged the man outside and to a deserted alley. No one was around, and I attached a silencer to my gun. Movies acted like silencers made a gun completely silent, which wasn’t the case. Gunshots were super loud, and silencers only muffled the sound a little bit. If people were nearby, they would still hear it, but at this time of night, hopefully no one was around or awake to hear it, and it wasn’t like I planned on sticking around.
A single shot to the forehead, and it was done. I picked up the casing and then lifted the guy and dumped the body into a dumpster. There. All done. No one would know I had been the one to snoop around in Mikhail’s office. It was unfortunate that I had to kill the guy since it was a dead giveaway someone had been crossing the line into Mikhail’s business, but it was what it was. The man had seen me. He had attacked me. He had to be put down.
And he was only the first. There would be more death on my hands by the time I was done with the likes of Mikhail Vasilev.