narrow parking lot and sidewalk were filled with cars. A solitary taxi stood waiting at the club’s entrance.
Damn it! If the pimp has a car, he’s long gone.
Alex tucked his gun behind his belt and ran up to the taxi.
“Did you see a guy with long hair? He’s a friend of mine. Did he get into a taxi?”
“I’ve been here ten minutes. There haven’t been any other taxis.” The taxi driver was smoking, flicking the ash out of his open window.
“Did you see any car leave at all?”
“All I know is I haven’t had to move for anyone,” the taxi driver shrugged. “You need a ride or what?”
Alex understood what the driver was getting at. The taxi was blocking the only way out of the strip club’s parking lot. All of a sudden, one of the cars standing off to the side honked and abruptly fell quiet.
“I’ll get a ride from my friend,” Bayukin muttered, turning in the direction of the sound.
Looking carefully, he saw a white Honda with someone inside. Alex crept up to the car from behind and squatted. Two men were conversing in raised voices. Judging by the rocker’s mane, Birdless Boris was behind the wheel. A tense man in a hat of reddish fur was sitting right behind him.
“Touch the wheel again and I’ll strangle you,” the man threatened.
The pimp, his head pressed to the headrest, was babbling excuses.
“I don’t know anything! I saw her this morning and that’s it. I took my cut and left.”
“That’s a lie. Katya could not have jumped on her own.”
“She’s not the first. Who knows how a whore’s mind works?”
“You piece of shit!” The man in the hat tightened the garrote over the pimp’s throat.
“Let me go…” Birdless’s voice grew hoarse and faint as he tried to break free.
After a short struggle, the passenger eased the tension. The pimp began to cough.
“Look, you’re right,” Boris agreed after regaining his breath. “The whole thing doesn’t seem like Katya. She wasn’t the type to start drama like that. If anything, she was more liable to off me first – and then maybe do herself in too. But be that as it may, I have no idea what happened back at the apartment. Like I told you, I wasn’t there!”
“What are you hiding from then?”
“Who likes talking to the cops?”
“Far as I’m concerned, you’re guilty either way. You turned my daughter into a prostitute. I was going to kill you either way.”
“For what? She agreed of her own – ”
The pimp’s frightened explanation was cut off by more croaking and the sound of a body thrashing.
This crazed pops is going to end him, Alex began fretting. Then I won’t find out anything about the envelope at all.
He rose, tore the rear door open and struck the passenger on the temple with the butt of his gun. The blow didn’t land perfectly flush, but it was enough to tear the skin and knock the man unconscious. Grebenkin’s hands relaxed, loosening the garrote.
Alex pushed him to the other side, sat down in his former place and shut the door. The pimp was sputtering and rubbing his throat. His teary, agitated eyes were trying to make out his unexpected savior in the rearview mirror.
“Don’t get your hope up, creep. It’s me again,” explained Alex and stuck the gun’s barrel into Birdless’s back. “Where’s the envelope?”
The pimp began thrashing hysterically.
“What’s is with you people?” he screamed. “Leave me alone!”
“The envelope, you goon.”
“The envelope! The envelope! What is your fixation with the envelope?”
“Looks like I shoulda let this other guy finish his job. Are you going to give me the envelope or not?”
“You’re all crazy!”
“You’re not going to trick me this time. Do you have the envelope on you or not?”
Boris’s hand unwittingly touched the shirt pocket under his vest. Alex noticed this gesture and broke into a crooked grin.
“Don’t bother. I’ll just help myself.”
Alex’s right hand pressed the barrel to the pimp’s temple, while with his left he reached over Boris’s shoulder. Alex had been so focused on his interrogation that he had failed to notice Grebenkin open his eyes. Realizing the delicacy of the situation, Grebenkin decided that he too must act. Surreptitiously, he drew a nonlethal pistol that had been modified to shoot live rounds, pointed it at Alex and pulled the trigger.
Two gunshots sounded mere hundredths of a second apart. The bullet from the nonlethal gun struck Alex in his shoulder, causing his trigger finger to slip – and nine grams of lead propelled Boris Manuylov’s brains out of his head. Dirty blood splattered the window pane, greasily rimming the hole the bullet had left.
Grebenkin pulled the door handle, tumbled out of the car and took off running. In his haste, he failed to notice that he had lost his ushanka hat.
Finding himself wounded, Alex Bayukin also realized that it was time to flee. He got out of the car and felt the wound. The bullet had glanced his shoulder, tearing off a clump of skin. The shock drowned out his pain.
The envelope! The scorching thought pulsed through Alex’s mind. I came here for the envelope.
He opened the driver’s side door and, restraining his disgust, reached toward the dead pimp. His hand fished out a clean envelope with something flat in it from the dead man’s pocket. Alex stuck his prize in his pants’ rear pocket and hurried away down the dark street.
The road led him to the subway station. The pain, awaking in his shoulder, almost paralyzed his right arm. Alex sat down on the edge of a ventilation hatch and gritted his teeth. He needed to think. He was without his jacket, which he had left in the club, and his shirt arm was soaked with blood. Someone would definitely notice a passenger like him on the subway. It was dangerous to take a taxi too, since taxi drivers were a naturally observant lot. Plus, he needed medical attention and it was unlikely that his general-father would be willing to risk his dodgy reputation to ask around for a surgeon.
Alex got out his phone. His left thumb poked at the buttons and found a number in the brief address book. Luckily, Alex had a friend in Moscow who would come to his aid under any and all circumstances.
He pressed the call button and waited for the familiar voice to answer.
“It’s me.” Alex confessed relieved. “I’m wounded and can’t call an ambulance.”
For
