Page 73 of Darkest Deeds
“We had a deal, Ava! What am I supposed to tell the Feds? We promised them Sergei’s head, and because of your little phone call, they want Garetovsky’s too.”
“Tell them to give me a few more days, and I’ll hand them two murderers on a silver platter.”
The recording stops,and I stare straight ahead at a framed black-and-white picture of the Miami skyline. I have to because if I look down, I may put my hands around Ava’s neck and finish what I started at her apartment.
“Niko, that’s taken out of context.” Ava’s voice is hushed, as if knowing raising it above a whisper will set me off. “I can explain.”
“You see, Nikolai, your suka tried to sell both of us out but realized too late that her plan had a flaw. Eliminating me does not free her. Dmitry learned everything he knows from me. She can cut off the dragon’s head, but another one will grow back in its place.”
Still, I defend her. “She wouldn’t do that.”
Why not?a voice in my head asks. She did it before. All to save her own ass when it was on the line.
“No? Then how else did I know your mother lived in New Orleans?”
“He’s lying!” Ava hurls herself against my chest, curling her fists into my shirt, her knees buckling in her hysteria.
I want to believe her. But I can’t help but remember a starkly honest conversation. One that contained information that was very unlike me to share.
“Do you ever see your mom?”
“Only once. After I made it out of Sergei’s prison, I hid her in North Carolina, but when I left for Moscow, somehow your father found her. He sent her a letter saying as long as I hunted him, he would hunt me. Once I made it out of Columbia, and joined the Tabella Della Morte, I took her somewhere she couldn’t be found and never visited her again. It was for her own safety.”
“Must have been hard for her.”
“My mom is resilient. Besides, there’s enough swamp to keep her feeling at home and enough eyes on her to keep me sane.”
I pryher hands off me and back up. “I’m a fucking idiot.”
Ava collapses back onto the floor. “He’s lying!
“I am at Seven with your mother,” Sergei announces, as if he’s been waiting for this all to play out. “Bring me my daughter, and I will free her. Fuck with me, and she will never make it off this plastic.”
Before I can respond, he disconnects the call. With the whole conversation replaying at warp speed in my head, I turn around and slam the phone against the wall. Ava wisely remains on the floor, saying nothing.
Since I smashed the shit out of hers, I pull my phone out of my pocket and call Mikhail. He barely gets out a greeting before I cut him off. “Get over here now. I need you to watch Ava. I’ll be gone when you get here, but she’ll be secure. Try to keep your eyes open this time.”
“I’m coming with you.” Ava speaks the words quietly, as if her lack of hysterics will change anything.
“Like hell you are,” I growl, stomping into the bedroom. I tear everything out of the bag I packed for us. My clothes, the new clothes I bought for her, ammo, guns, everything goes flying until I finally find what I’m looking for. Making my way back, I force myself not to think about anything but my mother.
“It’s the only way you’ll get your mom back,” she says.
“I think you’ve done enough for her, don’t you?”
“You don’t mean that.”
“Don’t I? Let’s see, since you’ve been back in my life, I’ve killed some asshole for attacking you in a parking lot, stolen a body and had it delivered to your father so he’d believe you were dead, killed my neighbor because you ran and called the FBI, and drove you to a senator’s house so you could pump an entire round of bullets from my gun in his chest. How fucking stupid does one person have to be not to see I’ve been played?”
“That’s not true.”
“I don’t know what’s true and what’s not anymore! Did you bank your life on the assumption you were still my weakness? Was I part of your elaborate scheme? Did you want to show me how smart you are now?” Bending down, I give her a slow clap right in her face. “Well congratu-fucking-lations, Ava. You’re smart. You fooled me.”
Throughout my entire rant, she doesn’t flinch or defend herself. Instead, she lets me fly off the handle and yell. When I’m done, she crawls to her knees and folds her hands around mine. “Please let me go with you. I’ll prove to you that I’m telling the truth.”
“Truth?” I throw my head back and laugh. “You don’t know the meaning of the word.”
A curtain falls over her face. “Fine. Believe what you want to believe. Just trade me for her so you can get your mother back.”