I laughed, making Glana nervous, I told her, again in my broken Italian, that Misha was jealous. Her cheeks flushed, but she smiled as Armando wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her to one of the chairs by Adrik’s desk,
I walked by Misha, on my way to my usual spot on the cabinets behind Adrik’s desk. I said quietly, “don’t scare her.” I tried to look at him sternly, but failed miserably. I caught myself wondering how his mother ever disciplined him as a child. He must’ve gotten away with murder because he was so adorable. It was physically impossible to be mad at that face.
I walked around Adrik’s desk, but he caught my arm as I walked by, pulling me to him. He pushed his chair back and pulled me into his Jap, so I was leaned back against him. He put his lips close to my ear and said, “I still need you close, solnishko.” I felt the goosebumps rise over my whole body. I pulled his arms around me, secretly happy when he slid his hand under my shirt. “What have you found?” Adrik asked.
Viktor and Ivan proceeded to tell us, mostly Armando who had been kept in the dark, what we knew about the warehouse so far. They’d been unable to get into any surrounding warehouses, as those were all owned by one of Sal’s companies. There would be no legitimate reason for someone outside of Sal’s network to be moving into one of those warehouses.
“We’ve got guys trying to run surveillance, but it’s difficult. Sal has people everywhere around that warehouse,” Ivan said. He was clearly frustrated with the situation. “From what we can tell so far, it’s going to be next to impossible to get into the building. It’s going to be difficult to get access to the outside of the building without drawing attention.”
I leaned my head back and whispered to Adrik, “Trino’s idea might be the way to go. Nothing wrong with dramatic flair occasionally.” He laughed, catching everyone else by surprise. They all looked to us, but Adrik said nothing, so I also kept my mo uth shu t. Once everyone’s attention was elsewhere once again, he kissed my cheek, smiling at me.
“Do we have any idea of when this is happening, yet?” Armando asked.
Viktor shook his head no. “Not yet, but Sephie’s friend has a way to give us a head’s up potentially.”
“We haven’t heard from him in a couple of days,” Ivan said, looking somewhat worried.
“No, it’s okay. Trino called earlier. Chen’s alive. He dropped my name to Trino’s guy and told him to check it, so he did. Trino called right away. Chen found one of his top guys, so he can get the word out quickly,” I said. Ivan looked relieved. “From what Andy said earlier, if the dealers know what’s going on, they’re not going to go along with the plan. They’re the ones that stopped it before.”
Armando looked to me, puzzled. Adrik said, “Sal has been behind brawn from the beginning. He’s the one that paid to have it created, he’s the one that distributed it originally. The dealers are the ones that stopped selling it because it was killing too many people. The other story was a lie.”
“How do you know this?” Armando asked, clearly surprised.
“We found the doctor that created it,” Viktor said. He paused, then added, “we found him for other reasons, but Andy recognized him and told us everything.”
“Do I want to know the other reasons?” Armando asked.
“No,” we all said in unison. Armando simply nodded his head, crossing his leg as he shifted positions in his chair. He glanced at Giana, who seemed less nervous than usual. He reached over and grabbed her hand, his thumb lightly rubbing the back of her hand.
I suddenly had a thought, about the doctor and the warehouse. I looked to Misha, who had that faraway look in his eye that meant he was thinking about possibilities too. I said, in Russian, we need to grab the doctor and take care of the warehouse at the same time.”
As soon as I said it, Misha looked to me, grinning. “How do you do that, gazelle? I was just about to say that, I have a bad feeling about grabbing the doctor too far ahead of taking care of the warehouse. Sal is going to know it’s us on both, but if we do them at the same time, he won’t be able to strike back as quickly.” He then said in English, See? You were made for this sh it. His broad smile stretched across his face, giving him an extra dose of boyish charm.
I couldn’t help but grin at him. I glanced at the other guys, who were in agreement. I happened to glance at Giana, who was trying to not stare at Misha, I couldn’t help but smile. Yep, he got away with murder as a kid.
Sephie
We continued talking for another hour or so, running through possibilities on how to handle the situation. We went through every what if scenario we could think of for what would happen if the shipment did get out. We were going to have to trust that the dealers wouldn’t sell it if they were successful in getting the shipments switched.
“Of course, that brings up another problem,” I said, as we were discussing their success at switching the shipments. They all looked to me, waiting for me to elaborate. “Withdrawals,” I said. The guys caught on quickly, but Armando and Giana were still confused. “What do you mean?” Giana asked.
“When you’re a regular drug user, your body needs that drug to function. When you don’t give it that drug, your body revolts and makes it painful until you give it that drug. Depending on the drug you’ve been using, the withdrawals can be, well, dramatic,” I said.
“How do you know so much about this?” she asked, her tone had a hint of accusation behind it.
Adrik caught it. I felt him tense. Before I could answer, Ivan said, “everyone knows this.” His tone was harsh, but it was exactly what was needed to end that conversation. He continued, “so, we’re going to need to give the police and the hospitals a head’s up as well, should they be successful with switching the shipments. That’s going to create its own chaos in the city.” He rubbed his face with his hands. “Fu ck,” he said. “It might be worth having a conversation with a few doctors to find out what’s needed to be able to handle that scenario.”
“I know a guy. He should be able to keep his mouth shu t,” I said, winking at Ivan. I turned to look at Adrik. “But can we bring him here this time?” He smiled softly at me, nodding his head. “I’ll make a call in the morning,” he said. I glanced back to Ivan, who was clearly relieved.
We finally ran through all the possibilities that we could think of for the evening. It was beginning to get late, so Armando and Glana took their leave. Chris and Keith got up to go with them, but Keith asked Viktor if they could come back once Armando and Giana were safely in for the night. Viktor nodded his head. I caught the small smile that crept up one side of his face as they walked out.
“They’re eager to learn,” he said. “They’ll be back once Armando and Giana are taken care of.”
Ivan said, in Russian, just in case, “I did not like her tone.” He was clearly still angry about Giana thinking my knowledge of drugs was because I was a user.
“I did not like her tone, either,” Adrik said.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.