Page 121 of Raven

“How do I contact you?” I ask.

“If you are trying to take your sweet time, you cannot, Mr. Levi.”

“I am not,” I say, adding for emphasis, “Mr. Tsariuk.”

There is no way out of this. The thing that blows my mind is that he called me. Me, not Archer. Not Marlow, the head of security, and I’m sure he knows that by now. Not Ortiz, who was hired by him at some point in the past.

He is calling me about his daughter who doesn’t want anything to do with me. But I do. And I will handle it in the way that’s best for her.

I close my eyes, trying to work out a scenario in my head, then start talking. “I would like you to give me time to contact Mr. Crone and discuss the situation.”

“Mr. Levi.” This time, his voice is sharper, the pause is longer, and the silence is dangerous, though Tsariuk’s calmness is unfazed. “I have no time for games and diplomatic ass-licking. You have half an hour. I want a conference call with Mr. Crone, you, and I. Hopefully, you can get Milena on it.”

“I can’t. She is working a shift. In surgery,” I lie.

Working a shift… Only after saying it, I realize how ridiculous it sounds to tell one of the richest men in the world that his daughter is at work at a small medical ward. But then, I need time to figure out how to make a deal with Tsariuk without Maddy’s emotional involvement.

“Very well. You have half an hour. You fail, and I fly to Zion. And no, I do not need clearance from the air patrol to do so. You understand what that means, yes?”

Nothing good, for sure. “I’ll get it done.”

“I call you in half an hour.”

The line goes silent.

I dial Archer, who picks up right away.

“Tsariuk wants a conference call in half an hour,” I say as calmly as I can.

I hear Archer’s soft cursing. “Does that mean you spoke to him?”

“He contacted me. He knows about Maddy. Has for a while.”

“When?”

“Just seconds ago.”

“Get to the Center. I’ll have it ready.”

It’s the fastest I’ve ever driven in my life. I’m at the Center in five. Marlow and Ortiz are already there, and I recite my conversation with Tsariuk, word for word. Everyone’s quiet when I finish.

Marlow studies the giant office hall, the surveillance screens on the walls, the cameras in the corners of the high ceilings.

“You think he is watching?” he asks.

No one responds. Because the possibility of it is fucked up.

We have ten minutes until we get another phone call from Tsariuk, so only Archer and I go into his office and stand in front of the big screen on the wall set up for conference calls and ready to go.

Both of us cross our arms at our chests. The silence is eerie. We waited long enough, and now we are fucked because Tsariuk knows we stalled. Now he will want to know why.

“You and Maddy,” Archer finally says.

“There’s no me and Maddy,” I retort.

“There is. You are just on pause because you are being stubborn.”

I smirk. He doesn’t know shit.

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