Page 30 of The Pakhan

“Seven hundred and fifty thousand plus interest.”

Nikolay whistled. “Let me guess. Given it was compounded that debt is over two million.”

“And going up every day. Trust me, Mr. C, I did what I could, but when I couldn’t pay the first exorbitant amount they made one offer, saying it would be my only opportunity to save my brother’s life.”

“Stealing from me.”

“Yes, sir.”

Christ. The business I was in was often uglier than it needed to be.

“Tanner, this could be your lucky day. Tell me who we’re talking about and I might let you live.”

I’d never seen such a strained look on any man’s face. He was clearly distraught. Then I was certain the guy was going to start blubbering. “I can’t. They will kill both of us!”

The poor guy was shaking. Now I was an asshole, brutal and unforgiving. I had to be or people would think me soft, and I certainly didn’t need that, especially right now. However, using a family member for blackmail was disgusting even in my book. But Tanner needed to understand I wasn’t fucking around. This wasn’t a democracy.

“Come with me, Tanner. I want to show you something.”

He appeared sick to his stomach, holding it with one arm as I led him outside and toward the temporary observation platform that had been set up to ensure the gravel was distributed evenly. As we walked up the rickety stairs, I could swear the man was whimpering. “Tell me about your brother.”

“He’s a good kid. He really is. He just… He got into drugs and thought he could make money by being a card shark. He didn’t have any clue the kind of men he was fucking with. My dad washed his hands of Timmy a long time ago, but I can’t let the kid just toss his life away. You know? Tough love is harder than I thought though.”

That much I could attest to. When we were on the top of the platform, I guided him to the very edge. “You did some good work here and at the other site. I really value how you handled the workload and the employees. However, as you might imagine, I’m not the kind of man or leader who can handle being fucked with. You see that load of gravel over there? If I’m not mistaken, that’s about three, maybe four tons. But you would know better.”

Tanner was still shaking.

When I placed my hand on the lever that would offload either a portion or all of it, he started blubbering. “Please, Mr. C. I swear to God I’ll do anything you want. I just… I’m so afraid for Timmy. I did what I could. I ignored them for two weeks.”

“Who are we talking about, Tanner?”

“You don’t understand how powerful they are.”

Really? The dude was saying that to me. Both Nikolay and Sergei started laughing.

“Do you want me to push him in, Pakhan?” Nikolay asked. “Or should I break a few bones first to make it much more painful going down?” He cracked his knuckles and I gave him a hard look. Yes, the art of intimidation was also necessary but hell, maybe I had a little humanity left in comparison.

Great. Now I smelled piss.

“I honestly think I do, Tanner. You might be surprised if you give me the benefit of the doubt,” I answered. “Where is your brother now?”

“I made him come to my house late last night, but I know him. He’ll skip out when he can.”

“Well, my last deal, a one-time offer, is that you tell me who’s behind this requirement of payment and I’ll make certain your brother disappears to a very nice place far removed from New York. I’ll give him enough seed money to start a new life but after that, it’s up to him. However, you’re going to keep doing what you’re doing, providing me with certain info as required. Otherwise, all your hard work will simply allow you to become a part of the… foundation.”

He was shaking so badly given the breeze I had to hold him to keep the guy from accidentally falling off.

“Up to you but you have five seconds.” I glanced at my watch, fighting disgust. The damn Cosa Nostra had done this. I was certain.

Tanner didn’t seem as if he was going to budge. Well, I guess today was as good a day to die as any.

“Four. Three.”

I glanced in his direction. He had his eyes closed.

“Two. One.”

“The Armenians. It has to be. They own that casino and my brother first got a job there then everything went south.”

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