Page 83 of Brooklyn Bratva

I knew the back door was even worse than the front. Held together with not much more than a hope and a prayer.

The chipboard door was rotted through and with a shove of my shoulder, the lock came away, just like I’d thought it would. Hardly any noise.

I counted to five before I pushed it open, gun drawn.

The corridor was empty and the light was off.

I could hear voices. One female. Russian, from the patter of it. Or another Slavic language at least.

I couldn’t make out the words, but it could have been Mama.

Holding my gun with both hands, I walked towards the sound, eyes scanning the hallway for anything I’d missed. Nothing else was going to surprise me today. I wasn’t going to let it.

Shoulder to the wall, I paused long enough to count to five, gathering myself before I burst into the back room.

“On the floor, now!”

And there was Mama, sat at the table with her reading glasses on, teaching the Ukranian muscle men from Tatiana’s how to knit.

Her eyebrows notched up, her knitting dropped and her hands spread wide at the level of her jaw.

“Hello Vanya. I don’t think you need to shout.”

“Mama, what the hell are you doing?”

“Knitting. We have tea. You want tea?”

“No, I don’t want tea. Mama, they’re minutes away from trying to kill you.”

Her eyes widened, appalled, and she snatched her knitting up with a scowl at the pair who’d been babysitting her.

“This is true?”

The goon closest to her scrunched his nose up and shrugged. “Nothing personal, Lady.”

“You two, on the ground. Now. Don’t give me an excuse to shoot you. Where’s Ruslan?”

The smaller of the goons eyeballed me and his meaty shoulders rose in a slow shrug. “He was watching the front of the shop.”

“Shit.”

CHAPTER 43

Becca

Jerome twisted back in the front seat to look at us as soon as Ivan slammed the door behind him and he’d been watching out the rear window for the past ten minutes. Gradually, I was pulling myself together.

I frowned at him. “Don’t I know you?”

He scratched the back of his neck, stretching an awkward smile. “Ah, I dunno. Maybe?”

“I do. I’ve definitely seen you before.”

Katja let out a sigh. “He mugged you. He’s very sorry about it.”

“Oh my God! You did. You mugged me. What are you even doing out of jail?”

Jerome shrugged. “Woah. Don’t freak out lady. I’m sorry okay. I mean, it’s not like you didn’t get your phone back. Your boyfriend went all Rambo on my ass.”

“Damn right he did. Why are you even here?”

“What can I say? I’m an asset. This is like community service.”

I growled. Katja stretched me an apologetic smile. “It wasn’t anything personal.”

Jerome nodded. “She’s right. Look, no offense, lady, but we’re getting out of here. And there’s no way you’re coming with us, because he’s gonna flip his shit if you’re not here when he gets back. You both heard him.”

I twisted sharply to look out of the back window myself. Ivan was nowhere to be seen and Jerome hopped out of the car, yanking the passenger door open and hustled to the back to open the rear door on Katja’s side.

“No, wait. Katja, he’ll help you. He will. But only if you stay.”

She pulled a face at me, as though she didn’t quite believe that. Of course she didn’t. In this place it was everyone for themselves. Grigori had been ripping everyone off without any care for where they came from or what bound them together and Katja hadn’t found friends even in her own community.

“I’m sorry, Becca.”

Right when I thought they were about to run off, I heard a very familiar voice. I looked out of the window to see Maxim standing in front of them.

“I really wouldn’t run off on him if I were you. Ivan’s the kind of guy who holds a grudge, and he’s pretty good at exacting revenge too.”

“Maxim!” I couldn’t have been more pleased to see anybody at that moment.

“You didn’t think I’d go off and leave without saying goodbye now did you? Not in the middle of the pair of you having a crisis. I’m assuming you being handcuffed is not some kind of bedroom thing.”

“No! Not this time, anyway. I’m so glad to see you. Ivan flipped out on me. He arrested me, can you believe that?”

“Well he always did seem to be a bit power mad.”

“Maxim, seriously. Can you uncuff me? He might need help.”

“Becca, darling. He’s doing his police bit at the moment. The best thing we can do is keep to the shadows until it’s all over.”

He settled a hand on Jerome’s shoulder, his other arm slinking around Katja’s neck. “You two are going to make yourselves useful and look after Mama when she gets out of there. Ferret her away from those beat cops who’ll keep her snared up for hours. Think of it as your first official assignments. I’m sure Ivan will have plenty more lined up for you once this little disaster’s all over and done with. Tell me, are either of you any good with a gun?”

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