Page 34 of Help Me Remember

“Good, good, you have a good day.”

“You too,” Eric said, still watching the man and whoever was with him through the peephole. After a moment he turned, looking troubled as he whispered, “They’re just standing out there, talking to each other.”

I leaned closer, trusting in how thin the door was to try to catch some snippet of the conversation between the men. I could tell there were three of them, and they were discussing what to do next. They were clearly annoyed that they couldn’t find out where I’d gone, and it sounded like they were nervous that I was up and around in the first place.

“Enough,” the first man barked. “We’ll keep people outside to watch for him, see if this man is a liar. If Riley doesn’t show up, we take this one and see if we can’t get Riley to come to us. Georgy needs him dead, and I’m not taking the fall if he isn’t soon.”

“And if Riley doesn’t come for this man?” a second, nervous-sounding voice asked.

“Then we get rid of him. I have other ways to get Riley. Now let’s go. You two wait outside for…” But the man’s voice trailed off as they walked further down the apartment hallway.

“God, they had themselves a little powwow out there,” Eric said, sounding relieved. “At least I managed to make them go away before they started any trouble.”

I looked at him in complete disbelief. “Are you kidding me? Didn’t you hear what they said?”

He let out a laugh. “I heard them, but that doesn’t mean I understood them.”

I blinked, still unable to get rid of my shock. “They were clear as day?”

“What?” Eric asked, his laughter fading and replaced by confusion. “Dyl, they were speaking Russian or something. I have no idea—”

“They were…what?” I asked, feeling a chill ripple through me.

Eric’s face went slack. “They were…Dylan, do you speak Russian?”

Scrunching up my face, I searched my mind for something resembling anything but the English I had been speaking. “Does this sound like Russian?”

“No,” he said with a small smile. “That was definitely English. What did they say out there?”

I thought back and told him, “They said they were going to watch this place and take you in the middle of the night to try to find me.”

Eric’s eyes widened. “That…definitely wasn’t English. Holy shit, you can speak Russian!”

I took a moment to think about what I’d just said and realized it hadn’t, in fact, been in English. With a jolt of surprise, I recognized the words were fluent Russian, and my accent was impeccable. Even a native speaker would be hard-pressed to notice it wasn’t my first language.

“What the hell?” I muttered, bringing my hand to my lips.

“I guess we’re learning interesting things about you too,” Eric said with a smile. “Now, try telling me what they said in English this time, so I’m on the same page.”

My amazement disappeared as I looked at him. “They’re going to watch this building to see if I come back. But they’re still going to take you in the middle of the night to try to lure me out in case I don’t.”

Eric’s smile fell, eyes going wide. “What?”

“We have to get you out of here,” I said, turning to the living room. “If they get ahold of you…”

“What, they’re going to kill me?” Eric asked, and before I turned around, I heard him grunt. “Of fucking course they’re going to kill me. Why not? I mean, that makes sense.”

I raised a brow. “It does?”

“Well, sure,” he said in a shriller voice than I’d heard from him before. “The boss of the local gang recognized you immediately. Then some guys who speak Russian show up looking for you like twelve hours later. I mean, that’s connected. I don’t believe in coincidence that much. Jesus Fucking H Christ, Dylan, what the fuck have you been doing these past few years?”

“I—”

“That was rhetorical. I know you don’t fucking know. But I swear to Christ, I wish your brain would tell you because I’m starting to hate finding out piece by fucked-up piece!”

“Maybe you shouldn’t yell,” I said with a wince, glancing toward the hallway. “They might post someone outside and overhear you.”

Eric scowled and walked into his bedroom, still muttering a surprising amount of expletives under his breath as I heard him rummaging around. While he was doing…whatever he was doing, I busied myself by making sure I had my wallet with the money tucked in my pocket and grabbed a few protein bars from the kitchen. Not that we’d be lacking places to get food in the city, but having an emergency store of fuel wouldn’t hurt either.

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