Savannah said nothing. She followed him out front to his bike, only half-listening as he made up an excuse to Rebecca about why he had to depart work early. When he exited the shop, she saw that he was carrying an extra helmet. She assumed that meant she had won this latest round.
She sure as hell didn't feel like a victor.
5
Maxim
Gordy Safin was short, stooped, and gray: if he existed as a shadow of his more vital son, Lukas, then he was certainly a more competent echo. Like Maxim's uncle, Igor, Gordy was an easy man to overlook, and he preferred it that way. One didn't survive as long as he did inside the mob by being flashy.
Maxim pulled the collar of his riding jacket up as he crossed the park lawn to meet his contact. Twilight colored in the sky beyond the trees. He could only hope his meeting now would be as fleeting. He didn't like being called out into the open to meet like this; judging by the look on Gordy's craggy, solemn face, the older man didn't like it any more than he did. He was likely only doing this as a favor to Sergey's memory-Gordy had always been as loyal as they come.
"Maxim. It's been a few years, hasn't it?" Gordy greeted him once he was within earshot. "You've grown taller; but then, you're a Karev. The men in your family never stop growing."
"Gordy." Maxim nodded to a pair of darkly-dressed men sitting on a park bench a few yards away. "I assume those two are with you?"
"Never can be too careful these days. Lovely woman, by the way," Gordy noticed. Maxim turned to follow the older man's gaze over his shoulder toward the parking lot. Savannah was leaned up against the seat of the Nighthawk, staring off toward the freeway. She looked as perfectly and as effortlessly posed as a pin-up model on an exotic postcard. "She with you?"
"I know it's hard to believe," Maxim said.
Gordy chuckled and shook his head. "You underestimate an old man's memory. I remember what you used to get up to, and who you would get up to it with. You were infamous for your ways." Gordy looked again at Savannah, and Maxim didn't begrudge the man a double-take. "Never one so beautiful, though, if I do say so myself. You seem to be doing well in your new life. Maybe I do you a favor by keeping family matters to myself."
Maxim said nothing. He waited.
"Hitman," Gordy said finally. "That's the rumor going around. Someone hired inside the Bratva. But I've recently been led to believe this amounts to more than just an unsubstantiated rumor, Maxim. I spoke to Lukas about it."
Maxim kept his expression carefully neutral. He and Lukas Safin had been in competition with one another since they were boys. In the end, Maxim had been the superior and hired as the organization's Head of Security out of high school. To this day, Lukas still claimed it was nepotism that had earned him the position; they had come to blows about it often, until Maxim had defected from the organization and ceased to care about the vacancy he left behind him. Something told him the surprise career move had probably only made Lukas like him less.
"He says Vlad came into possession of a note-a threat-before the art museum was all shot to hell. Lukas says Vlad uncovered proof that there was a hit out on him, and that it was coded in a way that only one of the Russian brotherhood would understand."
"Where can I find this proof?" Maxim asked.
Gordy shrugged. "You will want to ask your brother about that. Maybe he still has the order on paper, and maybe he doesn't, but I'm certain he has drawn his own conclusions on the matter."
"He doesn't want to see me," Maxim replied. "We haven't been on good terms since I left." Also, I might have broken into his apartment and drunk him dry. Whatever Vlad's opinion of him was at the moment, he couldn't risk getting his brother more involved. Vlad was an expecting father and only just beginning to work his way out of the mafia himself-he had been the last holdout among the three brothers, and Maxim didn't want his own relapse negatively affecting his brother's choices.
Still, why hadn't Vlad told him about this? Maxim had known about the shootout, but had steered clear of the incident outside of confirming for himself that his brother was unharmed. Not only was he number one on his brother's shit list, but he knew he probably also ranked pretty highly on his brother's list of suspects in their father's death. He had fought with Sergey before he was murdered-considering the way the Karev family historically conducted their fights, it only made sense that the lion's share of suspicion might now fall to him.