Together Again(79)

                “Right. No heroics. Other than what you’re already doing.”

                She extracted her hand from his and sat down, afraid if she continued touching him she’d give in to the impulse to walk into his arms and nestle her head on his chest. “Listen, I’m not much good around here today. How about I call Danny and see if she’s ready to go to the hotel? Maybe you could join us for an early dinner.” Although she said it casually, she held her breath waiting for the answer.

                “I’d like to, but Sam and Amanda invited me for dinner tonight.”

                “Oh, well, maybe another time.”

                “Doubt there’ll be too many other times, Margo. Once this is settled, I’ll be headed back to Philly.” His smile didn’t reach his eyes and had no amusement in it. “By this time tomorrow, you’ll be free of Danny and me just like you want.”

                Right, she thought. Free of you. Just like I want.





Chapter 20


                Pulling into the parking lot of a strip mall just off the Sunset Highway west of Portland, all Margo saw was a pho restaurant, a dry cleaners and a payday loan company. Then she spotted a store with signs in Cyrillic and English, vacant stores on either side of it. Assuming that to be her destination, she parked her Forester beside the Lexus and the Cadillac SUV already there.

                The homey smell of fresh bread greeted her, as did an older woman behind the counter who motioned her toward a closed door at the back of the store. When she knocked, a male voice with a Russian accent told her to come in. She opened the door to a small, dimly lit room with a desk in the center, the top clear of anything except a computer monitor, a keyboard and a handgun. Sitting at the desk, hands in his lap, was a fiftyish man with graying hair, who looked familiar and not just because he vaguely resembled Nikita Khrushchev.

                “Well, I’m here,” she said, trying to sound irritated and belligerent. “Let’s get this taken care of so I can get on with my plans.”

                “Miss Keyes, sit down and be quiet.”

                Margo stood in front of the desk for a moment, trying to look like she was making up her mind whether to go or stay, before she turned her back on Viktor, walked to the chair furthest away from the desk and picked it up. When she returned to where he was waiting, she stared at him again before sitting down.

                “I don’t know what the hell kind of game you’re playing — putting me off, then not listening when I told you I had to outwait the cops, demanding I come out here in two days. I don’t like it … not one … ”

                His dark eyes bored into hers, unsettling her. His face looked cold, unmoving and … familiar. He had stared at her like that before. When? She’d seen his face briefly at Blue Lake but it had been in shadow, not clear enough to be so familiar.

                Then it hit her. Not at Blue Lake. Outside a courtroom. “Jesus, you’re Gene Orlov’s father, aren’t you?”

                He nodded. He was playing with the gun. “When you refused to listen to good counsel about my son and about getting involved in this. Didn’t you learn anything from your father?”

                Margo leaned her forearms on the desk, as if taking him into her confidence, but really to bury her shaking hands under her arms. “What I learned from my father was to take advantage of what falls into your lap. But I’m not making a career out of this, like he did. That’s why I’ve been trying to get the best deal I can.”

                “I know what you’re doing, Miss Keyes. But you don’t seem to appreciate what a dangerous game you’ve been playing.”