Together Again(80)
She sat back in her chair, her shakes under better control. “I know that Jameson and Nixon are dead because they tried to play you off against your former friend Dmitri Petrakov. Who is, I believe, also no longer with us.”
Orlov’s wolfish grin made her feel like she was Little Red Riding Hood about to become lunch. “No, unfortunately, he is not.”
“So, saying I don’t know how dangerous you can be is not true. I respect your ability to solve your problems even if I don’t approve of your methods.”
“Good. We understand each other.” He leaned forward and put out his hand. “Now, my merchandise, please.”
“Wait. I said I understand you. Now you understand me. I know how much you can get from what’s on these hard drives. I want a bigger cut. One hundred thousand isn’t enough. I want half a million.”
“That’s out of … ”
He was distracted by a sound from the grocery store. Orlov went to the door, holding the weapon in his hand, listened for a moment, opened the door slightly and said something in Russian. The old woman responded in kind.
Then a man’s voice interrupted. It sounded like English but was quiet enough that Margo couldn’t make out anything except the rude, impatient tone. Orlov answered in English, “I will take care of it my way,” before returning to the desk. “Half a million is too much. But I might be willing to go to one-hundred thousand for each of the two hard drives.”
She sat back in the chair and crossed her legs, tilted the chair back slightly and ran her hand through her hair. “Two-hundred and fifty thousand for both and they’re yours,” she said.
“You can be your father’s daughter, can’t you? At least you learned how to negotiate in ways that would make him proud.”
She shrugged it off. “So, do we have a deal?”
“Yes. I have $100,000 here for you.” He pulled a briefcase from under the desk and dropped it in front of her. “You give me my merchandise and I will put the rest of the money in your bank account.”
“For that you get one and only because I’m a nice person. I’ll take the other hard drive to my bank and put it in my safe deposit box. When can you have the rest of the money?”
He stared long and hard at her. “Tomorrow.”
“I’ll meet you at my bank tomorrow at noon. And when I see that the money’s in my account, you’ll get the second one.”
“Tomorrow at noon at your bank.” He passed the briefcase full of money to her.
Margo took a padded envelope from her shoulder bag and wrote the address of her bank on the outside. “Here’s where I bank. And here,” she removed one hard drive and put it back in her bag then slid the envelope across the desk to him, “is what you just bought.”
He picked up the envelope and looked inside. She used the distraction to grab the briefcase and walk toward the door to the grocery store. When she felt his arm around her neck and his gun in her back, she realized he hadn’t been distracted at all.
“I thought we had a deal.” She coughed and moved her head, trying to release the pressure on her windpipe.
“Did you really believe you could just walk out of here without giving me what I want?” He released his hold on her throat to reach for the strap of her shoulder bag. As he did, his hand brushed against her chest. He came around to face her and ripped open her blouse, exposing the wire she was wearing.