“Jerzy, that guy stands where he has always stood with me. There is personal and there is business, though.” He’s holding his two hands out like weight scales. Now, Patrik does smile and it’s about the worst smile I ever saw. “First of all, I did not put Kos in that park, fate did. I did not think the Russians would be this strong, but they are. And if my plan was to have you go the way of Dobry, you would already be dead.”
“Keep going.”
“I, of course, do not trust any deal making with them but I’m buying time by showing this supposed effort to settle our differences. I’m buying time that I desperately need to keep adding new men. I told them just this morning, I said; Chicago has always been big enough for everyone.”
I change gears and go the other way now. Not as shitty.
“Besides this fucking state of the union address tonight, why am I here, Patrik?”
“I have told them that you acted on your own, out of some personal vendetta that goes back to Bogdan Skansi.”
“Yeah, well, okay. I mean, I did get made in the park, so they’re gonna want me dead either way. Don’t matter whether you were behind it or not. I can understand you sidestepping that.”
“I also told them that if I find you, I will deliver you up, just as I did with Dobry.” His nose is starting to do the coke runs and he sniffs it back.
“There we go,” I say. “I knew you could finally spill it, my old kumpel, my old fucking pal. The sacrificing me like Dobry part, though, that I’m not so understanding about.”
It’s quiet for a second. I light up another cig and this time put the pack back in the pocket that has the Berretta in it. I lean back a little and casually look at him, no visible anger but I know he can feel the hate.
“Jerzy, this house is safe for tonight and tomorrow. This I swear to you. Andros goes with me now but I will leave the man down in the kitchen and one in a car outside for you.”
I just stare at him.
“After that, though, after four o’clock tomorrow afternoon, I cannot make any more efforts on your behalf.” He shrugs and puts a shaky finger across the bottom of his nose, sniffing again. “Sooner or later they, or we, will find you in Chicago. This is a fact, Jerzy. You know that. Earlier, you mentioned to me that you were leaving for a long time. Please do that. Go away…far away.”
I glance at Andros and his chin is down, staring at his shoes.
Sighing, I stand up, with my hands in my pockets. Patrik’s eyes follow me up. Andros is watching me very close now, too, his hand going slow but sure to the pistol grip.
Time, everything, just kind of stops for a second. The air is a little thin in the room.
Without taking my eyes off Patrik, I say, “It’s okay, crew cut, stand down. I ain’t that dumb.”
Patrik gets up now.
“Look, Patrik, I’m a big boy here. There’s never any guarantees in what we do, huh? Never. I might have done the exact same thing you’re doing to me…but probably not.” I let that sink in a little. “I also know you didn’t have to do this tonight and I appreciate the chance you’re taking. The head start.”
“Very well. This is not a good day, huh? Time is very short. Goodbye, Jerzy. I must go now and take Andros with me.” He actually looks sad when he says it. I’m not some gullible asshole for sure, but I actually think he is.
I look over at Andros and give him a nod and he gives me one back.
“Patrik, I want to tell you something else. The offer of the house here for tonight is great but that just ain’t gonna work out too good for me. I’ll be walking out, side by side, with you.” I go over to the desk, pick up the bottle of Makers Mark. “And this.”
“Very well, but it’s perfectly safe here. I give you my word.”
“Yeah, I hear you, but you know, it’s that personal versus business thing you mentioned a minute ago, huh?” I mimic him from earlier, holding my hands out like scales and going up and down with them. “Besides, I might oversleep, or your watch might be running fast. You just never know about those things.”
Patrik flashes me that shark smile and then turns to Andros. “Call the car around, have them pick us up right now. We are very late.”
Andros gets his cell out and makes a quick call, speaking in Polish. All three of us head out of the room and down the steps.
When we get to the porch, the car has already pulled up and it looks like the same silver Lexus I saw earlier.
Andros leads the way down the steps to the car, head swiveling around in every direction. He’s got his shotgun in clear sight and ready. Patrik stops at the gate, looks back at me.
“Don’t ever let me see you again, my friend.”
“Yeah. Likewise. What would happen if we did, works both ways…promise you that.”
“Do widzenia,” he says and turns, getting into the car. Andros shuts Patrik’s door and doesn’t look back at me as he gets in the front passenger side. The Lexus slides smoothly away from the curb.
I don’t waste any time. I’m outta here too.
TWENTY-TWO
Mick
Around eight, my cell phone rang again. I glanced down at the number and even though I’d only seen it once before, I recognized it immediately.
“Hello?”
“It’s Ania.”
“I know.”
“I got someone to cover the rest of my shift. Can you meet me now?”
What did she think I’d been waiting for since she called? “Of course. Where?”
“Not my place,” she said. “It isn’t safe.”
“Someplace public?” I suggested. “A bar or some restaurant?”
She paused. “No.”
“A park?”
“I don’t think so. I need privacy.”
I swallowed, then asked. “A hotel?”
“That’d be best. Do you know The Drake Hotel?”
“That’s like asking if I know Wrigley field.”
She actually laughed a little. Just a small chuckle that lasted less than a second, but the sound was beautiful. “I guess you’re right. Sorry. Can you meet me there?”
“I can.”
“How soon?”
“Forty minutes or so.” I had to hop a train to get there.
“I’ll be there in fifteen. I’ll get a room. Ask for Mrs. Pierce at the desk.”
“Okay.”
She paused a moment, then said, “See you there, Mick. And thank you.”
I was too gaga over the way she said my name to say goodbye before she broke the connection. I stood at my kitchen counter, enjoying the fading, wispy tendrils of her voice in my ear before I grabbed my pistol, slid it into the small of my back and left my apartment.
I stood on the train, swaying in that familiar rhythm as I held the handle. I tried to shake off the fog in my brain that Ania had induced. Yeah, she was beautiful. Yeah, she had something else going on, something visceral and powerful and mysterious. But she was mixed up with Jerzy and worked at Patrik’s bar, which was basically the headquarters for the Polish mob in Chicago, so I had to be careful. I had to be smart.
That’s not always been easy for you where women are concerned, has it, Hero?
I heard Jerzy’s voice in my head when that thought passed through. A tickle of irritation sprang up in my chest, but I pushed it away. The thought was my own, Jerzy’s voice or not, and the thing is, it was accurate. Connie wasn’t the first mess I ended up in that centered around a woman. Even the deal that drove me off the job had a female element to it that was the same damn thing.
Of course, women make up fifty percent of the human race, so no big surprise that a lot of my problems would involve them, right? But it wasn’t that women were involved, though, was it? No, it wasn’t. It was how they were involved.
It was always the romantic connection. Always love or at least lust, and me being stupid about it. I picked out the ones who needed rescuing. Or the ones I knew would never stick around because they weren’t the type or they had something else going on. Hell, in Connie’s case, I had found both.