Chapter 2 - THE RUSSIAN GAMBIT
Three of them walked in. They wore thick wool coats despite the mild dampness of the night, their faces flushed with the kind of arrogant coldness that money and violence bought. At the center was Alexei Volkov, a man whose reputation in Brighton Beach was written in blood.
Hunter kept her head down, pouring an amber measure of Macallan into a crystal glass at the bar. She placed the bottle on her tray and approached the back booth. The tension in the air was thick enough to choke on.
"Valenti," Volkov said, his English heavily accented, sliding into the booth opposite Cain. "You asked for a meeting. I am here. But I do not have time for your Italian theater."
"No theater, Alexei," Cain replied smoothly, his dark eyes unreadable. "Just a simple transaction. The docks belong to my family. You’ve been moving crates through Pier 44 without my tax."
Hunter approached, her sneakers silent against the sticky floor. She set the bottle down, her hands steady. As she reached for the glasses, Volkov leaned back and muttered to his lieutenant in rapid, heavily slurred Russian: "Smile at the dead man. As soon as we leave, the sniper across the street puts a bullet through his skull."
Hunter’s hand froze for a fraction of a second. It was an imperceptible hesitation, but in a room full of apex predators, it was as loud as a gunshot.
Cain’s eyes snapped to her. He didn't speak Russian, but he read body language fluently.
Hunter placed the last glass down. She didn't look at Volkov. She looked dead into Cain’s eyes, poured the whiskey, and murmured in flawless, accent-less Italian, "C'è un cecchino dall'altra parte della strada. Se ti alzi, sei morto." (There is a sniper across the street. If you stand up, you are dead.)
May you like
Volkov frowned, recognizing the language but not the words. "What did the girl say?"
Cain didn't blink. Not a muscle in his jaw twitched. "She said the ice machine is broken," he lied smoothly. Then, with lightning speed, he grabbed the heavy oak table and flipped it.
