Chapter 7

Michal felt his blood rush to his head. His thoughts scrambled to re-order themselves and he had to loosen his tie a bit. What in the heavens was she wearing?



He stared at her, from the bold smirk on her face to the dress she was putting on. It wasn’t as though it was skimpy- rather the opposite. It was just right- cut low from above and made of pale green. Her hair was tousled too- was that done on purpose or had she run her fingers through her hair in a bid to get him aroused?
Standing before him was a perfect image of how he liked his women. Wearing his favorite color and sporting the after-sex hair effect. Perhaps if she had worn red, the effect might have been lesser. Because he wasn’t a man who saw the color red as an attraction but rather a distraction.
How the hell did she-
“Do you like this one? I don’t want to spend too much time on a particular place when we still have a lot to cover.” Katya asked him.
The reality washed over him and in some way, he was thankful for it. He was her bodyguard for goodness sakes- hired to keep her from harm’s way. He was supposed to chauffeur her around and not think about all the ways he could comb her hair and tousle it again. He also had more important things to do than react to the petty whims and seductive attempts of a nineteen year-old.
“It looks okay,” he replied her.
Was that disappointment on her face? Her bold smirk seemed to have faltered a bit. Maybe he should say- no, it wasn’t his job to make her feel good about herself.
“Ready to go?” he asked instead.
Katya nodded. “I just have to pick up some other stuff really quick and we will on our way.”

Michal’s phone vibrated in his pants pocket. He gestured towards it. “I’ll be outside waiting then.”


Outside the building, he took his phone out and frowned when he saw who was calling. *The devil never wastes time in collecting favors. *
”Sergei,” he answered curtly.
“Ah, my favorite nephew. How may I help you?”
Michal balled up his fists and tried to take calming breaths. His uncle could be a mean bastard but he was a cunny one too.
“You called me.”
“Oh, yeah. I am calling you,” his uncle replied. “You never told me if you found the girl or not. I thought she was important to you? Or wait- am I supposed to use ‘was’ or ‘is?’ “
“I found her, and on time. Thank you.” Just get on with it
“Ah, then you owe me one. Well, you would still owe me one whether you had located her or not. I, after all pointed you in the right direction. The rest would have been up to you.”
“What do you want Sergei?” Michal was tired of all the small talk.
“Sergei? Call me uncle. We are family, aren’t we?”
“I would rather-
“Call me uncle,” Sergei’s tone had changed. It had gone from casual to threatening. Michal would have pushed a little bit further but he knew that he would eventually do what the bastard wanted. Why go through the stress?
“What do you want, Uncle?”
“See? It wasn’t that hard. All I need you to do for me is to intercept a shipment that will arrive this night. Collect it and bring it to my office. Can you do that?”
It was posed as a question but Michal knew that it was an order. Just as he knew the shipment he was going to pick up would be a risky venture. He also knew that whatever he was going to intercept did not belong to his uncle and if there was any heat, he would be the one to take the fall. In summary, he was disposal collateral.
A fine way to pay back a debt.
”If I do this, we are even,” he told his uncle. If there was one good thing left in the man, it was the fact that he honored his words.
“You got it kid. So, like I said- the shipment comes in this night. I will send the location to you and you’ll find someone there who will point out the location of the container to you. Once you secure the package, you need to bring it straight to my office this night. Do not go to that house with it.”
“Noted.”
“Once I send the location, I need you to memorize it and delete after,” Sergei added.
“Gotten.”
“Good boy. Oh, there is one more thing and it is very important,” his uncle paused.
“What is it?”
“After getting the information on where the container is from the man, I need you to dispose of him. I don’t want any witness.” Sergei concluded and the line went dead.

A slew of curse words swam through Michal’s mind as the call ended. He wanted to get into his car, drive up to Sergei’s home and beat him to a pulp. Maybe finally pay him back for all those years. But he knew that the guard he met the other day was merely a fraction of the security measures his uncle had in place. It would take only a lot of planning for him to get his uncle alone.
“You good?” Katya voice reminded him that he wasn’t alone in his world.
He turned to her sharply, “yeah, why?”
She pointed at his left hand where he gripped his phone in a tight fist. “Well, you look like you might break your phone any minute now. Not that I don’t want to see that happen, but I don’t want anything to disrupt the plans I have. We still have a lot to cover.”
Michal sighed and watched her take the keys from him. How he wished he could indulge in mundane things like wondering about which shirt would go well with his pinstriped tie.