BooksBarbecue
Back The Deal Goes Down
Chapters (55)
  1. Cover
  2. Other Titles
  3. Dedication
  4. CHAPTER ONE
  5. CHAPTER TWO
  6. CHAPTER THREE
  7. CHAPTER FOUR
  8. CHAPTER FIVE
  9. CHAPTER SIX
  10. CHAPTER SEVEN
  11. CHAPTER EIGHT
  12. CHAPTER NINE
  13. CHAPTER TEN
  14. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  15. CHAPTER TWELVE
  16. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  17. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  21. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  22. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  43. CHAPTER FORTY
  44. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  53. CHAPTER FIFTY
  54. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  55. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I looked at the three women. One so desperate. One so grateful. One so greedy and determined. Nonetheless, the answer had to be no. Anything else was…that simple, on syllable, two letter word began to form on my lips.

Such a short word, yet before I could get it out, Kaylee said, “The time. What’s the time?” She looked at her phone.

Elizabeth looked at her watch.

Kaylee said, “Oh dear, I have to go,” a little frantic, “I should have left already.”

Liz turned to me and said, “Kaylee could only escape for a very short time. God sends security people with her. Keepers. KGB types. Right now, she’s supposedly with her mother. Her mother helped her sneak away. But she has to get back before something terrible happens.”

Kaylee was already standing, trying to figure out how to leave. Elizabeth said, “Come on, I’ll walk you out.” Off they went.

As they tapped, tapped away, I went into Elizabeth’s space, where the corner window was. Looking down, I could see Elizabeth and Kaylee. There was a car waiting. Elizabeth signaled. It pulled up. Kaylee got in.

There was a guy leaning into a shadow on the other side of the street. He seemed to be watching. He looked a lot like the guy I’d seen up in Woodstock, the one Sly said was a narc.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

WHAT? WHERE? HOW? WHEN?

“In a Russian tragedy, everybody dies. In a Russian comedy, everybody dies, too. But they die happy.”

BARRY FARBER, WMCA

WHEN LIZ CAME BACK UPSTAIRS, I finally said it, “No.” I repeated it, “No.”

“That’s a billion dollars,” she said.

“Plus a damsel in distress,” I said. “No.”

“Think…”

“Where do they live?”

“In Moscow, mostly.”

“Moscow. You want to try…you want me to try…you want anyone to try…to kill someone in fucking Moscow? Russia, Russian police, his personal security people, and then get out of Russia?” I was building up into a pretty good rant. “As bad as American prisons are, what do you think Russian prisons are like? As bad as American gangs might be, what do you think Russian mobsters are like? In prison and out?”

“They’re going on vacation,” Elizabeth said.

“So what.”

“Don’t you want to know where?”

“No. I don’t. Because wherever they go, he’ll have security with him. Because he’s listed under the Magnitsky Act, which means that he’s connected to Putin, who uses the FSB as his personal toy, and to the Russian mob.”

“Calm down.”

“No.”

“Let me tell you where they’re going. They’re going to St. Anton.”