A Debt Owed

Chapter 7

Kirill was about thirty meters in front of me but the advancing crowd was slowing me down as I weaved in and out, plus he had increased his speed trying to catch up with his prey. Someone bumped into me pushing me back a couple of steps, I turned with the momentum that pulled me with them and by the time I regained my direction Kirill was no where in sight. It began to run; maybe I just couldn’t see him over the sea of people. Damn. I sprinted, if I picked up speed I could catch him up where ever he went. Two blocks later turning three-sixty degrees scoping out the area to locate the tall Russian to finally find he had gone down an alleyway dragging his target with him. They were both yelling at each other in their native tongue, I was breathing so hard I could barely make it out, leaning on the nearby wall I decided to wait till it was over.

Kirill had the other man by the jacket collar lifting him up crushing him against the stone wall, his feet dangling above the ground.

“Kirill please, I can not give you the name if I do not know it myself.” The smaller man pleaded squirming under the unforgiving gaze of his pursuer.

Kirill leaned in closer pushing more of his weight on the man. “Then tell me the name of who does.”

“Put me down first.” He wheezed the words out.

Kirill did as asked expecting it would speed things up. Mistakenly as soon as the smaller man’s feet hit the ground he made a break for it. He was too slow as Kirill’s hand grabbed him behind the neck pushing him into the industrial trade waste bin, swearing loudly. At the cracking sound of a human skull making contact with metal I glanced in their direction, then turned back in case I attracted too much attention from the world going about its business outside of the alley. The smaller man had collapsed to his knees rocking back and forth holding his head, blood streaming down his face stinging his eyes. He was talking but the sound was being drowned out by the sobbing. Kirill crouched in front of him, hand under his, coat no doubt resting on his gun, waiting. The man on the ground composed himself enough to tell him what he wanted to know.

Standing Kirill reached into his pocket retrieving whatever he had there then threw it at the man, who was now leaning against the bin still snivelling. “You better be right or I will finish what we started. Clean yourself up.”

The man grabbed the handkerchief wiping the rest of the blood from his face, he didn’t get up. Guess the conversation was over. Kirill backed away heading towards me. A handkerchief, I wouldn’t have thought he carried one of those; it seemed so old fashioned now. How very European of him. Still I suppose it came in handy in wiping away finger prints.

“Well?” I asked as he stepped onto the sidewalk.

He grabbed my arm pulling me along with him as he kept on walking; he was calm and fully composed as if the last twenty minutes hadn’t happened. “I have a name and place. Now we must go.”

I enquired as to the name and place but he never answered. I was being lead around again like a gangly puppy dog on a leash.

The natural flow of the commuters carried us to our destination quickly; we were in the middle of Berlin’s financial district. Looming architectural structures reaching skyward surrounded us, the urban landscape scattered with art galleries and the National Museum. We started to ascend the steps of the First International Bank. I glanced up at the seemingly ancient building with carved stone pillars and walls. The design Roman influenced in style, it could have been intentional yet it could very well be that old. Once inside despite the exterior its funny how all corporate buildings smell the same. That sterile and untouched by humans smell that made the place cold and hostile.

Kirill left me in the lobby disappearing into the men’s room where he managed to stash the gun for safe keeping; most banks had hidden metal detectors. Checking that all the stalls were empty he chose the last one, locking the door he wrapped the Barretta 9mm tightly in a plastic bag and submerged it under the water in the cistern tank. Exiting he hoisted himself over the wall of the adjoining stall instead of using the door, if the stall was engaged no one would think twice about using it.

We entered the bank, looking much like any other customer in there, walking past the metal detectors and guards without so much as a second glance. The décor was even more extravagant than the hotel Kirill chose; antiques, wood, gold gilding and leather. It had a real ‘Boys Club’ feel to it. All that was missing were the trophy animal heads from the last safari hunt mounted on the walls. He said something to the nearby clerk who then escorted us to the lift and down two levels to where the safety deposit boxes were located. The room was larger that I expected with a uniformed guard stationed in the doorway and another clerk at a small desk, with two surveillance cameras trained on the entrance. The deposit boxes were enclosed behind yet another cage.

“I’m sorry Sir but the young lady can not enter with you.” The Clerk stopped us at the doorway motioning to me with his eyes.

Kirill promptly draped his arm around my shoulders, totally taking me by surprise but I remained silent, pulling me closer to him. “It is okay this is my fiancé.”

He then placed a fleeting kiss on my temple as the Clerk stared at us, I just warmly smiled back. Kirill noted the Clerk’s eyes wondering to my left hand, I wasn’t wearing any jewellery, “We are shopping for a ring today.”

“Congratulations.” The Clerk eyeballed me for a few moments then finally relented signing the registry book before prompting the both of us to do so.

I hated signing things out of the blue because I had to remind myself not to sign my full name.

The electronic door opened and we all entered the vault room, wall to wall safety deposit boxes of every size and a couple of security cameras set on the contents of the room. The men had two sets of keys, two sets for two boxes. The Clerk removed the boxes placing them on the table then swiftly left leaving Kirill and I alone, with the other clerk and security guard well out of ear shot.

“So why are we here?” I asked watching him strategically position himself to obscure the view of the cameras; he also moved me closer to the table then opened the boxes.

“Things I needed for tonight.” He paused from going through the items in the first box and glanced up meeting my puzzled expression. “We have a meeting with the contact.”

The box was stacked with several business sized envelopes of which he removed, placing them on the table before leaving to ask the female clerk outside for a carry bag. A flash of colour peeking out from underneath the plain envelopes caught my attention. I glanced up to check where he was, he was still talking to the clerk and then I reached in to quickly pull out the piece of paper discovering that it was in fact a photograph. The corners were worn, the picture slightly faded and well travelled, well cherished. It was a family shot judging by how they were closely huddled together; two adults and a child. The man did resemble Kirill, the others were unfamiliar. He looked much younger, thinner in the face, clean shaven in a police uniform and there was optimism in his eyes. My curiosity raced. The young woman had dark hair and blue eyes, the child had dark hair also but the eyes, the eyes were the same intense green as Kirill’s. Is he married? Does he have a family somewhere? If so then where were they? What happened to them and was all this tied in with his nightmares?

I turned and my eyes snapped up at the sound of the door shutting. I couldn’t slip the photo back Kirill was walking towards me so I shoved it into the back pocket of my jeans fully intending to investigate the mystery further. I don’t think he noticed what I was doing as he proceeded to put a couple of envelopes into the carry bag before he reached for my hand holding it palm up placing one sealed envelope in it.

“This is part payment.” He opened the other box quickly retrieving something out of it. I didn’t get to see what and then he locked both boxes returning them to their resting places.

I sneaked a peek into the envelope there was a wad of cash inside, all one hundred dollar bills, the weight felt like twenty thousand dollars. I stared back at him.

“You may need to buy new clothes for the meeting tonight.”

“Why where is the meeting?” I crammed the envelope into my coat pocket as he gathered up everything making his way out.

“Club Inferno.”

“Oh.” I silently mouthed the word. I was familiar with the place and knew just what to wear to blend in. Before heading back to the hotel there was a quick stop over at a hip fashion boutique I frequented often when in town looking for the latest cutting edge street/club styles. No matter what the circumstances a girl still loves to shop.

I emerged from the store overloaded with shopping bags; Kirill raised an eyebrow at me holding the back of my SUV open for me to stuff everything in. “What. You want me to look the part and be convincing don’t’ you?”

He didn’t reply but I noted the slight smile.