A few hours later, the three of us were once again crowded in front of the many monitors at HQ; Finch and John discussing the case while I listened intently.
“Our dearly departed hit-man; Alonzo Garcia, was an ex-con. He served three years at 5-points for second degree manslaughter. But, Andrea wasn’t his representative” Finch was saying, busily working at his computer as John and I observed.
“Then what’s their connection?” John asked, throwing a glance in my direction and smirking a bit as he saw that I was leaning forward towards the computer screens; almost as though a magnet was pulling me into the action.
“Terrence King. They share a parole officer; named Dominic Galuska” Finch responded, dragging up a photo of the man in question as he spoke. The three of us eyed the picture for a moment before John spoke up.
“Yeah, saw him at the court house. Maybe I should pay Mr. Galuska a visit…see if this is more than a coincidence” He replied, looking at me for a moment before he continued:
“Want to tag along, Natalya?”
Jumping a bit at the unexpected offer, I nodded quickly; standing up and stretching a bit before following John towards the door. I caught Finch eyeing me speculatively before turning my back on him completely; anxious to get a closer look at whatever it was these two did for a living. It seemed that I was about to be fully inducted into their world…and I couldn’t have been any happier.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“So, what exactly are we doing here? I thought we were paying Galuska a visit; not just watching him from a distance” I said, trying my best to tamp down the excitement I felt at being out in the field, as it were, with John. He threw me a smirk before he replied:
“Just wait, Natalya. We can’t always go barging up and get what we want right away…” He came to a stop as the phone in his coat pocket buzzed; and I fought back a huff of impatience as he turned his attention to the person on the other line.
“I know what your gonna say…”
Redirecting my focus to the conversation at hand instead of my nagging itch to dive into the action headfirst; I found myself chuckling a bit as I heard Carter’s voice on the other line.
“I give you an address; and you promise me no one would get dead. And what happens?”
I caught Reese smiling again before he responded:
“Well, in my defense; Mr. Garcia didn’t look both ways before crossing the street.”
“How did you know the dead guy’s name? We couldn’t’ find any I.D on him” Carter asked; the suspicion she held in her voice obvious to me as I heard her speak.
“It was on his driver’s license” Reese said; his voice laced with a surprising amount of non-chalance…as though rifling the body of a dead man for his wallet was as natural as taking a shower in the morning.
I heard Carter chuckle then, before asking:
“You stole a dead guy’s wallet?”
“He tried to kill Andrea Gutierrez last night…he’s gonna try again. Garcia had just under, what…10 grand on him? My guess; it’s a pay-off for a hit” Reese replied, moving his camera up and snapping a picture of Galuska while I tried my best to sink back into the passenger seat so he could get a clear shot.
“Who’d wanna kill her?” Carter asked, her voice showing her concern mingled with a slight hint of curiosity.
“I’m working on it” He said, disconnecting the call and snapping a few more photos of Galuska as a smaller man approached the parole officer; saying:
“I can’t pay you this much, Galuska.”
“If I don’t get my cut, I bet I could find a dozen parole violations that could throw you back inside” Galuska said; leaning in eagerly as the smaller man began rifling through the pocket of his apron and getting out what appeared to be cash. The parolee was obviously afraid; a fact that was made even more apparent by the small quiver in his voice as he said:
“That’s ten percent; okay?”
Galuska sneered at the smaller man; sending a chill through me before he replied:
“When I got you this job, our deal was thirty percent of your paycheck…don’t you cheap out on me.”
As Galuska stepped even closer to the man, John set the camera down; giving me a look that indicated I should follow him as he got out of the car.
I did as instructed; getting out and trailing a few steps behind him as he approached the two men in front of us, my hand never straying far from the gun at my back.
“Hey Dominic. Where’s my money?” Reese asked as he approached.
Galuska gave him a look that stated he clearly did not have time for any interruptions before he asked:
“Who do you think you’re talking to?”
“Thought I was talking to the guy who’s shaking down his parolees for their legit pay” was John’s reply. The two men eyed each other for a moment; before Galuska made a move to punch John; at which point the ex-op reacted so quickly that I never had a chance to approach and lend my assistance before Galuska was on the ground, unconscious.
I could only stand there; gaping in astonishment as John stuck a hand into the officer’s pocket, drawing out a wad of cash and handing it to Galuska’s parolee as he said:
“See if you can find me a bottle of booze in there; will ya?”
The smaller man did as instructed, hurrying off into the store in search of the aforementioned booze while John hefted Galuska into his car as though he weighed no more than a rag doll.
“What the hell are you doing?” I asked him, as I took notice of how he was now eyeing Galuska’s gun. “You aren’t going to shoot him…please tell me you aren’t going to shoot him.”
John shook his head minutely as he picked up the gun and wrapped Galuska’s hand around it; grabbing the bottle of liquor from the parolee who had returned as he was loading Galuska into the car. He poured the liquor over the officer; simultaneously picking up the phone that was on the dashboard and dialing 911. The voice on the other line spoke:
“911; what is your emergency?”
“I’m Dominic Galuska; and I may be a danger to myself and others” Reese said in a detached tone; tossing the bottle aside as he discarded the phone and shut Galuska in the car. I shook myself then; turning around to dart after him as I called:
“You can’t do that! Can you? I mean….you can’t do that!”
John merely turned once; smiling at me before he said:
“How about we finish discussing this later? I don’t really want to be around when the cops show up.”
I gaped after him for a moment as he opened the passenger seat of the car; gesturing for me to get inside as he crossed over to the driver’s side and got in himself. He laughed softly at the look of incredulity I threw him before we drove off; the questions I had regarding the arrangement he and Finch held multiplying as we rode along in silence.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
When we returned to HQ, Finch was gone; so John made a quick perusal of the place to ensure that Finch wasn’t tinkering around somewhere else before he left me with instructions to pick up some take-out from a Chinese restaurant a few blocks over for when they both returned. He seemed to know that I was bursting at the seams with questions for both he and the mysterious man he called his business partner; so he fixed me with a smile as he made to leave, saying:
“Don’t worry, Natalya. We’ll answer your questions over dinner. For now, I’ve got to go take care of something. Think you can keep yourself out of trouble for a bit without me?”
I threw him an exaggerated glare, smiling against my will at the laughter that small action evoked as he disappeared from sight. Turning back to the center of the room then; I took notice of the bag that was sitting in the corner opposite me. I walked over towards it; realizing with elation that it was the bag that contained my clothes from the hotel I was staying at prior to encountering John.
Picking it up, I walked quickly down the hallway towards the bathroom; shutting the door behind me as I smiled at the prospect of being able to freshen up somewhat.
I rummaged through the bag a bit before locating a pair of jeans and a light pink sweater; and I donned them with unwarranted excitement, spritzing myself with the bottle of cheap perfume I kept with me in the bottom of the bag. It wasn’t quite as refreshing as a shower would have been; but it would do for now, until I could beg Reese to take me somewhere with a bathtub and plenty of shampoo.
Straightening a few unruly locks of hair that had popped out during the day’s activities; I gave myself one last glance in the small mirror before I returned the bag to its original location and made my way outside to pick up our dinner. I could hardly wait to get back and start questioning John and Harold in earnest.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Still almost jittery with anticipation and excitement, I walked down the busy street; following John’s directions to the Chinese take-out place that he and Harold seemed to love so much, all the while remaining attentive to my surroundings. The ex-agent had once again given me his gun, which I had safely tucked in the pocket of the jacket that I now wore; as it had grown colder as the day drew on. Drawing the garment closer around my body to ward off the wind, I turned left down the street that was parallel to my destination; risking a glance in the window of the shop on the opposite side of the road as I did so.
The reflection in the mirror that the window provided showed a man with sunglasses and a black leather jacket a few feet behind me; walking a bit more brusquely than the others around him. His left hand never departed from his ear as he talked to God knows who; while his right remained at his back, over what I could only expect to be a gun. He appeared to be gesticulating wildly, in clear contrast to the casual demeanor of the other people on the street; and I picked up my pace only slightly while I continued watching him.
Deciding at the last minute to cross the street, I waved at the car that had let me pass; before returning my gaze to the shop windows as I passed them, only to realize with chagrin that Mr. Sunglasses had crossed to my side of the road as well. I debated over whether or not I should call Reese with the new cell phone that he had given me during the car ride back to HQ (despite my numerous protests); but decided against it, as I had no way of telling if the man were really following me, or if I was just being paranoid.
I continued walking down the street, my gaze constantly flitting back to whatever shop window I happened by; keeping track of the man behind me. I was so intent on watching him that I almost missed the man who popped up from around the corner in front of me; dressed almost identically to the man who was tailing me. This man, however, was not so casual about the weapon he held; keeping it visible in his hand while his other rested inside the pocket of his jacket.
Swallowing my momentary panic, I tried to rationalize the situation I now faced; all the while keeping an eye on the man I had my back to via the shop windows. He was walking faster now, and if I didn’t act quickly, I would soon be trapped between the two men on the street. Drawing out my phone to call John (as I was now fairly certain that these men were indeed after me); I ducked into an alley on my right, bringing the phone up to my ear as I waited for Reese to pick up the call.
The phone never even had a chance to ring, before it was knocked from my hand by a third man who had been waiting for me in the alley. I looked up at him then, choking back a yelp of pain as he promptly backed me into the brick wall, saying:
“Well, well, well, Maria; we finally meet again.”
I did my best to struggle against him; but all hope of wriggling free or gaining any purchase of my own to hurt him with was cast out of the realm of possibility when he slammed his arm into my throat, knocking the wind out of me as the other men I had seen on the street entered the alley. One of them wore a leer the size of Texas as he ogled me; while the other threw a smirk in my direction as he spoke with a thick accent.
“Told you it was her, Ivan.”
The man holding me to the wall gave me a brief smile that looked more like a grimace before he released his stranglehold on my neck; causing me to cough as air re-entered my lungs. He retained his position in front of me, still caging me in with his body as he addressed the man who had spoken to him.
“You don’t think I recognize my own wife, Peter? Although she has made some…changes. Changes that I think I rather like.”
I shivered involuntarily as Ivan trailed a finger from my face down to my neck, and came to rest on the top button of my jacket; all the while trying to figure out how I was going to overpower three men and get the hell out of here. Despite the instinctive need to fight to get this man’s hands off of me, I remained against the wall; paralyzed for reasons inexplicable to me as the men before me continued talking.
“I still don’t know that it’s her.” The third man who had been leering at me earlier said, speaking up then as he moved over to stand closer to Ivan. “She looks like Maria; but she’s too…fresh. Young. And her eyes are wrong.”
Ivan rolled his eyes as he brought up his other hand to begin undoing the buttons of my coat; his eyes never leaving my face as he said:
“Well, Victor; she obviously had work done. My guess is, she was trying to hide from me…”
He shoved the coat off of me, smirking a little as it fell to the ground with a soft clack; revealing the location of my hidden gun. I attempted to give him my best look of indifference as he ran his hands down my sides to rest them on my hips; trying to keep my mind in the present instead of drifting back to ponder why the hell he was after me. I knew that something should be ringing a bell at his mention of this “Maria”…I just couldn’t break through my frantic attempts at planning an escape route to figure that out.
“And it seems like she got herself some protection too. How…cute.”
He leaned in towards me then, stooping down so that we were face to face before he spoke again.
“You should have known, Maria. You should have known that, eventually, I would find you. Nothing you could have done to hide yourself would stop me…not even if you had run back to your precious soldier boy for protection.”
Stowing everything this man said in a corner of my brain for later analysis, I began to formulate a more coherent plan for getting myself out of there. If I could trick him into thinking that I was actually going to give myself up to him; then perhaps I stood a chance at getting him to let his guard down. From there I could make at least a halfway decent attempt at overpowering him and dealing with his two cronies…although the likelihood that I could get away from all of them seemed rather slim. Taking a deep breath to steady myself and biting back the small voice in my head that was screaming at me not to do this; I made my move.
Leaning my own face forward until it was only millimeters from his; I said:
“Did it ever cross your mind that I made these…changes…to my appearance to capture your attention? That maybe, I wanted you to find me?”
I fought back a wave of nausea as his expression turned from merely curious to predatory; forcing myself to remain neutral as I continued to speak.
“I’ve missed you, Ivan…you can’t even begin to imagine how much.”
That seemed to have the desired effect; because before I could fully register his reaction, he was releasing his hold on me and bending down to reach for my jacket. Using his distraction to my advantage; I brought a foot up to connect with his groin, sending him toppling over with a groan as I made a grab for the gun that was now in plain sight.
As my fingers curled around the cool metal of the weapon; I found myself being roughly shoved back against the alley wall by the man they called Victor. I blinked against the stars that popped before my eyes as my head connected with the brick; simultaneously squeezing my finger over the trigger of the gun and firing it into Victor’s stomach.
The man doubled over in front of me; staggering backwards before falling to the ground and clutching at his wound as he stared up at me in horror. I had only a moment to recover from my own shock at the almost instinctual act that I had just committed before Peter was in front of me with his own weapon pointed directly at my heart.
Re-adjusting my aim so that I had a clear shot of his forehead; I cocked my head in his direction, saying:
“You really want to play with me now? I have no qualms over shooting you just like I did your friend here.”
The only response I got from him was a sneer before the cool barrel of the gun pressing against my back put a dent in my unusual surge of bravado.
“You may want to reconsider that question, dearest Maria.” Ivan said, having regained his footing. “Despite your…valiant attempt at wriggling away from me yet again; the fact remains that there are two of our guns against yours. Those aren’t good odds, darling.”
“Tell me something…Ivan.” I said, swallowing hard as he dug his gun further into my back, and trying my best to ignore the sounds coming from Victor as he clutched at his wound. “Why are you so intent on getting me back after all these years? Why couldn’t you just…let me go?”
“Oh Maria; you couldn’t have thought that your father and I would let you just disappear after having your little bastard, did you? You stole what was rightfully mine. A chance at a beautiful wife; and a lovely little girl, though I know she wasn’t mine. I could have ignored that, you know. I would have raised her as my own…we could have had a perfect family. But you…you didn’t want that, did you?” He said, grabbing hold of my shoulder with his arm that was not aiming the gun at my back; pushing me so I was forced to kneel on the pavement of the alley.
Fighting back my panic that was growing by the minute; I swallowed hard before responding:
“I have no idea what you’re talking about Ivan.”
Ivan let out a coarse chuckle before shifting so that the gun was now positioned at the back of my head; saying:
“Drop your gun Maria. It’s useless for you now. Just like your soldier boy was; in the end. He never did come back for you; did he?”
I remained silent at that, reluctantly depositing my gun on the ground as I attempted to figure out what all of this meant. I was just about to speak in an attempt to gain more information when Ivan cut me off.
“You’re done running, Maria. You’re going to die here; alone. Maybe now you’ll know how I felt when you took your brat and left me.”
I heard the sound of him cocking the gun and braced myself for what was to come, praying silently that John wouldn’t feel it necessary to hunt these men down, and yet knowing full well that he probably would. Closing my eyes, I prepared for the last moments of my life; an unbidden tear sliding down my cheek as I drew in a deep breath.
“NYPD, put down your weapons!” A familiar voice rang out and I cracked open one eye to see who this newcomer was, realizing with a start that it was none other than Detective Carter. She had her gun drawn, aiming it directly at Peter as she ran into the alley; and I could tell from the expression on her face that she meant business. If she recognized me from the debacle with Snow; she didn’t show it, choosing instead to continue addressing the two men in the alley with us.
“Back off, Yogorov.” She said, motioning to Ivan even as she kept her weapon locked on Peter, who was still standing in front of me. “Back off, or I take care of your boy, here.”
“You’re the second person who’s threatened me with that, Detective. Why don’t you just let me deal with something I’ve been meaning to do for quite some time; and we can forget you just threatened one of the heads of the Russian mob?” Ivan responded, nudging me in the head with his gun as he spoke.
I tried to lock eyes with Carter in an effort to tell her to get the hell out of here; but to no avail. She was too busy keeping her eyes trained on Ivan and Peter to notice anything. I grimaced internally as she responded to Ivan; the same steel lacing her tone that I had witnessed first-hand from John during our brief time together.
“Ya know, Yogorov; I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge. How about we let the girl go and I’ll forget that I saw you doing something that should earn you a one way ticket to jail.”
Three other detectives came up behind her then; with guns drawn and aimed at Ivan. One of them cast a cursory glance in my direction before addressing my assailant.
“Four to two now; Ivan. Not looking so good for you; from where I’m sitting.”
A brief pause ensued before I was unceremoniously shoved to the ground as Ivan and the other man retreated into the alley; stopping only briefly to pick up Victor’s body before disappearing from view. Slowly getting up from the ground; I took Carter’s proffered hand, smiling briefly at her before she asked me:
“You’re out of John’s company for what; five seconds? And already you’re finding new ways to get yourself killed?”
I cast a look of confusion in her direction but was spared the trouble of asking why she was so exasperated with me when she continued speaking.
“He told me about the incident with Snow when he first found you. And now this? I can only imagine what he’ll say when he finds out about the Russian mob wanting a piece of you too.”
“He doesn’t have to know that the Russian mob is after me.” I responded, casting a meaningful look in her direction as I stooped to pick up my coat and gun; ignoring the curious glances of the other detectives as they observed our interaction.
Carter smiled then, laughing a bit before she said:
“You honestly think you can walk in to see him with blood on your shirt and he isn’t going to ask questions?”
Glancing down at my shirt, I realized with chagrin that she was right. And I knew full well that there was absolutely no way I was getting past Reese looking like this. Sighing inwardly, I donned my coat and buttoned it up to cover the blood before I looked back at Carter; deciding to direct the conversation in another direction besides my seeming aptitude for attracting trouble.
“So how did you end up in this part of town almost exactly when I needed you, Detective?”
“We just happened by after finishing up a job; heard gunshots…I’m sure you know the rest.” She said, avoiding my gaze as she turned to exit the alley. I hurried to catch up to her; making a mental note to ask Reese if he had asked her to tail me when I got back to HQ (which I suspected was the case, given her eagerness to skirt the topic I had mentioned). Placing a hand on her arm as we walked back out onto the main street; I squeezed gently as I said:
“No matter how you knew I was in trouble…thank you.”
The detective offered me a brief smile before asking:
“Where were you headed before all of this happened? We can stay with you until you are ready to go back to…wherever you, John, and Finch…hang out.”
“Oh that won’t be necessary; I was just going to get some food for dinner. I’d hate to be a bother to you” I replied, hedging at the thought of imposing myself upon the detectives when they had more pressing things to do than make sure I managed to get food safely. Besides, I wanted some time alone with my thoughts before I had to go and explain to John why I was returning, covered in blood; when all I had set out to do was pick up some dinner. That was not going to be a pleasant situation, to be sure.
“A cop’s gotta eat too, Natalya.” Carter replied, jolting me out of my thoughts and leveling a questioning gaze at me as she said:
“It is Natalya, isn’t it? Or is it Maria?”
“No, Carter…it’s Natalya. I honestly have no idea why Ivan and his crew were calling me Maria; beyond the fact that I apparently bear a resemblance to…oh God...”
I came to an abrupt stop in the street then; as the reason why, the name Maria should have rung a bell to me before, slapped me in the face. Reese had mentioned my similarity in appearance to a Maria Denchova and I found myself wondering if this person was the same Maria that the mob was referencing.
And the soldier boy…why did I have a gut feeling that it was John? He had said that he and Maria were close friends. Was he the one that she had wanted to go to for protection? I made a mental note to grill John about exactly who Maria was later tonight; choosing for now to return to the present as I caught Carter giving me a look of concern as she walked back towards where I had come to a screeching halt.
“You okay, Natalya?” She asked; concern evident on her face as she eyed me with curiosity.
I brought my eyes up to meet hers then, nodding shortly as I replied:
“Yeah, Carter; I’m fine. Just still a bit shocked over…over all of this, that’s all.”
“Well, let’s get your food and get you back to where you need to be, okay? Those mobsters won’t be able to touch you when you’re with John.” She said, smiling at me once again before gently grabbing my arm and ushering me through the crowds towards the restaurant that had been my destination all along.
Swallowing my apprehension at the prospect of telling John what had happened while I was on my errand; I followed Carter inside the restaurant, my thoughts still in the alley with the mobsters. One way or the other; I was going to figure out who in the hell Maria Denchova was, and why everyone seemed intent on thinking that I looked like her.
Just let Reese try to protect me from the truth this time…I didn't intend to let him.
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