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“Throwing this away.”
“Give it to me.”
“I can’t even walk to the end of the hall?”
“Nyet.”
“Stop being ridiculous.” I rolled my eyes and walked out.
He swore in Russian and stomped after me. “Ridiculous? For wanting to keep you safe?”
“You mean keep me prisoner?” I tossed over my shoulder. “Unless these guys are hiding next to the recycling bin, I think I’m good.”
“You don’t know where they’re hiding! That’s the point! You didn’t seemeand I followed you for weeks.”
“It’s so creepy when you say that...”
“You should learn to be more observant!”
Mrs. Melnyk opened her door, scowling. As soon as she saw Sasha, she started muttering, probably in Ukrainian. It was hard to tell the difference between the two languages. Both speakers sounded like they were pissed off all the time but since they seemed to understand each other, I couldn’t ever be sure what language it actually was.
Sasha pivoted sharply and strode toward her, towering over the old woman and barking back in what I could safely say was Russian.
Stuffing the garbage bag in the trash chute, I hurried back down the hall, not exactly sure who I was rescuing from whom. Mrs. Melnyk didn’t seem the least bit fazed by Sasha’s size or his temper.
“Mrs. Melnyk,” I said with a smile, nudging Sasha out of the way. “Do you have anything you need carried to the garbage?”
“Such a nice boy.” She smiled at me before sneering at Sasha. “Not like this filthy Moskal.”
“You forget, I know where you sleep, you crazy old woman,” Sasha snapped.
She shot back something in Ukrainian and held up her hands, like she was weighing grapefruits — or Sasha’s balls.
Seeing Mrs. Melnyk’s life flash before my eyes, I spit out a hasty goodbye and shoved Sasha back across the hall, while he continued to shout at her.
“Oh my God,” I exclaimed, pushing him through the door to his apartment. “She’s, like, ninety years old! Leave her alone.”
“You don’t know what she said.”
“Sticks and stones, man.”
“You’re saying I should stone her to death or beat her with a stick?”
“What? No! That isnotwhat I’m saying! Jesus! It’s an expression.” I raked a hand through my hair and walked a couple steps away before spinning around again. “Why does everything with you end in killing people? No, don’t answer.”
He grunted his annoyance and headed for the bedroom. A couple minutes later, he came out in tailored black suit that made me do a literal double take. Obviously, he looked good in his regular clothes, or none as the case may be, but I forgot how sexy he was all polished up.
“Are we going somewhere?” I asked, though it was doubtful considering the fit he threw less than five minutes ago.
“You’renot going anywhere,” he muttered, walking over to a cabinet in the living room and rifling around in it.
“Fine. Where areyougoing?”
“To talk to Viktor.”
“Are you going to tell him about the jump drive?”
Sasha didn’t answer. He was more concerned with messing around with three handguns of varying sizes, checking their ammunition and strapping them to his body.
