Page 67 of Savage Pakhan

“Could you have gone any slower? It’s cold out.”

“It’s cold out,” I scoff in Russian. “We are from Russia. We do not get cold.”

“Fuck you. I get cold. I want a fire after this and vodka. It better be good vodka.”

“It’s always good vodka.” The audacity to even assume it wouldn’t be, I take offense to.

Nikolai’s shoulder bumps against mine as he steps inside. He whistles when he takes in the carnage. “Fuck, Alek. You got lucky.”

I walk into the kitchen and open a drawer where I keep a pack of emergency cigarettes. I’m not a big smoker but I do give into temptation every so often when the situation calls for it.

And this most definitely calls for it.

“Want one?” I continue to speak in Russian, liking that I don’t have to speak English with Nikolai all the time. It’s a good break.

The English language is exhausting.

“Da,” he replies, snagging a stick from the pack.

I grab matches then walk over to the dead body, striking the match off the dead man’s boot.

Nikolai chuckles with a shake of his head. “So cruel.”

The flame sways and I cup my hand over it, bringing it to the end of the cigarette. I puff, allowing the rancid smoke to fill my lungs.

Nikolai squats, dipping is own cigarette into the flame. He puffs it, the smoke clouding his face. I open the window behind me, not wanting the smoke to become stagnant in the small cabin.

“You kicked his ass.” He flicks the cigarette, the ashes falling onto the intruder’s shirt. “Nice touch.” Nikolai pats out the embers when they light the paper on fire. “Oops. I’ll fix it.” He blows out another cloud of smoke. “Better.”

“Two men came from the woods. I saw them on the security feed in bed. They peeked inside the car, then went around back, broke the basement window, and tried to come up the steps to surprise me.”

“How is Mia?” he asks, his tone conveying genuine concern, still speaking in our native tongue.

“She’s good. I hid her in the panic room. Now, she is taking a nice relaxing bath.”

“You told her not to come down here, didn’t you?”

“Da. She doesn’t need to see this. And she doesn’t want to, but she’s okay. For now. I’m nervous things will get worse.”

“I found the contract. We’ll take care of cleanup, we’ll sleep, we’ll look over the contract tomorrow.”

“We?”

“Da. I’m not driving back tonight. It’s late. I’m tired. Sleep. I want sleep.”

“I need these bodies delivered to Ivan. I have to send a message with this man’s phone too. It’s imperative Ivan gets it.”

“It can wait until tomorrow,” Nikolai waves away my concern. “I work for you. I don’t work for him. He can wait. Let’s get the bodies in the van.”

I nod, placing the cigarette between my lips, Nikolai doing the same. He grabs the feet while I hook my hands around the shoulders.

“Fucker is heavy,” Nikolai grunts.

“You should have felt one of his punches. It hurts like hell. I can show you.”

“Fuck you,” he mumbles around his cigarette as we carefully make our way down the porch steps.

The van doors are already open. Nikolai thinks of everything. We toss the first body in, then go inside for the second.