Micah had stepped out of the helicopter and approached the two of them. “What the hell is going on with you guys, Twist? Were those guysRussian?”
This was all out of control. Tristan shook his head like a bug was divebombing him. He said to Micah, “I was trying to raise some capital for a big venture, alotof capital, and Mayamiko Botha sold me out.”
Micah frowned, confused.“Mayamiko Bothasold you out? Some of the other financial people we deal with, yeah, I could see that. Buther?”
He nodded. “Botha stated that GrazBank couldn’t finance me, and then they all walked out of the room, just like that, no conversation about finances or anything. And then a bunch of Russian mobsters came in and started demanding to give me money,launderedmoney, and said they were from the Butorin bratva.”
Micah rocked back on his heels, and his eyebrows rose. “TheButorins?Like Tatiana and Dima Butorin?”
“Yeah, but this guy was one of the other Butorins. I don’t remember him from high school at all. I don’t think he was at Le Rosey. They want a piece of software I wrote, and they were willing to finance my deal. But the cost was my eternal soul, you know? Once you do business with a bratva, they own you forever.”
“Right,” Micah said, now also frowning.
Colleen had crossed her arms over her chest where her wet dress was clinging to her figure, and she was glaring at the two of them. “Youcannotjust give in to them. I mean, jeez, Tristan. They essentiallykidnappedus, and they’re threatening you. You shouldn’t do business with people like that.”
Tristan sighed again. His suit was soaked from the sprinkler system at the restaurant, too, and the soggy fabric was beginning to chill his skin in the breeze blowing from the sea. “They goddamned kidnapped us because they wanted my virus.”
Micah peered more closely at him.“Virus?You’re writing malware now, Twist?”
He shrugged, but as a dismissive gesture, not resignation. “Notthatkind of malware. It’s not ransomware or destructive. It trolls the internet. To be specific, it’s not so much of a virus as a worm, but I know what you would’ve said if I’d told you that the Butorins want my worm.”
Micah snorted.
“But they’re after me, Micah. If I don’t give it to them, they threatened to kill us. I mean, they need me to get it, but they specifically threatened Colleen to make me do what they want.”
“And she doesn’t have anything to do with it,” Micah said, the dryness in his voice laced with skepticism.
Tristan shook his head again, frustrated with Micah. “I just met her a few days ago. She’s an innocent bystander, but they know who she is now.”
Micah turned and asked her, “You’re sure they know who you are?”
Colleen nodded. “They knew my name and that I’m from Phoenix, and that I used to go to Southwestern State. They probably have my address, too.”
Micah turned back to him. “Then they’ll find her if she goes off somewhere. She has to stay with you.”
Tristan insisted, “I have to handle thisalone.I can’t involve her anymore.”
“It’s too late for that lone wolf shit, Twist. She’s involved, and she’ll be safer with you than walking around with no one to protect her.”
“Bullshit, Micah. She needs to go somewhere and hide. Colleen, can you go to your parents’ place for a few days until this blows over?”
Colleen shook her head, the delicate skin between her brows crumpling. “No.”
Micah gestured at her. “It isn’t going to blow over, Twist. If the Butorins have decided to recruit you, you’re either recruited or you’re dead. And if they’ve decided Colleen is your weak spot, she is. Where are your parents, doll?”
Micah referring to Colleen asdollannoyed Tristan. Micah meant something entirely different bydoll.
She said, “They live outside of Winslow, but I can’t go back there.”
Tristan glanced at her.
“They won’t have me,” she said, staring at the asphalt beneath their feet. “We’re estranged.”
Yet another thing they had in common. “Right. Well, that’s a conversation for another day,” Tristen said and turned back to Micah. “She could go to your place in San Francisco for a few days. Lie low, as it were.”
Micah said, “Youbothcould, maybe.”
“Or you could take her somewhere,” Tristan said, gesturing at the desert mountains on the landward side of the airport. “Take her back to Phoenix and set her up in a different apartment. Put it under your name. I’ll give her my credit card to pay for it all.”
