I am the Pakhan. It is my responsibility.
“I'm beat,” Mother admits, rubbing the back of her neck. “I'm going to go home and get some sleep.”
“That's a good idea.” I bend down to kiss her cheek.
“I will never get used to the size of you,” she chuckles fondly. “I still remember having to bend down to pick you up in my arms and now you’re looming over me like a redwood. What about you, are you heading home?”
“I'll stay here.” I haven't slept; I left the bachelor party and came straight back here after more or less pouring Adam back into his fiancée's arms around 5 AM. The clinic has big, extremely comfortable recliners in every room, so I can keep an eye on her without torturing my lower back.
On her way out, Mother passes Roman in the hallway and there's a low murmur of conversation and quiet laughter before she leaves and he steps into the room.
“How is she doing?” he asks quietly.
“She's tough,” I admit, folding my arms. “She managed to get through fairly sickening details before her voice gave out.”
“Are you ready for the rest?” Roman asks. “It’s ugly.”
“Better that I hear it from you than from her,” I say, watching the soft rise and fall of her chest. “She's been through enough.”
“Come out in the hallway, then. Kolya is here with me.”
One of our best hackers is slumped over the counter of the nurse’s station, scrolling through a laptop. “Hey boss,” he says cheerfully, “how's your girlfriend?”
“She's not my girlfriend.” I narrow my eyes. “Have you been talking to my mother?”
Kolya may have an IQ of 140 and can worm his way through the vilest corners of the dark web, but he is not blessed with social intelligence.
“That’s not what I heard,” he cackles. “I’ve seen the footage. You swept her up into your arms in that hallway. Man, that was a cinematic fucking moment.” His chuckles die down as he realizes that both Roman and I are Not Amused. “Yeah, okay. Anyway, you can go through the hallway security feed later, there's not anything that's particularly interesting. I created a highlight reel. But what really matters is this.” He clicks a key and the laptop screen lights up. I recognize the apartment.
“I almost didn't find it,” he says, tapping his fingernail on the counter. “The security feed goes to an offsite server, the signalpopped up when I followed a weird power surge. That building is already having power issues; there’s too much drain for what the builders wired for.”
“Good,” Roman smiles unpleasantly. “Then a catastrophic electrical fire shouldn't be too hard to set up.”
“I'm just going to give you this laptop,” Kolya says, all humor gone from his tone. “You might want to watch this on your own. But try not to smash this laptop, okay? It's one of my favorites.”
“It was one time,” I snap. “One laptop and it was begging for it.”
“Yeah,” he says, “I'm leaving now. You two have a nice night of evaporating buildings with plastique or whatever it is you do for fun.”
“That was only one time!” Roman shouts after him. “Kolya is getting way too casual with us.”
“I believe he's forgetting corporate protocol here,” I say disapprovingly.
“You're not going to get a stick wedged up your ass when you turnPakhan, are you? I thought that was something that you wanted to change from Father's rule.”
“I don't know,” I say. “I'm beginning to question this concept of informality in hierarchy structure.” Pulling the laptop closer, I eye the camera feed. “Have you seen this footage yet?”
His mouth flattens into a grim line. “Enough,” he says shortly. “Enough to not watch anymore. Are you staying here?”
“Yes, I want to be here if she wakes up.”
A taunting grin spreads across his face and he steps just out of reach. “Iknewshe was your girlfriend. See ya!” He takes off before I can slap him across the back of the head.
“Is there anything I can get you, Mr. Morozov?”
The shift nurse is smiling up at me shyly. She’s pretty and leaning over the counter so I can catch a look down her scrubs, gaping open to show her lacy black bra.
“Just take good care of our patients,” I say shortly and her smile disappears.
