The older officer nods and moves back to confer with his colleague. They talk in Serbian too fast for me to follow, but I catch enough to know they're discussing whether to search us. After a few minutes, they decide against it.
I lean against the car and pull out a cigarette. The message from our enemies is clear—they want me out of Serbia, and it's not because of my petty drug dealing to make money. Popovic knowswe're getting close and he's getting antsy. I'm shocked he let me live to give Yuri the message when he could've killed me.
But I'm not leaving. Not until Andrei is dead and Dominic's murder is answered.
Twenty minutes crawls by and the officers sit in their car and watch us the whole time. After a while, I send Nenad and Jovan on their way while I finish my cigarette and light another one, but this is getting ridiculous. My car is parked two blocks away.
A cab finally pulls up and Danica climbs out, wearing her work uniform, and her hair is pulled back. Her face is tight with anger when she sees me with the police.
"Vadim." She crosses her arms and scowls at me in such a womanly way, it almost makes me chuckle. I wonder if it's an act, but who knows with this woman. "What did you do?"
"Nothing." I drop my cigarette and crush it. "I was selling a car."
"In this neighborhood?" She looks around. "At this hour?" Her hands fly up in the air as she speaks.
She's playing her part perfectly even though she has no idea what's really happening.
"The buyer wanted to meet here." I shrug and walk toward her. "It's not a big deal."
"It is a big deal when I have to leave work." She turns and gets back into the cab. "Let's go."
I follow her into the back seat and pull the door closed. The driver asks where we're going and Danica gives him our address. As we pull away, I look back and see the officers watching us leave.
Danica doesn't say anything until we're several blocks away. Then she turns to me and her eyes are blazing. "What the hell was that?"
"A complication." I stare out the window and scowl at the fact that I now have to walk halfway across town to get back to my car and pick it up. "Nothing I can't handle."
"The police were there." She lowers her voice. "Were you actually selling drugs?"
"Why does it matter? This isn't real, remember?"
"Don't bullshit me." She grabs my arm and forces me to look at her. "I'm not stupid."
I meet her eyes and see fear under her anger. She's starting to understand how dangerous this could become.
"It was a misunderstanding." I pull my arm free. "The cops thought we were doing a drug deal but we weren't." I don't owe her any explanation at all, and I don't intend to give one.
"Then why did they make you call me?" She's not buying it. "Why did they wait with you?"
"Because this is a bad neighborhood and they wanted to make sure I got out safely." I turn back to the window. "That's all." If I told her they have a corrupt deputy on the payroll and that he's pulling strings to put heat on me, she'd flip out.
Danica glowers the rest of the way to my house, sitting with her arms folded over her chest while staring at passing traffic. But she's the least of my worries.
If Popovic keeps doing what he's doing now, I'll be forced out of the country for my drug dealing before I even get a chanceto commit the murder I need to handle. I have to figure out a way around this shit situation I'm in. I thought things would go more smoothly now with more time to handle my business, but it appears things are only getting trickier. Yuri isn't going to like this at all.
12
DANICA
The cab drops me back at the diner and I pay the driver. And the instant I walk in Mina, looks up from behind the counter and her eyes go wide. She abandons the coffee pot and rushes over to grab my arm.
"What happened?" She pulls me toward the back. "You look terrible."
"I need to finish my shift." I try to pull away but she's not letting go. It's no doubt I look awful. I feel awful. Twenty-seven trips around the sun and I've never had to deal with police for anything other than when I had to bail Dusan out of lock up for petty theft. Now Vadim is dragging me back into that world and I hate it.
"The tables will be fine for a minute." She drags me into the kitchen. "Talk to me."
I lean against the prep counter and run a hand through my hair to smooth flyaways. Zoran glances over from the stove but doesn't say anything when Mina waves him off.
