“We don’t know the neighbors yet—Misha what is happening?”
“It doesn’t matter if you know the neighbors. Take them, and do it fast.”
“Where is Vitali—”
“BLYADKATYA!”
I yanked the phone away from my ear as he screamed something else, and dropped it on the table, then retrieved the pot and stuck it under the faucet.
“Mama!” I hollered.
It took a lot of yelling for me to convince her to go, butsomething clicked, and she said nothing else, just hurried.
He was still on the line.
“Tell me what’s going on,” I hissed, crushing the phone between my shoulder and ear as my hands worked to dice potatoes. “Right now, Misha!”
“Listen to me as you move your ass because you don’t have time, Katya,” he warned.
My stomach was already one big knot. The knife slipped in my shaking hands and nearly took off my thumb. “Alright—alright!”
“Some bad men are on their way up. They’re about to come to the door and ask you to search the apartment. You’re going to let them. One of them is a cop—don’t say a fucking word to him, but comply as any citizen would. Are you done with the soup?”
I threw the last bit of celery into the pot. “Yeah…”
“Good. Go put on a loose sweater, but tight pants. Be certain the gun is loaded, and tuck it in the band where the sweater will conceal it. Make sure you can reach it.”
“Oh my God—”
“You don’t have time for God. If you have stacks of dollars, hide them on your person. They shouldn’t touch you, but they’ll search everything else. Katya, stay calm. You’ll be fine.”
“I can’t do this… Misha I can’t do this…”
“I’m on my way, but don’t stall them. The faster they leave, the better.”
“I’ve never dealt with the police!”
The pause drove a knife through me because I already knew what he was going to say.
“They aren’t police.”
Breathe in—breathe out. I hung up carefully, because suddenmovements might break me, and pulled on those damned leather pants. The ghost echoes of steps shuffling up the stairs were all I could hear, even though they probably took the elevator.
I only had one stack of banknotes (wasn’t that weird to say) and stuck it snugly at the back, thanking God I hadn’t lost weight since the summer. Before I could pull the sweater down, the knock came.
Like Misha said—stay calm.At that moment, no memory remained of how normal people answered the door, but I tried anyway.
Two men in long winter coats stood outside. I studied them through the peephole, bracing for the worst. Preparing for the ‘fun’ guns to be drawn and already pointed. But instead, one held a clipboard, while the other breathed on his hands. I could do this. They were only human. Misha was more intimidating than this.
Vitali was too…
I opened the door, but only a two-finger width. “Hello?”
“Forgive us, we are looking for Vitali Konstantinov. Is he home?” the man in the large fur hat asked. He would be my papa’s age if Papa were still alive. The other man, with heavy, dark bags under his eyes and the clipboard, tried to look past me.
“I don’t know anyone by that name,” I said, and on instinct shifted to block the view into the apartment.
“Who lives here?” Clipboard asked.
