Page 18 of Goodnight, Sinners

No nightmares,Jozef told her as she pushed herself off the bed.

She tried to determine if any bad dreams had interrupted her nap, but she didn’t think so.

She caught Jozef’s hand and pulled him to the door. “Let’s go. Something smells delicious and I’m starving.”

* * *

Later, after a satisfying meal of homemade Borscht with sour cream and biscuits, Jozef and Shaun were tucked away in their bedroom once more. Shaun had fallen quickly asleep, while Jozef sat on the edge of the bed with his phone.

Vasiliy’s daughter was here before we arrived. After you set up a perimeter, make sure someone tracks her path out of the woods. Given how elusive she’s been, I doubt you’ll be able to capture her. Try anyway.

Jozef sent the text to Havel, who had finally caught up to them. Jozef hadn’t been particularly careful in covering their tracks, so he wasn’t surprised when Havel showed up with a handful of men, insisting on providing security for the cottage. Jozef agreed under the strict condition that Shaun not find out the team was out there. Which meant they would have to sleep, eat and piss in the woods.

His men were used to harsher conditions. He wasn’t worried.

An hour later, he got a text from Havel. He’d been expecting a check-in once they followed the Phantom’s trail through the forest. What he wasn’t expecting was the contents of the message.

The daughter wasn’t alone. There was a small set of footprints with hers, heading south, away from the vehicles. The second set of prints weren’t deep. Probably a child.

Jozef leaned forward, elbows on his thighs, and frowned at his phone. He wasn’t surprised that Vasiliy had kept the existence of a child from him. But something was bothering him, niggling at his consciousness. Like a puzzle with only one piece missing before it was solved.

It was time to have a discussion with Vasiliy. No more insistences that he couldn’t tell Jozef who his daughter was. No more calm assurances that he didn’t care if he lived or died as long as she was safe. Jozef needed the information, if only to keep his budding empire safe. He needed to know that the Phantom wouldn’t come after him, and indirectly, Shaun.

He stood, careful not to bounce the bed as he moved and then glanced down at his fiancé. Soon to be wife. He was done waiting. He didn’t want to force her decision, but he wasn’t going to change his mind.

She wanted to be sure of him, of their lives together. He’d been giving her time for her own peace of mind, but it was time to take the step she seemed so reluctant to take with him. He needed to know that she was tied to him in every possible way. Spiritually, physically, mentally and legally.

He made his way silently from the room, grateful that Shaun slept heavily. He worried she would have a nightmare while he was gone, but he didn’t have a choice. If things got ugly with Vasiliy, he absolutely didn’t want her witnessing it.

He made his way noiselessly down the hall to Vasiliy’s bedroom. As Jozef suspected, it was empty. He’d done some reconnaissance around the cabin, before settling down with Shaun for the night. His host hadn’t been in the cabin when they’d retired.

Jozef made his way to the bookshelf in Vasiliy’s office. It was already standing open. An invitation? Jozef entered the long passageway that led away from the cabin, into an underground bunker that contained Vasiliy’s workroom. As he neared the workroom, he realized Vasiliy had left the workroom door open as well. The strains of a Spanish opera reached down the corridor.

Sure enough, the door was wide open, an invitation to Jozef.

As Jozef stepped through the doorway, the smell of turpentine hit his nose. Vasiliy, who was sitting on a stool and leaning over a doll, said, “I was expecting you.”

It was an eerie reminder of the first time they'd met – in that very workroom. Only that time Havel had been there, Vasiliy hadn’t known sign language, and Jozef had been on a mission to kill the older man.

“Pull up a seat,” Vasiliy invited, waving a hand toward the other side of the table where a stool was tucked neatly under the table. Vasiliy leaned back, holding a paintbrush aloft as he stared down at the doll he was working on.

Jozef hesitated, glanced back at the door, then pulled the stool out and sat down. He arranged his body so he could face both the door and Vasiliy. It made him uncomfortable to have the trapdoor leading into the forest at his back, but he had to compromise something and he assumed the trapdoor was firmly latched.

When Vasiliy was looking at him, Jozef signed,who is your daughter?

Vasiliy smiled slightly. “I believe we’ve had this conversation, Jozef. And it has led us to an impasse.”

The impasse will end tonight,Jozef assured him.I don’t want to hurt you, but I need the information and I don’t have the luxury of time anymore. I have an empire to build. I need to know who my enemies are, and who are my allies.

Vasiliy nodded thoughtfully and carefully set his brush aside. He leaned back in his stool and studied Jozef. “Alright, I will tell you.” When Jozef lifted his hands to sign, Vasiliy interrupted him. “You’ll have to patient though. I won’t give you a direct answer, I will simply give you a piece of the puzzle. It’s up to you to figure out where it fits.”

Jozef growled his frustration but didn’t argue. Vasiliy’s words were eerily similar to his own thoughts of a few minutes before. He was here, with Vasiliy, and he had nowhere else to go. He could work on his patience, while at the same time hopefully get the answers he needed.

Proceed.

Vasiliy remained silent for a minute, as though gathering his thoughts, then nodded decisively, finally allowing his gaze to fall on Jozef.

“I knew your father… well, actually, both of your parents.” He paused, waiting for Jozef to absorb the shock. And it was a shock. Of all the directions he thought this conversation could take, he hadn’t expected his parents to be the subject. Luckily, he’d had years of practice schooling his features and didn’t give his surprise away.

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