Page 27 of Gone Before Goodbye
Maggie holds her hands up. “Yeah, okay, I get it. You googled me, I’m flattered. Why am I here?”
“My employer needs discreet cosmetic surgery done.”
“Can you be more specific?”
Brovski rubs the top of his head. “We need you to perform surgery on two people. Cosmetic procedures, as I said. My employer will tell you the specifics when you meet.”
Maggie looks left, then right. “Is he here?”
Brovski does the no-teeth grin again. “No.”
“So what’s the plan here, Ivan?”
“We fly you to a private location.”
“Where?”
“Someplace”—he takes his time—“out of the country.”
“I’m going to need more than that.”
“There is a place called Rublevka. It’s—”
“—a suburb outside of Moscow,” she finishes for him.
He arches an eyebrow. “You’ve been?”
“No, but I’ve heard of it.”
Rublevka is the epicenter of the Russian oligarchs, perhaps the wealthiest residential area in the world. Lenin and Stalin had dachas there. Khrushchev and Gorbachev had summer residences.
Brovski nods. “When you were in college, you took a course called Modern Russian History with Professor Taubman. I nearly forgot.”
“Do you know when I got my first hickey?”
“What?”
“I bet your researchers missed that. Seventh grade. A game of spin the bottle with Mitch Glassman. You can stop with the ‘I know all’ intimidation tactics, Ivan. I’m a military brat who grew up military trained, so I know the program. Get on with it.”
“Fair enough,” Brovski says, amused. “But I think you see whatwe are after. We are looking for an expert surgeon who is willing to travel to Russia and perform highly confidential cosmetic procedures. We think that expert surgeon should be you.”
“What’s your client’s name?”
“I can’t reveal that at this time.”
“Is it a name I’d know?”
“I don’t know what you know,” Brovski says, “but I can tell you that my client values his privacy.”
Maggie takes that in for a moment. “You must be aware that my medical license has been revoked.”
“Yes, of course,” Brovski says. “It’s why you’re perfect.”
“Foreign doctors typically need to meet MIMC licensing to operate in Russia—”
“Done.”
“What?”
