Page 95 of Russian Roulette
“Regardless, I can’t just sit around doing nothing. Keeping busy is the only way I stay sane.”
I hobble over to the sofa and tap Vulcan on the leg. He wakes up instantly, his eyes opening to meet mine. “Good morning,” he says, taking in my appearance. “You’re a sight for tired eyes.”
“Scoot over,” I tell him, nudging his long legs. “Make room for me to sit.”
“Any time,” he replies, dropping his legs onto the floor and sliding over to give me plenty of room to stretch out.
“Why are you all still here?” I ask, surveying their weary faces. “I thought you had important jobs. How can you work and be with me as much as you are?”
“We have odd schedules,” Seven replies. “We rehearse in the afternoons and work mostly at night. Our schedules vary, so one of us is usually available to be with you.”
“Now that you’ve set me free, you don’t need to babysit me constantly. I would hate to cause trouble for any of you with your work.”
“Giovanni understands where his bread is buttered,” Vulcan says. “He wouldn’t fire us if we slacked off. He would just demand that we shape up or threaten bodily harm.”
“That’s even worse,” I say. “Starting today, you all need to resume your normal daily schedules. I’ll be fine and I won’t do anything stupid. The only thing on my agenda today is staying put and working on my computer. Please, go home and rest. You all look like hell this morning.”
“Leroy will be here any minute to collect me, and I’ll be heading out,” Seven informs me. “By the way, he went out to the strip clubs last night in an attempt to find Natasha for you.”
“Did he have any luck?” I’m surprised that Leroy jumped on my favor so quickly.
“Not one bit,” Leroy announces from the doorway. He walks straight through the living room and into the kitchen. “Seven, are you ready to go?” he calls out. “Traffic is a motherfucker this morning. It took me forever to get here and I haven’t had breakfast yet. Do you have anything edible in this damn kitchen, Kit?”
“That you would eat?” Kit replies. “Protein bars might be the only thing besides fruit. They’re in the cabinet. Help yourself.”
Leroy walks back into the living room, clutching three wrapped protein bars in his hand. He unwraps one and takes a bite. “Hmm…these aren’t bad,” he remarks, before finishing the first one and unwrapping the second.
“What happened when you went to the strip clubs?” I inquire. I hate to be rude and interrupt his breakfast, but I’m dying to find out. “You didn’t find Natasha?”
“I hit all the best clubs,” he explains. “She’s not working as a dancer, greeter or bartender in any of them. My friends at the clubs would tell me the truth if she was working there.”
“And you would tell me the truth if you found her?” I ask.
The hurt expression on his face tells me he would. “Have I ever lied to you?”
“Yes, when you kidnapped me,” I remind him. “You certainly have lied to me.”
“That was before we were friends. The girl you’re searching for isn’t working in the strip clubs. Not any of them that are popular. If she is as pretty as you say, I doubt she would strip in a seedy, rundown strip club. Don’t ask me to check them out either, because I’m not going to. I don’t need to watch any naked, nasty women dance.” He shudders at the thought.
“That bad, huh?”
“Worse than you can imagine,” he admits. “I’ll keep searching for her if you want me to, but I don’t think I’ll find her. Especially if she doesn’t want to be found.”
“If Natasha is hiding from the Russians, why would she work as a stripper?” Seven asks. “That part of the story doesn’t make any sense to me. Wouldn’t she be smarter to stay underground and out of sight? Instead of sticking her boobs and ass right up in men’s faces?”
“You have a point,” I admit. “I’ve wondered the same thing. Perhaps I missed something in their transcripts or the translation of their conversations was inaccurate. Kit, do you have any coffee here or anything with caffeine? I hate to admit, I’m addicted to coffee. It’s my one vice.”
“I sure do, along with a new coffee maker that I’m clueless how to operate,” he says. “I ordered a few things that I hoped might make your stay more comfortable.”
His thoughtfulness touches me, and I smile at him. “You ordered a coffee machine just for me? That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done and very appreciated. Thank you. Where is it? I’ll go put on a pot because I need to get back to work on my computer.”
Vulcan stretches and rolls his neck to work out the kinks from sleeping on the sofa. “I could use a cup of coffee too. Where is it, Kit? I can make coffee. If you’re nice to me, I’ll teach you how, so you can impress the ladies.” The two of them head off to the kitchen.
“What’s your plan for today since Leroy didn’t find Natasha?” Seven asks me.
I let out a long breath. “No idea. It might’ve been overly optimistic to assume he could find her. I’ll do some more digging around and reexamine the files I downloaded from the Russians. There’s a piece of the puzzle that’s missing. I’ll search until I find it.”
“Is there any way we can talk you out of this?” Seven asks. “If she’s hiding, it’s for a good reason. Did you ever consider that she might not want to be found by you?”
