Anatoly Medlov (32 page)

He’d never been as lonely as he was lately. There was no one to confide in, and in her absence he’d actually grown fond of Gabriel. The thought repulsed him. Day after day, he got to know the man a little better, and he actually proved to be somewhat efficient.

In fact, he’d started to mildly trust him, giving him more responsibilities than he originally planned.

“Hey, Anatoly,” Gabriel said, knocking on the door.

Anatoly looked up from dogs, trying to hide his melancholy. “Yeah.”

“The maid said that you were out here. I just wanted to let you know that the thing with Royal’s mother has been arranged. I just need to head down there. I can leave in the morning, if you don’t mind.”

“Go, please. I need papa off my back,” he said sighing.

“One other thing that may or may not be appropriate for me to bring up, but I know that you’d said you wanted better tabs on the council members. Have you considered bugging their homes and their businesses? I could set it all up in your office or a room here where you would be the only one with access. It would simplify things for you, if you know what I mean.”

Anatoly thought that could be a good idea. He nodded. “You can bug their businesses. Hell, what Feds haven’t? But you may not bug their homes. We are brothers. There are some lines that we do not cross. There are certain privacies that are meant to stay intact.”

“Cool. You alright?” Gabriel asked, stepping outside and closing the door.

Anatoly looked up at the man and debated if he should cross the line, become personal with him.

Gabriel waited with a look of true sincerity on his face.

“Do you ever miss, Briggy?” Anatoly asked softly.

Gabriel shook his head. “Like crazy, man.” He stuffed his hands down in his pockets. “I just...it’s hard to be without her now that I know what life is like with her.” He frowned, worried that he had shared too much.

Anatoly looked at him without any expression on his face. “Send for her.” His eyes eased along with the tension in his shoulders. He slumped over, showing his utter defeat. “Before it’s too late and all the right things are never said and all the wrong things are done.”

“You mean like for a weekend or something?”

“No. I mean send for her for good.” Anatoly shrugged. “Royal can find a new maid. My father will see to it. But you can’t as easily find a woman who is willing to be discrete and caring. Briggy has been with the family for a long time. She is trust-worthy and a hard worker. She can also be of some use at
Dmitry’s Closet
. I still haven’t found anyone to fill Renee’s spot and the assistant manager is completely clueless.”

“Wow. Thanks. I’ll call her,” Gabriel said, moved. He knew this was a major step for his cousin. “Was Renee your girl?”

“Yeah. You could call her that, but it was over before it could begin. Hell, you went out on a date with her. You know how special she is. I just messed up. Man to man, I fucked up bad. And there isn’t an amount that will buy her or a woman who can replace her. I’m screwed. She’s probably out right now with some idiot.”

Gabriel smirked. “It was a very
guarded
date with Renee, you know. She wouldn’t even let me touch her hand. No kiss. Nothing. She barely looked at me all night. I think she did it to get back at you, because she talked about her
boss
all night.”

Anatoly laughed. “Did she?” his deep voice lightened.

“Yeah, she was really into you. So, I doubt that much has changed in such a short period of time. She’s probably just waiting...on you, I mean. That’s the way that women are. They want you to stake your claim.”

Anatoly nodded. He was proud of her, and it made him feel better about himself. “Do you think that before you leave in the morning for Dallas, you could get me an address of where she is in Atlanta?” he asked as an idea hit him.

“Sure,” Gabriel said, turning to walk away. “I’ll leave it in the kitchen for you on the island.”

Anatoly nodded and turned his attention back to his dogs. “
Spasiba, brat
.”

Gabriel stopped in his tracks. Anatoly had never once thanked him. “D
obro pozhalovat
ʹ” Gabriel answered, closing the door behind him.

***

As Gabriel promised, there was green sticky note on the kitchen island when Anatoly came downstairs the next morning for breakfast. On it was Renee’s home address and her new cell number. In his usual routine, he turned on the television to watch the morning news on CNN, fixed a bowl of Cheerios and grabbed a green apple.

Vasily came in minutes later, fully dressed and ready to work. He had been out all morning getting the hardware needed to bug all the men on the council’s businesses, per Gabriel’s suggestion.

“Boss, what you asked of me last night has been done,” he said, going to the refrigerator to get a bottle of water.

“Good,” Anatoly said, nodding at the maid who came in and began to quickly tidy up the kitchen behind him. He turned his attention back to Vasily.

“
Cancel all of my meetings for today,” he said finally.

Vasily looked up confused. They had a major meet and greet at
Mother Russia
at one this afternoon.

“I’m going to Atlanta,” Anatoly answered Vasily’s frown.

“Should I make preparations for when the plane arrives back from Dallas?” he asked.

“No, it’s only a six hour drive. I’ll take the Bentley,” he said, running his spoon around the rim of the bowl. “And before you ask, yes, I’m going alone.”

“May I ask who you’re going to see?” Vasily leaned against the door.

“You already know who I’m going to
get
,” Anatoly said with a wicked grin. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take. So, cancel everything until I tell you otherwise. Anyone who is too important already has my cell.”

“
Da, da
, boss. I’ll go and do it now,” Vasily said, excusing himself.

Anatoly looked up at the television and smirked. He was going to do it. He was going to chase Renee.

***

As Gabriel sat down for lunch after meeting with Royal’s mother during an emotional conversation that ended with a vow of secrecy, he realized that he was both physically and mentally exhausted. Never in his history as an agent, or just as a human, had he seen a woman cry so much. His mother had been a rock, hard as nails. And his father was a sociopath,
enough said
. So often years went by before anyone showed any emotion other than anger and pride.

Now as he sat alone in the confines of an upscale steakhouse, as only expected in Texas, to enjoy a nice meal, he realized just how much of the human emotional spectrum he lacked. He had never once cried like that or loved like that or hurt like that...until now. As the woman heard that one of her daughters was alive and well in another country and was seeking her out, she exhaled a cry from deep within. There was happiness, joy and pain all wrapped into one mental breakdown. She almost pulled a tear out of him, especially with how torn he had been lately. He just didn’t think he could take anymore...

“Welcome to Mitchell’s Steakhouse. Today’s special is Operation Family Raid. Have you given any thought to what you’d like to order?” the woman asked with her notepad in hand. She looked down her glasses at him, and motioned towards the bathroom door.

“That’s cute,” Gabriel said, putting down his glass of water. He pulled the napkin from his lap and put it on the table as he stood. “Bring me a steak or something. I’ll eat it when I get back.”

While looking around carefully, he strode over to the men’s restroom. As he stepped inside, Agent Lee closed and locked the door behind him.

“It’s hard as hell to get in touch with you these days, Agent Medlov. It is still agent, isn’t it? Or maybe you’ve dropped off that title,” Agent Lee said sarcastically.

Gabriel walked to each stall and opened it. Looking in, he still did not say a word.

“It’s safe, agent,” Lee said.

Gabriel went to the last stall and looked around then came back. “You can never be too sure.” He swallowed hard and put his hands down into the pockets of his four-thousand dollar suit.

Agent Lee automatically noticed this clothes and his changed demeanor.

“You’ve changed,” Lee said, pulling out a thumb drive.

“No, I haven’t. I’ve been under a lot of stress lately with trying to set up my own family.” Even the words left a sour taste in Gabriel’s mouth. He felt like spitting at the man’s foot but controlled himself.

“Your own family?” Lee asked with a flinch. “Let’s get this straight. You volunteered for this. You convinced us to take you on. Now, you feel like what...because they let you in, you’re suddenly one of the guys?”

“That’s not what I said,” Gabriel growled.

“Why haven’t you checked in? It’s been six weeks, Agent Medlov.”

“This is the first time in six weeks that I’ve been trusted to go anywhere or do anything by myself. If I had blown my cover, I may have lost my life. But I know that doesn’t matter to you fucking people.” Gabriel looked at his Rolex. “I don’t have much time. So here.” He knelt down and pulled a thumb drive out of his shoe. “What I could get is on here.”

“Maybe it’s time that you come in, Gabriel,” Lee said, moving out of the way.

“Because what? Because I’m working my ass off? Because doing this job means that you can’t have your hands on me at all times?” Gabriel asked looking down to Agent Lee’s face.

Agent Lee smirked and backed off the brooding giant. “No, it has nothing to do with any of that. It’s because you’re becoming what we sent you in to tear down,” he said, touching Gabriel’s suit. “Just remember this. You’re supposed to be there to do a job. When it’s done these people will go to jail for a long time, and don’t think just because they’re nice to you, that they don’t deserve to burn.”

Gabriel felt the heat rising from his collar. He looked down at the man and scowled. “Nice to me? Are you fucking insane. The Medlov Organized family is a lot of things, but nice isn’t one of them.”
“You know who you sound like right now?” Agent Lee asked.

Gabriel raised his brow.
Like he cared what this guy thought.

“Anatoly Medlov,” Lee said, shaking his head. “If you don’t come up with some new Intel on where these drugs are very quickly, I’m pulling you off this.”

“Like I said, this is my first time out in six weeks. It takes time.”

“Time we don’t have. Our source says that the last major shipment for this year will take place in three weeks. We need to be there for the drop – and on time, Agent Medlov. If we’re not, this entire charade has been for nothing. Do you understand that?”

Gabriel grabbed the door handle. “I’ll find your fucking drugs. Just back off me. Don’t blow my cover.”

“With all the money exchanging hands and the girls...don’t forget whose side you’re on,” Lee reminded as the door closed.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Renee knew that she should have already gotten an apartment by now, but being away from Anatoly for the first time in years had made her lonely for companionship. So, she settled for the next best thing to having a pseudo-boyfriend and moved back in with Big Momma.

Everyone was surprised to see her pull up in her old car, considering she had bragged about the Hummer that she was given Christmas of last year as a work car. But they were still happy to see her just the same.

News had traveled fast up from Memphis a few years before when the Medlov family got into a nationally publicized gunfight that spanned half the city. Her entire family had expected her to move back then. But Renee had vouched for them and said that it was all a
big misunderstanding
and the Medlov’s were
good people
.

No one had bought it, but they let her stay without throwing a fit. They knew there must have been a man involved.

Now, Renee was home. She had gotten a job working at a major clothing store downtown, but she hated it. For nearly four years, she had run her own shop, and now she was suddenly back to taking orders from someone else. The truth of the matter was that she had enough money in the bank not to work for a while, to get her head together. But Renee knew that an idle mind was the devil’s workshop. It was best for her to find something to do to while trying to mend her broken heart and to keep her from dragging herself back to Memphis.

Big Momma lived in the heart of Washington Park in North Atlanta on a corner-lot, white, two-story home built in the early 1940’s. Everyone east of Ashbury knew her either from the church as head usher or the local babysitter. She had babysat hundreds of kids in the community and prayed for hundreds more. Plus, at some point, in between raising children and being a good wife to Big Daddy before he passed, Big Momma was a freedom fighter during the 1960’s. So, she was extremely hard on her kids about higher-educational achievement and black love.