Enforcer (32 page)

“It won’t replace everything,” she said.

“No, I suppose it cannot replace him,” Petre said, looking sad.

“I feel like I’m being bought off.”

“Please, do not say that. I am buying your life. I am buying Connor’s life. This is my money. He does not know I am here. Take this money. Take what you can put in your car. Spend the rest of tonight and tomorrow telling everyone but Connor that you are leaving, going back home maybe, so they will not worry and send the police to look for you. Don’t come back for anything, not even him.”

“Can I at least tell him goodbye?” she asked.

“It is better if you don’t until you are gone. He cannot try to save you like he has the other woman if you are not here.”

Petre stood, reached for the envelope, and returned the money to it while Dana watched helplessly, completely drained of emotion. He handed her the envelope. Dana took it, put it down on the table, then went around it to hug the giant Romanian. He hugged her back, then pushed her away and put his hands on her face, looking her in the eye.

“You are beautiful girl. You will find love again. Never forget him. I am sorry for this. I must go now.”

Only after he had been gone a while, as she was packing a suitcase, did she realize that he had spoken with barely any accent until the very end.

CHAPTER 26

“Where the fuck is he?” Connor shouted at Vadim as he stormed through the hallway.

Vadim looked unsure of what to make of his friend stalking the halls, yelling for Petre. He thought of stepping in front of Connor to hold him up, calm him down. Making a scene on Mr. Ojacarcu’s floor of the building would only draw the wrong kind of attention. Petre came around the far corner from another hallway. Connor immediately made a beeline to the man.

The Romanian put his fingers to his lips to try and get Connor to quiet down. Connor punched Petre in the stomach as hard as he could, surprising hum, driving him to one knee as he doubled over in pain. Vadim took a step toward them until Petre put up his hand, letting him know that it was a private matter not to be interfered with. Vadim looked around nervously, hoping Mr. Ojacarcu and Dracul were busy elsewhere.

“What did you do?” Connor’s rage overflowed, cracking his voice, making his fist shake as he raised it to strike Petre again, this time in the face. “What the fuck did you do to her?”

“Connor, please,” Petre said through another coughing and gagging fit.

Connor had caught him by surprise, and he hadn’t tightened his abdominal muscles. Petre had expected Connor to be furious, but he believed that Connor would never assault him, especially not fifty feet from the boss’ office.

“Fuck you. Where is she?” Petre winced at Connor’s shouting.

“Calm down, my friend. Do not shout in the hallway.”

“Fuck you!” Connor screamed again, tensing up to launch his fist at Petre’s face. The Romanian, still on his knees trying to catch his breath, did not flinch. “If you hurt her, I’ll kill you.” Connor looked around the hallway where three new faces were watching the drama. “I’ll fucking kill all of you if you hurt her.” He looked back at Petre, ready to make the man pay.

Dracul walked around the corner at the far end of the hallway, his hand already inside his jacket. Petre noticed Connor’s attention shift to someone behind him, and he turned his head just enough to see Dracul slowly walking toward them. Petre held out his hand, giving Dracul a short wave back. Dracul stopped halfway down the hall from them, hand still in his jacket, his mouth curling into a wolf’s grin at Connor.

“Unless you want to deal with him,” Petre said in a low voice only Connor could hear, “you will not hit me again, and we will go downstairs and outside to talk about this.”

Connor thought about putting his fists in the man’s face repeatedly, regardless of who he would have to deal with after. He looked back at Vadim, still standing ten feet from them, the man’s eyes shifting from Connor to Petre to Dracul and back. Vadim turned and began to shoo the others away. Connor looked behind Petre at Dracul, wondering what the man would do to him, wondering if it would come in a few seconds or in a few weeks. Petre once again looked back at Dracul, waving him away with his hand. Dracul backed up slowly and disappeared around the corner into another hallway.

Petre put his hand out for Connor to help him up. Connor spit in the man’s face. He walked to the elevator and pressed the call button. Petre walked up a minute later, wiping his face with a paper towel. They rode to the lobby in silence, neither looking at the other until the elevator chimed and the doors opened. Connor strode out, not looking back, as he headed for the large glass doors.

Once outside, they walked back along Front Street, Petre matching Connor’s angry stride. They walked three blocks to an empty parking garage across from the other arena. When they reached the second level, Connor spun around, fists clenched, ready to continue where they’d left off in the hallway. Petre held up his hand once more, looking around to see if they were alone. Connor decided if that hand came up to stop him one more time, he would do his best to start snapping fingers.

“Listen to me carefully,” Petre told him. “You must listen.”

“What did you do to her? With her?” Connor wanted to scream, but kept his voice low to keep from bouncing off the concrete walls.

“She called you, yes?” Petre asked.

“Yes.”

“From where?”

“She wouldn’t tell me. She said you told her not to tell me. She wouldn’t stop crying, you piece of fucking shit. What did you tell her?”

“Good girl,” Petre said, more to himself than to Connor.

Connor’s fists clenched once again and came up, ready to hit the man.

“She is gone, then. Listen to me, Connor. I sent her away. To protect her. To protect you.”

“Fuck you. You fucking Romanians, always with the control bullshit. You make people take loans, you make people deal dope, you make women work on their backs. You hurt anyone you can to make others not question you. You kill the ones you can’t control.”

Petre let Connor have his tirade for a few minutes, not denying any of the truths that were spoken. He didn’t enjoy having to send Dana away, and he didn’t enjoy having to wake his friend up to reality. He wished he would have talked to her a few weeks before, even back when he first met the girl at Connor’s apartment. It would have been easier. He swallowed back a mouthful of stomach acid.

“I am your friend. Don’t shake your head, don’t say anything,” Petre demanded when Connor started to go into another fit of rage. “I have done you a favor that you will not appreciate. That is what friends sometimes have to do. Now listen to me carefully. Are you ready to listen?”

Connor nodded his head, knowing he would lose his temper if he opened his mouth. He didn’t care that Petre was armed, and he didn’t care that Petre was an experienced killer. He wanted revenge, and was willing to risk losing his life to quench the need for violence to make his
friend
pay.

“Mr. Ojacarcu, he likes to be in control,” Petre said. “He believes you are in love with the prostituată.”

“She has a name, goddammit.”

“It is not important,” Petre continued. “You are valuable to him. She is now valuable to him. You are becoming… volatile. Almost disloyal in his eyes, in Dracul’s eyes for sure. To Dracul, you are fake, weak, pretending to be strong by fighting in hockey. He has insulted you in front of us by telling of how you acted when you worked together. Mr. Ojacarcu, he is worried about attention from the police now as well. Too many things are happening at once, and your actions, while coincidental in my view, are making them suspicious.”

“Suspicious how? Like I’m going to rat them out to the police? Or that I’m already talking to the police?”

“Both,” Petre answered. “They will control you by threatening you. This has already happened. You did not seem to learn from the punishment, so now they will control you by threatening others that you care about. That you love.”

“What did you do?”

“I did as a friend would. She told me you loved her. She said she did not love you as you did her.”

Petre felt himself grow as cold as a glacier at watching his friend die inside. Connor wanted to collapse to the concrete at the news. Some small part of him refused to believe Petre, to question it as a lie. Most of him knew it to be true, having never heard Dana say she loved him.

“I told her what I will tell you. Mr. Ojacarcu is watching everyone carefully. DEA and FBI, he knows the same things I know, likely from the same source. If the police begin to get too close, there is no doubt that Dracul will begin cleaning up before disappearing to another place, to work for another man like Mr. Ojacarcu. Part of the cleaning will involve you. Me as well, I’m afraid. I already do not trust him. You must never trust him.”

“I don’t trust him.”

“You must be watchful.”

“What does this have to do with Dana?” Connor asked, his anger still simmering.

“You love her. If Mr. Ojacarcu learns of her, he will threaten her first, to let you know he knows of her, that he has access to her. Then he will begin to hurt her. There are too many ways to describe this. He is inventive. Look what he does to you with the prostituată.”

“He doesn’t know shit,” Connor said. “The only reason you met her was because she was at my place. We never stay there anymore, and we don’t go out in public.”

“It was not good enough,” Petre said, shaking his head. “Mr. Ojacarcu looked at who you gave your tickets to. Her name came up too many times. He knows of her, but he does not know everything. It is a lead for him, though. Someone you have invited to hockey many times, a woman. It will not take long for him to figure it out. Once I knew, I solved it quickly. You drop the prostituată off at your apartment before spending time with Dana.”

“You followed me?”

“I am your friend. If I do not do this, you will not know that you have put her in danger.”

“Couldn’t you just tell me?”

“No. You would not listen. Tell me truthfully, would you listen? Would you make her leave? Or would you think you could protect her, be safer, maybe move her to another city nearby, be more careful in the future?”

“No,” Connor said, knowing Petre was right, hating him for it.

“She did not love you like you loved her. Let her go. Let her live. Let her not answer the door one night and have me or Vadim or Dracul on the other side. You are my friend, but you know I must do what has to be done.”

“Helen…”

“I am your friend,” Petre repeated again, putting a hand on Connor’s shoulder. “I cannot live through that again, even though she is your love. It is not right. I cannot disobey Mr. Ojacarcu, but I can do this.”

Connor broke down, unable to stop himself, his shame at crying like a child overpowered by his guilt at putting Dana in danger, his shame over not being able to protect her, shame at allowing himself to get involved with people like Ojacarcu and Petre. He felt empty, hollow, full of a void that ate everything within him. Petre wrapped him in a hug.

“I have given her money,” he told his friend. “She will be okay. She will finish school, have a car, a place to live. She will not have a worry, and will soon move on with her life. I am sorry, Connor. But she will love someone else, someone safe for her. You must forget her and do the same.”

“I loved her,” Connor said through sobs, his body wracked with spasms that were almost seizures.

“I know. I knew when I came to your apartment. I knew when you spent all of your time with her, keeping the prostituată at your apartment while you went to her. I know why you keep the prostituată at your apartment, why she does not want to be alone at her place.”

Connor looked up at his friend finally, shrugging the man off him. Petre wondered if Connor would attack him. Connor spent a whole minute getting himself under control.

“You know they rape her at her place.” Connor’s statement was an accusation toward Petre, blaming the man for knowing about it and doing nothing.

“These girls, these whores, they are nothing,” Petre said, keeping his voice steady. “They are beyond my reach, as they are yours. We can do nothing for them except what Mr. Ojacarcu commands. We cannot get involved. The handlers, they have their own instructions. We must not be bothered with that side of things.”

“I won’t let them do it,” Connor said. “I can’t stop them by being there, standing up for her. But I can stop it by not letting her stay there. She does her job, I pay the exact amount when I turn it in. Fuck them.”

“I know how you feel about this woman. Jera,” Petre said. He didn’t like saying her name aloud. He wanted her to be another faceless person to himself, but especially to Connor. “You must forget Dana. You must forget Jera. They are forbidden to you because you care about them. They will be hurt because of you.”

“So I’m supposed to not love anyone?” Connor asked.

“Da. For now. You will not love. You may fuck anyone, but do not make a habit of more than once or twice. Move on, enjoy the variety. It is safer for them, for you.”

“What if I can’t?” Connor asked, thinking of Dana. Petre wondered which woman Connor was thinking of.