Maelstrom

Chapter 22: Desperate Measures

Shit! I felt my heart try to jump into my mouth. I was completely unarmed, and this was getting way out of hand; I didn't even have my lock picks to possibly use as a weapon. I scanned the darkened bathroom quickly, but didn't see anything sharper than the bar of soap next to the sink.

I heard Alkaev's calm comment a second later. "I see I'm going to have to review frisking protocol with my security."

Morales gave a short, ugly laugh. I risked another quick peek through the gap; the men's positions had not changed. "No man wants to grope another guy's cojones," he snorted.

I could feel myself starting to panic. Nothing sharp, maybe something heavy. I looked around again, and my eyes lit on a possibility. A somewhat dubious possibility, but my choices were limited. Fortunately, Alkaev was still talking.

"So what do you want from me?" he asked calmly. "Is there some message you wish me to convey to Señor Santiago from Hector?"

"Fuck, yeah, I got a message." He cocked his gun. "You're gonna be the message."

I shot out of the bathroom and swung the lid of the toilet cistern at Morales's head. He never even turned around; the lid caught him hard just behind his right ear, knocking him to the ground. I slammed the end of the heavy porcelain top down on his cranium again, just to be sure.

Alkaev sailed across the desk in a move that would have made the Dukes of Hazzard proud. He kicked the gun away from Morales's limp hand with one sharp-toed Italian shoe, then bent down to take the pulse in the man's neck. Straightening, he grabbed an ornamental bolster cushion from one of the chairs and put it under Morales's head, then began to take off his suit coat.

I was beyond confused. Some scumbag tries to blow him away, he's saved by the fortuitous appearance of Plumber Barbie, and now he's playing nursemaid to the man who almost killed him?

Alkaev spared a quick glance for me but said nothing. In a heartbeat, he swiftly wrapped his coat around the unconscious thug's skull, retrieved Morales's 9mm pistol from the ground and, without a second thought, emptied a round into the dealer's tightly wrapped head.

I started, eyes wide with shock and mounting panic. An instant after the gunshot, I heard a heavy thud against the office door. Alkaev stood and pointed the gun at the door, then lowered it as another thud sounded and Mateo burst in.

The bodyguard took in his boss's lightly disheveled appearance and the body on the floor with total equanimity.

"Are you o...?" He froze when he saw me, still holding the bloodied cistern lid, standing mere feet from the fresh corpse.

"Did you get the other one?" Alkaev asked calmly, smoothing his hair.

Mateo nodded and stepped back into the hall, then dragged the body of Morales's security into the office. There wasn't a mark on him, but his head lolled sickeningly from an obviously broken neck.

"What about the other two that were with them?" I blurted. Both men stared at me, but Alkaev replied.

"They left before we came down here." He turned his attention back to Mateo. "Take care of this," Alkaev said. "Fetch Marsh and station him in the hallway. Tell him no one gets closer than the break room until he hears otherwise. Then get a car to dispose of these."

The bodyguard nodded, then looked at me and back at his boss. Alkaev said nothing, and Mateo closed the door behind him.

Here I was – finally alone with Ivan Alkaev – but in none of my many recent fantasies about him had there ever been a pair of dead bodies between us. Or a gun in his hand.