The Nightlife Moscow (Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Suspense) (The Nightlife Series Book 5) (19 page)

Aaron returned to his jail cell via the same guard after an
hour long visit with Svetlana, and her assurances that he would be released
very soon, tomorrow at the latest. Svetlana had even paid to smuggle in a cell
phone for Aaron, with enough battery life to keep him in direct contact with
everyone until his release.

He sat down on his concrete bed and let the elation of his
pending freedom sink in. God it felt good to know that the women in his life
would go to such extremes to protect him. Well, most of the women. Natalya had
disappeared after taking a taxi into the city last night, and Katya hadn’t done
much of anything to help secure his release.

The guard returned with a plastic tray full of horrid
looking noodles and mush for Aaron’s cell mate, and another tray of fresh
salad, baked potato and pork steak for Aaron. Though he appreciated the gesture,
the food was wasted on him. The only thing he needed was what flowed through
the guard’s veins.

After the guard walked away Aaron offered his tray to his
silent cell mate.

The man grinned and accepted it. He set aside the garbage
slop and immediately dug into the salad from Aaron’s tray. “You must have very
good friends.”

His voice didn’t have a hint of Slavic accent, and his
English was impeccable Southern-fried American.

“Who the fuck are you and what do you want?” Aaron stood up,
claws out, ready to cut the lying bastard to pieces.

The man held up his hands in surrender. “Whoa there! I don’t
mean no harm. I just wanted to meet. Urvashi told you she’d set up a meeting,
right?”

Son of a bitch.

The man held his hands up in the air until Aaron gradually sat
back down and nodded. “Yeah. But this isn’t what I expected. To be honest,
you’re making me nervous right now.” He flexed his claws and tried to relax
while the adrenaline was still spiking hard and every instinct in his body told
him this man was a slippery, dangerous motherfucker.

Aaron speared his mind and hit another one of those
firewalls, a blockade keeping him out.

The guy tapped his head. “You’re not getting in here that
easily. Besides, I doubt you want to see all what’s in my head. It’s not a very
pretty place, Aaron.”

The fact that the man knew his name was not helping the
situation at all.

He reached out for Urvashi. {{Why didn’t you tell me he was
coming to see me in jail? Why did you let him sneak up on me like this?}}

{{He? Oh Gavin. I didn’t know. Gavin only said that he
wanted to meet you. He never told me precisely when or where.}}

{{He’s right here next to me, in a Moscow jail, pretending
to be a drunken Russian. He’s American. Why didn’t you tell me I was meeting
with an American?}}

{{Do not make any commitments without consulting me first,
and watch your unruly tongue. Please listen to what he has to say before you
speak.}}

{{Thank you, oh wise and venerable Urvashi. Your counsel is
so enlightening.}}

{{This is serious, Aaron. Keep me advised. Do not agree to
anything without my approval.}}

“Well, Gavin, you have me a little uncomfortable here. I
don’t really know who you are or what you represent, but you seem to know
things about me.”

The man smirked. “You really do have a direct line to her,
don’t you? The boys over at R & D would love to get their hands on you two
and see what makes you tick. But that’s not why I’m here, and you don’t have to
say it, I already know. Urvashi would never consent to become a lab rat.”

Aaron nodded. He doubted these people had a clue how inhuman
she really was. All this talk about R & D had Aaron more intrigued and
intimidated by the minute.

“I’m here on a recruitment drive, Aaron. Be all that you can
be and all that patriotic … stuff.”

Aaron could hardly wrap his head around the implications of
the man’s words. “Recruitment? Are you talking military?”

Gavin chuckled and shook his head. “No. Nothing official.
This is what we call contract work. The private side of the U.S. government.
Strictly off the books.”

“What makes you think I would want to work for you? I don’t
need a job. I don’t need your money, and I don’t believe in any of your ideals
or causes. I’m not really the kinda guy you’re looking for.”

Gavin grinned wide and chomped down raw celery. “Actually,
that’s precisely the kinda guy we’re looking for. Plus, you have a few …rare
talents. I’ll spare you the propaganda speech and get right down to it. There’s
a lot of shit about to hit the fan internationally, and we need versatile,
lethal players who can get inside someone’s head, dig out the info we need, and
then finish the job and cover their tracks. Now, you got the first two parts of
that nailed, getting in someone’s head, or simply taking it off.”

He chuckled at his own joke. “But you have a lot to learn
about covering your tracks. That’s a real big problem for you, right about
now.”

“Yeah. I got problems. Like you said, I also have some very
good friends. My problems are being solved as we speak. I won’t be here much
longer.”

Gavin tore off a chunk of pork steak and chewed on it for a
moment. “You see, the problem with these Eastern bloc-heads is they don’t play
well with others. They don’t cooperate with the European Union. So, the Union
doesn’t really cooperate with them. Money and connections can buy you anything
on this side of Europe, even buy you out of a murder case that’s been
photographed and videotaped by half a dozen witnesses. But that dirty shit
doesn’t fly in Britain. Your power, influence and money here in Moscow means
nothing over there. The British take their murder cases very seriously. You
won’t be bribing your way out of that …
ever
.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Interpol, Aaron. They gotcha. Your case in Moscow might be
swept under the carpet by this diseased, corrupt thing they call justice, but
that case you left behind in London has been looking for DNA and fingerprint
matches, and Moscow’s booking system just made that connection via Interpol.
You are on the radar buddy. They’re coming for you with an extradition order.”

“You’re full of shit.”

“Ask your
attorney
. Ask Urvashi. They’re probably
hearing the news by now.” Aaron’s phone buzzed in his pants pocket. Gavin
nodded. “You’re gonna want to answer that call.”

As he brought the phone to his ear, the euphoria of his
pending release was replaced by the heart-squeezing breath-taking panic of
Svetlana’s anguished admission that she’d just received a call from the prosecutor.
Interpol had filed an order for extradition to London on a separate, unrelated
multiple homicide case, and there would be a hearing for his extradition in two
days.

Aaron wasn’t going anywhere –
not as a free man
.

“Let me call you back. There’s someone here I need to talk
to.” He ended the call and slipped the cell phone back in his pants pocket.
Anger and frustration warred with a powerful urge to kill everything in reach.
If that stupid guard showed up and opened the door again, he’d surely gut the
man and use his keys to walk right out the front door of this moldy
piss-stained shithole.

“Aaron, calm down.” Gavin had an air of authority that held
Aaron’s attention. He had something to say and Aaron needed to hear it.

“Under the circumstances, I don’t think I can calm down. But
I definitely want to hear what you got to say.”

Gavin slipped his hands through his shaggy grey-streaked
dark hair and stared Aaron right in the eyes. “You can’t fight extradition.
You’re not Russian. These people don’t give a shit about you
at all
.
You’ll never beat extradition as a foreigner. I don’t care what any attorney
tells you, it won’t work. You will be extradited to London. You will be
prosecuted for that massacre in Soho, where you left all your fucking DNA all
over the goddamn floors and walls. Then, if you can find your way out of a
British prison in the next forty or fifty years, you’ll face extradition to the
US, for the mess of bodies you left in Vegas, and the dirtbag cops you killed
in New York.”

Breathing hard and heavy, trying not to hyperventilate,
Aaron swallowed it down and looked for a way to gather a semblance of calm, a
way to get a grip on the panic. “You’re not helping me, Gavin. I thought you
had a way to help me.”

“You’ve been running from city to city, leaving blood, hair,
dental impressions, fingerprints, and even security video footage. I’ve seen
the files on each case in each jurisdiction. They haven’t connected all the
dots
yet
, they don’t know who you are
yet
, but once you get caught
in the British meat grinder and your DNA and fingerprints hit the wire, you’re
fucked.”

Aaron tried his best not to take the man’s head off, but the
rage, fear, and frustration had his claws out and his fangs fully elongated,
ready to rip, shred and tear something, anything. Some kind of outlet for the
panic that he couldn’t hold in any longer.

“Which brings us to the point.” Gavin rubbed his hands
together. “If we can find a way to get you out of this gargantuan shit pile you
created, you have got to learn how to be more discreet, cover your tracks. If
not, you’ll end up right back in jail facing life sentences. Or catch a lethal
injection in some country with the death penalty.”

A spark of hope glimmered on the horizon. Gavin had
something in mind, a way out. “So this is what you’re offering? You get me out
of this mess, do your government magic and make all this shit go away, and I
have to agree to become one of your
contractors
?”

“If I had that kinda magic, I wouldn’t need you.” Gavin
chuckled and shook his head. “Your name is mud. Aaron Pilan is scorched earth,
a burnt bridge. The only way out of this deep mountain of shit is with a whole
new name and a whole new game. That’s my magic, the only magic I got. Well, we
do have some pretty cool toys, and we’ve got the support network that’s there
when you need ‘em – like the cleanup crew that removed thirty something dead
bodies from Dmitri’s little casa. Say, what’d you think of how we shut down
Dmitri’s security system the night you guys took him out? You gotta admit that
was smooth.”

Aaron did a double-take. “Okay, you’re telling me I can’t be
Aaron anymore. You just give me a whole new identity? And how did you get
involved with us and Dmitri? I didn’t see you there…”

Gavin grinned. “That’s the trick ain’t it?
To not be seen
.
How’d you think Urvashi set up that sweet little helicopter ride and the high
tech body armor? How’d you guys drop in on a multibillionaire without getting
your asses blown out of the sky? The Farm has all the badass toys. That’s what
you get to play with when you join my world. And yes, I can get you a whole new
identity – social security number, passport, the works. I think you will need
several identities by the time we’re finished training you. You’re bound to
burn at least one more name. Shit happens.”

“Give me a minute to process. It’s a lot to take in all at
once.”

Gavin nodded and finished chewing on his rabbit food and
pork steak.

All this time Urvashi had been dangling Aaron in front of
the CIA, using their tricks and toys, bartering his life to get what she wanted
out of the deal.
Fucking bitch.
That’s why she was training him with
swords, to become one of their assassins. She’d been working towards this from
day one. But why? Just to trade favors?

This was moving way too fast. He felt like he was missing
something vital. {{Why didn’t you tell me you’ve been in bed with the CIA all
this time?}}

{{There are many levels of truth to be discovered through
life and experience. You’re not ready for all of it. These things come in time.
If you will trust me, trust my intentions for you, we will have all the time in
the world to discover the wonders of life. Do not let Gavin create undue
suspicion between us. I am on your side, Aaron, always.}}

{{You know I have no choice but to take his offer. He wants
me to become his black op killer. I just want to enjoy my life, Urvashi. I
don’t want to hunt people and play in these nasty games of intrigue and murder.
I have Lana and the girls and Michelle to think of. Why are you leading me down
this path? It’s not what I want in life.}}

{{Aaron, I have told you before, and I will tell you again.
We must all accept who we are. You’re a killer, Aaron. Your body is a weapon. Own
it. The sooner you embrace who and what you are, the sooner you will begin the
path to true enlightenment. Gavin wants something from you. It’s in your power
to give him what he wants. What he gives in return is license, resources,
influence, and the training that you have been lacking, which I haven’t had
time to provide. You’re a diamond in the rough, Aaron. There is no limit to
what you could achieve with a little polishing and life experience.}}

{{Isn’t this one of those jobs you never get to quit? I’ve
seen the Jason Bourne films and the Bond films. You don’t just walk away from
this kind of deal. They are going to expect me to travel all over hell and
back, killing people whenever they want, whoever they want. How do I escape
that life once I start?}}

{{Their world is measured in decades, Aaron. Our world is
measured in centuries. Time and circumstance changes everything. In time, you
will learn everything they have to teach, and the student will become the master.
When you have reached that level, there will be little they can do to stop you
from walking away, or disappearing completely. Their limited minds only grasp a
sliver of your potential. They cannot see how easily you will surpass them and
their ability to control you.}}

She always did this to him, convinced him of a
bright-shining future waiting just around the corner. But he kept stepping in
the shit every time he turned that corner. Maybe he did need to learn a few
things about covering his tracks. Maybe he could use a new identity, or two or
three.