Chapter 5 If I had any pity in me, any at all, I might feel bad for the poor woman. Since I don't, I kiss the tip of my gun into her ribs. "Step lively, Dr. Vesper. We have places to be." "I'm not gonna be a problem," she insists in a trembling voice as we start our march through the hospital. "I swear, I'm very quiet. No friends, no family. Not a risk at all." With the weapon in my hand, I don't technically need to keep my hand plastered to her back. But I keep it there anyway. An insurance policy, of sorts. It also lets me feel every panicked flutter of her breathing, the heat of her fear, the rasp of her scrubs against the bare, flushed skin underneath. "I'll be the judge of that." "I saved your nephew's life!" "And I'm eternally grateful. Doesn't mean I trust you." "Trust me?!" she yelps, her voice rising a couple of octaves. "Excuse me, but I'm not the one having open shootouts in hospitals! I'm not the one who just murdered three men in cold blood! I'm not⁠-" "Would you rather I'd let them murder us?" I interrupt. "Because that was their intention." "That's beside the point!" "I would have thought your life is exactly the point. And as long as we're keeping score, I saved you three times over. So you're welcome. Three times over." I shepherd her into the patient elevator. It's large enough to accommodate the gurneys that are rolled back and forth from the surgical theaters every day, so it's plenty big for all of us to cluster on. But despite that, I make a little gesture with my wrist and Osip, Pavel, and Luka remain behind. Vesper follows the gesture closely, those sharp eyes of hers narrowing in suspicion. "Considering you are the reason those gunmen were even in this hospital," she seethes, "I wouldn't pat myself on the back for that. Cleaning up a mess you made doesn't make you a hero. It's the bare fucking minimum, actually." The doors seal shut. I don't bother answering. I just reach around Vesper, my breath tickling the wisps of hair that float at the back of her neck, and press the button for the ground floor. The floors light up as we pass each one on our descent. She's silent for a minute, but I should've known that wouldn't last long. Sure enough, with a huff, Vesper starts up her protests again. "Are you seriously going to abduct me from my place of work in broad daylight?" "No. You're going to walk out of your place of work in broad daylight. You and I merely happen to be going in the same direction, that's all." For a moment, I swear she almost laughs. Then she kills it beneath a withering scowl. "Who the hell were those men anyway?" she demands. "And why were they after you?" "That's for me to know." She grinds her teeth. "Luka mentioned the Keres... Is that what they are?" The elevator doors peel apart. "A smarter woman would have pretended to forget that name." I watch her throat bob as the seriousness of my voice finally begins to carve its way through her meltdown. She's no idiot-her actions to save Luka's life, amidst a shootout no less, proved that. And she's no coward, either, for the same reasons. But she still thinks that she and I are on roughly equal footing. Shockingly, the gun in my hand has not persuaded her otherwise. So I'll use my words to make her understand: She does not have a choice in what comes next. We are in a precarious situation, the two of us, walking a razor's edge with an abyss of pain on either side. One stumble, one misstep, and we'll both go tumbling down. I don't intend to fall. And I don't intend to let the good doctor drag me down with her. So she's going to listen, whether she fucking likes it or not. "I told you already," she's saying, "I'm not gonna go around blabbing about this. I have every intention of forgetting everything I saw and heard today. Keres? What's a Keres? I've never heard of such a thing." It's my turn to suppress a chuckle. "Don't take this personally, but I'm afraid your word is not enough." I guide her towards the sliding doors of the hospital's back entrance. They whoosh open and the damp, balmy air of autumn in San Francisco blankets us, like the hospital is exhaling us back out into the city. Parked amongst the idle ambulances is a caravan of blacked-out SUVs. They look like exactly what they are: off-limits to anyone who doesn't bear the scars and the ink that set my men and me apart from the rest of the civilians who call this place home. Vesper digs her heels in at the edge of the driveway. Her gaze roams from one car to the next. It's all one-way glass, so she can't see who or what is waiting for her inside. But like I said, she's no fool. She knows it isn't likely to be good for her. "No," she starts to stammer. "No, no, I can't, I really can't⁠-" "At no point have I asked you a question, Doctor." I touch her with the gun again. Just the lightest graze of it at her hip, toying with the open gap between her scrubs top and bottom, that little sliver of skin that doesn't see enough sunlight. But she doesn't want to move. "No, please. Please-" She turns to me, eyes wide and pleading. "I swear I'll just⁠-" "Uncle Kovan!" Luka cries as he emerges from the hospital door behind us. He slips to my side and clusters close to my leg. Normally, he's a stone-faced boy, quiet, reserved. Today's brush with death has put more of a childlike spark in his eyes, one I haven't seen in years. As much as that kind of thing can be a liability in our world, I don't hate it. The boy should be a boy. Some of us had to grow up too fast. I cup his head. "You were supposed to stay with Pavel," I chide. Pavel and Osip come sauntering out. "He's too fast, Ko. Can't keep up with the little lightning bug." Luka grins at the praise, but he looks up at me. "Can I ride with you guys?" "Not today. Dr. Vesper and I have to make a pit stop first." Before I can stop her, Vesper spins around and kneels in front of Luka. She sandwiches his hands between hers and, putting on her sweetest voice, says, "Luka, honey, you know how I took care of you today? There are other patients who need me to take care of them, too. Can you be a sweetheart and tell your uncle that I'm gonna stay with them?" My mouth twists up in irritation. But if she thinks Luka was going to sway me to her side, she's badly disappointed. Because Luka's eyes light up as he looks at me again and asks, "Vesper is coming with us?" He sounds delighted. Vesper looks crestfallen. I bite the inside of my cheek so I don't laugh. "For the moment." I tuck my gun away in its holster. "You can tell Vesper that her patients will be fine without her for an afternoon." Luka looks at her and promises solemnly, "You'll be safe with Uncle Kovan, Vesper. He's the strongest." One eyebrow of hers rises skeptically. But she has to admit defeat as Luka waves a nonchalant goodbye and clambers into the first SUV with Pavel. The sound of sirens blaring in the distance has her eyes brightening, her neck craning to see if help is arriving. It is. But not for her. I grab her arm and reel her toward the second SUV. "I'd advise against whatever dream scenario you're playing out in your head," I inform her. "Running will only make things uglier." She snorts. The moony-eyed, smitten woman of a few minutes ago is long gone. She's back to the sneering, sarcastic she-devil she was when we first crossed paths. Funny enough, I think I prefer the latter. What's a filly without a little bite to her? "I wasn't planning on making a run for it, idiot. There's like twenty of you and one of me. I was hoping that the cops would bust in here and take you and your goons down before you can drive off with me." Chuckling, I shut the door on her and lock her in. As I'm walking around to the driver's seat, both Pavel and Osip come at me from different sides. "What the hell are you doing?" Osip asks, running a hand over his shiny scalp. "What's with the stowaway?" "She's seen and heard too much," I explain. "I've got to make sure she's not going to be a threat to us if I release her." "What do you plan to do exactly?" Pavel chimes in. His eyes veer to the passenger seat where Vesper is watching us warily. "I'm going to vet her. Simple as that." Osip guffaws. "Oh sure, you're going to 'vet' her. I've heard that one before. How come you end up with all the fun jobs and I'm always on babysitting duty?" "I have no idea what you're talking about." Pavel digs an elbow into my ribs. "Don't play dumb. You're a big, ugly brute, but you're not blind. The doc there is hot." Instinctively, I stiffen, although I'm not sure why. The doctor is nothing to me. Nothing more than a thorn in my side. A loose end to be taken care of. Nicely tied, if necessary. Brutally severed, if it comes to that. Either way, she is meaningless. "Her looks are irrelevant. Luka slipped up today, so she's aware of the Keres, and I need to make sure she doesn't start poking her nose into shit that doesn't concern her." "Alright then." Osip grins. "Have fun 'vetting' her. Wrap it up!" He starts whistling as he rounds the car and gets in the back seat with Luka. I look at Pavel. "If he keeps making noise about that shit, you are ordered to smack him in the head." My second-in-command claps a hand over his heart. "It would be my highest honor, moy pakhan." "Don't look so smug. I'm giving him the same orders about you." I crack my neck from side to side, exhausted by this day that just won't fucking end. "And you both have work to do. One of you stays with Luka; the other is to run a background check on the doctor and sweep her apartment. If there's anything remotely incriminating in her past, I want to know about it." "Leverage," he summarizes. "Copy that." With a sloppy salute, he joins the car with Osip and Luka. I sigh and get behind the wheel of mine. In the slice of her I can see in the rearview mirror, Vesper is scowling, arms folded over her chest and nose wrinkled in bristling anger. Around us, the caravan engines roar to life. The first few cars file out, each of them making a left turn. I follow them to the exit. Then I go right. Vesper's knuckles go white, but her voice is carefully composed. "Where are we going?" "Saks Fifth Avenue." "You're not funny, asshole." "I wasn't joking." Her eyebrows flatline. "You're making up for kidnapping me by taking me on a shopping spree?" "Will that help?" "No!" I chuckle. "You're wearing a doctor's coat and scrubs. It's a conspicuous outfit and I'd rather not draw attention to ourselves. Hence the little detour." "You have got to be kidding me," she mutters to herself, her arms recrossing over her chest. Then she raises her voice. "I'm warning you: I have expensive taste." "It's cute that you think that would bother me." "Right. Of course," she huffs. "You probably have a ton of dirty mob money to blow on all the women you abduct. I bet you have a company p-card and an expense report already filled out just for this occasion." When we park out front of the department store, I turn to look at her, flashing my biggest smirk. "P-card? Expense report? Of course not. That's the fun part about dirty mob money, Dr. Vesper: It's all cash."