[Uhaku]

CHAPTER 4



Yulia Volkova was back in her bedroom, which was adorned with ridiculously expensive paintings she didn’t even know the names of the artists, some more luxurious furniture and fine, oak walls and floor. It had been two days since the lake incident, but she was still confined to bed because of cold.

“Take some of this, darling. You’ll feel better.” Her mother sat down beside her, offering her a vodka shot.

At the couch, Alexei Volkov looked up from the newspaper. The blond, young man stared at his sister and smirked. “I’m glad you didn’t get much from her. She’s not funny,” he said. He was four years older than Yulia, and was a foot taller.

Yulia pulled the blanket over her head, but her mother pulled it off her.

“Don’t be silly, Yulia. You need some fresh air!” Her mother went to open the window, letting the fierce, chilly wind in.

“No wonder I don’t feel any better,” Yulia grumbled.

Dimitri Volkov burst through the door, a cigar between his darkened lips. The fat, blonde man was in his silky blue shirt and a pair of navy trousers.

Yulia had had enough. “No smoking in here, and shut the windows please!”

“You’re feeling better now, pumpkin!” Dimitri said. His face was red from drinking. But it was so usual for him to be drinking during daytime.

“You haven’t told me how I got back here,” Yulia said. After that night, she woke up again to find herself back in her safe harbor. But she doubted it was the taxi she saw in her dream.

“A young gentleman brought you back! Interesting! He happened to be one of my business partners!” Dimitri gestured for his wife to pour him some vodka, too.

“His name is Roland Myer,” her mother added with an approving smile. “He found you right by the lake by accident, soaked and freezing. He went through your purse and found out where you lived. How did you fall into the lake? What were you doing there in the middle of the night? You scared me to death!”

Frowning, Yulia fumbled for her new pair of glasses on the table. She couldn’t think clearly with the blurry vision. That evil Meg must have left her right by the lake, but fortunately, prince charming Roland Myer saved her in time. She would definitely find that red-haired driver and taught her a lesson or two. But her father could not know how this mess happened. It took her three years to make him trust her enough not to have bodyguards following her everywhere she goes.

“I meant to take a short walk along the lake after I left Tonya’s house. But then I dropped my watch into the lake—”

“You tried to revive the watch by going into the lake?” Her father asked with tears of joy.

“It was my twentieth birthday gift from you, papa.” Yulia flashed her father the puppy eyes. In fact, she lost it a few weeks ago at some parties.

“But you can’t swim, dear!” her mother said.

“I wasn’t thinking right. I’m sorry,” Yulia said.

Alexei rolled his eyes and then continued reading the newspaper.

Dimitri snatched the receiver and ordered his men to buy some new Rolex watches for Yulia at once. The sick woman just sheepishly smiled in her warm bed.


>>>


“Who can you trust if not me? Everything is fine, and it really is.” Roland laughed, stroking Lena’s forehead.

Lena was lying on the bed in a small room in the basement of Roland’s home. He wouldn’t let her go back to her place until they were sure it was safe there. She couldn’t move much with the cast over her left arm. She only found out that it was broken during the crash when Roland brought a doctor here. The icy water practically numbed her whole body.

“Can I have a glass of water?”

Roland poured some for her. He watched her slowly gulping. When she rang him that night, she sounded weak and desperate. As soon as he got to the lake, the two women were barely conscious. After he took them back to his home, Lena told him everything that happened. The predicament could affect their million-dollar deal, so they agreed that he would make up the story to the Volkov family, minimizing the details as much as possible.

“Promise me you won’t just pull pranks with some strangers again. It’s too dangerous. However, what happened with Volkova was rather funny.”

“Funny? Someone wanted me dead, Roland!”

“I took care of that matter. We’ll find out soon enough.”

“It might as well turn out to be the whole town.” Lena lightly chuckled. Everyone wanted ‘the Irish’ dead, everyone but Roland Myer, her most trusted friend.

“I’ll always be on your side, you know that,” he said, softly holding her hand. It felt too warm, and he knew she should take some rest now.

Lena and Roland grew up together in the orphanage. Once they were old enough to leave, they only had each other in the difficult time. Their friendship was put to test when Lena happened to have the chance to gun down Kirk Mason, one of the most powerful gangsters in Chicago. Mason was the only rival to Al Capone. Even to this day, Lena never told him who hired her. The secrecy only drove them apart, widened the gap between them, but he learned to put it behind if they still wanted to be a team.

“Good night,” he said, kissing her forehead. But she seemed to have fallen asleep already. He quietly left the room.



.................................................. .................................................. ...........
CHAPTER 5



The faithful meeting took place in an abandoned warehouse, where Roland had his goods kept hidden and Dimitri Volkov would deliver his fee. At the long table, Roland and Dimitri’s men stood on each side of the table. There was only one light above the table, and all of them were in black coats and black hats, making it rather hard to identify who was who if they were going to shoot one another.

“Where’s the Irish?” Dimitri asked, exhaling the cigar smoke.

“She’s in no condition to come tonight. I apologize for the inconvenience.”

“Inconvenience! Interesting choice of word! Maybe I’m just not important enough.”

“She’s been ill,” a voice interrupted.

Roland immediately glared at Oliver, one of his men. Oliver nervously looked down.

“Is that true?” Dimitri asked. Although his gaze was harsh, his voice softened.

“She has a very bad cold,” Roland replied. “The doctor wouldn’t allow her to move.” He took a good look at Dimitri’s bodyguards and smiled, making sure they know he wasn’t about to pull out a gun. He took a wrapped box out of his pocket. “She delivered you this gift, an apology for missing the opportunity tonight.”

Dimitri smiled at once at the young man’s humbleness. He had his bodyguard opening the box for him. He smiled even wider at the expensive, antique, golden watch. Certainly, his business partners had made some research to please him; he was an avid antiques collector.

The evening went smoothly, and Yulia decided to let her guard down just a bit, certain that her father had not caught her dressing up like one of the driver boys. The mission was made possible when her brother chose not to come, much to Dimitri’s anger. Lord knew how much Alexei wanted to do anything with this underground business of his father.

Sneaking by the entrance, Yulia put on her glasses and peeked into the warehouse through the gapped wooden walls.

Roland Myer had her attention. He was attractive and tall, but not to tall that she had to climb his knees to kiss him. He was her father’s business partner, and most of all, her savior! She wanted to get a closer look at him. She wanted to meet him without having her mother making all the arrangements. After all, she was all grown up now. It bored her to tears whenever her mother invited endless strings of suitors into their homes. There was no excitement. No adventure to set the background for a romance to blossom. She wanted an unplanned route to her life.

When the deal was done, one of the driver boys in Dimitri’s care sent Yulia a signal. She hopped into a black car. She had tagged along her father’s parade here, and planned to follow Roland home. All the driver boys knew, but she tipped them handsomely to keep quiet. They gladly accepted since she had done this quite often on other occasions and never got them into trouble with her father.

A few minutes later, Yulia broke from her father and began following Roland. But only ten minutes into the pursuit, the cars in front of her stopped. She was easily caught as expected, although she hoped to meet Roland in a little more private place than this. The thugs around him looked quite scary. She quickly took off her glasses.

Roland smirked when he saw who it was. He approached, lighting a cigarette.

“Can I help you, Ms. Volkova?” he asked.

Along the dark, empty road in the outskirt of Chicago, Yulia sat in her car, studying his post. Roland Myer definitely belonged to Hollywood, not some Chicago gangs who robbed and killed innocent people.

“Yes, I’m lost, Mr. Myer. Would you show me the way to your home?”

Roland tried to suppress his grin when his men laughed aloud at her outrageous pursuit. She was out of the 1930s’ ordinary women league, but looking at Roland, she knew she was above them all in his eyes.

“I haven’t returned your favor for saving my life,” Yulia coyly whispered.

Roland looked down a little, deep in thoughts. He then got into the passenger seat. “An advanced welcome to my modest home, Ms. Volkova. But you must return before midnight, or your father would not be pleased.”

Yulia grinned at his positive response.

“Meet me there,” Roland said, waving his bodyguards away.


>>>


On the couch in the living room, Yulia sat with a cup of hot tea in her hands. Roland had excused himself to settle some business downstairs. She wondered if every gangster hid dead bodies down in their basement. As far as she knew, her father did it once years before she was born. But she was glad her mother wouldn’t allow it to continue.

Roland walked through the opened door, smiling from ear to ear. He took his coat off and put it over the couch.

“You have a very lovely home, Mr. Myer.”

“And I have a very lovely guest tonight.”

Yulia chortled at his compliment, laughing inwardly. She still couldn’t believe how daring she was. She couldn’t wait to go back and rang Tonya, her best friend.

“I’m relieved to see that you’re feeling better,” he said, sitting down opposite to her.

“I’m Dimitri Volkov’s daughter. I can take anything,” Yulia said proudly.


>>>


“How about swimming?” Lena muttered, looking bored. She was standing at the door to her basement room and eavesdrop the conversation upstairs.


>>>


“How did you find me, Mr. Myer?” Yulia moved to sit beside Roland, gently placing her hands on his arm.

Roland cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable. Whether it was her intimate gesture or he had forgotten his lie at the moment, she had yet to know.

“I was out driving, and I saw you… unconscious along the lakeside… I looked through your purse and found your identification card. That’s how I knew where you live.”

Yulia smiled as sweet as she could. She was thankful that he delivered her home unharmed. But something was bugging her, and her instinct was right. When she was hiding in the pipe, she looked through her almost empty purse and found only a pair of glasses and a beaded rosary. Most of her belongings were scattered around under the snow, and she was sure that her I.D. was among them. There was only one possibility.

“Did you see a woman with me when you got there?” Yulia asked.


>>>


Lena immediately pressed her body against the wall in panic. She then tiptoed up the stairs just enough for her eyes to see. Roland paused for a bit too long, and she could see the suspicion in Yulia’s eyes.

“A woman? Well, yes… She got red hair?” Roland asked.

“Yes! Meg—err—Meg something. Where is she now?”

“I don’t know. She just told me to take you home.”

Yulia looked blank for a moment, and then a trace of disappointment came across her face. Lena wondered if it was that disappointing not being able to track her down and kill her.

“Was she your friend? I asked her to come with me, but she refused. She said she lived just a few blocks away.”

“You’re so good,” Lena mumbled to herself, admiring Roland’s performance.

“She’s definitely not my friend!” Yulia stated in disgust. She stopped for a moment before continuing. “She asked you to help me?”

“Why, yes… Would you like me to find out who it was?”

Yulia shook her head, waving her hand as she asked, “Do you think she’s all right?”

Lena was perplexed at Yulia’s action, and looking at Roland, he was as well.

“Oh, umm, you’re fine now, so—I think she would be, too. She seemed quite strong, in my opinion.”

“She was still able to walk? How inhumanly strong,” Yulia wondered aloud.

Lena grumbled. She was almost certain she would die if Roland had not arrived in time. Soaking wet from the freezing water with a broken arm and lying in the open in the fierce Chicago wind might easily do it.

“Did you two just happen to decide to go for a swim?” Roland flashed Yulia the most handsome smile, trying to distract her.

Yulia laughed uneasily. “I dropped something into the water, and—and this woman came by to help me. We both fell into the lake and—” Yulia stopped short as she squint at the desk by the window for a moment.

“And?” Roland asked.

Yulia spun around, returning her attention to Roland. “I don’t quite remember what happened after we got off the lake, and that’s why I wanted to ask you.”

The conversations went on, but Lena was relieved that she was no longer the topic. Suddenly, a craving for a cigarette hit her. Although she disliked smoking, it must be stress that did it. Roland wouldn’t allow her to smoke ever since she became ill, so she crept along the corridor, avoiding the living room and climbing up the stairs to the balcony on the second floor.


>>>


In front of Roland’s home, he walked Yulia to her car. She waved him goodbye and pretended to drive away. She then parked her car again when he went back inside. Sneaking into his backyard, she was surprised that this newly born gangster hadn’t had his house secured. It could be that Roland wasn’t as powerful and dangerous as her father. Not yet. But where were all those bodyguards she saw earlier this evening?

She heard an engine starting in the front. Roland was driving away. He must be leaving to meet up with those guards. Relieved, she moved freely further into the backyard. It was freezing, but she thought it might worth a try.

She saw the connection now. When she was talking to Roland in the living room, she saw a black and white photograph of a woman standing beside a brand-new-looking Cadillac. It appeared that Meg seemed to know Roland very well. How proud he was to take her picture with the new car he bought for her, and then showing the picture off on his desk?

It came unexpectedly when she found out that Meg didn’t just leave her by the lake, and for a moment, she was disappointed that it might be impossible to find Meg again, not for a payback, but to thank her… Thank her?

“That is just absurd!” Yulia grumbled. That woman got her into this mess from the start.

Yulia marched into the bush and waited. Perhaps, she would see some movements in the house from there. So far, nothing happened. All lights were turned off. But then there was always the basement.

Looking up at the balcony, Yulia grinned. She saw the small smoke from a stabbed cigarette in an ashtray above. Meg was here. Behind the bushes lining up against the wall of the house, she spotted a window. She crawled towards the yellow-tinted glass and knocked. Someone must be in there because the lights were on.

After a few more knocks, the window slowly opened.

“There you are!” Yulia shouted in triumph as she saw Meg inside.

Lena’s gaze scanned Yulia up and down at her driver boy outfit.

“Let me in. I’m freezing!” Yulia said.

Lena frowned. “No—”

But Yulia pushed the window wider and easily slipped through. When she got in, she shut the window to shun off the cold wind. She looked around and found that it was rather a cozy bedroom for a basement.

“Are you some sort of his kept woman? That’s why you’re allowed only to have his basement.”

Lena carefully sat on the bed. “I thought you left. Did you forget something?”

“Tell me if I’m right. You came back for me because you found out who I am. I understand you had a pretty important arrangement with my father.”

“Your father must be disappointed. You’re fit to be a detective, not a criminal.”

“Government is a joke. We’re all criminals.”

“Now that you know the truth, why are you still here?”

“I want my money back,” Yulia replied without thinking.

Lena went to her drawer and took out some notes.

Yulia accepted and pretended to count. It was a hundred more than Lena took earlier. “I’m not expecting a tip,” she said, tossing a note onto the bed.

Lena didn’t move to retrieve it.

“Are you ‘the Irish’ everyone talks about?” Yulia studied Lena. She would never have imagined it if not because her father mentioned it during the meeting. Finding Lena in Roland’s home had convinced her otherwise.

“You know I caught you lying before,” Yulia stated arrogantly.

“Just as I don’t think you’re here for ‘the Irish’, or the money.”

“For… I have a business with Mr. Myer,” Yulia said sternly.

“You must have seen him left.”

Yulia couldn’t express how much Lena’s small smile annoyed her. She angrily stuffed the notes in her pockets.

“I’ll show you the way out,” Lena said, getting up to the door.

“Maybe it wasn’t you.”

Lena looked at Yulia quizzically.

“The target,” Yulia said.

“If they wanted you, they could have taken you down while you were hiding in that pipe, waiting for some miracle.”

“If they wanted you, why did they shoot at the passenger first?”

Lena chortled. “You seem to be so sure about this. Does this happen to you a lot?”

“I love being around my father, and this doesn’t stop me,” Yulia said proudly. She pulled her sleeve up, revealing a bullet scar on her arm.

“Are you trying to be the absent son?” The Irish leaned back against the door, knowing Yulia was just boasting about her adventures, making them the excuse to stay longer. Surely, she had heard how Dimitri’s only son was giving him a hard time. Alexei Volkov wasn’t born a gangster like his father; he was a far too pious man.

“I love being who I am, and he loves having a daughter like me.” Yulia glanced at the cast over Lena’s arm. “So you have your arm broken for nothing.”

“My baby Cadillac,” Lena said with a serious face.

Yulia chuckled, and then composed herself. “You still think you were the target.”

“You have the honor and my blessing, Ms. Volkova. It’s getting really late now.”

Yulia crossly walked out of the room before she would hear another unwelcome statement. Lena followed up the stairs until they reached the front door. Yulia turned around as Lena grabbed the cold, steely knob.

“I was here mainly for Mr. Myer… But thanks for pulling me out of the water.”

Again, the small smile appeared at the corner of Lena’s lips as she proceeded to open the door for Yulia. With the sight strangely imprinted in her mind, Yulia walked towards her car, oblivious of the cold or the snow falling over her.