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Still, orders were orders. So I got up and went back into the other room.
“What was that about?” Robin asked.
“We got a job tonight.”
“Yeah? Really?”
“We’re going to kill some of your uncle’s guys.” I sat down on the couch. “You good with that?”
The color drained from her face. “Do you want me to… do it?”
I laughed. I couldn’t help myself. “Hell no. I’m not insane. Of course you’re not going to kill anyone.”
“Oh.” Relief flooded her face. “Okay then.”
“You’re coming along for the ride though. I want you to see what this is all about.”
“I know what you do. I’ve seen it twice now.”
I nodded slow. “Yeah, I know. But I want you to get used to it, little birdie.”
She chewed her food, stared at me, and didn’t respond.
Fine by me. I grabbed my plate and dug in.* * *The address Hedeon sent was an empty lot on the corner of Twenty-Second and Diamond. There wasn’t much around. Most houses were beat up, their tiny patches of yard overgrown with weeds. A check-cashing place looked like it was still open, the sign glowing sickly yellow. I spotted Pavel under one of two trees in the entire lot smoking a cigarette. The cherry glowed red in the darkness as I parked behind his beat-up station wagon.
“Come on,” I said.
“Is that the guy from that first night?”
“Pavel. He’s fine. He’ll follow orders.”
She didn’t move.
I put my hand on her knee.
“It’s fine,” I said. “Come on.”
I got out and walked around the car. I saw Robin stare at me then open her door and follow.
Pavel flicked his cigarette away as I approached. He wore a brown leather jacket with wide lapels and a button-down denim shirt over dark denim jeans. His boots were worn and scuffed.
Across the street, houses were boarded up. An ACE Discount hardware store had metal curtains over its windows.
“You’re late,” he said.
“Fuck off. What’s the plan?”
He grunted and took out another cigarette. Pavel only ever chain-smoked when he was feeling nervous. He lit up and took a deep drag. His eyes drifted over my shoulder and fell on Robin.
“What the fuck is she doing here?”
“She’s with me now,” I said.
“Jesus Christ, Leo. What in the hell is wrong with you? You can’t bring a bitch to this. You can’t—”
I stepped forward and slapped the cigarette from between his lips.
“Insult her again, it’ll be your face. A third time, and it’ll be a fist. Got me?”
“Dick.” He stooped over, picked up the cigarette, and lit it again. He took a drag and sprayed smoke out his nose. “All right, here’s the deal. Some bitch boyeviks that work for Maksim sell on a corner a few blocks north.” He gestured in the vague direction. “Plan’s simple. We roll up in mine, you light them up, we roll away. Simple drive-by, bing bang boom.” He made a finger gun and pretended to shoot it.
“Seems easy,” I said. “Also really, really weird.”
“How’s that?”
“Think about it. Does this seem like a bustling neighborhood?”
“It’s North Philly. Nothing’s bustling up here.”
“Even still.”
“Maksim owns these streets. The Italians got everything south of the parkway, south of City Hall. This is all he’s got right now.”
“Seems like it’s not much.”
“Better than what we got.”
I grunted at that and looked over my shoulder. “You hearing this, little birdie?”
She nodded, arms crossed over her chest. She wore a dark sweatshirt and her hair was up in a tight bun.
“I’m listening.”
“It sound right to you?”
She shook her head. “How the hell would I know?”
“You’re in the family.”
“They don’t tell me anything about selling drugs. I just worked in the diner and babysat my cousin.”
I grunted and shook my head. “All right then,” I said. “Guess we’re on for this.”
“Good.” Pavel took a last drag, flicked the butt away. “Come on. I want to be home in an hour. Got a decent bottle of whiskey waiting for me.”
I nodded and gestured for Robin to follow. I opened the back door of Pavel’s station wagon and she climbed in. The car smelled like smoke and beer. The fake wood siding was peeling from the doors. I got in the driver’s side and popped open his glove compartment.
A small semi-automatic Uzi waited for me inside. I checked the magazine, pulled the bolt. “Where’d you get this?”
“Hedeon dropped it off. It’s clean.”
I nodded. “Got a rag?”
“In there.” He gestured at the glove box.
I found a cotton handkerchief and put the gun on top of it in my lap. Pavel pulled out and headed toward the spot.
I watched out the windows. There was nobody around. Nobody on the stoops of the low income housing, nobody in the large open fields that dotted each corner of almost every block.
The only businesses open were Chinese food places, pawn shops, and check-cashing stores. There was a single bar named HERE IT IS with a glowing blue sign and a single bouncer out front.
