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The city was full of lights. Restaurants, dry cleaners, clothing stores, shoe stores, pawn shops, check-cashing places. Anything imaginable pressed in on both sides of us. But as we moved further north, the city dimmed. There were fewer businesses, fewer streetlights.
I always wondered why the diner was so far north, but now it made sense. It was dark up north, it was quiet. It was easy to do the dirty work the Volkov family got away with in the darkest hours of the evening, away from prying eyes.
Leo turned down a side street and rolled forward. The diner was at the end of a quiet block, half the buildings bombed-out and empty. The front was like a beacon in a desert, like a bug zapper in a forest. It glowed a bright whitish blue. Cars were packed outside on the street, and I could see people sitting in the booths and at the counter through the big windows.
“I’m parking around the corner,” he said. “Doesn’t look like anyone’s watching outside.”
“How can you be sure?”
“The obvious spots are empty. And the less obvious ones aren’t any good.”
I let out a breath. Nerves rolled up my spine. I wondered if Ursula was as good a friend as I thought. For the first time, it occurred to me that she might not be.
Leo parked around the corner from the diner midway down the block. Two shade trees grew between sidewalk slabs, breaking them into a wedges. He checked his gun one more time then looked at me.
“You ready for this?”
“I’m ready.”
“Good.” He pushed open the door. “Let’s go.”
I followed him into the night. I should’ve run the other way. If I were smart, I would’ve gotten out of there.
But I wasn’t smart.
Leo strode down the block past darkened front stoops and windows with black bars over the glass. He slowed as he reached the bright corner where the diner broke up the dreary city street.
I overtook him and kept going. I felt him close behind my hip. I wanted to turn around and touch his chest just to feel his heart beating under his skin and his tattoos but I kept moving forward. I had to keep moving forward, otherwise something might break inside of me.
I approached the front window of the diner and slowed as I scanned the familiar scene inside.
Straight through the doors was a small desk on the left with a register and a display case full of candy bars and gum. Beyond that was the teal counter with its peeling laminate where several people sat on red upholstered stools. I didn’t recognize the girl working. She had short blonde hair and too much eyeshadow. To the left were booths with gleaming silver accents. The floor was checkered white and black.
I saw Maksim in his usual booth toward the back. He faced the front, but I knew he couldn’t see me, not at night. I could see him though, lit up by the interior lighting. They liked to keep it bright, nice and homey despite the surroundings.
“There, far booth.” I nodded. The street was dark and quiet. A car rolled past with its lights on but didn’t stop or slow.
“I see him.” Leo took a step toward the door.
I grabbed his wrist. “Wait.”
Ursula appeared. She wore an apron, had her hair up in pins, her lips painted a bright pink. She smiled but I could see the nervous energy in her eyes. She took a step back, laughing, and wrote something down.
The man sitting with Maksim leaned toward her and I could see his face.
“Fuck,” Leo said, and I knew he saw too.
It was Enrico, the man from the crew, the one from the meeting that was such an asshole. He leaned away from Ursula and Maksim laughed, probably at something he said. Ursula wrote something down then left them again.
Leo took a few steps back away from the door.
“It’s him. It was always him.”
“Leo,” I said. “She’s not supposed to be here.”
“That motherfucker. He fucked up. He almost got Hedeon killed. Of course it was him, who else could it have been?”
“Leo,” I said again, louder this time. “Ursula’s in there. She’s supposed to be hiding right now. She’s not supposed to be out there.”
He shook his head and I wasn’t sure he could hear me. He was so lost in his own mind, in his own anger, that I don’t think he would’ve noticed an elephant charging right at him.
“That motherfucker,” he said. A vein popped out on his neck. “I’m going to kill him. I’m going to fucking murder him.”
“Wait—”
But it was too late. He stormed past me to the door, grabbed it, and flung it open.
He started shooting right away. The gun popped and boomed in his hands. People screamed, ran, shoved each other, got trampled. I screamed for Leo, but it was chaos, pure and simple chaos. I shoved my way through the door as customers ran for their lives.
