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There was risk attached to all of this. Physical risk, I didn’t give a damn about. But I really didn’t want to limp around secretly nursing a broken heart for however many months it took to heal. Not again. Still, if anyone was worth the risk, it was Alissa and her little ray-of-sunshine kid.
I mulled all of this over as I rode the elevator up, finding that I was looking forward to seeing what the kid had been up to. I was smiling as I turned the corner to head for my front door, only to freeze in place for a second. Sergei was leaning against the wall next to my door, waiting for me.
Sergei only dropped in occasionally, so I hadn’t expected this. The timing couldn’t have been worse. In a few more days, Michelle would be back to her mother and every trace of her would have been out of my apartment. As it was, if I invited Sergei in for our usual drink and chat when he dropped by, I would have a lot of explaining to do. But if I didn’t, I ran the risk of making him suspicious.
Come on in, Sergei, I’ll get the vodka shots set up. Careful not to step on that Lego castle. Or the ball. Or the teddy bear. Or the small child in the corner. Oh, her? Came with the place.
No, that was definitely not going to work. And I didn’t want to face the kind of questions I would get for unexpectedly harboring a little girl in my apartment. I was brewing up some excuse to shoo him away when he saw me and broke into a wide smile.
“Gregor! My friend! I was in the neighborhood with this bottle of pear brandy and said to myself, ‘You know who I haven’t drunk with in a dog’s age? Gregor!’ So, I am here.” He was already slightly plastered, enough that I didn’t like the thought of him driving.
“Oh, hello, Sergei. I didn’t know you were back from your errand yet.” Sergei was mostly an intelligence man, gathering information for Vasily, but he was also better with computers than any of us, which meant anytime there was a problem with the network at one of our businesses, Sergei and his tools were sent over there to deal with it.
“Yeah, turned out the problem was between the chair and the keyboard again. I have the evening off, and I don’t want to spend it sober.”
I laughed awkwardly in response, and he picked up on it immediately despite his tipsy look.
“Oh? You’re not up for drinking?” His tone became teasing. “Do you have a woman coming over?”
“Nah. Had to walk away from a pretty one, though,” I deflected. How much was safe to tell him? He was my best friend, but he was also Vasily’s spymaster, and I wasn’t ready for this to get back to Vasily yet.
He lifted an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“The lady with the missing daughter.” I smiled, fumbling with my keys when I didn’t have to. “Met with her today. I think I can get her reunited with her daughter within a few days.”
“That fast? Wait, this is the one you’re pretending to be a private eye for? The one with the donations?”
“That’s her. Alissa.” I dropped my keys and grabbed them, then glanced back at him. He was watching me steadily, and I saw suspicion growing in his eyes.
Damn it. If I didn’t let him in, he’d know something was up.Could I trust him with the truth if I put the right spin on my explanation?
I squared my shoulders. I had never been the best liar, which was part of why he had his job and I had mine. “Yeah. Come on in.”
I unlocked the door and walked in with him. There was no sign of Michelle, and not only that, all of her toys were cleared away, the TV was off, and the lights were off. The only one who greeted me was the cat, who ran up to inform us both that his bowl was empty.
But what about Michelle? I looked around, suddenly worried. Had someone taken her? No, that made no sense. Was she hiding? I’d not had any alerts that there had been security breaches, so she had to be here somewhere.
“Make yourself at home, glasses are in the cabinet. Should order food?” I was praying he said no, the longer he stuck around, the harder it would be to hide Michelle’s presence from him.
“Nah, I ate, can’t stay too long. I actually do have a woman coming over!” He let out a laugh and flopped onto my couch.
“Fine. Let me take a piss and I’ll be right out.”
I stepped into the hall and walked down toward the guest room, which was across from the master bathroom. I ducked into it quickly, closing the door behind me. All of the missing toys had been hastily tossed into the room. I crouched down and saw Michelle peering at me curiously from under the bed.
“You okay, kid?” I checked in a whisper.
She nodded.
I had a thought, Sergei was hardly subtle. “You heard the banging at the door and hid?”
She nodded again.
“All right. Just sit tight for a few minutes until I get rid of my friend.”
Another nod and a thumbs-up.
“It’s going to be okay. I’ll be back soon.”
