Page 44 of King

“Before I hear more, please allow Natalia and her grandfather to leave.You and I can conduct business without them present.”

Andropov shrugs, like he doesn’t approve.

“You have me,” I say and hold up my hands as if in surrender.“What else do you need?If I know they are both safe, I will be happy to negotiate a deal.The two of us: leaders of our families.One king to another.”

He nods, finally, and points to one of the guards at the door.He speaks in Russian, and the guard goes over to Natalia and her grandfather and points to the door.

“Please to come,” the guard says.

Natalia looks at me quickly.“Are you sure?”she asks, her face pale.

“Yes, yes,” Andropov says.“No need for women or old men to be involved.”He forces a smile and then turns back to me, expectantly.

I watch as the guard escorts Natalia and her grandfather out the door, and then I turn back to Yuri, taking in a deep breath as I do.I will need every ounce of patience as I wait for the FBI to make their move.

Hopefully, Natalia and her grandfather will get out of the building and away from the area before they move in.

“So, Harrison.Tell me.What do you need from me so that we can put the past in the past and work together?I understand from your uncle that you want to extract the business from, shall we say, old connections.Unfortunately, from my perspective, that is not going to work.”He makes a face of pain and holds his hands up as if he’s helpless.“My business and your father’s business?They are like hand in glove.”He mimics putting on gloves and smiles at me.

Of course, that’s the last thing I want, but I have to appear to be willing to negotiate.“Tell me more.Tell me what you know about my father’s plans for O’Connor Enterprises.Then, I will know where we can compromise.”

He shrugs and leans back in the chair.“Before he died, he said he wanted the business to be completely free of the shipping industry.Just construction, no transportation, despite the very important trips the cargo ships and trucks you use for shipping make to and from the port.It works perfectly with my own business needs.All I ask is that we have access to your routes into and out of the city.We leave all the rest, the construction part, free.”

“Are there no alternatives to using our transportation routes?”

He shakes his head.“No.None of the alternatives is acceptable.O’Connor Enterprises has been our best provider.Your father and I,” he says, looking off into the distance as if he’s truly sad that he had to kill my father, “we work together very well for all these years.Now is not the time to change.”

It’s at that moment that I hear a shout from outside the office, and I know the FBI is making its move.

At that, I can’t help myself, and I lunge across the space separating us and take his neck in my hands.

“Now is precisely the time to change,” I say as I choke him, his eyes bulging out of their sockets.My timing is impeccable, because the door is blown open and the guard standing there is knocked down by the force.Smoke and debris fill the room, leaving me with my hands around Yuri’s neck, the two of us on the floor from the blast.

I’m too focused on Yuri’s face and the look in his eyes to watch what’s happening around me, but soon, I feel arms attempting to pull me off Yuri, to remove my hands from his neck, but I fight back.

“Harrison!”someone shouts, but my hearing is dimmed because of the explosion, and I finally glance up into the face of Fogarty.

He wrestles with me, finally prying my hands away.Yuri is unconscious by this time, but he’s alive.

I prop myself up on the floor and watch as they drag Yuri away, and also the guard at the door, who is injured but alive and able to walk.

“That was close,” Fogarty says, and he reaches into his pocket and hands me a tissue, which I use to wipe blood off my cheek.Some piece of the door and its hinges must have blown across the room and cut me, for I’m bleeding pretty profusely.I know from my battlefield medic training that it’s just superficial, and I hold the tissue to my skin.

“A little too soon,” I say.“I wish I could have succeeded in killing the bastard.”

“No, just in time, Harrison.I don’t want to see you in prison for the rest of your life for killing a Russian mafia head, even if he is a bastard.You are key to my plans for New York, and I need you to stay as head of your empire.”

I shrug.Of course, he’s right.I want a life with Natalia and our new baby when it is born, not a life in prison.

Still, it would have given me immense pleasure to kill the bastard.He’s responsible for my family’s death, and by ancient rights, it would be me who pulls the trap door under his feet so I can watch him dangle until death.

But we live in the modern world, and the death penalty is off the table in New York State.

I find myself thinking of ways I could arrange Yuri’s death, using my personal ties to various retired Army Rangers, but then stop myself.

That’s the kind of thinking that Andropov himself used to rise to the top of the Russian Mafia in New York.

I can’t become like him.