Chapter Nine

 

Vasile lit a cigar. He probably wasn’t allowed to smoke in this building, but screw that, he owned it. The smoke hung like a fog in the florescent lighting of the office. He rolled up the blue striped sleeves on his mashed dress shirt and smoothed back his long gray hair. It spilled over his shoulders slightly but was a little too thin and oily to be called chic. He tried though.

It was late. A couple more emails and he could get some sleep. The phone shrieked in the silence of his office making him jump. He answered gruffly.

“Vasile?”

“Who is this?” He asked in Romanian.

“Alina, Cosmin’s wife. I, uh. It’s, I mean...”

“How’d you get this number?”

“I saw it on Sergiu’s desk and memorized it.”

Rahat, he swore. She was too smart for her own good. He heard her take a deep breath, and her voice shook as she continued.

“I’m sending you money to take care of Anca when I can. Did you get it? Now they want to keep some of my pay down here toward my debt; I can barely survive.” She cleared her throat and continued more strongly. “You said I could pay off my ticket and visa in 3 months and then work six more months to bring Anca here.”

Vasile weighed his options and thought about killing Sergiu momentarily for letting his number get into Alina’s hands. “It’s only been a few weeks. You are not earning as much as we expected, so we have to take more. We are in business to make money, you know? How do you think Cosmin and you lived such a good life in Romania?”

“You knew they were taking more of my salary?”

“Look, that’s not what’s important. I’m sure they can find you a second job that should help.”

“Is Anca okay? Who has her now? My neighbors could only keep her a week. You said you’d send someone for her. I, I want to talk to her.” She faltered. “I’m desperate, Vasile. I need to talk to her. I need to know she’s okay. I want to go home.” A sob escaped her.

“Calm down. You agreed to come here and it wasn’t free. You knew that. I’ll get a picture of Anca to show you she’s okay, but it’s up to you to work hard so we can keep her. If you don’t work enough, well, we might have to put her in an orphanage.”

“What?! No, no. No, Vasile, don’t do that. Please, please. I’ll send the money. I’ll take the second job. I’ll get the money somehow. Bring her now. I’ll take care of her and I’ll pay off the debt. I promise. Can you bring her now? I’ll work however long I need to, but I’d feel better if she were with me. I’d be able to work harder.”

He heard the begging tone in her voice and grinned. Oh, if Cosmin could see this now, he’d go ballistic. And he’d grovel too. Vasile blew smoke toward the false ceiling of his office. Alina was right where he wanted her. Cosmin had kept his wife and kid a secret for a long time and funneled the quota of workers to Vasile, but he’d gotten too confident and demanded more and more of the money. When Cosmin had been arrested, Alina had been too arrogant to accept Vasile’s offer to come to the USA. Eventually her funds had run out and she couldn’t get in to the prison to see Cosmin. She got desperate.

“You know how this works, Alina. I’m sure Cosmin told you about his work.” Vasile wanted to know how much she knew. It was safer to have her away from the authorities.

A big sniffle came down the line. “No, no. He never told me anything about exporting. He just made airport runs. I still don’t understand why he was arrested.”

Vasile couldn’t trust Alina’s word. While he could simply push her through the system and sell her off, right now she was insurance that Cosmin wouldn’t talk. A wife might not have been able to get into the prison, but guards in the right places could deliver messages that spoke volumes.

“You just need to work hard, Alina and I’m sure this will all be over before you realize it. You’ll hear from me. And, uh, don’t call this number again unless Sergiu tells you. It’ll cost you and it costs me. Do you understand?”

Silence. He let it hang.

“Send me a way to contact Anca. I’ll send you the money. I will find a way.” She disconnected the line.

Vasile sighed out a puff of smoke. He’d have to chew on Sergiu for leaving this phone number laying around. He now had a legitimate reputation to protect. Maybe the apartment was a bad idea. Too much freedom, but they had a plan.