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Vadim left the casino, found the closest stairway, and rushed down to deck four. Several minutes later, he was in the hall beating on Snake’s cabin door. “Open the door, open the door, dammit,” he said in a quiet, breathless voice.
Snake cursed. He’d ordered room service and was watching a movie. He slid off the bed and moved to the door.
“What the hell do you want, man?” Snake hissed as he opened the door. “Can’t you just leave me the hell alone?”
Vadim pushed Snake out of his way and went into the small stateroom. That’s when Snake realized something was wrong. “What’s up, man? What do you want?” He asked as he glared at the older man. He paled when he saw the blood splatter on Vadim’s shirt. Snake’s eyes widened, “What the hell have you done?”
Vadim’s face was black with rage. “I’m in trouble. I just offed a man up in the casino. The guy cheated me in blackjack and I lost my temper,” Vadim said, his voice seethed with fury.
“You did what? Did I hear you right?” Snake asked in an incredulous voice. “You killed some son of a bitch?”
“Yeah, yeah, you heard me right. I killed a dealer in the casino. The bastard cheated me. It’s exactly like I said,” Vadim repeated with defiance in his voice as his eyes glinted with fire.
Snake couldn’t believe his ears. “What the hell, man! We’re supposed to do the killing later. How the hell are you gonna get away? This affects both of us, or haven’t you noticed?” Snake boiled with anger.
Vadim shrugged his shoulders, unconcerned. “That’s your concern. Give me the key to our other cabin. They know who I am because I used my ship charge card to get money. Ship security is probably all over my cabin by now.”
Snake shook his head. “I’d like to kill you. Do you have any idea what you’ve done? How badly you’ve screwed up?” Snake was livid with anger.
“Yeah, I know,” Vadim snarled. “The guy pissed me off. Bastard tried to cheat me. End of story.” He waited a moment and hissed, “Give me the damned key. I need to get in there, clean up, and get some sleep.”
Snake was incredulous at Vadim’s lack of concern. “Man, I got a call today. They’ve beefed up our workload. And, now you’ve put a target on your head.”
Vadim ignored him and held his hand out for the key.
“We got one tonight and a couple more tomorrow. Now, you’ve gone and fucked everything up!”
Vadim was losing his patience. He could feel the blood pulsing through his head. He took a step toward Snake and pushed him back onto the bed. “I messed nothing up. Give me the damned key to the extra cabin and I’ll go change. Then I’ll meet you upstairs on the Promenade deck just like we planned.” He paused for a minute and stared down into Snake’s face. Vadim’s eyes glinted with rage. He was furious.
Snake sat up on the side of the bed. “You’re a crazy bastard, a lunatic. I’m not gonna give you the key to nothing. Now, get the hell out of my room before I call security on you,” he threatened.
Vadim crossed his arms in front of his chest. He was powerfully built. His upper arms rippled with muscle through his bloodied clothes. “I’m gonna ask you once more for the key. If I don’t get it, I’m gonna tear you apart limb by limb and feed you to the sharks. Then, I’m gonna find the damned key,” he threatened as he stared at the younger man
Snake stood and locked eyes with Vadim. “What are you gonna do, man? Where’re you gonna hide? They gotta be tearin’ up the ship looking for you. You’ll never get away with this,” he insisted as he shook his head.
Vadim shook his head. “They’ll never find me. I’ll go to the safety stateroom. I’ll change my appearance so much that even you won’t know me.”
Snake shook his head and scoffed. “Yeah. Sure. You’re full of shit. You don’t have a ship credit card or any other means of identification you can use. It’s only a matter of time,” he smirked. “They’re gonna get you and we’ll be screwed,” Snake said as he banged his fist on the wall.
Vadim slowly shook his head again. “You’re wrong. They’re not gonna find me. I have another stateroom you don’t know about. It’s on deck three. I boarded the ship twice, with two different IDs. I’m traveling under two passports, and two identities. If need be, I’ll exit and board again in Rhodes with another passport. Oh, and by the way, I’ve got access to other passports as well, so screw you,” he said, a look of triumph in his eyes.
Snake stared at him, a bewildered look on his face. Is this guy smart or is he full of shit? His mouth fell open and he said sarcastically, “Yeah. Sure, you will. What are you? Some kinda magician or something?”
Vadim’s face was blank. “Surprised you, didn’t I asshole? You thought you was traveling with some old, washed up son-of-a-bitch.”
Snake nodded as his face registered surprise. “So, what you want to do?” For a few seconds, Snake felt positive. Maybe the old man hadn’t messed it up.
“Give me the key to our other cabin. I got stuff in there. I never moved it into the stateroom that’s under my Russian passport.”
Snake moved over to his safe. He was impressed. He’d never given the guy credit for being as smart and cunning as he obviously was. He unlocked his safe and handed the key to Vadim, “Here you go. Now take it and get the hell out of here. I’ll see you upstairs in a couple of hours.” He stopped for a moment and searched Vadim’s eyes. “We’re still on for tonight, just liked we planned.”
Vadim grabbed the key, “Hell yeah. Yeah, bozo. I’ll be there. You got a sweatshirt? I need to put something on over my shirt; I don’t want anybody to notice the blood on me.”
Snake opened his drawer and threw a sweatshirt at Vadim. He watched as the short, stocky man wrestled himself out of his suit jacket and slid the sweatshirt over his head. It was skintight and Vadim’s muscles rippled through the thick knit fabric. Snake had to admit the guy was powerful. He opened his mouth to speak, but Vadim raised his hand to object.
“No more talkin’. This’ll do. I’ll see you upstairs in a couple of hours. After that’s done, you can fill me in on what happens tomorrow.” Vadim dropped his bloodied coat on the floor in Snake’s room. He turned his head and said, “Pick the jacket up and bring it with you later. I’ll take care of it then,” he ordered.
Snake watched the stocky Russian leave his stateroom. He wondered how many other ways the Russian would screw up the job in the next few days. Snake was a loner. He liked to work alone. He’d dreaded this gig from the get-go, and now he knew why. He set his cell phone alarm for two hours and lay on his bed. It was gonna be a long voyage. He closed his eyes for a few moments and awoke at ten minutes to one in the morning.
He rose from the bed and put on his last dark colored sweatshirt with the hood. He picked up his ship charge card and left his stateroom, heading for the Promenade deck where he’d meet Vadim.