Chapter Nine

 

 

I hadn’t been in my room more than two minutes when White came knocking on my door.

“What are you doing here?”

“Wow. Nice greeting.” He smiled.

“You were the one with the attitude earlier,” I was still peeved at him.

“Yeah, well, that’s when I thought you’d taken the job Colin has in store for you.” His smile turned evil.

“Okay, what is this job?”

“Dimitri has finally taken control of Gigi’s and Colin wants you to start working there right away.”

“What? The strip club?” I didn’t entirely believe him. Colin wouldn’t think I’d actually take a job as a stripper.

“Yep. That’s what he said. Do you want to refuse to take the job?”

“What the hell do you think?” I didn’t know if it was the alcohol or the thought of having to take my clothes off with everyone watching that was making me sick to my stomach.

“Are you sure? Colin said you’ve had dance lessons.” I noticed the amusement in his voice but I played along.

“What else did Colin say?”

“That’s about it,” he shrugged.

“You tell Colin…” I had my finger pointed at him like I had started to do after dinner. “No, I’ll do it myself.” I went straight to my phone and started dialing Colin.

White came over and took the phone from me, laughing. “We thought if we could get you to strip it would be a miracle so Colin’s lined up another job as a waitress instead.”

“But still, in a strip club. I’ll have guys all over me and that’s why I quit the Skylight. I mean, look at Brown’s eye. I don’t do well with uninvited touches.”

“I know, but you’ll have to suck it up. It won’t hurt you.”

I cocked my head to the side, “Really? They won’t be groping you. What about a bartender? At least I’d have the bar between me and them.”

“No, he needs you to be able to go anywhere and a bartender is stuck behind the bar most of the night. We’ve got a couple of “regulars” in place so you won’t be without backup.”

I put my hand to my forehead. “I really don’t want to do this.”

“You can refuse. I just hope you don’t. I can get extra out of Colin for a job like this, especially since he knew how you’d feel about it. You notice he left it up to me to tell you about it. Also, I doubt he’s run this one past the Admiral.” He was enjoying this way too much.

“Fine, but I expect hazard pay for this one and I mean a big bonus.”

White retrieved me early the next morning and I could tell he wasn’t feeling too well. Brown was in about the same shape so I kept my mouth shut for the flight back to the office.

We rode the elevator down to my apartment and White stepped out with me. I gave him a questioning look and he said we needed to go over the job a little more while I packed.

“Pack? For what?” I was just going to go apply for a job today.

“Yes, pack. You’ve taken on a separate identity and you have to act the part. You do know your identity, don’t you?”

“Yeah. I’m Emma Robertson. I’m from the Midwest and my parents are dead,” I rattled off.

“It’s more than that. You don’t just have to know who you are playing, you have to become her. She has a personality that doesn’t belong to you but you have to make it yours.”

“Okay, what kind of personality does she have?” I rolled my eyes.

“This is serious. Colin is putting you deep into the workings of the Russian Mafia. They’ll check you out, especially if you don’t seem to fit. You are not a Midwest girl and it shows.”

I didn’t say anything. I knew he was right and I had given it some thought. I just felt silly trying to be someone else.

“Colin didn’t give you much of a back story, other than your parents so you’ll have to create it yourself. You might not need it, but it’ll help you become Emma.”

“I have actually given it some thought. I’m thinking she’d be a little naïve, coming from a rural area to a city.” I was more inexperienced than I like to admit so this may not be that much of a stretch.

“Good start. Colin wanted to meet before we set you up in your new apartment and he should be here soon.”

I left White in my living room and went to pack some clothes. He reminded me to be sure to pack what I thought Emma would wear.

“Oh, and pack enough to make it look like it would be everything you own,” he added.

Colin arrived before I was finished and White let him in. I heard an unfamiliar voice so I stuck my head out of my bedroom.

“Emma, this is Michael Evans. He’ll get you set up in your new apartment.” Colin introduced me to the man standing next to him.

Mr. Evans was an older gentleman with graying hair at the temples. He wore a crisp suit and an equally crisp expression.

“Mr. Evans.” I walked over and shook his hand.

“Emma,” he pulled me into a hug and rubbed his hand down my back. This caught me off guard but I didn’t budge and gave him an equally affectionate hug.

“I’ve found you an apartment. Are you ready?”

“Almost. I shouldn’t be too long.” My tone was affable though he made me nervous. I wondered how closely I was going to have to work with Mr. Evans. His touchy demeanor was off putting.

I finished packing and lugged two large bags from my room. Mr. Evans took a bag from me and Colin put a cell phone into my free hand.

“Contact us only through Evans, unless it’s an emergency and you need to be pulled out. I need you to keep your eyes and ears open for anything that will help us get Dimitri and Grigori.”

“We’ll lock up,” White added as I followed Evans out the door. I hope they don’t snoop through my apartment, I thought.

Evans put my luggage into the trunk of his car but his habit of putting his hand in the small of my back bothered me. I wasn’t looking forward to being cut off from everyone and he didn’t make me feel any better with his touchy feely ways.

Once inside the car Evans said, “My number is programmed into your phone.” We pulled out of the parking garage and all was silent until we reached my new apartment.

Evans had driven me to one of the worst parts of town. The building had to be the most neglected on the block and I was appalled. At least my apartment was on the bottom floor of the rundown building. I tried to make myself feel better.

“We’ve set up an interview for this afternoon. Let’s get you unpacked and then you can catch the bus to Gigi’s. Don’t worry. You’ll be fine. My friends will look out for you. I know it’s hard being away from your hometown but you’ll be glad you moved here.” He was giving me hints of Emma’s expected personality and it sounded as if I was to play a scared little girl.

Mr. Evans helped me unpack and this made me uncomfortable as well. He found my most conservative outfit and instructed me to put it on for my interview. I did as I was told as he finished unpacking my belongings. When I came out of the bathroom he ushered me out the door so I wouldn’t be late for my interview. He was starting to make me feel inadequate and scared. Instead of taking my normal defensive stance I went with the flow.

Gigi’s was downtown, quite some distance from my new apartment, so the bus ride wasn’t a short one.

I had to walk only a block from the bus stop to get to Gigi’s front door. I walked with purpose until I was within a few feet of the establishment and my confidence dropped. Tentatively, I opened the door and stepped in. I really didn’t want to see naked women running around and figured Emma would feel the same. I kept my head down as I walked in but when I looked up I was full of angst and my hands started to sweat. I’d never been in this type of establishment before and it was harder than I’d expected.

I made my way to the bar and said I had an interview for a waitress job.

The woman behind the bar eyeballed me up and down and with a scowl she pointed me toward the back of the building. “Go to the office.”

Maneuvering through the tables and past the stage I entered a tight hallway. The walls and carpeting in the hall didn’t change from the rest of the building. The wallpaper was a velvety deep red with carpet to match. The deep red color of everything kept the light subdued and unnatural. Labeled doors broke up the walls on either side of the hall. There were dressing rooms, restrooms and one unlabeled door. I knocked on this one, hoping it was the office.

It swung open slowly to reveal a large man. His body filled the entire frame and he stood there just looking at me.

“Uh,” I stammered. “I have an interview for a waitress job?” It wasn’t hard to fall into the personality of Emma Robertson.

“Let her in,” I heard a voice come from behind the huge man. He stepped aside to allow me access and I walked in with my eyes on my feet.

“Miss?” The man asked in a strong Russian accent. I looked up and immediately recognized him as Dimitri. My stomach ached.

“Robertson.” I replied timidly.

Dimitri was clearly sizing me up.

“You would like to waitress?”

“Yes sir.”

“You can’t dance?”

“No, sir.”

“You will learn.” I screamed inside. I would not take my clothes off in public. Panic set in.

“I… uh…” my stammering was unconscious. “I’d rather wait tables, if I could.” I felt tears of dread well up into my eyes.

“I like my girls on stage to be more confident, but you will learn.” Dimitri ordered. “Here,” he walked to a closet in the back of the room and pulled out an outfit. “Put this on and I’ll see if you’ll do for a waitress until you learn to dance.”

I took the clothes from him and hurried out the door to the bathroom. I was thankful he didn’t make me change in front of them. After I’d gotten dressed I checked myself out in the mirror. I was slightly uncomfortable with the amount of skin it showed but it covered the three most important places so I walked from the bathroom back toward Dimitri’s door. I knocked, unsure if I should just walk in. The large man opened the door and I stepped through. I was made to do a slow circle in the middle of the room and finally passed inspection.

“You’ll do. You can start right away. Talk to Katryna behind the bar and she’ll get you set up.”

Other girls were starting to filter in as I walked toward the bar. One passed me in the hallway on her way to a dressing room where some quiet voices were leaking through the door.

“Mr. Prutko told me to find Katryna,” I said in a small voice when I reached the bar.

“He did hire you.” She also had a Russian accent and she didn’t try to hide any of her distaste.

Several hours into my shift I was back into the swing of things. I took note of every face in the bar but no one was familiar to me. If Colin and White had men here to watch over me I didn’t know who they were.

Dimitri stayed in his office for the rest of the evening so the only thing I accomplished was getting acquainted with the other waitresses.

At closing time I was collected, along with the other girls, to meet with Mr. Prutko. He held out his hand and the girls started handing him their tips one at a time. I looked over and some of them wore disgusted looks.

“We never had to do this before and I won’t do it now. I quit,” one of the girls objected and started for the door. The two big goons inside the room with us blocked her way until Dimitri told them to let her go. He then added that he wanted his uniform back. She stormed out, followed by one of the goons but the rest of the girls were straightening their bills and handing them over. Dimitri counted the money placed on his desk then gave some back to the waitress or dancer who’d placed it there then he moved onto the next girl. When it came my turn I handed him my tips and watched him count it. He then explained to me, because I was new, that half of my tips went to the rental of my uniform for the night. What a crock, I thought to myself but kept my mouth shut. I even managed a “Thank you,” when he gave me back some of my tips.

“Now, that’s the kind of respect I like to see. Pay attention, girls. And not even from a proper Russian upbringing,” he mused to himself.

Evans called my cell phone as I rode the bus back to my horrid apartment. He wanted to see how my first night went and I told him about the tips.

“Mr. Prutko has to pay for the uniforms somehow,” he defended him. He then went on to tell me to go straight to my apartment and he’d be by in the morning.

Evans showed up the next morning as promised and gave me a bug to plant near or in Dimitri’s office. Then he took me grocery shopping and warned me to stay inside my apartment after he left me.

Easy enough for him. I’m sure he had a computer and a T.V. where ever he was going. My two-room apartment consisted of one larger room and a bathroom. The bathroom was barely clean and the primary room only had the general kitchen appliances, a bed and a table. Not even a book in the place and I’d not thought to bring any with me.

I hopped on the bus for my second night at work. Dimitri remained in his office and I wondered if he ever came out. How was I supposed to plant a bug with him in there all the time? At the end of the evening when we were all brought into the office to share our wealth I purposely dropped some of my quarters on the floor. Thankfully, one of them rolled to the bookshelf near the wall and I was able to place the bug underneath.

I spent the rest of the week going through the same routine. I was able to recognize the regulars and had my suspicions on who was sent to watch over me. Dimitri rarely came out of his office but it didn’t really matter because I had the bug in place.

Most of the men were polite enough to their waitress because they had plenty of opportunities with the dancers, but there was an exception. He told me his name was Sal. He took an instant liking to me and refused to keep his hands to himself.

More than once I faked an unaffected smile after his hands made contact with an inappropriate part of my body. Eventually, I took a breather in the bathroom for a few minutes. I’d never been able to stand being fondled and it was taking everything I had not to break his arm. I only hoped Dimitri would make plans for the bug to hear. I wanted out before they tried to make me dance.

Evans didn’t make contact for several days and my calls went unanswered. What if I had an emergency I thought to myself. I was about to break a rule and give White a call when Evans finally called me back.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yes, I was just wondering what was going on,” I explained my previous calls.

“No changes. My men are still in place so don’t worry if you can’t reach me. If you need them, they are always close by.”

“How much longer do I have to be here?”

“I can’t answer that.” He then told me he had to go and hung up. Having no contact with White or Colin was really beginning to concern me and I was still considering contacting them.

After pacing my apartment for several minutes, I decided against it for today but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t call tomorrow.

I forced myself to go back to Gigi’s and Sal made his appearance early in the evening. He’d become a regular at my tables.

He stopped at the bar and I hoped he’d stay there, but all he did was order a round for the bar, making sure to tip Katryna heavily. He took a seat at one of my tables. He kept me from my other customers and I had to literally pry his hand from my arm so I could continue to work. Shortly after this I was called into the back office.

Katryna had gone back to complain about me. Dimitri demanded I explain to him why my customers were being neglected so I told him of Sal’s attentions. I kept my eyes on the ground as I spoke and he ordered me to look at him when I addressed him but when I did my cheek was met with a hard slap from one of his goons, knocking me to the floor. I was on my feet almost as soon as I hit the ground but remembered myself before I lashed out.

I felt blood trickling down my face but didn’t dare wipe it away.

“I’m sorry Mr. Prutko,” my voice wavered but I managed to make my anger sound like fear.

“Neither of you are to lay another hand on her.” He admonished his men. “Well, it’s a good lesson all the same,” he directed toward me. “I will speak with Katryna. Mr. Novikov is a valued customer and you’d do well to tend to all of his wants. Now go clean yourself up.”

I made my way to the bathroom, shaking from the pent up energy I had to suppress. I had a nice cut on my cheek and it was going to bruise but probably not scar. I washed away the blood and headed back to work.

Katryna wore an evil smile when I returned. I couldn’t help it, I smiled right back at her. This seemed to throw her off guard and I was hoping to see her in a dark alley sometime soon.

One of the regulars stood from his seat when he saw me but another man stopped him dead in his tracks. Now I knew who’d been watching out for me. Sal also noticed the wound on my face and asked what happened. I told him I fell because I couldn’t think of an appropriate lie, but he took it with a smile and reached up and touched my cheek gently.

“It would be a shame to damage a face like yours,” I blushed and was instantly mad at myself. I was beginning to act too much like Emma Robertson should and I was keenly afraid of losing myself in all this mess.

Sal made a habit of touching my cheek with a smile that made me uneasy. It got to the point where I was unable to wait on any other customers. However, I was never called into the back room again and Sal was very generous with his tips that I wasn’t allowed to keep.

Katryna became increasingly hostile toward me until she cornered me outside as I walked to the bus stop.

“Who do you think you are?” she accosted me.

I was in Emma mode and played the part. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Mr. Novikov is my customer and I don’t appreciate you stepping in where you don’t belong.”

“I’m sorry. He just sits at my tables, I can’t help it.”

“Well, I can. If you’re ugly, he’ll lose interest.” She threw a punch that connected with its mark. I continued to play the scared girl part with a bloody nose and fell to the ground, covering my face. Katryna started to kick me as I lay there. She kept kicking and kicking and there was no one coming to save me. When I realized this I jumped up and nailed her a good one right across her jaw. She went down and didn’t move for a few seconds but eventually staggered to her feet. I wasn’t finished with her so I gave her time to get oriented.

She stood with a renewed energy and came after me in a head-long charge. I stepped aside and could have grabbed her and finished the fight right there, but my wits returned and I knew Emma wouldn’t know most of the moves I did so I grabbed her by the hair and flipped her back to the ground. I considered kicking her while she was down but always thought that was the cheap way out so I let her get up again.

This last fall had only knocked the wind out of her and I wanted revenge for the time she’d told on me and all the other times she’d tried to get me into trouble. She screamed in frustration as she came at me again. This time I didn’t move and let her come in and knock me to the ground. She was a little bigger than me but after a couple of punches to my side I was able to flip her over and I sat on her chest with my knees on her elbows. She thrashed under me but was unable to get away. I proceeded to slap her instead of punch her. I wanted to beat her bloody, but thought I’d cause the pain without leaving the marks so she couldn’t tell other people I knew how to fight. I did throw in a couple of punches to her kidneys, just for good measure before I felt myself being lifted off of her.

“What’s going on here, girls?” I heard a man’s voice from behind me as I struggled half-heartedly. I watched another man come around to help Katryna up. They were the two men who’d been sent to keep an eye on me.

“Nothing,” she spat at them and yanked her arm away. I held my tongue but directed a vicious smile at Katryna. I couldn’t help myself, I’d enjoyed beating on her. She was lucky I wasn’t able to show her what I was really made of. Visibly taken aback by my ferocity she turned to walk away. I watched with triumph as she hobbled away, first gingerly touching her face then holding her side.

The man who’d been holding me put me down and I walked away without a word. The next few nights at work, Katryna was a bit slower than normal and I got a little satisfaction from it. Apparently she didn’t tell a soul about our run in and I was thankful for that.

A few days later, Evans made his morning visit but told me to pack things up. I did as I was told and didn’t ask questions. After he pulled into the parking garage of White and Associates he unloaded my luggage from the trunk and then sped off.

I made my way to the seventh floor office. I was so happy to be back in my world and out of Emma Robertson’s miserable life. I chatted briefly with Gabriella before I went in to see what White needed.

“Colin called this morning.” White didn’t make any effort to hide his frustration.

“And?” I asked.

“Apparently you got into a fight with one of Dimitri’s girls?”

“She attacked me so I defended myself,” I knew I hadn’t been wrong. “I even let her beat on me a little so I wouldn’t give myself away. Plus, I didn’t leave any marks on her and there were no witnesses except Colin’s men.”

“I’m sorry, Alex. I’m not upset with you. Colin said all he really needed was for you to plant the bug but kept you there in case something else came up.”

“What!” My voice went up several octaves.

“Yep. So to make it up to you he’s included a substantial bonus.”

“I can’t believe this! That bug has been in place since my second day of work. Is the bonus above and beyond what I could expect for having to work in a strip joint or did he just keep me there to justify that bonus?”

He handed me an envelope. “White and Associates is satisfied and if you want more you will have to approach Colin on your own.”

I opened the envelope and pulled out my check. It was much more than I’d expected.

“As long as we’re getting paid,” I sighed. I wanted to remain angry but the amount of the check had caught me off guard. I slid it back into the envelope. I certainly wasn’t going to complain now that I’d seen the zero’s.

“We can finally get on with our training op now. I’ve been putting it off for months so we could include you.” His aggravation had faded as he moved from his desk to a filing cabinet.

I wondered what kind of training I was up for next. Maybe I’d be learning how to blow things up.

White returned to his desk with a file and plopped it down. He reclaimed his seat and began flipping through the pages. After he found what he was looking for he passed it across the desk to me.

It was the plans for the Big Horn compound. I recognized it by the distinctive diamond shaped layout. This compound was used to train for mountain warfare, high altitude training and other related things.

“What will I be doing here?”

“We are going to do an infiltration.” He explained this type of training operation was done quite frequently. However, they’d been putting them off since I’d joined the team.

“We will discuss the operation later today in the war room. Everyone else knows their part so I wanted a private meeting with you to explain our expectations. Since this is your first mission with the whole team you should know everyone is expected to be involved in the planning.” I assumed he meant Team White.

“You and Blue will be our eyes on this mission.” He slid the rest of the folder toward me. “Decide where you’d like to set up. Also, we will be using two or three of your teams to help out with this one.”

“I didn’t get everyone interviewed,” I fretted.

“But, you did get your list done. I’ve taken the liberty of assembling the teams while you were away.”

“Oh,” I was a little disappointed. It was the paperwork I wasn’t all that thrilled with. Going to the compounds and interviewing the men wasn’t all that bad.

“I know you might have liked to do this on your own, but I needed your teams right away. They need to get their training in so they can start jobs,” he apologized.

“That’s okay,” I shrugged. “I will get to meet my men though, won’t I?”

“Of course. Eventually.” White talked more of the operation as I skimmed through the folder.

“You’ve not given me much time to go over this,” I complained.

“I know, but you’ve got to learn how to come up with a plan quickly anyway.”

“I better get started.” I rose from my chair.

“Here,” he tossed his keys at me. I almost dropped the file as I reached out to catch them. “Use C.I.C. The rest of us will be there in a few hours.”

 

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