A Scary Babushka

We arrive at the top floor. We walk through a hallway that leads into a door guarded by 2 buff Russian men. One of them opened the door for us. After we walk in. I see the old lady ma'am Glavy who is already waiting for us, sitting on a couch while smoking her thin Russian cigar.

Glavy: "Hello Mike, It's good to meet you again." The old lady greeted me.

Mike: "It's good to meet you too again Ma'am."

Glavy: "I see you also brought Jack here."

Mike: "You already know this guy?"

Glavy: "Of course. How do I not know the person that helps us with our Job?"

I looked at Jack giving him the same disappointed face. He just replied to me with a 'what?' face and shrug gesture.

I and Jack were told to sit. We sit on the chair in front of Ma'am Glavy. A short, wide table separates us from her. She then orders Slav to bring the package that we deliver. Not long, the package is brought into the room by the 2 buff men who took it. One of them put the metal suitcase on the table and opened it towards Ma'am Glavy. She looked at it and then she looked at us. I can feel the sweat from my palms running down to my fingers.

She pulls out the rifle inside the metal suitcase and inspects it like a soldier. After inspecting the rifle, she takes it, walks up to one of the windows in the room that faces north, and aims the rifle towards the street down below. She looks down and sees a bunch of thugs messing with a hooker on the side of a street. She orders one of her men to give her 3 rounds from one of the ammo boxes. Her men quickly give her a magazine after he loads it with 3 rounds of Cheytac .408 cartridge. Ma'am Glavy smoothly slides that magazine into the rifle. She calmly cocks the rifle and aims it with the digital scope. She then takes a smooth deep breath and pulls the trigger, killing one of the thugs. The other 2 thugs didn't realize that they were being targeted from far away. They look around to see who shot their friend while pulling out their pistol. With a cigarette in her mouth, Miss Glavy fires the second round killing the second thug leaving only the last thug. She cocks the rifle, ejecting the empty shell, making it drop onto the floor. Kling, it sounds. Confused, the last thug quickly runs away leaving the hooker and his 2 dead friends behind. As he runs, a bullet strikes through his head making him fall to the ground. Miss Glavy cocks the rifle, ejecting the last bullet shell. She orders one of her men to take the rifle from her hand. She then sits back down on the couch and looks at us while exhaling her cigarette.

Mike: "Gulp* So, how is it?" I ask her nervously.

Glavy: "I do still prefer to use my balalaika, but I suppose my men would gladly use that rifle to help them with their job."

Mike: "That's good to hear ... "

Ma'am Glavy: "Mike, I must say that we really appreciate our business relationship with your family. It has been a long time since the first time we started doing business together. The trust that we have built over the years is something that we hold high and I'm sure you and your family would want to keep it that way don't you agree?"

Mike: "Of course."

Glavy: "Well then, since you agree with that statement. Would you mind if I ask you something?"

Mike: "Ummm, sure."

Glavy: "Say, Mike, do you know anything about the shooting in the Nirvana club that happened last night?"

Fuck ... does she knew? Miss Glavy stares at us while she waits for us to answer her question.

Mike: "Yes, I know about the shooting."

Glavy: "Do you know who did it?"

Mike: "Yes, I do know about that too. But first, Can I ask you why you need this information from us?"

Miss Glavy orders Vlad to bring something to her. Vlad goes out of the room and comes back with a sketch of a person on a piece of paper. He gives it to Miss Glavy.

Glavy: "A bunch of pigs came here and interrogated some of my men after they took them to their headquarters. They were asking them about the shooting. 2 out of 4 of them were hospitalized because they truly didn't know anything about the shooting when they were being interrogated by those pigs. They thought we're the ones who did it. They also asked my men if they recognize this person."

Miss Glavy reveals the sketch by putting it on the table in front of us. I picked up the sketch to examine it. Grey pants, black jacket, grey shirt, wait a second, that face and hair looks wack.

Mike: "Is this supposed to be me?" I asked her.

Glavy: "Yes, I apologize for one of my men's lack of artistry. It's the closest thing that he can draw from the original sketch that the police show him while he's being interrogated. Thanks to him, Vlad was able to recognize you from this sketch. I originally wanted to call your uncle directly to talk about this matter. But since you're here, I want to ask you directly on how or why we are blamed for your actions."

Ahh, fuck me.

Mike: "Look ma'am, I truly don't know why or how you and your men were being dragged into all of this. But I can tell you that we're not trying to frame or dump the blame to you and your men. There's no reason for us to do it. And I'm fully aware that it's a stupid thing to do."

Glavy: "I reckon you already figured that out." She said while putting off her cigarette on the ashtray on the table.

Mike: "I promise we will sort this problem out as soon as possible."

Glavy: "Make sure to keep that word. If you haven't settled this before I lose my patience then I'm afraid I have no choice other than to hand you to those pigs."

Mike: "Of course, Ma'am."

Ma'am Glavy opens up her palm suggesting one of her men to put something on her hand. One of them pulls out an envelope full of cash and hands it over to her.

Glavy: "Here's the rest of the payment for today's item." she put the envelope in front of me.

Glavy: "If you have anything to ask or to tell me, I suggest you tell them to Vlad." She said while she got up, one of her men quickly took her coat and put it for her.

Glavy: "And Vlad, please give these young men everything we've got. They look awful." She said before leaving me, Jack, and Vlad in the room. After she goes out of the room I put my head down and exhale a big sigh. Vlad approached me to give me a pat on my shoulder.

Vlad: "Don't worry my friend, I'm sure you can settle this problem before the chief goes kaboom on you."

Mike: "Easy for you to say that, Vlad, I wouldn't have thought this problem would turn out to be a shitstorm. But thx actually. Without you and your mates, I could be still running around like an idiot, not knowing that the police are looking for me."

Vlad: "You don't have to thank me, Mike. Why don't we go down to the bar and have some drinks?"

Mike: "C'mon Vlad, you know I'm not good with alcohol."

Vlad: "hehe, I was just hoping that you would take my offer since you looked so stressed and needed a little bit of something to relax."

Mike: "Yeah right. sigh* I need to call uncle first and tell him about this." I said while I pulled out my phone.

Vlad: "You don't have to, my friend, the Kapitan already told one of us to call him when we interrogate you. It's just one of her methods to cross-check any info that she gets."

brrt* my phone suddenly vibrates. It's Mario.

Vlad: "See? I told you." Vlad said.

I pick up the phone.

Mario: "Hello? Mike, are you still in that hotel?"

Mike: "Yes I'm still here."

Mario: "Did that lady already tell you?"

Mike: "She already did."

Mario: "You didn't try to lie to her right?"

Mike: "Of course not."

Mario: "Oh good, It would be pretty bad if you try to lie to her."

Mike: "No shit uncle."

Mario: "You better go home. I don't want you roaming around the city while the buttons are looking for you."

Mike: "Relax uncle, I'll be on my way home."

Mario: "Stay safe."

Mike: "Sure."

Klek* uncle closed the phone.

Vlad: "He told you to go home didn't he?" Vlad asked.

Mike: "Yup. Anyway, Vlad, do you know a girl named Alessa?"