"You didn't get anything mixed up, did you?" "No."
"Are you sure?" "Yes."
"So who's the meeting with?" "With Koschei."
"Alright, Serpent Gorynych, you better tell me who he is and why we should mess with him?"
"He's the new head of the local mafia"
"You must be the first to answer my first question." "His name is Koschey"
"Cool. Someone tell me, are there any other smart people inducted here?"
Galanzio, standing behind me raised his voice, "No one else knows the situation except the Ambassador and Cepino, sorry."
"Nothing, Jarno, it's not your fault So, Gorynych, tell me, what's his first and last name?"
"José Mortain." "A Frenchman?" "Yes."
"Have you looked at the dossier?" "No."
"Then what makes you think he's a he?" "Well Last name and first name"
"And my name is Faust, that I am a German?" "Ah, don't you think so?"
"Your next task will be a dossier." "Will do."
"Next. What does he want?" "Wants to talk"
"I realize it's not to go to the bathhouse. What does he want?" "Talk"
"Yeah, about what, your three-headed head." "About the case."
"Which one?" "Obviously important."
"Uh, how about a little more specific?" "I don't get it."
"Do you know what this is about?" "No. He just wanted to meet" "He doesn't have a cell phone?" "He doesn't trust him."
"Have you, what, already tried it?". "I don't, the boss does."
"Well, okay I'll try it too. Isn't he a 'lefty' by any chance?" "What do you mean?"
"I mean, isn't he a policeman?" "Apparently not. The source is reliable." "Which one?"
"Police Connections."
"I see. That's probably what you said, 'Isn't he a cop?'" "I don't know? I wasn't the one who asked."
"I see. His phone number?" "253-43-58"
"Where's the phone? (You can call anywhere from here, this is the Koza Nostra embassy, no one sends a letter here without authorization)"
"Over there," Galanzio pointed to a desk in the corner. I took a few steps toward it, picked up the phone, and dialed the right number. I heard a ringing bass: "Yes." "This is who you wanted to meet."
"One minute."
Came the wheeze of a man as old as they live, "This is José Mortain on the line" "The meeting's canceled."
"Why?"
"What did you want us to do?" "Talk"
"You have that opportunity now." "Can't do it over the phone." "Your Difficulties."
"But it's really serious." "Appreciate in money." "Thirty million." "Which ones?"
"Euro".
"What kind of occupation?" "Contraband."
"What do you mean, we don't do that sort of thing, it's against the law (either he really is a cop and wanted to catch me in a "clean confession over the phone" or he's a headless horseman).
"But"
I hung up the phone and called back (actually, I could, like LaSkoltza, forget the whole thing, but he had already passed it to me (but I have no one to pass it on to here), and
then they might inadvertently ask me: "Faust, and why the hell did you refuse the "easy" 15 million? And what will I answer: "The mood was bad" or something even worse.
In short, no matter how it's done, but I'm not going to be patted on the head for refusing). The hoarse one.
"Hello?"
"Meeting July 22 at four o'clock." "It's late."
"Explain."
"Can't on the phone." "Your Difficulties."
"The goods are already in place. We need protection, and you're the only ones we can trust here."
"What makes you think that?" "Your reputation"
"Our reputation is worth 50 percent." "But that's robbery, isn't it?!" "Goodbye, then"
"Wait!"
"What?"
"45%".
"We don't bargain, goodbye" "Okay, okay, come on over" "Where to?"
"You know that."
"It wouldn't hurt to refresh your memory." "Petrska ul. 7".
"He's all yours?" "Temporarily rented." "When would that suit you?" "On the hour."
"I'm doing you a favor." "Thank you"
"You do realize that if even a small part of what you said is not true, someone is going to get hurt badly."
"Yes."
I hung up the phone and decided to get some more sleep before fifteen minutes past one so I wouldn't fall asleep at an inopportune moment in the meeting. When I woke up, the brief dossier was already ready: Jose Morten was born in 1971 (you can't tell by the voice, although my husky baritone in my fifteen everyone accepted as in thirty) in the city of Kladno, near Prague, moved with his family to the capital six years later, studied medicine, but after graduation became the personal doctor of the local mafia, slowly rose through the ranks, starting to carry out torture with enemies of the organization and finally seized power in his own hands in 2002. Appearance (a nice picture was
attached, with a BMW and several eagles nearby): tall, sturdy, brunette, square-shaped face. Special data: hates Jews. Methods: thinks everything is good, so he is unpredictable. Count: according to our calculations, six murders with firearms, edged weapons, explosives, poisonous and narcotic substances, as well as electroshock (so much for "he thinks all methods are good"; a real amateur; one thing is clear he is not a plant agent).
"So," I barked, gathering six men (Galanzio, Cepino, Garibaldi, Gento, Reynato, Penzalla (the last three also bodyguards)) around me in a small hall, "gentlemen, we have an unpredictable man to deal with (it's always best to re-insure the morale of your men against shocks), so arm yourselves to the fullest, we'll go in three cars. Which ones do you have?" Replied Galanzio, "Two Skoda's and the boss's Mercedes."
"Alright, first group: me, Galanzio, Garibaldi, second: Cepino and Reynato, third: Gento and Penzalla, all will ride the Skoda."
"Nah, well, we kinda only have two of them," Cepino objected. "And Garibaldi's car."
"Ah, yes."
"So, your next assignment is to not ask stupid questions. Does everyone know where to go?"
"Yes," replied all but Garibaldi. "Where to?" I asked Cepino. "D. 7 on Petrska Street."
"You're a fast learner!!! At the moment of my speech, the mustachioed man vigorously tapped his fists, reminding me of King Kong "We leave in 13 minutes.
Under the cover of night.
0:55 July 22.
"What exactly do you want?" I asked Morten, standing ten meters ahead of the car, after the whole Skoda group, having passed the red gate of the garage d. 7 on Petrska Street, drove onto its yellow sand with clean tires. "Escort those trucks over there to d. 3 on Jeremenkova Street," he pointed to three KAMAZs, two of them with two people in each, the third with only one (obviously the second seat was for the main smuggler himself). "Let's go in three groups on different roads," I commanded.
We drove a little behind the "Russian light tank" along Petrska Street, then Truhlarska, turned off at Rybna, Hybernska, Rytirska. My cell phone rang.
"Hello."
"It's Richard." "Well, what else?"
"We have another important case"
"Hey, I need a vacation too, send someone else."
"No one else can handle it, it takes an experienced person" "There are no irreplaceable people."
"Maybe, but we haven't found anyone."
"First, tell me, what do you want?"
"Some work needs to be done in the city of Brno" "Which one?"
"Teach one guy some tricks" "Take him to the circus."
"I mean it" "Me too."
"We'll pay 500,000 thousand" "How long is this job designed for?" "5 Days"
"Don't tell me that's where I'm supposed to arrive at five o'clock tomorrow night" "No, five o'clock in the morning."
"There you go" "Yes."
"All right, it's a deal."
We were passing Spalena Street when I turned off the phone, we got onto Reslova, Rasinovo, finally we reached Podolske highway and, having passed it more than halfway, we turned onto Jeremenkova Street. "The KAMAZ stopped at the next red gate, Giuseppe a little farther on. Morten got out of the "tank", approached the gate and knocked, which made the latter open with an unknown hand. The smuggler said something, and then the barrier moved away, the KAMAZ moved inside, the Skoda too. We found ourselves in the same garage as on Petrska Street. As we went along, it became clear that the people standing in front of the KAMAZ were the buyers (three fat men in white suits) and their bodyguards (three big men in black near each of them).
The room could hold a total of six long-haul vehicles. At the end stood a couple of containers. On the sides were large crates, canisters, cylinders, and the like. There were two more men looming at the gate (one of them had opened whatever it was he was looming at in the past).