The Spy Who Came for Christmas Read Free Page A

the paper bags along the street, deepening the shadows, providing cover. Almost perfect, he thought.
    Music drifted from an art gallery, carolers singing, "Oh, little town of Bethlehem."
    Again, Andrei heard the accented voice coming from the earbud under his watchman's cap. The Pakhan's angry tone was loud enough to hurt Andrei's eardrums. "We need to assume Pyotyr's a mole."
    Pyotyr, Andrei thought bitterly. Of course, given what had happened, that surely wasn't the target's real name.
    It was a measure of the Pakhan's anger that he'd stopped speaking in euphemisms. "The son of a bliatz probably belongs to law enforcement or American intelligence. But after everything we made him do to prove himself, I don't understand why he waited until now to make his move. Why this assignment?"
    Maybe there were other times, Andrei thought. He recalled the failed missions and suddenly wondered if Pyotyr had been responsible for them.
    The voice raged, "At least you found his cell phone. If help hasn't reached him by now, he probably doesn't have a way to send for it."
    Yes, you're on your own, my friend, Andrei thought. Ten more steps and I've got you.
    "This is your fault," the Pakhan's voice roared. "Make it right!"
    Andrei thought back to when Pyotyr had arrived in Brighton Beach ten months earlier. Able to speak only Russian, the newcomer had kept to himself, earning money no one knew how. Always distrustful of outsiders, Andrei had followed him one night and watched as Pyotyr had used a
    pistol to rob a liquor store in the Bronx, beating a customer who resisted.
    The next night, Andrei had seen him mug two drunks outside a bar in Queens. The night after that, he'd watched Pyotyr hold up an all-night convenience store in Brooklyn and pistol-whip a clerk so hard that blood spattered the window. Reporting this information to his Pakhan, Andrei had been ordered to warn the newcomer that he couldn't do any job without permission and that the Pakhan wanted a percentage.
    Pyotyr had been furious, demanding to meet this all- powerful man who told everyone what to do.
    "I worked away from the neighborhood. It's none of his business."
    "It will be if the police follow you here."
    "I don't make mistakes."
    "Nice to meet someone who's perfect."
    "Listen to me. I got along all my life on my own. I don't take orders from anybody."
    "In that case, the Pakhan told me to kill you," Andrei said matter- of-factly.
    "You can try."
    "Very amusing."
    "I mean it. Try. I won't let that yebanat give me orders."
    "That's what I said when I first came to Brighton Beach. But I didn't have identity papers, and you don't, either-. If I wanted to stay in the United States, I needed the Pakhan to help me, and that meant I needed to go along with whatever the Pakhan told me to do."
    "There are other Russian communities where I can hide."
    'And where other Pakhans enforce the same rules. You're willing to stand up to me. That's rare. So I'll give you some valuable advice-- it's easier to do what he says than to force me to kill you. Save me the trouble. Take the jobs he hands out. You'll earn more than you do holding up liquor stores."
    "Even after I pay him his cut?"
    "Once he takes his cut and shows who's boss, he's generous enough to buy loyalty. Why else do you think I work for him? I don't like him any more than you do."
    The Pakhan had tested Pyotyr on small jobs and found his ferocity to be so impressive that he'd begun pairing Andrei and Pyotyr on major assignments. For the past six months, the two had spent long hours in vehicles and alleys, had shared motel rooms, and had eaten more breakfasts together than Andrei had ever eaten with his wife. There was something about Pyotyr that impressed Andrei, perhaps because the younger man's determination and stubbornness reminded him of what he had been like at an earlier time.
    In Colombia, if not for you, Pyotyr, that drug lord would have killed me.
    What the hell happened tonight? Nobody turns against us.