The Marriage Paradox by Noelle Greene

Author:Noelle Greene [Greene, Noelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Noelle Greene

Chapter 14

The tall Russian hadn’t said much. They’d been driving since the pre-dawn and it was now mid-afternoon. Every time Markus asked him questions, Alexei Pushkin cranked up the electronica he favored, so loud the beats reverberated against Markus’s bones. The assassin had put him up front instead of on the van floor. However, he’d kept Markus restrained and triple belted, except for two awkward stops to take a leak.

Pushkin now drove through the hellish traffic of a mid-size Chinese city. Towering high-rises filled the horizon. The buildings cast long shadows, blocking out what little sunlight penetrated the hazy brown atmosphere. People on the street wore white masks over their mouths as they went about their business.

“Are you ever going to tell me where we’re going, Pushkin?”

“You’ll see soon enough.”

“Who’s paying you?” Markus asked again. He had asked this several times over the course of the day. So far, Pushkin had ignored him.

This time the Russian surprised him by lowering the music volume. “Pang.”

“He paid you to take me off that train yesterday?”

“No, we did that on Turgenev’s dime,” Pushkin said in his bland, unaccented English. “You’ve been on Turgenev’s most wanted list for years, longer than anyone. You hold the survival record. But once Pang got wind of our plan, he made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

“Just you?” Markus said.

“Just me. Yuri would have followed Turgenev’s orders and finished you off last night.”

“So, you shot Yuri before he could shoot me. How much was your partner’s life worth?”

“To me? Very little. He was an animal.” Despite the Slavic cheekbones, when he spoke, Pushkin could easily pass for a Californian. His elaborate shrug, however, was all Russian. “The world is a better place without Yuri.”

Since Markus had seen Yuri’s toothy smile after he’d murdered Markus’s friends, he would be the last to disagree.

“Why were you in Macau? How did you know I’d be there?”

“Running into you was just, what’s the word in English? Serendipity. Once Yuri reported to Turgenev that we’d seen you, you were added to our to-do list.”

“You knew which train I was on.”

Pushkin waved dismissively. “Easy stuff.”

“Why were you in Macau?”

“Just business. A routine delivery. Ten million in cash to Mahoney.”

“In exchange for?”

“Mahoney buys real estate for my employer—ex-employer.”

“The usual arrangement?” Markus said. “Mahoney’s shell company pays cash, then turns around and takes out a mortgage on the properties. The bank loans provide clean money which goes back to the oligarch. Everyone’s happy.”

“Not that happy. Mahoney is a greedy motherfucker. He’s not going to last much longer if he keeps demanding bigger cuts. There’s a new deal in the works and he just changed the terms again. Turgenev is pissed off.”

They entered a residential neighborhood. The Russian stopped in front of a grimy apartment building and checked his phone.

“Are we getting out?” Markus asked.

“You are,” Pushkin said. “When they arrive.”

“Who is ‘they’?”

“How should I know? I’m just following orders. By the way, your phone is secure in your bag.”

“Thoughtful of you.”

“A professional courtesy. I am keeping your knife.

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