A/N: I love all of you and your continuing support for this story. It sometimes only takes one single person to drag you down despite of having 20 who lift you up! So thank you for that... I love you!

After I had finished my story Oksana sat opposite of me for a while, quiet. Then she got up and got what I assumed was Vodka.

"You know, I always figured you were running. But I thought it was from a guy or an abusive relationship. This… I didn't expect," she said between sips. "Give me the name and I'll see what I can find out. I can't make a promise, since it is sometimes hard getting anything out of these guys, but one or two still owe me a favor and I'll see what I can get. Give me a day and I see what I can find out…"

And then I was dismissed to go, do my job. During my story Oksana looked several times shocked or surprised, but I guess it wasn't every day you hear someone tell you the story of running away, being a fugitive and supposedly a killer, just to find out the dead person was less than dead. As a matter of fact, I actually think this would make an awesome book. It had Hollywood written all over it.

While doing my job I was trying to keep my hopes low. For all I knew Oksana could find out that Joyce was indeed witness to a crime and was running away. Just because I had seen her didn't mean she automatically committed a crime herself.

It didn't even take Oksana a day to find out what I needed. By the time I was done for the day, Oksana had everything I needed. And much more.

"She was in debt," Oksana started. "Gambling, loans, the likes. Run up quite a tab. That's why the family had an interest in her. She didn't witness a crime or the likes, she simply owed them money."

"How much money?" I asked, knowing it technically wouldn't make a difference.

"About two million…She took out quite a large loan right before she was found dead."

I let out a whistle. That was quite a sum indeed.

And all of a sudden I had an idea. Sort of. "I… need a contact," I said to Oksana, who looked at me a moment later as if I had lost my mind.

"Adrianna…. I mean, Stephanie – sorry, this will take time getting used to…. the… the Russian mob isn't something you can just call up. And …why anyway?"

"If she owes them that amount of cash I assume they want her back in a way. To make sure their money comes back as well. So… I assume they would be interested to speak to someone who can do just that."

"You do realize if you tell them she is still very much alive that they don't need you. They can track her down somehow if they just know she is alive," Oksana argued and she had a point. But I had depended on luck and hope throughout my life. Why abandon both now if they had worked so great in my favor often enough before?

"Well…." I started. "I can do it quicker, seeing that I already know where she is." Yes, not my strongest argument but …well, the best I could come up with right now.

There was silence for a moment, Oksana looking like she was weighting her options. "Let's say… I get you a number… what will happen then?"

"I guess we'd come to some sort of agreement and I would get Joyce to Trenton with me," I said, admitting that I hadn't thought this far really.

"Why not get them to come here and get her?"

"Well… she almost had me sent to prison for something I didn't do. I want her to make a very public appearance in order to prove my innocence. I need to make sure that before she is given to the Russians, everyone knows she is still very much among us. I also need to make sure no harm comes to her. I'm not proving my innocence just to have the people she ran away from do god knows what to her moments later."

"Stepha-," Oksana started, and it surly didn't sound like here's the number.

"Look, I know what I'm doing," I said. And truth be told I didn't. Of course you don't just call guys like this up for chitchat and throw a bone their way but I was running out of options and out of time. In a few days Joyce would be gone probably forever and I needed to make sure that didn't happen.

Oksana let out a sigh, realizing I had my mind set. "I…I'll see what I can do. I'm not promising anything. It sometimes is tricky to get the right people and you can't just ask anyone to get in touch with someone higher up without looking suspicious…"

I just nodded, deciding I needed to get home and come up with a plan. No matter how this would play out, I needed to be prepared for it. I needed to find a way to keep Joyce around, to get her to Trenton and also I definitely needed to peptalk me into the possibility that I'd be speaking to the Russian mob. I remembered Connie once comparing La familia to a pack of wild animals. "Showing any sort of fear makes you easy bait. Don't ever show fear"

I can't remember why she was telling me this initially and I also don't know whether the same could be said about the Russian side of the family but it was worth a try.

A day later I had a plan – sort of. It all though depended on what Oksana could do for me. That was the influencing factor. If she wasn't able to get me a contact I wouldn't need a plan other than staying hidden. I knew I put a lot of faith into one single person, but what were my options? Calling Connie and see if she had a way of getting in touch with Russians? That would probably end with someone telling Ranger and then he'd be after me again and maybe even find me depending on how determined he was. Calling Ranger right away was for obvious reasons no option any more. He had enough reasons to not only speak to me any longer but also come after me.

I had lost enough people who I thought were friends and trusted in me during this ordeal. Knowing Ranger could be one of them as well broke my heart already without knowing for sure. Getting confirmation would probably just do me in.

By the end of the day Oksana handed me a number – under the condition that she'd initiate contact and wanted to be around during the call. I nodded, assuming having a Russian speaker was certainly not the worst of ideas.

I had purchased another burner phone. If this went wrong they at least wouldn't know where we were. They could still look for Joyce but at least Oksana would be safe. And me probably as well. We decided to not give names and if they insisted, we'd use fake ones. With a few clicks I had our number blocked from being shown and hoped this was all it took.

"Da?" was the first thing I heard when the call was answered after two rings. Oksana started right away in rapid Russian and I was thinking it sounded as if they would kill each other any minute. They talked for a few moments before I heard a click and then someone else coming on. Oksana switched to English and introduced me into the conversation. And that was it. Show no fear, Plum. No fear.

"Your friend says you have something I might be interested in," I heard a man say with a heavy Russian accent.

"Yes. I… I believe you are looking for someone," I said at which I heard the man laugh.

"I am a man with quite a few business ventures and look for all sort of people."

"Joyce Barnhardt being one of them?"

There was silence on the other end of the line and I wasn't sure whether that was a good or bad sign.

"What about her?"

"What if I could retrieve her for you?" I asked innocently at which the man on the other end laughed again. I somehow had expected this whole conversation to be a lot more scary and threatening.

"My dear… unless you are able to resurrect the dead I don't think that's possible. She is dead…"

"Are you sure?" I asked incredulous. "I could have sworn I walked into her the other day…"

More silence.

"Who are you?"

"Someone you share a mutual interest with in Joyce Barnhardt."

"I want to know who I speak to and you tell me where you are!"

Ok, maybe now the conversation started to become slightly scary. I was wondering whether we'd also move into threatening soon. I hoped not.

"I can't. What I can do however is promise you to get Ms Barnhardt to you. Quickly. Without much fuss."

More silence.

"Why should I care? I can find her now that I know she is not dead. Will be a couple of weeks…"

"I'm…. um…. assuming you are a busy man with a lot on your plate. Sure, in a few weeks you have her by yourself, but I have her with you in three days. Saves you time and manpower. And you can concentrate on more pressing business…"

Silence again. Apparently they weren't much into talking.

"What do you get out of this?" he asked and it was a fair question. One with a bit of a tricky answer that could make this all go very, very wrong. My initial response would have been freedom but I obviously couldn't say this without giving too much away in regards of I was. So I went with my second answer which might turn this from scary to threatening in a few seconds.

"A finder's fee for my troubles," I said and yes, I had officially lost my mind. Here I was in an office in California trying to make a deal with the Russian mob. Oksana looked shocked and like she was passing out soon, not believing she had just heard me say that. I guess only few people get to make deals with these people and live to tell the tale. It was hard to explain where my confidence came from but some part of it was to be blamed on the fact that I had very little to lose. I was already on the run, living a life that was nice but was lacking substance and stability and truth. I was always watching my back for someone who might discover me. I was running from a jail sentence – now I might as well add the Russians to the mix if this went sour.

"How much?"

I took a silent breath. "Five percent of what she owes you." Oksana's eyes were as wide as saucers by now and she held on to the desk for support. She actually looked like she was about to pass out. And that said something when one considered she used to be married to one of these guys.

Hours seemed to tick by until I heard the man speak again. In contrast to before he wasn't laughing any more.

"That is quite a finder's fee."

"It was quite some trouble," I countered. More silence which was slowly eating at my calamity. If this went on any longer I was close to a nervous breakdown. I kept hearing Connie's voice saying show no fear over and over again.

After more minutes of silence ticked by he finally spoke. "Ok. Five percent of what she owes us."

"Is that a promise?" I asked, remembering another thing Connie said to me once. There was silence again – not a good sign. But eventually I heard him say "Da, it is a promise."

"Good." I rattled of an address where he would meet me in three days and hung up, my hands shacking.

"Did you just bargain with the Russian mob?" Oksana asked incredulous.

I nodded, not believing this had worked. I needed something to drink to come down for this before I made my next call and started my plan.

"Unbelievable. I…. I knew gangbangers who have less balls then you do, Stephanie Plum," she said almost admiringly after a moment.

I called Shorty about half an hour after I had hung up with the Russians. Shorty was a sleazy car salesman and a living stereotype for his profession. He also was the go to man when you needed a good deal on a semi-decent car in the area. I figured pretty quickly that there weren't many ways to get Joyce back to Trenton. Flying was out of the question since I wasn't sure how you'd get that done without much drama and attention of others. Busses and trains posed a similar problem and took forever. With a car I at least could somewhat restrain her and make sure she was staying put. Of course you could always be stopped on route, but I figured I'd try something along the lines of citizen arrest. If I stuck to cheap and sleazy motels for the two stops I planned and bought food beforehand so we didn't need to stop at restaurants on route this could actually work.

Joyce Barnhardt and Stephanie Plum were going on a cross-country road trip!