bad editing on my part, second half of the chapter is different!
Dawn crept late and grey over Moscow, Vy stood in the kitchen looking over the frozen canal. Looking behind him Yassen put some boxers on and made sure that Alex was truly still asleep before going into the kitchen and closing the door behind him. Vy turned slightly and looked him over.
"You look a lot better."
"Did you sleep?"
"You were too out of it to notice."
"Is there anything to eat? I'm starving." Yassen stretched, muscles shivering under his skin and yawned.
"Bacon, sausages, bread in the cupboard and tomato sauce in the fridge."
Yassen smiled and drew him into a hug one arm around his waist the other rubbing between his shoulder blades. He breathed into his hair squeezing him tight. Vy's hands were awkward against his bare skin still warm from bed but he returned it, lightly resting his hands on his back till he let him go.
"How is he?"
"A bit of a wreck…" Yassen put a pan on the stove and stabbed the packaging on the bacon and then sausages with a knife.
"In more ways than one." Vy finished. "Have you thought about what you're going to do with him?"
"Do with him?" Yassen raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Where's he going to go?"
Yassen put the sausages and bacon in the pan and turned to Vy. "He's staying with me."
"You aren't serious."
Again an eyebrow as the meat begins to sizzle behind him. "Perfectly serious."
"You're going to take him on Jobs?"
"No. I have enough money… I'm going to give it up."
Vy just stared at him. "Give it up?"
"Yes. What did you think I was going to do?"
"I thought.. I thought you were going to get him somewhere safe…"
"And visit him like a mistress?" Yassen looked amused at the thought and then laughed out loud. "He'd probably murder me for that."
"So you're going to live together?"
"I certainly hope so…" Yassen's eyes went distant for a moment and then he smiled and turned back to the pan turning the bacon and reaching for the kettle.
Vy sat down at the table. "Where?"
"I don't know, there's obviously some things that need sorting out first…"
"Have you asked him what he wants."
Yassen faced him. "You think he may not want to?"
"He will never have a normal life with you, you'll never be able to be openly together. You may even have to pretend to be his father if you go into hiding. Of course the criminal world knows differently… MI6 i'm not sure about yet but all the major underworld figures are definitely aware that your… together. A death throe of Scorpia…"
Yassen scratched his head. "Just how much danger are we in?"
"You'd be in less if you separated…"
The assassin just shook his head.
"Well anyone fixated on revenge. On you or him… He's got nearly as many enemies as you." Vy's phone rang. "It's Wilson…"
"Take it…"
"Wilson?"
"Hello, are you in Moscow still?"
"Yes."
"So am I. I'd like to talk to you about something."
"So speak, it's a secure line."
"In person. Can I meet you?"
"I suppose. Where?"
"I'm at that flat by the red square."
Vy hung up and swore. "He's here… Fuck."
He hurried to the front door just as Wilson put his key in the door. He opened it and grabbed his coat in one hand and almost manhandled the man back through the door closing it behind him.
"Let's go. I need some coffee."
Yassen woke Alex with a gentle shake and a cup of tea. He went to stretch and then gasped in pain and moaned.
"I hurt everywhere." Then after he'd taken a gulp of tea he sniffed. "Is that bacon?"
"and sausages."
He smiled a little and put down the tea on the bedside table before pulling Yassen down for a kiss. The assassin smiled into it and ran his hand lightly over Alex's shoulder before pulling away.
"They'll burn…" He went back into the kitchen.
Alex swung his legs over the side of the bed with difficulty and stood following Yassen at a considerably slower pace with a long stop by the chest of drawers to negotiate putting a tee-shirt and boxers on.
"Where's…" Alex remembered not to say his name in case he was around. "Lemur?"
"Vy's with Wilson, he works for him." Yassen put a bacon and sausage sandwich in front of him.
"That looks amazing." Alex picked it up and took a huge bite out of it, then said nothing till he'd finished it and licked the fat from his fingers. Then he looked up and felt his heart almost stop; he'd expected to see Jack.
He sat staring at the plate for a moment before mumbling. "This doesn't feel real."
Yassen bit the inside of his lip and was just about to reach for his hand when Alex got up and took both their plates to the sink running the water. He watched him for a second and then joined him picking up the tea-towel and drying the dishes and cutlery he handed him.
Alex rinsed his hands under the tap for a long time before turning it off. Yassen took his wet hands in the tea-towel and dried them for him moving the cloth gently over his fingers and palms and then even more softly over the healing cuts on his knuckles and wrists. Alex gripped his hands when he went to put it aside and leant his head against his chest.
Yassen squeezed his hands gently and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. After a few moments he let go of his hands and wrapped his arms around him. Now was not the time to ask him what he wanted to do; he was shook to pieces. That could wait.
Vy surreptitiously checked the gun in the back of his trousers as he sat down opposite Wilson in the café taking a sip of his espresso and focusing on the American in front of him. If he even was American. He waited for him to speak.
"I met an old friend of mine last night, he's a member of the Russian mob."
"And?"
"And he told me that the mob, the triads and the Yakuza are attempting to… liase to all their advantage on a particular endeavour."
Wilson was nervous, his adam's apple bobbed as he took a swallow of his coffee.
"It must be a big operation."
"It is. They want to assassinate Putin and use the resulting Chaos to achieve something."
"Who are they using for the hit?"
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. They want to use Gregorovich."
"Really?" Vy said impassively.
"Only, after the recent developments with Scorpia they aren't sure how to contact him. You could say that he has very many people on the back foot. Him and the boy."
"I assume they're offering a very large sum of money."
"Yes, but I wondered if…" He took another swallow of coffee. "If you might speak to him about another price, money of course but also some form of protection. If the rumours are to be believed then he and the boy are… involved. That would set most of the world against them."
"True enough, but why tell me?"
"I was under the impression that you were friendly with him."
Vyacheslav's throat went tight and his heart began to race. He'd always sought to distance himself in public view from Yassen, an attempt to hide the last link remaining between the shadowy man he was now and his past. The thought of anyone finding out what had happened to him when he was young made him feel sick, a rising sensation of powerless left him speechless for a moment before he pushed it back down. He couldn't trust Wilson with the knowledge that he and Yassen were friends, no one was trustworthy enough to know that except Alex who hadn't the resources to do any digging.
He'd probably have to kill him.
"I informed my friend that seeing as your network was probably the best in the world you may be able to find him and approach him with the proposition. You might want to do it through a third person of course to avoid making any public link between yourself and Gregorovich."
"Of course." He agreed. "Did he give you any idea about when he might contact me?"
"Within the next few days." Wilson finished his coffee and stared at the table for a second before looking up at him and simply saying. "I've known for nearly a year, there's no need to have me thrown in the nearest canal - I have no intention of delving into your past."
"Why not?"
"As I said earlier, the boy and Gregorovich together has many people on the back foot. The alliance of the boy, Gregorovich and you makes me uneasy at the very least about doing something to piss you off." He stood and put some money on the table. "But I've stuck my neck out anyway and now I'm just hoping that I'm useful enough to you that you won't immediately cut my head off."
