TS 2 Part VI Chapter 17

Chapter 17

April 25^th, 2012

Moscow

The piercing howls from his son, woke Guntram up and he looked around disoriented for a brief moment. He was not in Siberia any longer and nothing had been a dream as he had feared it would be. He bit his lips to prevent the laughter from escaping once more as the shrieking sounds of a furious baby, returned him to reality.

“I'm coming Con...” he said and realised that there was no need to call his son by his false name any longer. “Right away, Konrad,” he said for the first time his name out loud, feeling an exhilarating happiness in his heart. He winced a bit at the pain in his back, stiff from sleeping on a chair, but dashed to the bedroom where his child was crying at top of his lungs. He picked him up and squeezed him against his chest and caressed the soft head to calm him down. “I'm sorry, Konrad. Papa was asleep. I'll get you something to eat very soon,” he said, feeling very guilty because his child was hungry once more and this time was entirely his fault.

“Dada!” Konrad shouted, glad to see him, his earlier malaise completely forgotten at the sight of his father. He smiled broadly and buried his head on Guntram's shoulder.

“You're too good to me,” Guntram whispered, still feeling guilty, no matter if the child was not upset at all. “First, you need fresh clothes. These are very dirty.”

Calculating that his son good moods would not survive a bath, Guntram decided to only clean him and change his nappies before dressing him with new clothes. With practised ease, he laid a towel over the bed and put his child on top of it, using his left hand to prevent him from rolling over it, as he loved to do. In less than a minute, he undressed and cleaned his son, getting him dressed with the beige corduroy trousers, shirt and red sweatshirt that he had found in one of the bags. The soft leather shoes included fitted him very well and Konrad seemed to be happy with the clean and warm clothes.

TS 2 Part VI Chapter 16

Chapter 16

April 14^th, 2012

Moscow,

Guntram followed his companion meekly across the train platform, still too afraid to do anything against him. Although the man had been kind to him, buying two glasses of food for Konrad and offering to get extra diapers, Guntram knew better than trusting men. He wondered when he would ask him to do “a special favour” or would turn him back to Constantin where he would be punished for trying to run away.

As the train continued his journey, he became more and more restless, thinking that the Russian would kill his child in a horrible way to punish him.

Ramazov studied at the man-boy sitting across the small compartment and sighed. 'No doubt he was really tamed the hard way. He must be thinking this is a set up. Poor creature, a bullet in his brain would be an act of mercy.'

“I have two daughters myself,” Ramazov said and took his wallet out, noticing how stiff the boy's back went at the simple gesture. With ample and slow moves, he opened it and showed Guntram the photo of two girls. “Natalya and Lara. They are twins and look like their mother. Good for them.”

Guntram said nothing at all and briefly peered at the photos, returning his attention to his now deeply asleep son. He rearranged the child over his shoulder and leaned against his seat, fighting against the tiredness and the mixed feelings battling inside him. Was it true? Was that man really taking him back to Konrad's? Was he going to see his boys? Would they remember him?

Would Konrad want to see him? After all, he had broken up with him in the worst possible way. 'I have to thank that to 'daddy dear'. We should marry him with Konrad's mother and send them on a cruise to the Easter Island. They are perfect for each other. How could I believe him? Why didn't I trust Goran's judgement? He sounded so sincere and concerned about me! And here I am, the toy of a mobster by daddy's courtesy,' he thought bitterly. 'A ten roubles whore. I'm not even clever enough as he is to get a fantastic price for what is worthless.'

Keeping Lýkos Out of Trouble

Chapter 6

The five black cars stood at the entrance that early morning and Julian suppressed a sigh as big cars meant “big shots” were visiting Koiranos and most probably the man would be cranky in the afternoon instead of charming and talkative about his own study subjects.

“Assholes on parade,” he whipered to Lýkos and the wolfdog rose his ears, indicating he agreed with Julian's evaluation.

“Let's go to pick up those magazines and use the long way. It's not too cold today. We'll be back at noon and eat something good.” A vigorous shook of the tail showed Julian that Lýkos was happy with the plan.

Slowly the big dog left the boy's bedroom and walked towards the living room. “No, not that way. Kitchen today,” Julian said and tried to grab Lýkos by the choke collar, but he was faster and sprinted towards the end of the corridor, pushing the door open with one single push of his powerful paws.

The low and loud growl Julian heard coming from the living room could mean nothing good for his job or the person on the other end of Lýkos wrath.

Encounters

Bookstore El Ateneo-Grand Splendid, where
Guntram used to work.

Encounters

October 28^th, 2000

Buenos Aires

The closing of a thick folder with a dry thud was, in general, a very bad omen for all of Constantin Repin's men. “Boss, maybe there's something in the next file,” his henchman, Ivan Oblomov, spoke in a conciliatory tone.

“Number 72 or 73?” Constantin asked in that acrid tone that forewarned of nothing good for his people. “This is a pathetic waste of my time!”

“Boss, it isn't that bad. You’ve only seen a few photos,” Ivan said lamely. “I helped with the other folders too.”

“It's the least you can do, ‘Mr. Romanov’,” Constantin barked.

“Ouch! Boss, you can't still be cross about that! It's for the best! Imagine if you had to deal with all these vulgar fellows.”

“Am I your secretary? Your secretary?” Constantin hissed incensed.

“I said ‘personal assistant’, boss. That’s better than ‘secretary’.”

“Ivan Ivanovich, you do like to play with fire.”