Александр Конторович - Predator - Escape from Tarkov

And there’s the man himself. Not coming alone, there’s a couple of men with shotguns behind him. His bodyguard, I guess.

Anyway, now I can go.

Gavrish sees me from a distance and gives a friendly wave. And why shouldn’t he? Judging by the way his men are behaving at the checkpoint, everything’s going pretty good for the gang.

“Greetings!” he says, offering his hand.

“A very good morning to you, too,” I answer in the same friendly manner. “A word in your ear?”

We move off to the side a little, where the bandits have set up an awning. The space is enclosed on two sides by thick walls, and protected from the street side with more sandbags. It’s cleverly built, I can’t deny it. We’re a reasonable distance from the other bandits, too, so nobody’s going to hear our chat. At a sign from the boss, the bodyguards stay back a little, making sure no one else comes near us.

I pull a bottle of brandy out of my backpack and place it on a bench which must have been brought from one of the neighbouring courtyards – there was nothing like it round here before. Seeing my offer, the boss in turn pulls out a tin of ham and a pack of hardtack, all of which was stored in a pocket on his webbing. Next to this, he places two plastic cups. So, he’s always got that lot with him, has he?

Interestingly, all the blood stains have been carefully cleaned from his webbing. There’s someone here who’ll do that, too? They really have got their housekeeping in order. The boss looks altogether a lot more serious, not like the ringleader of a bunch of smalltime crooks anymore. He’s dressed in good, almost new, fatigues. He’s got a new belt with a pistol holster, he’s got his new webbing – it makes quite an impression. He’s even neatly shaved, which is more than can be said for me. It’s the lack of water – you don’t always get the chance to wash even.

“Let’s get going then!”

We get going on the brandy, and it goes down nicely. Down a well-worn path – I’m still not completely sober from my visit to Ogryzko.

“Business first,” I say, covering my glass with my hand.

My idea was as simple as ABC.

I gave a loose retelling of the shopkeeper’s worries.

“So, you put up a few more checkpoints and you take control of the whole neighbourhood. We need peace around here! Within reason, of course. We can’t put everyone down, and nobody’s asking you to. The chief’s already given his approval. The shopkeeper will take care of your cut. We’ve talked to him, and he won’t make a fuss. We’ll sort out the fine print. You need to get on good terms with the cops, too. The ones who came here. They’re short of food, but they’ve got a shitload of ammo. They’ll give you guns, too. But that’s my job. I’ll get it sorted.”

The boss scratches his head, deep in though.

“Of course, it’d be… Hell, it sounds pretty good. If only we had a few more men, though. Another forty wouldn’t hurt.”

I don’t want to spend too long on this question of reinforcements. I could say completely the wrong thing.

“I’ll tell my people. But you don’t need just anyone, do you?”

“True enough,” agrees the bandit.

“There’s one more thing,” I say, looking around. “Soon some guys from over by the port will be paying a visit, if you know who I mean. The ones who used to deal drugs.”

Gavrish’s face darkens.

“I know the ones. Nasty guys. Low lifes, the lot of them. I was hoping…”

“That someone had already got rid of them? Sadly, no. I had a word with their boss. Quite a character. But we made a deal. He’s promised to get me something. So, I need you to keep order. As you well know, they’re not the easiest people to deal with, and our shopkeeper’s not on good terms with them. It’s probably best he knows nothing about it – I don’t want to give him an ulcer. But they do have some interesting goods.”

Here the boss falls silent for a while.

“I see. So they don’t want to get together, right?”

“I’d say it’s more like they can’t. And they’ve got different bosses. But we can carefully keep the distance between them. That guy doesn’t want much to do with the Predator either – even he doesn’t have the stomach for it. So, you see the way it is.”

After that, the conversation turned to specifics. True, it was Gavrish who did most of the talking. I just nodded and occasionally threw a phrase in here and there. To give him his due, there are certain things that Gavrish has a solid grip on. And when it comes to meets and mob summits, he knows it all. Inside out. A lot of the expressions he uses I’m hearing for the first time, so it’s best to keep my mouth shut. Maybe he’ll take my silence as a sign of intelligence. From what he said, it was clear there was no way out without a fight. We were surrounded by competing gangs. True, there was no love lost between them, which gave us a slightly bigger chance of success.

“Do you know the bosses?”

The brandy’s going down well. It’s hard to get my words out straight.

“Not all of them. Too many have come out of nowhere. Can you imagine an accountant could be laying down the law to the Merchants?”

I’m not sure quite what he means. By “Merchants” does he mean bandits? Or thieves? I read something about it somewhere.

“No,” I answer quite honestly. “I can’t imagine it.”

“See! But that’s what’s happening.”

“It’s a fucking mess,” I agree heartily.

“It’s hard to know how to do business with those guys.”

“You say who, and we’ll talk to them.”

What? We’ll talk! I’ll sort the fuckers out! Right, I think that’s enough brandy for me.

Gavrish, however, doesn’t share my optimism.

“Still, it’s risky… There’s all sorts out there.”

I take the magazine out of my pistol and show it to Gavrish.

“You see the bullets?”

“They’re blue. So what?”

I put the magazine back and nod to the bodyguards – let them know what’s coming. Gavrish turns to them and makes a calming gesture. Everything’s under control.

What should I shoot? I don’t have any directories with me. But I do have the bench. It’s a thick plank, six centimetres at least. Let’s say I put one under the corner… The effect surpassed all my expectations. It broke off part of the bench, splitting the wood every which way. Gavrish bends to the ground and digs the bullet out of the earth.

“Yup,” he says, tossing it in his hands. “You guys have some persuasive arguments.

I chuckle, and put my pistol away. Not forgetting, I should add, to put the safety catch back on.

“What can I say? We know a thing or two.”

Right, I really need to stop drinking. Soon I’ll be throwing grenades around. True, I don’t actually have any, but…

The meeting between the representatives of the two bandit gangs took place on neutral territory – in the city courthouse. It was housed in a mansion set back from the street and some distance from any other building. All approaches to it were clearly visible from the checkpoints of the two groups, which meant there was no need to fear attacks.

By a twist of fate, Gavrish knew the building very well. Inside out, you could say. Several years before, he’d been tried there and given a three-year sentence. Now, chuckling ironically, he examined the citations from various articles of law that covered the walls.

His opposite number – a deputy to the leader of the opposing group known as the Boar – was running a little late. That was probably his way of showing his disdain for the meeting.

The gang known as the Merchants, so called because the railway depot was located in their territory, was reasonably old and “distinguished”. It was led by a thief in law called Foma, who wouldn’t deign to talk directly with Gavrish, whom he considered beneath him. It had been a different matter with Kiryukha the Axe, who was also an initiated thief with all honours. His replacement, however, wasn’t even a real villain, just a common thug. That’s why they sent the Boar to the meet. At least they didn’t start shooting straight off. Besides, Gavrish wasn’t complaining. He knew he had some pretty solid arguments on his sides. Plus, he was already acquainted with the Boar, had known him quite well in the past.