Chapter eleven

By the time we arrived at my house it had gotten very late . My parents were waiting for us outside with looks of worry on their faces, although I doubt they were both worried about the same thing. Kazimir got out of the car first , I opened the passenger side door and got out next but we deliberately delayed Sergei's exit.

Although Kazimir believed my story he still wanted to confirm whether what I was saying about Marina was true or not. He came up with a very simple plan. The man that was sent to kidnap Sergei was acting alone and Kazimir was sure there were no spotters which meant that the Atelli probably didn't know that the kidnapping had failed. The plan was to delay Sergei's exit from the car so that we could see Marina's reaction clearly without her pretend relief at seeing me getting in the way.

When I got out of the car I could see the look of relief on dad's face the pretend relief on Marina's face. I could pinpoint the exact moment that Sergei got out of the car because just for a second her eyes widened and her mouth slackened in pure shock before she could get herself under control. She eventually returned her expression to that of relief but it was too late, Kazimir had seen it and as confirmation he looked at me and gave me a little nod. All of this happened in a few seconds , and that was all it took for dad to make it to me . He gave me a big hug then started to speak in that tone that parents use when they are worried and upset,"Oh thank God you're OK. I was so worried , you are never this late without calling first or arranging it beforehand. You better have a good explanation young lady and why is the window of the car broken?"

"Don't freakout dad but we sort of got attacked by somebody, but Kazimir handled it so it's OK."

"What ? You were attacked? By who? Does this have something to do with Sergei's father? I told you not associate yourself with him, but you never listen to me! You aren't romantically involved are you?"

"First of all, ewwwww( Sergei in the back ground:"Hey! I'm not that gross!"). Second of all he is standing right there and can hear you so please watch what you are saying.( Sergei in the back ground:"Why don't you take your own advice!"). He is my best friend dad, how could you ask me to abandon my one true friend because of his father?"

Marina stepped into the conversation," She is right honey, you can't dictate who she can be friends with. Now can you please tell me exactly what happened? You are being very vague about what occurred."

"It really was nothing , a man attacked Sergei then Kazimir shot him through the window. He was in a hurry to save Sergei so he had to shoot through the glass of the window. The man died and after talking to the police we came straight home."

Her eyes bulged in shock again, "The man is dead? Are you sure? Where did Kazimir shoot him?"

Her questions were getting so weird that even dad was looking at her strangely. I'm sure that if there was any doubt left in Kazimir's mind it was gone now. She finally played it off as being concerned and wanting to know the details of the situation.

After we told them our heavily doctored version of the story and dad calmed down, he thanked Kazimir and we all sat down and ate our dinner.

That night I was in my bed asleep when a light knock woke me up. I wore my silk robe and fluffy pink slippers and went to check who it was. When I opened the door Kazimir was there holding a flashlight along with Sergei who looked as tired as me in his hello kitty pajamas. I was going to speak when Kazimir put his finger to his mouth signalling for silence, he then motioned me to follow him and started going down the hallway. Both Sergei and I followed him although we were so tired we probably resembled zombies. He led us through a side door and into the garden. When we got outside I started having a whispered conversation with Sergei,

"Hey, do you know what this is all about? By the way I like your PJs."

"I have no idea, and very funny with the PJs. Now give me back my black satin pajamas, that stuff was expensive."

"Oh but you look so cute with a cartoon kitten on your butt."

While we were talking Kazimir had led us to the corner of the large garden hidden in the bushes where I have never noticed it before was an old shed. He led us inside the old shed were there were some garden tools and a lawn mower. Then he started to speak while rummaging through a drawer," This house was built on the land of an older house that was condemned and demolished fifteen years ago. Andrei bought this particular house because I told him to, but what he didn't know was that the older house was heavily remodeled during the soviet era. A very rich but paranoid man named Boris Petrovic used to live here and during the heights of the cold war he was terrified of a nuclear attack so he built a secret bunker. When the old house was knocked down they never found the bunker, they just built the new house and forgot the bunker even existed," he seemed to have finally found what he was looking for because there was a click and a part of the floor fell away.

"Welcome to Petrovic's bunker."