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⚠️ Content Warning: This chapter contains violence and threats of violence.
Viktor has a plan, barely. Chai has jokes, plenty. But as Viktor waits in a run-down diner for a jittery informant, the noise and crowd feel like they’re pressing in. It’s just a bag of pretzels. Just a booth in a diner. Just another bad lead. But nothing about this case is simple—least of all the voice in his ear or the guilt he’s trying to swallow.
Last time on TSA
I caught sight of Lenny on the bottom landing.
“Stay back!” he barked, pulling out a switchblade. The blade clicked open, the sound sharply echoing in the stairwell.
Chapter 8
"I'm—I'm not kidding around!” Lenny said as he waved his knife through the air.
I stopped halfway down the stairs, raising my hands. “Easy, I’m not here to hurt you,” I said, as unassuming as possible.
“Then why the hell are you following me?!” His voice cracked, his grip on the knife shaky. “You’re not from here! I knew it the second you opened your mouth.”
I stayed still, keeping my voice calm. “You’re right, Lenny. I’m not—”
“You think I’m stupid? That gaudy cross hanging off your ear? What is a Russian thug doing chasing me? And how the hell do you know my nickname?”
I watched as his eyes darted to the door below. He picked up on my slight accent. Maybe he thought I was from some rival gang. His paranoia could give me some leverage for what I needed.
“I know what you did.” I replied, voice cold like I’ve said it a hundred times to perps on the street. His face tightened, like he'd taken an arrow to the gut.
Holding his gaze, I leaned into the gangster act, promising casual violence with my tone. “You're a snitch for the police—a fuckin' traitor.”
His face paled, the knife wavering in his hand.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
His grip on the knife faltered, and for a moment, I thought he might drop it. I seized the opportunity and leapt down to the landing, slamming into him. The momentum knocked him to the floor, sending the knife clattering down the stairs.
He looked up from the ground, the breath knocked out of him. He narrowed his eyes, “You need... to leave—right now. You—you don’t know what you’re messing with.”
The sound of a door creaking open above us cut through the tension. A voice called down, “Everything okay down there?”
“Yeah!” I called back, trying to sound casual. “Just dropped something.” The door closed again, and the stairwell was silent except for the sound of our breathing.
I needed Lenny for the next phase of my plan. He seemed driven by fear so I couldn't let him know I was clueless. I slipped back on the icy, metaphorical mask of a Russian gangster.
“Soooo you think you know what I'm messing with?" I crouched beside him. "I don’t think you want to get on your boss’s bad side. Do... you?”
He stared at me for a long moment, his chest rising and falling like he’d just run a marathon.
He slumped in defeat. “What do you want?”
"Just a small favor."
"Fine. But not here. You've already drawn enough attention to me."
"That wasn't so hard was it?" I said as I walked down the stairs to pick up his knife.
I pocketed the knife and compulsively touched the earring. Chai chimed in, his voice smug as always, "Way to keep it subtle."
✹✹✹
On the way to the diner, Chai grilled me. “Why’d you let Lenny go? Won’t he run or call for backup? That’s what I would do.”’
I had already thought about Lenny’s too quick agreement to meet, so I had a reply ready. “No, we’ve got too much on him. It’s not like he can tell his gang we’re blackmailing him for ratting on them. He’ll show.”
The diner was loud and crowded, dishes were clinking, and orders were shouted. The sounds made my ears ring with pain. I felt a sense of unease, probably due to the crowd.
Large gatherings of people made me feel dread. It always felt like there were twice as many people in the room. Like there were more people there than I could actually see.
I sat in the corner booth, my back to the wall. Chai lounged across from me, arms stretched across the back of the booth, as though he owned the place. His perpetual grin was equal parts irritating and oddly comforting.
His presence in my life made me question past encounters. Had he been the first ghost I’ve interacted with? I couldn’t always hear him, and I hadn’t seen him at all before he possessed me.
The noise of the diner thinned, yet a pressure lingered, squeezing in from every angle. A disconcerting thought crept in: could I sense other ghosts even if I couldn’t see them? Was this crazy mess some aspect of Chai—or… me?
“Wow, the food here looks abominable.”
I forgot what I was brooding about. I was beginning to think that Chai broke into my thoughts on purpose.
“Chai,” I muttered, “you don’t eat.”
”Ah, that's not the point.”
He waved a hand at the cracked vinyl seats and sticky table.
“It’s about vibes, Viktor. Don’t even get me started on the décor. Did they think the one faded photo of the Brooklyn Bridge was gonna class up the joint?”
I sighed and took a sip, which made me agree with him because the coffee was horrible. I wasn't going to tell him, though. Instead, I asked, “Do you ever stop talking?”
“Not when I’ve got an audience,” he said, winking. “And a captive one at that.”
I noticed a waitress walk by me and give me an odd glance. She must have heard me talking to... well... myself.
“Great.” I grumbled, “Now you’re making me look insane.”
“Wouldn’t be too far off the mark. I mean, seriously, who would willingly choose detective as a career path?”
“There are lots of great detectives.”
“Name one.”
“Sherlock Holmes.”
“You made that name up.”
“You’ve never heard of…? Never mind. It’s from a book.”
“See! No real person would choose to be a detective.”
I sighed, because at the moment, I couldn’t think of a real famous detective.
He leaned forward slightly. “But on a more important note. Whatever you’re planning with Lenny, don’t get yourself killed.”
The words hit me somewhere in the heart. I didn’t know where. Did Chai actually care, or just pretend to?
“Wasn’t planning on it,” I replied.
The bell above the door chimed, and I glanced up.
There he was, Lenny, stepping inside. His shoulders hunched as his eyes darted nervously around the diner. He spotted me and hesitated for a moment before shuffling over.
Chai leaned back in his seat, smirking. “Showtime!”
✹✹✹
Lenny slid into the booth across from me, his hands twitching as he fidgeted with the corner of a napkin. His eyes avoided mine.
“You’re late,” I said.
“Traffic. Lots of it.” he replied.
I knew it was a lie, but I didn’t say anything.
“Do you know what I need out of you?” I asked, gaze steady on him.
He swallowed. “Look, I don’t know what you think I can do.”
That was the question, wasn’t it? I had been thinking about this for a while. I’ve been chasing one lead after the other, but found nothing but dead ends.
If I were going to find this Ben kid and figure out if he was actually psychic and what the gang was using him for, I had to get closer. I needed to infiltrate the gang.
I hadn’t told Chai about this plan because he would try to talk me out of it. I probably would have let him because this had to be the dumbest idea I’ve ever had. I've never gone undercover or had training for it.
“I want in.” I said. His face hardened at that.
“You…in what?”
“I want you to get me into the gang.”
“Look man, they’re dangerous.”
I looked into his eyes and pressed further. “Your point?”
“They’ve been talking about expanding—bigger operations, more risks. The old man is warming up for something big,” he finally said, fidgeting with his long hair. “They’ll sniff you out in a split second. Your Russian accent kind of stands out, you know?”
“That’s why you’re going to vouch for me.”
Lenny blinked and then laughed, a short, bitter sound. “Yeah, right. And when they figure it out, they’ll kill us both.”
I leaned in close. “If you don’t vouch for me, you’ll be dead anyway.”
He laughed instantly this time, this one louder. “You don’t have it in you.”
I didn’t flinch. Instead, I pulled a folded piece of paper from my jacket and slid it across the table. Lenny unfolded it, his hands trembling as he read the neatly typed words.
“How the hell… How do you know this?” His voice cracked, and his eyes darted around the diner again, as if the walls might be listening.
I leaned back, keeping my expression unreadable. “I know everything, Lenny. Including what would happen if the wrong people got this information.”
He froze. “What, are you psychic too?”
That’s not an angle I would have ever thought of, but under the circumstances, I see how he might assume that. I didn’t need to be psychic when I could just call up Zoe at the station and get the dirt on him.
✧✧✧
I had called her the day before, against my better judgment.
"What now, Vik-tor?" she said as soon as she answered the phone.
"You don't even know why I'm calling. It's been a while since I've seen your beautiful face and heard your lovely voice."
"Don't try to butter me up. You're still off-duty. Besides, I'm pretty sure you aren't interested in my beautiful face."
"Okay, okay. Yes, I'm on leave, but I'm close to figuring out this case."
"What case? You're not assigned to anything. Is this about that... Chai guy who died?"
"Yes. No. Not exactly." I stammered. "It's complicated."
"It always is with you," she retorted. "I told you I wasn't going to do any more favors like this."
"I know, and I can't promise I won't ask you again. But, this is important." I barreled through before she could shoot me down. "I need info on the informant Leonard Davis. What do we have on him that keeps him under our thumb?"
"Viktor, I don't know about this. That information is sealed. If I reveal that, we could both get fired... or worse."
"I wouldn't put you in this position if I had an alternative. I suspect there's more going on here. Something's not adding up with this, and I think I was put on leave on purpose—to get me off the case."
"You—you think the Chief is involved?" she said, alarmed.
"I don't know. But I need to follow this lead and find out. Why is the station always working with informants, but we haven't cracked this gang apart yet? We should have enough on them by now."
Zoe sighed. "You know, Viktor, I've been wondering the same thing. I wasn't sure who to trust. I'm going to trust you."
She hung up. A minute later, she texted me a document.
✧✧✧
It was a good thing Lenny still didn’t know I was a cop. Since I was off duty, everyone must have thought I was out of the way.
“Lenny, I don’t need to be psychic to predict your future if you try to weasel your way out of this.”
“You’re bluffing...” he shot back, but his voice lacked conviction. “...you—you don’t know anything.”
“Do you really want to find out?” I leaned back, crossing my arms. “If you’re so confident, walk away.”
He stared at the paper, his face tight with fear. He didn’t move from his spot at the table.
“You’re playing a dangerous game.”
“Welcome to my life.”
✹✹✹
After making a plan with Lenny, we waited for him to leave. As soon as he walked out the door, I slammed my coffee down.
“What are you, some kind of badass?” Chai said. “I didn’t know you had it in you, man.”
The tough guy act crumbled. I dropped my face into my hands and leaned on the table. “No, Chai. I’m not. I didn’t have any other choice.”
“You had me, I thought you were actually going to be cool for a moment,” he said with a grin.
“I’m still a cop. I will always be a cop.” I said, simmering.
“I hear you man, sticking to your guns.”
I felt sick and annoyed. I was tired of Chai’s games. “You don’t know what it’s like to have conviction. A purpose. You just fell into gang life and pretend to be some sort of thug. But look where that got you. Now you act like you’re the fuckin’ Buddha with your thug wisdom.”
Chai’s apparition burned hot. For a moment, I thought he would turn into a crow and fly away, never to be seen again.
“That’s not cool, man.”
Right then, I wished I could turn into a crow myself.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” My head sank back to the table. “I got carried away.”
“Viktor, you have a lot to bear. You don’t have to bear it alone.“
I looked at him, and our eyes connected. We both grinned. There was only one thing I could say.
“Fucking, thug, Buddha.”
Continue to Chapter 9.
