Page 9 of Blood & Snow

"Nadya." Her voice barely qualifies as a whisper.

"Nadya Korshin."

Her eyes flick down to where my previous cleaner lies in a puddle of his own blood, then back up to my face.

"Well, Nadya Korshin, you answered an advertisement for cleaning services. Congratulations."

I gesture toward the blood covering the apartment floor.

"This is your first assignment."

She looks from the corpse to the gun to my face, then toward the door while the phone still trembles in her hand.

The mathematics don't favor escape, and she's smart enough to recognize that reality.

"I don't understand," she says.

Now she's backing away, eyes wide like a little animal scared of a predator.

"Understanding isn't required. Compliance is."

I reach into my coat pocket and remove a pair of latex gloves, tossing them at her feet.

"Put those on and get to work."

"I can't."

Her hands shake as she speaks.

"I need to call the police. Someone's been murdered."

"Someone has been eliminated for threatening my organization. The police won't be investigating because this apartment doesn't officially exist and neither does the man who died in it. The building has been condemned."

I move closer, letting her see the complete absence of mercy in my eyes.

"You have two choices. Clean this mess thoroughly, or join him on the floor."

Fear transforms her face into something pale and fragile.

She bends down to retrieve the gloves, and it appears that she may collapse at any second.

Good.

Terror makes people cooperative.

"There are cleaning supplies in the kitchen," I tell her.

"Industrial bleach, scrub brushes, garbage bags. Everything you need to make this room look like nothing happened here."

Nadya pulls on the gloves and walks toward the kitchen on wobbling legs.

I follow at a distance, watching her examine the supplies I arranged earlier. Professional-grade chemicals that will eliminate every trace of blood and tissue from the floors.

"How long do I have?" she asks without looking at me.

"As long as it takes to do the job properly. Rushing leads to mistakes. Mistakes leave evidence. Evidence brings investigations that complicate my business arrangements."

She returns to the living room carrying a bucket of hot water mixed with bleach.