Tiger by William Richter

angry, as far as Tiger could tell, but there was nothing particularly human in his eyes, either—only curiosity, as if Tiger were a puzzle he needed to solve. Divine pointed to the set of aviation headphones that hung beside Tiger—he slid them on, and they nearly silenced the deafening thrum of the helicopter rotors.
    â€œIs there something about our arrangement that you didn’t understand?” Divine asked Tiger, his voice over the headset scratchy and filtered.
    â€œNo,” Tiger answered. In the outside world, Tiger was a wanted man with few options. Under Divine’s protection here at the compound, he could stay hidden from law enforcement and earn enough resources to make a clean start in life. This was the bargain he and the other tenants had struck.
    â€œYour hesitation on the bank floor was an embarrassment, and it cost us.”
    Tiger didn’t answer. What was the point? In that blink of an eye, consciously or not, he had made a choice. He would live or die with it, bes sozheleniya —with no regrets.
    â€œI expected better results from the son of Alexei Klesko.”
    Tiger was taken aback. Divine had never mentioned his father, and he had no reason to think he or his team at the Ranch had made the connection. Tiger had one contact in America, the phone number of a friend of a friend that he could use in case of trouble. When he had escaped from Shelter Island five months earlier, Tiger had called that number and was referred to Divine. Of course , Tiger realized—his contact would never have passed him off to Divine without first knowing his entire background.
    â€œYou know Klesko?” Tiger asked.
    â€œI know of him. And, of course, we do deep background on everyone before they are invited to come to the Ranch. Yours was easy enough to uncover.”
    â€œI have nothing to do with my father,” Tiger said, feeling a flicker of resentment rising up inside of him. He hated that even in his absence his father was still an unshakeable influence in his life.
    Divine continued studying Tiger for a moment before turning back around in his seat and facing forward. As the helicopter raced south, the terrain below changed to barren marshland. Within a few minutes, Divine pointed to a location ahead and the pilot nodded, setting down on a dirt road that ran through the marsh. It was dense and overgrown with tall, vine-covered trees that ran right up to the side of the road.
    Once on the ground, the pilot powered down the chopper and soon everything was silent again. Divine and Tiger climbed out of the machine. Divine pulled a small duffel bag from the footwell of his seat and took out two guns, an MP- 5 machine gun and an HK 45 like the pilot’s. Divine took the MP- 5 and handed Tiger the . 45 automatic. It felt heavy—fully loaded—but to be sure, Tiger popped the mag and checked the load: one in the chamber and thirteen in the mag.
    Divine began walking down the narrow dirt road and motioned for Tiger to go with him.
    â€œI have a theory,” Divine said. “Where you come from you’re royalty—prince of the streets, son of a legend. You didn’t have to earn anything. You don’t actually have the inner resources for this kind of work.”
    â€œ Da poshel ty .” Fuck you. Tiger knew it could be dangerous to stand up to Divine, but being perceived as weak carried risks as well. His experience with his father had taught him that.
    Divine took no offense at Tiger’s defiance—he just smiled to himself a little. After just a few minutes of walking, a clearing appeared ahead. A small, half-rotted cottage stood in the middle of it. As the two of them approached the cottage directly, there came the sound of breaking glass and then automatic gunfire—someone inside the cottage was shooting at them.
    Tiger was surprised, but both he and Divine remained calm, taking cover behind a tree at the edge of the property. Tiger noted that