He slowly approached me, staring with round, slightly wild eyes. I really wanted to retreat - there was something unpleasant and even threatening in this, it seemed that the old man would now try to break my nose, but I didn’t budge. Feet seem to be rooted to the floor. Because from his words I understood that the owner himself does not know where Romka is. And this means that he was taken away before the arrival of Ivanych? And they were taken to who knows where?

- There even Sanyok ran to him in the morning ... - continued the owner of the service.

Yes, that's right, while I was in the shower, someone rang the doorbell. But I decided that Romka had the keys. He will open it himself if it is him. And I didn’t want to see anyone else so much that I immediately jumped out naked and wet.

- So where is Chicherin, huh? Won't you tell us?

“I thought he was here.

But, as you can see, he is not here. As there is no Mercedes. And I just don't know what to think. When did you last see him?

“This morning, around eight,” I muttered, growing cold. - He got up and went here ...

- Did you go here? And didn't get there?

- I dont know.

I was seized with a bad premonition, spreading weakness in my legs. Where are you Roman? Where have you gone, fool? I wanted to go with you! Why didn't you insist?

- Ivanovich, so, maybe he really decided to take a ride and will be back soon? - one of the men-shifters gave a voice.

- What are you talking about, Zakhar? the old man immediately soared, his eyes bulging even more terribly. - He just took the gelding of Yasha Cherny himself, who was entrusted to me under the pain of life! And he just took it for a ride! Are you out of your mind, Zakhar?! Yes, Yasha, if he finds out, then ... And me, and you, and all of us - Khan. Do you understand it? He took a ride!

Everything inside me collapsed. Legs filled with lead. Everything swam before my eyes.

I don’t know who Yasha Cherny is, but his name sounded like hello from the nineties. And the faces of Romkin's colleagues look like they are on the verge of death, and they don't even know that the car is no more...

Well, I was just guessing, huh? Zakhar muttered. “The car has gone somewhere. Or maybe Yasha sent one of his own people to pick her up early in the morning while we were away? They took it and left.

- And where is Chichu wearing? He would be here!

They screamed incoherently, but their voices merged in my head into a continuous, meaningless cacophony. Of course, this Yasha of theirs has already arrived, well, or whoever, they caught my fool and that's it ...

I should run to the police, I decided. I backed away to the exit, but the old man intercepted me.

- Where are you going?

- In terms of? Romka isn't here, I'm gone, - I squeezed out somehow, fearing that my heart would now jump out of my throat.

– Are you home?

I nodded, looking at him like a rabbit at a boa constrictor.

“All right, but if that half-wit of yours shows up, tell him to run over here. It's clear?

I nodded again and quickly got out of there. I wanted to immediately, straight, rush to the nearest police station, but then I decided to drop in first at home. Well, at least take a passport, a bag, put yourself in order a little bit, otherwise I rushed to this damn garage in a hurry in a stupid tracksuit and with keys in my pocket.

With a heavy heart, she made her way home, opened an apartment.

- Rum? - she called for some reason, realizing that he was not here.

She wiped away her tears and began to change. Then she pulled her hair back into a ponytail. She pulled out her passport from a drawer and stuffed it into her bag.

She cast a sad glance at the clock. It’s almost half past one, it’s already seven o’clock, since Romka left, and I have no idea what happened to him, where he is, how he is ...

Never mind, the police will take care of it. This is their job.

A sudden feeling of hopelessness came over me. And an unaccountable, but very clear thought arose in my head from somewhere: no, everything is very, very bad, and no police will help us.

I was immediately shaking, I hardly pulled myself together.

Then she turned the key in the lock, opened the door and ... recoiled.

In the entrance, right in front of our door, stood an unfamiliar man. Short, stocky, with a short light hedgehog. Another one, taller, shaved bald, with a bumpy scar on his cheek, right at that moment was approaching him from behind. And then both, without asking, pushed me deeper into the depths and tumbled into the apartment ...

Well, that's all, I thought doomedly, the end. Or as Ivanovich said there? Khan. They found out about the car, sorted it out with Romka, now they came for me ...

- Where is he? – with clear threat asked the first. “This… how is it?”

- Chicha, - prompted the second.

- Yeah, he's the one. Where?

Their question discouraged me so much that even the panic subsided a little. They don't know where Romka is? Doesn't he have them? And didn't they come here to kill me immediately?

Thoughts swirled: if they don’t have Romka, then they probably don’t know about the broken car. And Romka is still intact. But where is he then? And what should I say? How to get out?

I shrugged my shoulders and answered as calmly as possible:

- He is not. Romka left for work at eight and hasn't returned yet.

“We were in the service,” said the stocky one. Crossing his arms on his mighty chest and widely spaced his short legs, he stood, slightly swaying back and forth from socks to heels. And at the same time, he drilled right through me with his gimlet eyes. - He is not there, and, most importantly, Yasha's tachila is not there either. And you'd better quickly remember where he might be.

“I have no idea,” I murmured, turning cold inside.

Mentally, I again prepared for the worst, but although they looked eloquently threatening, they spoke now without much aggression. Rather bewildered.

– What are we going to do? one asked the other.

The stocky man raised his hand, glanced at his watch, and frowned.

- B ..., it’s almost two, now we need to rush to Kasi as a conscript, he has some tough misunderstandings with Guram there, - he answered with annoyance. - Kasia called again. I have to go, otherwise, I feel, there will be minced meat.

I did not understand a word of his speech except that they urgently needed somewhere.

- What about her? The tall man nodded at me.

The stocky man gave me a long, narrowed look.

- What's wrong with her? Where will she go from us? he smiled wryly, showing a gap between his front teeth. Then he turned to me: - In short, you are lucky that Yasha is not in the city yet, and we still have urgent business. So you, girlfriend, have two whole hours to find your lost one. So tell him. We'll be back at four, and so that Yashin's tachila stands in place in the best possible way. Then we won't punish you too much. Understood?

I locked the door behind them and took a deep breath. Without taking off her shoes, she went into the kitchen and heavily, as if she had suddenly grown seventy years old, sank into a chair.

They will be back at four. And then... I can't even imagine what will happen then. Imagination drew all the horrors that I had ever seen in a movie about gang warfare. In five minutes, I worked myself up so much that I almost panicked.

So, stop, I tried to control myself. Something needs to be done, and urgently. Just what? Their car rests somewhere at the bottom of a ravine. Romka disappeared through the ground. And I have two hours until I meet these creepy types.

In all this chaos of thoughts, for some reason, I unconsciously kept pushing away one, the most unpleasant one: where is Romka? And now I've been thinking. He is not with them. And in the car service, as it turned out, also did not appear. He seemed to have disappeared, disappeared or hid ...

No, no, I refused to believe that he could have escaped like that. There must be some other explanation for this. He couldn't leave me here alone. In addition, not just leave, but literally throw at the mercy of.

But not him, not Romka. He loves me too. Blows off dust particles, kisses hands. I’m drawn to this job for my sake, but I could drink like the rest of the guys, go for walks, run around the girls. And he immediately forgot all this cheerful life as soon as we got together. And with what puppy eyes he looks at me! How caring and affectionate he is! Yes, we never really argued. The only time he allowed himself to yell at me was tonight, in the ravine. But there he was not himself from horror.

No, he couldn't do that to me...

I began to sort out in my mind the places where he could go. And in general, there are not many options at all. Yes, in fact, just a few friends from the surrounding yards, whom he called homies. Well, his relatives in the village. Everything.

Forty minutes was enough for me to get around Romka's friends. True, I did not find half of them at home. But those with whom I managed to talk did not see him. I remembered that I once heard that the local "youth" was hanging around somewhere in the back of the tram depot.

For good luck, I rushed there: suddenly my fool there in a friendly circle floods grief - this is more like him.

Behind the depot, in the bushes, on old crates, there really were three dubious-looking personalities hanging out, more like homeless people. In general, there were five of them there, but two were already sleeping sweetly right in the grass, and the remaining trinity sipped muddy slurry from a bottle, sniffing stale bread.

God, how did you get me here? Some kind of open-air cesspool. Just wasted time...

“Oh, we have guests,” one of the bastards widened his toothless mouth.

I stepped back.

- Already leaving? Where? Sit with us. Mentally…