Well, this was one of the perks of working for the Russian Mob and a fighting agency at the same time. They were putting him up in a five star hotel, all expenses paid, until they could find him a suitable apartment. His agent was still negotiating the Gym that he was going to be sponsored by, but the man told him that the best deals would only come out if he won the fight, and won it convincingly. The Russian had little doubt that he would be able to do precisely that, but until then, well, he supposed it was time for him to start hunting his brother. He knew he wasn't supposed to be doing that, but he wanted that out of the way as quickly as possible. If there was any way that he could help, he would. He didn't owe that bastard anything anyway.
But, as it turned out, he didn't have any connections in the States. If his brother had been hiding in Russia, Alex had made countless friends and acquaintances in prison, most of which were out by now, and could prowl the streets for any sign of the man, but here in The States his moves were limited. The first idea that had struck him had been maybe putting it out in the media that he had a long lost brother living in the country, but he had quickly done away with it. Far from attracting his brother to him, a man that had been on the run from some of the most ruthless gangsters in history would quickly go to ground, and Alex guessed that when a man like his brother went to ground he would be impossible to find. He finally came to the conclusion that the best way to find his brother would be for him to do absolutely nothing. While he wasn't doing anything, he was an electric light, drawing his brother in like an insect. He would know that it would a trap, but knowing was better than not knowing, so he would come close, take a risk. One that Alex hoped the mob would make him pay for in spades.
A knock on his door while he was watching TV. His eyes flickered upwards, turning the television off as he stood, stretching, wincing a bit as he pulled a bit at his tricep, worked a bit too vigorously by his trainer and maybe stretched a bit. They would hold off on exercising that muscle for a bit, until it recovered. He hoped it would be in time for the fight for, while he had the highest confidence in his abilities, if there was one thing that he learned in prison was that overestimating your opponents and being pleasantly surprised was better than he alternative.
He looked into the peephole, seeing three men in the hallway. All bulky, all overdressed with overcoats, long and to their knees, easily concealing weapons. It was a bit early for another Mob visit, so he smiled and opened the door, ready for anything. The three men entered, without a word said with Alex standing across from them. Nothing was said for a few seconds, and finally, the man on the right opened his mouth. Their eyes barely registered the hulking Russian flickering forward, his body arcing as he hammered the man with the open mouth with a thunderous hook to the man's jaw. He fell back, the crunch that Alex had felt on his knuckles indicating that his jaw was broken. He was either stunned or unconscious as he fell on the floor with all the grace of a rag doll, and Alex counted him out of the fight for the moment. The others were already reaching inside their coats. The Russian moved lightly to the side, catching the man in the middle over the ear with his left elbow, followed by a right to the kidney, and Alex grabbed inside the man's jacket, pulling the Uzi out and wrapping the strap around the man's neck, spinning him around to be between Alex and the third man, who already had his gun drawn. The injured man's Uzi was pointed over the same man's shoulder, at the third man.
"Anything stupid done here will be paid for by you," Alex growled.
"The Lawyer that came to see you at the Gym. He disappeared right afterwards. You have anything to do with that?" The man asked.
Alex chuckles," I must be criminal mastermind. I arrive in America one week and I already have contacts that can kidnap lawyers."
"You do have a contact. Your brother."
"If I was still in contact with that Slovoch I wouldn't have accepted your bosses' proposal. I have something called honor, and loyalty to family. You should try it sometime."
"We had to cover all of our bases," The man said by way of an apology," You were the last to see him, after all."
"Tell your bosses that if they try something like this again, I will follow my brother's example."