Andre 'Mad Dog' Williams moved to join his dog, holding up the flat of his hand to his gang members to stand down.
"Venom, sit!" he ordered his dog.
Jorja pushed the excited dog off her knees and straightened up.
"Hey, Andre, it's been a while. It's nice to see you."
The mouth of the short beefy man in his early fifties opened wide to expose his gold teeth that glistened under the once working lights.
"You do know you have a half mil bounty on your head, don't you?"
"Only half a million? That's quite the insult.” She smiled.
"Either way we might want to get you out of here. My guys are fine but I cannot say the same of Ludwig's bunch. Word on the street is he's hell-bent on finding you. Since he moved in here five years ago he acts like he's some kind of roadman or something."
He let out a shrill whistle to which the dog instantly reacted before he gave Jorja a firm hug.
"It's good to see you. Come; let's get out of here. I don't want no trouble tonight."
He snapped his fingers and five of his men formed a circle around them, shielding the pair as they walked into the nearby building. Once inside, two of the men stayed at the entrance, while the other three accompanied them into the flat.
"You did some decorating, I see.” She smiled as she sat down on the leopard print sofa and allowed her eyes to take in the bright blue LED lights that trimmed the edges of the walls.
He handed her a beer then took a seat on a white fur-trimmed armchair opposite her. The smell of cannabis lay thick in the air.
"I thought you were dead, Gigi," he said, calling her by the nickname he had for her.
She didn't answer and he leaned forward, balancing his elbows on his knees while he lifted the beer bottle with his thumb and index finger in an almost upside-down manner to his mouth. When he’d had another quick sip, he put the bottle down on the floor between the brand-new pair of trendy Jordans on his feet.
"I'm guessing you soon will be though, huh, that's why you're here."
"I was hoping you would help me, yes."
"You know I will do anything for you, Gigi. We go back a long way. Dang, woman, you were my first customer, the one who put me on the map. I owe all this to you, my friend." He scooped to pick up his beer and took another swig. "So tell me, what do you need help with? I've got new guns, copper uniforms, transit vans, keys, what do you need, my old friend, name it."
"I need a new identity, a passport. I need to get into Switzerland."
His eyes narrowed.
"Don't ask, Andre, please. The less you know the better. How soon can you have it ready?"
"You know, Gigi, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what you're planning. I just told you that Ludwig is all over this thing and that you have a bounty on your head. He might have gotten his name from that Beethoven guy whose music he's always humming, but he ain't no joke. His methods are brutal and from what I've heard, the Swiss man who hired him isn't messing around either. He is after your blood with vengeance. Now you're telling me you need to get into Switzerland. You've lost your mind, my friend."
Jorja crossed her legs and rested her beer on top of her leg.
"I don't have much of a choice, Andre."
"Gigi, you burned the man. Word on the street is he's been looking for you since he got out of jail. He'll never let you live."
"Well, he'll have to fight to get to me first. He's not the only one after me."
Her revelation had Andre wriggle uncomfortably in his seat.
"Tell me it's not who I think it is."
Her silence confirmed his suspicions and he was on his feet nervously pacing the space between them. He leaned in and spoke to her in a hushed tone.
"You've lost your mind going after these guys, Gigi! A burned convict is one thing, but KGB? That ain't no joke, fam!" he said, using the slang word for a close friend.
His dreadlocks bounced from side to side as he nervously shook his head.
"These guys are dangerous, Gigi. They'll kill you."
"Not if I get to them first."
"Then what, huh? You going to have a cup of tea with them over a friendly chat? That's crazy thinking, woman."
"I'm not the one who messed up, Andre. Gustav brought this on himself. He got what he deserved. He used me."
"Yes, and you ratted him out and the man spent fifteen years behind bars for it. Fifteen years is a long time to fester over what you did to him. That's a whole lot of hate and revenge bottling up inside a man."
"I did what I had to do to keep everyone safe. I wasn't going to let him take us down with him. Look, I'm not planning to kill the man, just get him off my back. I put him behind bars once before, maybe I can do it again. He's bound to have continued his illegal activities when he got out of jail."
"And what about the Russian guy, huh? He's the one you really should be worried about."
"I'm not sure yet. Maybe I can get back what he lost. That's worth far more to him than taking revenge on me. You aren't going to talk me out of it, Andre. I've hidden from these guys for twenty years and it stops here, right now."
The trendy gangster shuffled back into his chair and tilted his wild head to one side.
"From that speech, I'm assuming Ben tried to talk you out of it already."
"He doesn't know anything and I prefer to keep it that way."
"You're going after these guys on your own? Now I know you've lost your mind, woman."
"It's better this way, for everyone's sake."
Chapter Eighteen
Andre was on his feet again, swinging his bottle of beer around like a mad man.
"You're insane, Gigi. The man's offered five hundred thousand quid for your head on a stick and you think it's going to be this easy. Sorry, Gigi, I cannot let you do it. It's suicide."
Jorja was on her feet now too.
"So you're not going to help me with the passport. Fine, I will just have to go to Nicolescu then. I'm sure he'll be just too thrilled to hear his arch-nemesis didn't have the guts to accept this job."
She turned to leave and heard Andre clicking his tongue in irritation behind her.
"You are still as bullheaded as ever, Georgina."
He’d only ever called her by her full name once, long ago when they first met.
"Fine, I'll help you, but on one condition."
She turned to face him.
"Name it."
"You take one of my men with you."
"Not going to happen, Andre. I have to do this on my own."
"Take it or leave it, Gigi. I can have the passport ready for you in fifteen minutes, and I'll do it at no charge, but you take Zeus with you, or I won't do it. I'm the best in the business and you know it."
She followed his eyes that indicated one of his men who stood to one side talking on a cell phone.
"That guy! He'll stick out like a sore thumb in Switzerland."
"I trust him and it’s the only way I know you'll be safe. I'll have him tone down on the Jamaican flavor, but it's not negotiable."
She hesitated but knew Andre well enough to know he was only trying to look out for her.
"Fine, but he does it my way. What I say, when I say it, and how I say it. Deal?"
Andre was quick to respond.
"You need to fix your make-up before I can take a photo. Angie's got some make-up that should do the trick." He was referring to his latest fling who had been sitting quietly at the back of the room staring at her phone's screen.
They exchanged a brief smile and Andre came in to give her another hug.
"Thank you, Andre. I can't do this without your help."
"Just promise me you'll be careful, okay? You still owe me that bottle of Moët remember? I never did get it so this time I'm not having you disappear without getting what you owe me. Now get your face sorted out and let's get you on the first plane out of here."
Andre 'Mad Dog' Williams was just about finished with Jorja's forged travel document
when a loud banging on the flat's door jerked them all to attention. Zeus was at the door first, gun in hand.
"Yo?" He shouted the slang greeting through the door but no one answered.
Andre's body tensed up and he nervously rushed the last bit of work on the passport. As if rehearsed a thousand times before, Angie was quick to hide away any evidence of her boyfriend's illegal activity in a small safe behind an obviously fake painting of the Mona Lisa, while the rest of Andre's protectors took up positions in each corner of the room.
Jorja's hand was on her gun now too where she had hidden in the nearby bathroom, leaving the door slightly ajar to keep an eye on events.
"Yo, speak up!" Zeus invited an answer again.
When no answer came back, he looked over his shoulder for instruction from Andre who had just completed the passport and was already at the bathroom door where he handed it to Jorja.
"Stay here and let me handle this, okay?" he whispered to her and moved toward the flat's entrance.
His hand was on the gun that was tucked inside the waistband of his pants underneath his shirt while he readied himself and nodded for Zeus to open the door.
Five men followed by Ludwig burst through the door the moment he unlocked it and a maelstrom of switchblades and guns came at the unsuspecting party of Jamaican gangsters, pinning them against the walls before they had a moment to fight back. Angie screamed and ran to the bedroom, slamming then locking the door behind her. Close on her heels one of the rival gangmen was after her, passing the bathroom where Jorja had already locked herself inside.
Venom, the pit bull, barked ferociously before lunging at Ludwig's shins and sinking his teeth into his legs. His attack was countered by an angry fist against the side of his head that sent the poor dog yelping across the floor.
"Where is she, Mad Dog? I know she's here!" Ludwig shouted as he charged toward Andre and pointed his gun firmly against Andre's forehead.
"You just missed her, you fool, now get out!"
But Ludwig wasn't convinced and, with his gun still aimed at Andre's head, scanned the room.
"You're lying. She's mine, Mad Dog, do you hear me? That money is mine! Now give her up before I make you regret it!"
"What money?" Andre bluffed.
The insult got him a backhand across the face after which his cautionary gaze met his opponent's angry scrutiny.
"You might think you have me with that gun pointed at my head, but this is my hood, bruv. Get out before I kill you with my bare hands." Andre's words were slow, controlled, and heavy with threat, emphasized by his sarcastic cant address for the term they used when referencing a brother by blood or friendship.
His threat invited a scoff from Ludwig. One the guy soon came to regret when, in one quick move, Andre seized his gun and turned the barrel full into his rival's face.
The skilled action took Ludwig by surprise and he retreated two steps. With the gun now in Andre's hands, aimed firmly at Ludwig's face, he drove his rival back toward the exit.
"Tell your men to stand down."
Ludwig hesitated.
"Don't make me ask you again, Ludwig. I ain't gonna be so nice second time round, bruv. There's a reason why I am still running things around here and deadbeat wannabes like you end up bleeding out on my floor."
With Ludwig's eyes fixed on the barrel of his gun, he gave the command to his men who instantly backed away from Mad Dog's gang.
"Good, now get out of my house and never, ever point a gun at me or my friends again. Got it?" His lips pulled back like a rabid dog’s, growling while he exposed his mouthful of gold teeth that threatened to rip out Ludwig's throat.
The action that drove home Andre's gang name had the intended effect and Ludwig turned and left, his men close behind him.
In the distance, police sirens pierced the night air, letting them know someone must have called the police about the disturbance. Angie slowly emerged from the bedroom, as did Jorja who came to stand next to Andre, her tone amused when she spoke.
"I see you're still scaring people off with that ridiculous fake rumor you invented. As if you could ever rip someone's throat open with those blunt teeth. You're as meek as that little puppy of yours, my friend."
"Yeah, well, don't go advertising that, Gigi. That rumor's what's keeping the scepter in my hand."
His attention turned to the sirens that grew louder by the second.
"We've got to get you out of here before the cops find you." He beckoned Zeus to join them. "My man Zeus will take care of you and, Gigi, it's not too late to back off."
She reached out and placed one hand on his shoulder.
"I need to do this, Andre. I'm tired of hiding. I'll see you again soon, my dear friend. Thanks for your help."
Her smile was warm and loving when she turned and left with Zeus on her heels, leaving the tough Jamaican exterior of her friend to nearly melt in a colorful puddle on the floor.
"You've got that right, and don't forget the Moët next time!" Andre yelled after her as he watched them escape into the chilly night air.
Chapter Nineteen
Outside there wasn't a living soul in sight anywhere as the commune of hoodlums had scattered to take shelter in their homes as if nothing had happened. As Jorja and Zeus ran across the empty communal courtyard, bright blue lights flashed in the night sky as the police approached from the right.
"This way!" Zeus announced as he steered them down a footpath that ran between two blocks of flats away from them.
Tall overgrown shrubs lined the dark, narrow footpath and rustled noisily as they brushed past the thorny branches. The path wound its way between the properties until it opened to a large patch of grass circled by tall trees. She followed Zeus as he ran across the grass before he disappeared between two large horse chestnut trees.
"Come on, keep up before them coppers' cameras pick us up!" he yelled back when Jorja trailed too far behind.
A few yards further on they reached another footpath and their feet echoed loudly through the quiet night air.
"Where are we going?” she yelled at Zeus, who was already several yards ahead of her again.
He didn't answer.
She watched as once more, he disappeared over a slight mound and down the other side into the dark shadows between rows of thick bushes that led down to some woodland. When she reached the spot where he’d vanished between the bushes, he was nowhere to be seen. Stopping for a brief moment, she whisper-shouted his name into the darkness.
But he didn't answer.
She listened in the stillness of the night for sounds of his feet hitting the leafy bed or the conkers that lay strewn across the ground.
To her right, she heard a twig snap and instantly turned to look. Then suddenly leaves rustled behind her. She spun around to find Zeus’s dark face right on top of her before his big strong hand closed over her mouth. She tried to scream but his hand was firm against her lips, muffling any sound that tried to escape from her mouth.
"Shut up!" he whispered from behind her ear while he pinned her back against his bulky body that seemed to devour her petite frame.
The damp leaves beneath her feet gave way and made her slip in a futile attempt to fend him off. She pushed her body back against his as much as her weight would allow and, at first, she nearly managed to push him off balance. But he came back stronger.
"Give it up, woman! A million quid is too much dosh to say no to. You're not going to get away from me so quit fighting it! I ain't giving up."
But Jorja wriggled and fought back hard until she was close enough to a tree directly in front of her. Using his body as support, she walked her feet up against the tree's thick trunk and kicked herself back against Zeus’s torso. The momentum had him fall flat on his back, inadvertently freeing her in the process. She was up on her feet in a flash and just as quickly had her gun in his face while she held him down on the ground with one foot atop his thick neck.
When his hands came up toward her legs to pull h
er off him, she firmed her grip around her weapon and aimed the barrel at the frown lines between his eyes.
"Don't even think of it, Zeus."
Jorja pinned her focus on Zeus’s face where she still had him immobilized on the ground under her foot. Behind his small eyes, something hinted at him being nervous, almost scared, and she knew it wasn't because of her. She watched his eyes darting through the dark spaces behind her. With the gun still pointed at his head, she changed her position and surveilled the woodland area around her. Everything was quiet and there was no indication of anyone being there.
"Move over there, against the tree," she instructed, keeping her gun aimed at his head. "Slowly!"
He did as she instructed.
Watching her back and keeping one eye on her surrounds, she leaned in to study his face once more.
"Where were you going to take me?" Her eyes were intense and intimidating.
"Who says I was taking you anywhere?”
He was as dumb as he looked, she thought, having tricked him into confirming he was waiting for someone. She circled him, slowly changing her stance to stay vigilant.
"I wonder what Mad Dog will do to you when I tell him you betrayed him."
Her words had him instantly tense up.
"You know, he did rip out a man's throat once. The guy bled out on his floor," she fibbed.
Zeus shuffled nervously.
"And that was just one of the Pythons.” She referenced one of the other gangs in the area. "I don't even want to imagine what he'll do to someone he called a friend. Someone he thought he could trust."
"I'm not a traitor. I'd never betray my gang."
"Yet, here you are, Zeus, ready to share a bounty with Ludwig."
"I don't make deals with the devil. That man is a snake."
Again, Zeus stupidly revealed his hand.
But the disclosure left Jorja uneasy. If he hadn't struck a deal with Ludwig, then it meant only one thing. Züber was not involved. She had already suspected as much when Zeus let slip how much money he would get for capturing her.
Vengeance is Mine: A Jorja Rose Christian Suspense Thriller (Valley of Death Book 1) Page 9