Nadei ran a hand over his spiked blonde hair and gritted his teeth. “We need to talk.”
Bleak resistance overcame her. “Talk about what? Why are you here?” she asked in a strained low voice. Pulling at her robe, she covered her bra, as if Nadei had not already seen a lot more.
Nadei’s face was tight with anger. Even now she chose to be completely insolent. “I don’t have a lot of time. So, cut through the bullshit,” he said, looking down at her stomach. “Twenty-two weeks pregnant?” He wasn’t sure if that was a question or statement, but he meant for her to answer either way.
Briggy debated very hard on what her next words would be. She chose impertinence yet again, unable to break old habits, even if her life was at stake. “What business of it is yours?”
“That child is mine, and you know it. Twenty-two fucking weeks ago, you were on a yacht in Fiji. Gabriel Medlov was nowhere around.” Nadei tried to control his temper and his voice. He wasn’t a man known for his words but now more than ever he wanted to use what he was good at to end this situation. “Did that night slip your fucking mind, you stupid bitch?” His wide chest swelled.
Feeling threatened by his large brooding size, Briggy pushed back against the bed to get some space between her and Nadei. “I don’t’ know what you are talking about?”
His blonde brow shot up. “I’m talking about when we fucked?” he said accusingly. “Or did that slip your mind?”
She rolled her eyes and folded her arms as a defense mechanism. “You must be delusional. I never touched you.” But the distress signs over her face told another story.
Nadei saw then what game she was trying to play, but what she didn’t seem to understand was that it would only be played until the child was born, and then someone if not everyone would notice that Gabriel’s son looked nothing like a Medlov. These people were not stupid, just Briggy for thinking that she could pull something so elementary.
He tried to communicate his thoughts, though they rambled. “You’re playing with fire,” Nadei warned her. “What happened between us was a mistake. I drank too much. You drank too much. I don’t even remember…fucking you, but to carry the evidence of it is just fucking crazy. You must have a death wish.”
It was like nails scratching down a chalkboard to hear Nadei speak to her. It only brought to her mind thoughts of that night – a night she was not too drunk to remember, just too proud. Briggy spat at him. “Shut your mouth! Do you know who I am, whose I am? Gabriel would have your balls for making that insinuation.”
“If you speak any louder, then someone will come to see if you are being molested, and then I’ll be forced to tell Boss Medlov the truth. Do you want that? Do you know what he’ll do to you?”
“Do you know what he’ll do to you?” she warned, seeming completely unafraid of his veiled threats.
But Nadei could see completely through her faux-badass exterior, straight to the coward she really was – the type of coward who was more than willing to put off a child on an unsuspecting man. He might have been a bastard, but he wasn’t that type. “Oh yes. I’ve spent all day out in the barn with Dmitry while he tortured some poor fuck until he shit himself upside down,” Nadei said, watching the shock on her face. “I know exactly what he’ll do to me. But you see at this point, I don’t mind eating a bullet, if I have to. The question is, are you ready for what he’ll do to you, what Royal will do? After today’s fight, I’m sure she’ll be happy to have your skin peeled off after the baby is born.”
Briggy slowed her breaths. The idea of Royal unleashing holy hell on her did create a certain of amount of soberness that disappointing Gabriel did not. She blinked fast. “This child is not yours. How many times do I have to say it?”
Nadei shrugged. It seemed she was willing to live with that lie. “Might not be mine, but it sure isn’t Gabriel’s. How did you manage to keep it from him all this time? Surely, he counted back to the conception date?”
Briggy was amazed at first as well that Gabriel had not put the pieces together, but he was far too disconnected from her life to give it the effort. So, she went with it. Lied to the bitter end and would continue to lie as long as she lived. “As a matter of fact, he didn’t count, and he never will. I’m just going to say this once for you, Nadei. I was lonely in Fiji. We had a few drinks and yes, I fucked you.”
A flash of her mounting his naked body as he moved in and out of consciousness made her swallow hard. “But that’s as far as it goes. If you ever say a word about it, I’ll swear that you raped me, made me afraid for my life to say anything. And I’ll say you intimidated me here not to say anything. They won’t do half of the things to me that they’ll do to you and your family. And as far as Royal goes, do you really think that she’ll be kind to a rapist?”
“My family is dead, suka, and have been for longer than you’ve been around. So don’t bother using them to scare me. The only family I have now is my brotherhood and if you try to take that from me, I’ll kill you myself.” For Nadei, it was a promise, not a threat. He wanted to kill her now, but there was an innocent child involved.
For Briggy, it was about survival and if she had to destroy everyone around her to keep her and her child out of the gutter, then she would do it. She had been poor and had no plans of going back. Besides, what was done, was done. “You want your brotherhood. I want my lifestyle. So it’s best for neither of us to say a word about this child ever,” she said, rubbing her large bump. “Forget you ever touched me, Nadei, and I’ll do the same. Now get out. I won’t say it again.”
Nadei wasn’t stupid. Staying here fighting with Briggy any longer would only create more problems for him, but he just needed to see her face, hear her say it with his own ears. She knew as well as he did that the child she was carrying was his. The question now was what to do about it. Nothing was not an option.
Retreating out of the bed, he gave her one last look. “I’ve been around, zhenshchina. People like you always get what’s coming to them.”
Briggy turned up her nose. “Whatever is coming to me better be served on a 24-carat gold platter.”
Briggy watched him, so angry until his body trembled, and sat back in the bed. Her past was coming back to hunt her, and there was nothing she could do about it. At that moment, she regretted it all – drinking with him, slipping him a Mickey, fucking him – but when she did it, she was lonely and revenge felt like the best course of action against Gabriel for sleeping around on her.
Nadei wanted to slam the door closed as he left, but with care, he closed it and made his way down the hall. The guard was still there, now even more curious as to why Nadei had been in the woman’s room so long.
“Throwing up all over the place. Had to help her to the toilet again,” Nadei said as he pushed the button to call for the elevator. “I swear; pregnant women disgust me.”
The guard took the explanation as the gospel. “She’s been like that all day. Throwing up and cursing. She’s a mess.”
The bell rang and the elevator opened. Nadei stepped in and took a deep breath. He couldn’t show the least of his emotions as the camera inside of the elevator was right on him, but at that moment, if he could have punched a hole in the siding he would have. That fucking bitch would not be the end of him.
***
Four hours passed quickly and per their orders, the men had convened yet again with their answers for Dmitry in his office. Around the meeting table, they laid out their plans one-by-one, fleshing out the details together and putting something on paper that Dmitry could study later that tonight for possible holes they might have missed.
After three hours of meeting, overall, Dmitry was pleased with their suggestions. He didn’t employ idiots and despised “yes” men. All of the men who worked on this level with him had seasoned backgrounds in soldiering, so he valued their consultation and their contacts. Now, it was a matter of putting theory and planning into implementation. Better said than done, in his previous experience, which was why he wante
d them to measure twice and cut once, less they cut his nephew’s life line.
Based upon projections, it would take at least one week to pinpoint Gabriel’s exact location with the Nazis. The assault would take at least another week because of red tape that needed to be cut through with both the Russians and the Ukrainians. It wasn’t ideal, but neither was the situation. He only hoped that Gabriel could hold on that long. His money men had also been pulled into the meeting via conference call. Such an elaborate operation would cost upwards of twenty million.
Showered and suited again, Dmitry sat at the head of the table under the dimming light of dusk against his back and looked over the piles of papers and maps before him. Silently, the men looked on, waiting for his final assessment.
“And what did Allan Roman have to report?” he asked with a frown as he looked at all the maps of the many Neo-Nazi locations they had to recon.
“He’s been waiting on hold for two hours,” Anatoly said, pointing at the second line of their landline.
“Put him on,” Dmitry said, mentally exhausted.
Anatoly picked up the phone, switched off with their guys at the bank in Switzerland and cued up Allan. Putting the phone on speaker, Anatoly pushed it toward the center of the table.
“What news do you have for me, Allan?” Dmitry asked, sitting back in his chair.
“Well, you have the list of sites where the Nazis are, but while I’ve been here at the capital, I can tell you that some pretty interesting conversation have been happening. No one is aware that Gabriel Medlov is being held captive. If they are, they are not speaking. However, they don’t want it to get out that there was a hit on Valeriya Nenya by the Right for Donetsk because they report directly to the Free Right of Ukraine and they are working with the national party and getting funds from the United States.”
Dmitry’s mind began to spin with possibilities. “What are they doing to cover up that Valeriya has been murdered?” he asked, unwilling to share with Allan that Valeriya was unharmed and with him.
Allan sat in his hotel room looking out the window at downtown Kiev with his computer in front of him and a half-eaten dinner. “Well, they are using her murder as another argument against the Russians and a way to unify the people. She’s being labeled a martyr. Reports have already been sent to Washington.”
“Who is speaking the loudest about this now in Kiev?”
“Strangely, a parliament member here by the name of Viktor Davidovich. The guy is a known Svoboda sympathizer, even though he’s not a member.” Allan picked up his glass of wine and took a gulp. All of this was a bit more than he was used to. “I got the maps from the U.S. ambassador’s office from one of the agents. He says that the U.S. has been keeping close taps on the Nazis, because of the aid that the US is giving Ukraine and the heat they’re taking from Israel.”
Dmitry saw two good opportunities in the conversation. “Go back. Get a meeting with Victor Davidovich and with the U.S. Ambassador. These are to be separate meetings, Allan. Tell them that you need to speak with them about Valeriya Nenya and the Right of Donetsk. Make them understand that you are not speaking for yourself but rather someone with a great deal more influence. Don’t tell them any more than that. Once they agree to the meeting, I’ll tell you what you are to say next.”
“And when they ask who this someone with more influence is, do you really want me to mention your name?” Allan asked. Potentially, he could see many negative outcomes of doing such a risky thing.
“Yes, I want you to mention my name, but only Davidovich. For the U.S. Embassy, you need to mention the name Emma Hutton and Hutton Industries. She’ll understand the importance.” Dmitry knew the U.S. Ambassador Hellen Roth very well. She was a hard-liner, focused only on building relationships that made her country better and channels that made the spy work for the CIA easier. If she had information about Gabriel Medlov, she would share it, as long as she got her hands on Valeriya Nenya in exchange.
“When do you want me to do this?” From the sound of Dmitry’s voice, Allan realized that he might be in Kiev much longer than he first intended and running a ton more of the boss’s errands than he expected.
Dmitry thought that was obvious. “I want you to reach out to them now,” he said, raising a brow at the phone. Civilians were so insubordinate. “Then report back to me.”
Anatoly moved his hand over the release button and the phone went dead. “Fifteen major sites in one week? That’s pretty ambitious, even for Marat and his team,” he said, questioning if they had the manpower for that with just five men or if needed to send more.
Dmitry was convinced it was the best course of action. “Small teams go undetected. Give Marat all the resources that he needs. Tell him to recon each site. Two or three a day. Identify the places that Gabriel absolutely would not be and completely destroy them. Since the men holding him won’t contact us, we’ll burn them out until eventually, they have no choice but to give us their demands.”
Enough with the meetings. It was time for action. Dmitry slapped his hands together. “Well, we’ve all got our marching orders. Meet back here daily at noon with something to report and some progress until we get this done,” he said to the men. Warily, he prepared to discuss something that they all knew, but needed to be said aloud.
“We are about to go to war with Neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine. While it is my hope that all of us will come home safely and move on with our lives, there is the possibility that we will not. The only thing that increases our chances of complete success, which is returning with 100 percent of our men, is proper, thorough planning. We cannot afford to be lazy in our endeavors. We must be vigilant and prepared and thinking three steps ahead always. One of our men has been taken. Not just your boss, one of us.” He looked around the room at each of the men with fiery eyes inciting the fire inside each of them. “At the end of the day, that has to mean something to you. The Vory v Zakone had always been feared. We stick to our code. Often, we improvise it to survive in the changing climate of the world, but we stay true to ours. Loyalty is rewarded. Deceit is rooted out and destroyed. And we, above all, do not lose wars.”
The men agreed and he could see it by the flash in their eyes. They were committed to this and he was committed to them, now more than ever.
“Nadei, have Valeriya brought down to me. I need to speak to her. The rest of you are dismissed.”
Nadei nodded and stepped outside to send one of the guards after the woman.
Chatter began as the men disbursed, but Anatoly and Vasily didn’t move – not yet. They both knew that as council members, Dmitry would want to talk to them separately about the way things would work out.
Anatoly wasn’t completely sold on the entire plan, especially with no proof of life about Gabriel. “What if we do all of this and they kill him?” he asked unable to raise his eyes from the table. It was a thought that had plagued him since they arrived in Prague and had not gone away.
Dmitry had considered the same thing, but refused to speak one negative thing into existence. “If we find out he is dead, we kill everyone.”
Anatoly tilted his head and looked up at his father. “Everyone is very vague.” Someone had to be held responsible for this. He wanted to know who that someone would be.
Dmitry stood up from the table and stretched. “No, Anatoly, sometimes everyone simply means everyone. Everyone involved. Everyone associated. Everyone who caused it. Everyone who knew about it. Everyone.” His blue eyes were void of emotion.
Normally, his father was very specific about the laundry list of innocent civilians that he didn’t want hurt during a retaliation, but this time, he was very different, very matter-of-fact with little gray, just black and white about the matter. For Anatoly, a man who believed in making a statement at any cost, it was refreshing.
“Speaking of everyone, I have the file you wanted on Faddei’s family,” Anatoly said, picking up a file. “One of his brothers was killed while serving with the Right for Donetsk, but t
here are two others currently training and serving with them. There is another brother in Kiev working with the new prosecutor general, but he’s got ties to the Right for Ukraine as well.”
That was curious. “So why did Faddei choose to work for the Donetsk Revolutionaries instead of the Right for Donetsk?” Dmitry asked.
“I don’t know,” Anatoly said, setting the file in front of Dmitry on the desk.
“Find out for me…tonight, but first, I’ve been giving some thought to what we need over in Russia. And I think that the conversation that I need to have with the colonel and his comrades is one that doesn’t need to happen over the phone.” Dmitry looked over at Vasily. “I need you to coordinate a meeting in Moscow with those in charge of the Russian insurgency into Ukraine.”
“They’ve already given us access through the front lines of the fight, what more can we ask?” Anatoly was now very confused.
Dmitry had thought this through, and it was the only answer. “We need to coordinate a cease fire on both sides for one night.” He raised a long index finger. “Just one night. Both sides retreat, allowing us to get Gabriel. If we can coordinate that on both sides, then we have a better chance of getting him back alive.”
Vasily had to speak up. “Such a thing…it would take not only a meeting in Russia, but an agreement from Ukraine.”
“I know,” Dmitry said with a smile. “They would both need incentive. For the Russians, it’s money. For Ukraine, it’s Valeriya or the threat thereof.”
“So you do plan to trade her?” Anatoly asked relieved.
“No, I plan to use her as bait.” Dmitry could see the plan in his hand like it had already happened. “Allan will handle the meeting in Ukraine. I will handle the meeting in Russia, and together we will get that ceasefire. We just need to make sure that the men are ready when we get it, because we have one night to teach these motherfuckers a lesson, and I want it to be legendary.”
Gabriel's Regret: Book Two (The Medlov Men 3) Page 11