by Beth Abbott
“That one is the first of the small ones, baby. Anything bigger than that is a big one.” She clarified, knowing he would take that one no matter what.
Later this afternoon she would bag up all the stuff they were leaving behind and take it to the storage locker she rented in Ankara.
The problem with living the nomadic life that her brother’s business dictated, was that so often they had to leave belongings behind in apartments they never ended up returning to. She had lost some of her most cherished possessions throughout the years, to the point where she no longer left behind anything important to her.
If it had any sentimental or financial value, then it had to be small enough to fit in her backpack. The rest of her stuff went into a locker at a storage facility, and she had three of those in different cities across Europe and Russia.
Not that any of it was particularly valuable, it was just some of her clothing and Roman’s toys. She’d stopped storing Roman’s clothes a while ago, because when they might be away for three or four months at a time, it rarely still fit him when they got back.
That meant she had to keep the number of clothes she bought him to a minimum, as they had to fit into her pack with her own clothes.
Niko was like any other mother, wanting to spoil her son any way she could, but on the little bit of money her brother gave her, treats were few, and what little they had, she tried to look after.
One day, maybe, she would be able to give Roman everything he wanted, Niko prayed, but that day wasn’t just yet. Luckily for her, Roman wasn’t at an age where he could tell the difference between a regular store and a thrift store. As long as the clothes and toys were clean, he couldn’t tell that they weren’t brand new.
“Here you are, mama. These are the ones I want to take.” Roman handed her two large bears and two small ones, the look of innocence on his face almost comical.
“Are you sure these are all the small ones, baby? They look pretty big to me.” She smiled down at him.
“I’m sure they’re all small.” He nodded. “I packed the others in the bag already, but I can get them back out if you want to check.”
Sneaky little thing!
“No, that’s Ok, baby.” She grinned. “Now, come on, get ready. I have to go and check on the trucks for Uncle Ilya, which means you’ll have to stay with Vanya for an hour or two.”
“Ok.” Roman dropped to his knees and started looking under the bed for his shoes.
“Lost something?” She held up his shoes, and he scrambled to his feet.
Niko crouched down to help Roman slip them on.
“Right. Shall we...?”
“NIKO! Where the fuck are you?” Ilya’s voice startled her so much she fell backwards onto her backside, making Roman giggle.
Her brother stomped around the corner as she tried to get up.
“Where the fuck have you been hiding?” He demanded.
“Ilya! Stop that swearing in front of Roman.” She tried to hide her fear behind a scolding but doubted it would have any effect. “You know I don’t like him to hear those words.”
“Sister, he’s gonna hear a lot worse than that before he’s grown.” Ilya sneered. “Might as well start him off young.”
“Ilya, I mean it.” She scowled at her older brother. “You would never have been caught swearing like that in front of our parents when I was young. At least show us the same respect you showed them.”
Ilya opened his mouth to say something cutting, Niko was certain, but then he stopped. Maybe his memories of mama and papa had softened his black heart, even if only for a few seconds.
“You know, there’s an easy way to stop Roman hearing all the bad language around him.” He flopped down onto the old threadbare sofa. “Two words… Can you guess?”
“Ear-plugs?” Niko suggested.
“Nope.” Ilya chuckled. “I was thinking of ‘boarding school’. Send him off when he turns four, get him back when he’s past eighteen. Simple solution.”
Niko’s blood turned cold at the thought that Ilya might take her son away from her. He obviously didn’t have a heart after all, and probably wouldn’t see how a mother could very possibly pine to death at the loss of her child.
“Don’t even think about it.” She growled, the sound uncharacteristically fierce. “He’s my son and he’s staying with me until he’s at least thirty if I have my way.”
“You’ll turn him into a mama’s boy with no balls to call his own.” Ilya pointed at Roman. “He needs a man’s firm hand if he’s not going to grow up to be a pussy.”
“He would have had a father if Vasili hadn’t mysteriously disappeared, wouldn’t he?” She snapped. “And anyway, he’s my son and any decisions about his upbringing will be made by me, alone.”
Ilya smiled at her, because they both knew she was talking shit. Ilya controlled everything, and nobody challenged him. Not even his baby sister.
“Ok, before you go into a girlie sulk and make me lose what’s left of my temper with you, I need to talk to you about the men from the auctioneers.” Ilya pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and was about to take one out when he saw Niko glare at him.
Smoking in front of Roman was another no-no.
He shook his head in fake annoyance but slid the packet back into his shirt pocket.
“What time are they getting in tomorrow?” He asked.
“I haven’t had the final times yet, but the last message said late morning, whatever that means.” She shrugged. “Why? Is there a problem?”
“What is the likelihood that one of them can drive a truck?” Ilya asked, and Niko was almost afraid to ask why. At this late stage she didn’t want any changes to their schedule or their personnel.
“No idea.” She admitted. “I can find out later this evening. Why do we need another driver?”
“Not ‘another’ driver.” Ilya corrected. “A ‘replacement’ driver. Omer was stabbed last night after cleaning up in a poker game at the casino. Some argument about cheating. He’s in the hospital, and it’s touch and go whether he’ll pull through.”
“Sh… oot!” Niko grimaced.
Omer had been her driver for the last few trips, and he was about the nicest of Ilya’s men. He had his own family, which was why he was always trying to make extra money, he loved kids, and most importantly, stood guard over Niko like she was his own kid sister, keeping Ilya’s other men away from her.
Without him around she would feel more than a little exposed.
“I’ll check in with the auctioneer later and let you know.” She nodded. “I’m going to take the Audi this afternoon, to go and put the rest of our stuff back in storage.”
“I have work for you this afternoon.” Ilya shook his head. “You’ll be busy.”
“It’ll take me half an hour, Ilya.” Niko pointed out. “I want to make sure I don’t lose all our stuff again if we don’t get back here soon. We have precious little as it is. I can’t afford to replace it all.”
“Complaining again, baby sister?” Ilya growled.
“Just stating a fact.” Niko didn’t want to push him too hard. Her brother had a temper that was legendary. “Now, if you don’t need me for anything else, I’ll get our stuff into storage, and meet you at the warehouse once I’ve dropped Roman at Vanya’s place.”
“She’s good with the boy, no?” Ilya laughed, obviously remembering Niko’s original protests against the woman.
“She managed to feed him without poisoning him, and then played a card game with him for an hour.” Niko pointed out. “That easily surpassed all my expectations, but we’ll do this in small steps. Today she can look after him for two hours, but that’s enough.”
“Then you’d better finish the planning in time.” Ilya stood up. “If anything goes wrong with this trip, it’s on you.”
He didn’t wait for her response, and she didn’t expect him to.
Ilya wasn’t great at planning, and she’d been taking on most of the responsibility for a few years now. Everyth
ing had been done that needed to be done, so she wasn’t worried that she had missed anything.
As to whether anything would go wrong, that was entirely another matter.
They were trafficking more than a hundred women two thousand miles across at least seven separate countries. What the hell could go wrong?
Chapter 22 – Hollywood
Hollywood sat staring at his plate, hungry but too agitated to eat.
This business with Hannah had really riled him up, and his normally healthy appetite had all but deserted him.
She was a tiny little thing, and it didn’t matter that she was a thirty-something capable woman. Hollywood couldn’t help but feel protective towards her. It had nothing to do with how attractive she was, and his feelings towards her were in no way romantic, but… shit! JT was supposed to be like a brother to Hannah, and he’d obviously upset her badly.
That just wasn’t right. And it certainly wasn’t what he’d come to expect from members of the Alpha-Stalwart family.
He took a sip of his long cold coffee, not even noticing the liquid was room temperature.
It didn’t seem to matter who they were, how old or how pretty, Hollywood had a protective streak a mile wide when it came to women and children, and to think that all that hurt had been caused by someone Hannah would consider a close friend, just made it doubly painful in Hollywood’s eyes.
“Are you still fretting over Hannah?” Kris sat down in the seat opposite, placing a fresh mug of coffee on the table in front of him, and pushing another mug across the table towards Hollywood.
“You didn’t see how upset she was.” Hollywood shrugged at the big, bald Russian. “I should’ve called Danny to go after her.”
“I thought you said she didn’t want you to contact Danny.” Kellen glanced over from the little kitchenette, where he was heating something up in the microwave oven.
“She didn’t.” Hollywood nodded. “But sometimes you have to do the opposite of what people want you to do, if it’s for their own good.”
“And who makes that decision?” Yuri sat down next to his brother. “You?”
Hollywood shrugged.
“Maybe I should’ve.” He admitted. “But instead of going with my gut, now I’m left wondering if JT has found her, and if he has, whether or not he’s upset her even more.”
“Who’s upset whom even more?” Evan asked, as he wandered back into the dining area carrying a take-out bag, followed closely by Logan who was carrying a couple of bottles of juice.
Hollywood glanced up and shrugged.
“Doesn’t matter.” He grunted, knowing he was only a short step away from losing his shit altogether, and with the object of his anger having just walked in, he didn’t think it would be a good idea to continue with the conversation.
“Well, that’s fucking rude!” Logan’s accent was unmistakable. “The man asked you a perfectly polite question and you shut him down? Not cool, man. Not at all.”
Hollywood glanced up towards Kellen as if to say, ‘Can you believe this asshole?’
“We were having a conversation about Hannah if you must know.” Kris explained. “How she and JT have had words, and he’s upset her quite badly.”
“Really?” Evan was surprised. “I thought those two were really tight. Like brother and sister tight.”
“They are, normally.” Kellen confirmed, taking a seat at the table, placing his plate and cutlery in front of him. “But something has caused a big bust up, and JT said some stuff which has really fucked up their relationship. She went out to clear her head, and he’s gone after her, hopefully to apologise.”
“Typical female behaviour.” Logan snorted. “Can’t get your own way so you throw your toys out of the pram and wait for the guy to come crawling back with an apology, regardless of whether he’s in the wrong or not.”
Hollywood jumped to his feet, ready to defend Hannah, but the sound of Kellen’s chair flying backwards and hitting the wall, stopped him in his tracks.
“Listen to me, you little fucktard!” Kellen growled, slamming his hands down on the table that separated him from the Scot, making the plate and cutlery rattle. “You’re the reason for all the fucking tension in the first place, so if I was you, I’d keep my mouth shut about whatever fucked up opinion you’ve got about Hannah, Nikita Federova, or women in general.”
Logan stepped back, more in surprise rather than fear of what Kellen would do next.
“Me?” He laughed. “What did I do? I haven’t even spoken to Hannah for two days. She’s all chatty with you guys, but hardly looks in my direction.”
“That’s because she’s worried that your attitude towards Nikita Federova is going to get us all killed.” Hollywood pointed out. “You’ve been a complete dick every time the woman’s name is mentioned, to the point where half of us are wondering about how stable you are. For some reason JT seems ready to jump to your defence, and that’s caused a bust up between them. As of thirty minutes ago, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this whole operation is cancelled. Finito, fucking kaput!”
“You’re saying this is all my fault?” Logan snorted in disbelief, but Hollywood noticed his skin had paled considerably.
“Well, who do you blame?” Kellen retorted. “You obviously have issues which the rest of us know nothing about, and Hannah is the person responsible for putting this team on the ground and making sure we’re all fit to do the job. If JT is covering something up, then it’s no surprise that Hannah’s freaking out, as in her mind, if something happens to one of us, the blood is on her hands. She takes that responsibility very seriously.”
“My issues are none of your fucking business.” Logan snarled. “They don’t stop me from doing my job, so none of you need worry on that score.”
“That’s exactly the point, though, isn’t it?” Kris pointed out. “Not knowing what your issues are leaves us all very twitchy. We don’t know whether you’re going to be reliable or not under pressure. I like to know that the men I’m working with have got my back like I have theirs. If they have a weakness, I need to know what it is, so I can compensate for it in whichever way works for the team.”
Hollywood could almost hear Logan grinding his teeth together.
“My attitude towards Nikita Federova stems from a woman I had to deal with during an operation in Afghanistan.” He growled. “She was responsible for eight of my friends dying. That’s as much as you need to know about my ‘issues’. How I deal with the Russian woman once we’re on the ground will be totally professional, and I guarantee you, she won’t have a single cause for complaint. So, none of you have any need to worry for your safety. I’ve managed with this in my head for almost six years and not fucked up a mission yet. I’m not going to fuck this one up either.”
“That’s good to know.” JT’s voice made Hollywood jump. “Logan, please report to Hannah’s office, where you can go over that story again in greater detail. She’s the one you need to convince that you’re up to the job.”
Logan looked like he was going to argue.
“Or you can take up an alternate, less stressful job at Alpha Company.” JT said calmly. “Your call.”
“Yes, boss.” Logan started towards the door, his face a mottled red, either from anger or embarrassment, Hollywood wasn’t sure.
“And for the record, if you want to call anyone around here ‘boss’ in future, then the title goes to Hannah.” JT explained to everyone in the room. “She’s earned it, and the respect that goes with it. You’ll… we’ll all do well to remember that.”
Hollywood nodded and watched his team-mates do the same.
“She’s staying?” He asked, before he realised the words had come out of his mouth.
“She is.” Hollywood could almost hear the sigh of relief in JT’s voice.
“Good.” He nodded. “Because if she’d have walked, I’d have gone with her. An operation like this can only work with Hannah Simons at the controls.”
His team-mates nodded th
eir agreement, but it was JT that Hollywood was staring at.
“You’re absolutely right.” JT smiled. “And she’s quite capable of kicking me in the ass again, if ever I make the mistake of forgetting it.”
Hollywood watched JT walk out through the door and had to admit the guy had class to get himself out of a fucked-up situation like he had done.
Ok, so JT had been an idiot to get himself into the mess in the first place, but then, they could all talk themselves into trouble every once in a while. It was a skill known to be present in the DNA of almost every man on the planet.
Hollywood glanced around at his team-mates.
“Come on.” He picked up his coffee mug and took it to the sink where he rinsed it and left it to dry. “Hannah will be ready for the final briefing at two o’clock. We don’t want to be late for the boss lady.”
For some strange reason he was feeling more optimistic about this mission than he had been for a few days.
Just knowing that the Queen of Badass was going to be running the show made him feel a whole lot better.
Chapter 23 – Hannah
Hannah stared at her screen where the latest message from her Russian contact had all but left her speechless.
“Does one of your men hold a valid European license to drive a truck?”
What the hell were they thinking? How many truck driving bodyguards did the Russians think they would have on their books?
Hannah read through the full message again, and more importantly, what was visible between the lines. If Hannah didn’t come up with a truck driver, then the Russians would have to leave some of the cargo behind when they moved out of Ankara.
Hannah didn’t know exactly how many that would be, but it meant that there would be vulnerable women that they could have saved, who would still be living in danger. That was simply unacceptable.
“Ahem.” The fake clearing of a throat caught her attention. “Are you busy?”
Hannah looked up to see Logan standing in the doorway, and her heart sank. Her emotions were all over the place, and she wasn’t sure she was ready for another confrontation.