by Beth Abbott
Niko closed her eyes. She had been plotting and planning for this day for over six months, so she should be excited that it was finally here. Why was it that all she could feel now was fear and regret?
If only she could tell Hollywood about it and ask him to come with her. Maybe Kellen too, as he seemed a decent guy.
The next message had really scared the hell out of her.
“In position, waiting for the trucks to arrive. More of Ilya’s men here than expected. Maybe thirty? What’s going on?”
Thirty more men? Where the hell did they come from?
“I don’t know who they are.” She typed. “Will let you know as soon as we arrive. Be patient, as I have no way of finding out in advance.”
How did they expect her to know what was going on? She may be Ilya’s sister, but she was the last person he would ever confide in.
Ilya told her what he thought she needed to know, and only when he thought she needed to know it.
So, another thirty of his men had showed up. He wouldn’t think that was a big deal. The matter of who was going to feed them wasn’t something he would have thought of either, which meant that they would be thirty pissed off men by the end of the night.
And how were Hollywood, Kellen, and the others going to keep that many men away from the women?
“Problem?” Hollywood’s voice cut into her panic attack, which was probably a good thing.
She pretended to be surprised at his question.
“No. Should there be a problem?” She smiled across at him.
The half-smile on Hollywood’s handsome face told her he knew she was full of crap.
“Niko, in the last half an hour you have sighed maybe twenty times.” He pointed out. “And you’ve checked your phone for messages fifty times. If that’s not the sign of a problem, then I don’t know what is.”
Niko guessed she could try and lie to his face but decided she didn’t want to. She could at least use Hollywood as a sounding board, even if she couldn’t tell him exactly what was going on.
“Apparently, there are a lot more of Ilya’s men at the warehouse than we were expecting.” She explained. “I’m not sure who they are, or where they’ve come from, but obviously Ilya has told them where to be, or why would they have shown up?”
“Have you asked him?” Hollywood asked, as though it were a simple question.
“Well, it’s funny you should ask me that, because, oddly enough, no, I haven’t gone out of my way to piss my brother off by asking such a question.” She sighed again. “You know how much he likes me poking my nose into what he considers is none of my business. Given the choice, I don’t think I’ll provoke him this evening. I haven’t got the energy to deal with him tonight.”
Kellen chose that moment to poke his head through the curtains, just inches from her face.
“Shit!” She hissed, jumping back. “A little warning next time would be nice!”
“D’you want me to whistle Dixie?” He asked, grinning his ass off.
“Was there a reason for the interruption?” She asked, not inclined to respond to his good humour.
“Yep. I just got a message from Kris to say that a bunch of Ilya’s men are gonna be at our destination.” He explained. “Apparently they’re there to party.”
“I suppose that means that Ilya’s latest business deal went well?” Hollywood suggested.
“It sounds like it.” Niko frowned. “I just wished I knew exactly what this deal was about. Ilya’s getting himself involved in stuff that is really over his head.”
She noticed Hollywood turn his head to glance at Kellen, and figured she’d said too much. Her brother’s business was exactly that, his business. If he knew that she’d been talking about it to anyone else, his punishment would be swift and severe.
Still, at least the information she was getting from the different sources was pretty much the same.
Niko typed an update to her contact and hit send.
She felt the grind of the engine, and the truck seemed to speed up.
“Why are we going faster?” She asked, glancing over at Hollywood.
“Your brother’s men have been complete assholes since day one.” He smiled at her. “With even more men around, they’re possibly going to think it’s time for them to take advantage of the fact that they outnumber us, and they might go after the women. We need to get there as soon as we can, and preferably before either of the other trucks have started to unload. Assuming there’s somewhere for the women to be kept safely overnight, then during the transfer is when they’re likely to be at their most vulnerable.”
Niko’s heart sank. He was absolutely right about how much danger they could all be in. She wouldn’t have put it past her brother to have offered the women to his men as a reward.
“Faster.” She said quietly, praying that the truck’s engine had a little more power in it than was currently being demanded.
“If there are going to be even more of Ilya’s assholes around, then you’re going to need this.” Kellen passed something through to Hollywood, and Niko stared at it in surprise.
“Is that a bulletproof vest?” She asked. She’d seen one in the movies but not up close.
“It’s known as Kevlar.” Kellen nodded. “I’m sorry I don’t have one in your size.”
Niko looked at him like he’d gone nuts.
“Do you always carry this sort of thing in your luggage?” She whispered.
“Erm, that would be an affirmative.” He grinned. “In our line of business, it’s something of a must-have item.”
“You all have them?” She frowned.
“Never leave home without one.” Hollywood grinned. “I don’t think I’ve gone more than a week without wearing one since I turned eighteen.”
“Me neither.” Kellen agreed. “In our line of work, they’re as essential as a businessman needing a sharp suit, or a woman needing that little black dress in her wardrobe. It just goes with the territory.”
“Have either of you ever been shot?” She asked quietly.
“I’ve been shot once, in the leg.” Kellen confirmed. “Really just a flesh-wound, thankfully. It didn’t hit anything important.”
Niko noticed Hollywood hadn’t answered.
“And you?” She pressed. “Have you ever been shot?”
“Twice.” He turned and smiled at her. “And if you’re a really good girl, I may even show you my scars.”
Niko couldn’t believe these men could be so flippant about it. They could have been killed for God’s sake!
“Breathe, Niko.” Hollywood’s hand reached out and he squeezed her cold fingers. “That’s why we wear the Kevlar. So that we don’t get killed.”
She nodded her head just as she heard the GPS system instruct them to make a right turn.
She looked ahead and saw they were in an industrial area, just like the many she’d visited since she’d been working for Ilya.
A few more turns and the woman’s voice gleefully advised them that they had ‘reached their destination’.
As Hollywood pulled into the oversized metal shed, she noticed that both of the other trucks still had their lights on, suggesting that they’d only just pulled in ahead of them. At least it didn’t look like any of the women had been unloaded.
This was the biggest warehouse they’d stayed in yet, and it looked to be the size of three or four football pitches.
There were what looked like animal pens with metal fences up and down two sides, with discarded machinery strewn around the place, obviously nothing worth stealing or salvaging.
In the distance, by the far wall, a group of men sat around on a bunch of wooden boxes and makeshift benches. Judging by the number of vodka and beer bottles lying around the place, the party had already begun.
“I can’t see anywhere suitable to hold the women where the men can’t get at them.” Niko murmured, looking around. “What the hell was Ilya thinking?”
She took a few deep breaths, ready fo
r the confrontation to come, knowing that she’d have to put on her uber-bitch performance if she wanted these new men to respect her.
Before she could move, Hollywood yanked off his t-shirt and quickly donned his vest before pulling the t-shirt back on. Niko barely had a glimpse of some impressively toned muscles before they were covered again, and she almost pouted that they’d come and gone with no warning.
“Kellen can stay here for the moment with Roman, but I’m coming with you.” Hollywood smiled at her as Kellen handed him an automatic pistol. “Not negotiable, sweetheart.”
As if she’d been about to argue with him.
“Fine by me.” She smiled. “You can hold me back if I look like I’m going to punch one of them.”
Hollywood’s chuckle was all she needed to find her spine again.
Come on, Niko, she thought. You’ve done this shit a hundred times. At least you’ve got a big guy backing you up this time. And that’s not something you’ve ever had the luxury of before.
Pull on your big girl panties and go and give them hell!
Chapter 57 – Hollywood
Hollywood dropped to the ground on the driver’s side and was around to the passenger’s side before Niko’s feet could hit the ground.
One look at Ilya’s men really did make him wish he’d thought to bring a Kevlar vest in Niko’s size. If he had to hazard a guess, Hollywood reckoned that at least half of the men were armed, even if only with handguns.
If… correction, make that ‘when’ the shit hit the fan, there were gonna be bullets flying around in every direction, which meant that the last thing he needed when that happened was to have Niko or Roman anywhere close to the action.
Hollywood glanced across and saw Yuri and Kris walking towards them, and he was relieved to see they both seemed to be wearing their vests under their shirts.
He followed close behind Niko as she walked over to some of Ilya’s regular guys and was happier when they met up with his fellow Guardians halfway.
When Niko stopped about twenty feet short and glared at Ilya’s men, Yuri casually turned his back to the group and waited.
Niko yelled something at the men, and Hollywood was impressed that she managed to sound so menacing.
“She wants to know where the women are supposed to be housed.” Yuri murmured the translation, and for the first time Hollywood turned and took a really good look around the huge shed.
There were no inner walls at all, save for one small construction that could pass for an outhouse, which presumably contained some sort of toilet. All that he could see was some fencing made up of steel railings along two sides.
A few of the men shrugged at Niko’s question, still engrossed in their conversation with the new-comers.
“I asked where the women were supposed to sleep.” Niko’s temper was seriously fraying as she switched to English. “Do you want to explain that to me, or would you rather explain it to my brother?”
Bogdan, the guy Hollywood recognised from earlier as having the most attitude turned to Niko with a sneer.
“This is your brother’s place.” He swept his arms around. “Ilya, he knows it looks like this. Maybe he don’t care where the women sleep. Hmm?”
Hollywood hated to admit that the guy was probably right, and that Ilya really didn’t give a shit where the women slept.
“Hey, little girl, why don’t you come over here and sit on my cock?” One of the group shouted over at her, grabbing his crotch for effect.
Hollywood stepped a little closer to Niko and stared at the guy.
“Why don’t you come over here and I’ll see if I can find your cock.” He smiled. “If I can, maybe I’ll cut it off and give it to Bogdan, so he can suck you off.”
Hollywood folded his arms with the automatic pistol still in his hand, making sure all of Ilya’s men could see it.
The guy with the big mouth looked like he was going to get up and start something, but then a couple of his friends said something in Russian, possibly translating Hollywood’s offer for the benefit of the others, and they all started teasing him.
Thankfully, in less than five seconds, he became more pissed with them than with Hollywood, so Hollywood took the chance to speak to Niko quietly, so they wouldn’t be overheard.
“Those railings form a pen in the corner, and the railings on the next pen are missing, giving us room to park one of the trucks.” He pointed out, nodding at the corner. “If we reverse the trucks in at right angles to square it off, we can easily guard them from the inside, making sure the women don’t get out, and with just the one entrance, we can stand guard to make sure none of Ilya’s men can get in.”
“We’ll have to stay awake all night if need be.” Niko murmured.
“It’s a much better solution than leaving them on the trucks all night. The temperature will be unbearable, and they have no bathroom facilities.” Hollywood pointed out.
“There are no bathroom facilities here, either.” Niko looked around.
“There are some bales of hay we can stack up, and if we can find a bucket, then it’s better than nothing.” Hollywood suggested.
Niko scrunched up her nose, obviously not keen on using the ‘facilities’ herself.
“Ok, you and your guys organise the women, and I’ll get Roman and find out where the food is.” Niko nodded.
Hollywood was reluctant to leave Niko unguarded for even a second, but as she was already on her way back to Kellen and Roman, he jogged over to speak to the other Guardians.
“We’re going to have to keep the women in the pen for now, until we can get them all out.” He explained. “Once they’ve been offloaded from the trucks, we’ll back two trucks in to create the effect of having walls. If Ilya or anyone questions it, we can just say that we’re making sure the women can’t escape, and that we can keep guard over them more easily.”
Kris nodded in agreement.
“It’ll definitely make it much harder for Ilya’s men to get to them, and trying will have far less appeal for them, if they know they have to get through us first.” He acknowledged.
“What it will also do, is give the rescue team a chance to get the women out underneath the steel panels that make up the walls. Have you noticed that the pens aren’t built on a concrete floor?” Hollywood glanced away from where the others were now looking. “If that’s earth all the way down, the rescue team could dig their way in once it’s dark, with little or no chance of being spotted with the trucks in the way. We could get the women out before anyone ever noticed.”
“It would make it a whole lot easier to have them out of the way when the time came to take on Ilya and his men.” Logan nodded. “But what about Niko? Will she go? Or will she stay with her brother.”
Hollywood thought he knew the answer, but it wasn’t a sure thing by any means.
“I’ll tell her at the last possible moment, so she doesn’t have a chance to think about it.” He couldn’t do much else. “And if she doesn’t go willingly, I’ll grab her and the kid and drag them out if I have to. She is not going down with Ilya out of some misguided sense of family loyalty.”
“Let’s start getting the women off the trucks.” Evan nodded. “If we start with ours because it’s the closest, it’s also the easiest one to reverse into place to block Ilya’s men’s view of what’s going on. Hopefully they won’t take an interest until the women are all tucked away.”
“Do it quietly.” Logan cautioned. “We don’t want Ilya’s men to check on what we’re doing, or worse, to come over and help us.”
Yuri and Kris wandered to the back of the truck Evan and Logan had been travelling in, and opened it up quietly, making sure they didn’t throw the door right back and attract unwanted attention.
Hollywood watched Kris climb up and make his way through the box tunnel to the hatch-like door to the compartment where the women were being held.
He opened it quietly, and beckoned the women out, holding his finger to his lips to let them know t
o be quiet.
One of the first to crawl through the opening was the woman Niko had been talking to, and he surprised her by offering her a hand to help her down.
She accepted his help somewhat reluctantly, and he pointed towards the pen, urging her to lead the rest of the women inside. Yuri murmured something to her as she passed, and her head shot up immediately.
Yuri nodded and smiled, but like his brother, he touched his finger to his lips, reminding her to be quiet.
It felt like forever before they were all unloaded, but in reality, it was probably no more than five minutes.
“Get the other trucks unloaded before we move this one.” Hollywood pulled his phone from his pocket and leaned against the truck as though he didn’t have a care in the world. “Once they’re all in the same place it will be easier to protect them.”
He started to type a message to Hannah, keeping one eye on Ilya’s men as he did so.
“No separate room, so women held in pen in south-west corner. SF should be able to dig under corrugated steel wall once it gets dark, to get all the women out. Once they’re clear, the rest of the Hungarians can move in to take down Ilya’s men.”
Hollywood hit send and waited, pretending that he was still typing on his phone.
Seconds later Hannah’s reply came back.
“Best plan I’ve heard all day. I’ll have the men in position. We haven’t got as many men as I would have liked, but then again, I wasn’t expecting Ilya to have his own army. Just give me the signal to let me know when we can start moving the women out. Are you in a position to activate your body cameras? Would really like some audio and visuals.”
“Will the battery life last long enough?” Hollywood had avoided using it, not only because it meant putting his jacket on when it was so hot, but also because Hannah had warned that they only had around six hours of battery power.
“Yeah, should do. If this isn’t over by the time they run out, then we’re probably in bigger trouble for other reasons.”
Hollywood smiled to himself. The little pixie wasn’t wrong, that was for sure.