“But he didn’t win; he’s now dead. I suppose you and Viktor killed him to gain his power and influence.”
“Mikhail, you too are a fool. Do you believe that Igor is a man you can kill easily?”
“What do you mean?”
“Igor got homesick; he is in Russia and is very happy there.”
“He is alive! And they let him back home. So why did he ask for asylum here?”
“It was a way to confuse his enemies, and he wanted to further his business interests. He’s asked me to run his operations in England,” said Sergei.
“And you do his dirty business to destroy the country as men like you have done in Russia. It seems Igor now has everything he wants.”
“Not everything, he wants his daughter with him in Russia.”
“Ah Alena,” said Mikhail.
“Yes, that’s what he says. You know now. Don’t worry, Mikhail, I’ll get someone to call the police tomorrow so they can find your body,” said Sergei.
“Like you did to Yelena,” said Mikhail.
“Believe me, I did not want to hurt her.”
“How did you get her to open the door to you?”
“I told her I just wanted to warn you. That’s why I sent two men to your apartment. But she kept screaming at me that I was a traitor to our country. I had no choice but to stop her.”
Sergei nodded to the security guard who had moved to stand behind Mikhail. Feeling a sharp pain like an electrical current at the back of his knee, Mikhail fell to the floor. Lying face down he kicked backwards. The security guard fell and dropped a taser from his hands. Mikhail and the security man started scuffling on the floor and punching each other as Sergei moved around them like a referee trying to work out who was winning. Mikhail grabbed hold of the man, punching him hard and causing him to fall, hitting his head on the kitchen table and knocking himself out.
Sergei took out a gun and pointed it at Mikhail’s head. “Now you force me to kill you,” said Sergei ready to pull the trigger. Mikhail, seeing the taser on the floor beside him, grabbed it and pressed it toward Sergei, causing him to fall. The gun went off hitting Sergei in the chest and killing him. Mikhail got up from the floor and stood over the two men but began to feel dizzy and collapsed.
When he woke, he heard a voice say, “You’re going to be all right, Red Fox, the medication has been a success.”
Looking around he saw he was in a hospital bed with Ron standing over him.
“How did I get here, what has happened to me?” asked Mikhail.
“I found you unconscious in the cottage. It was poison,” said Ron.
“How?” asked Mikhail.
“There was fentanyl in the soup which is up to a hundred times more powerful than morphine. The doctors were able to identify it quickly because the park fox died from eating the vegetables in the soup.”
“The soup Sergei gave Alena, so he meant to kill her too.”
“We don’t believe so; he knew she was allergic to beetroot because Igor told him.”
“How do you know this, Ron?”
“From all the information you gave us, my surveillance of Sergei, and our agents in Russia have given us evidence that Igor is still alive. He and Sergei planned to fake his death,” replied Ron
“But why did Igor do that? He was a success here,” asked Mikhail.
“No, it was all a lie. His property business in Europe was in trouble, and he was under threat from people more ruthless he owed money to. So he decided to go back to Russia as he still had a lot of property and the media business there.”
“Sergei told me Igor lied about needing asylum.”
“Yes, you got it. Igor put all the assets in Alena’s name to stop anyone getting at it. It makes her very rich.”
“That’s why Sergei wanted her to go to Russia.”
"Yes, they needed her signature to get the money out."
"Who was in Igor’s coffin?" asked Mikhail.
“One of his security guards. When the guard had a heart attack, Igor and Sergei got their chance and pretended the guard was Igor."
"I was a fool about Igor; he didn’t even care for his daughter."
"Sergei and Viktor killed Johnny when Igor suspected he was a British agent. And Philip, Fred and Sasha were all killed to gain a bigger slice of the pie, all for Igor's benefit.”
“And Sergei and Viktor murdered Yelena.”
“No, it was Sergei. Viktor was not in St Petersburg on that day.”
“How do I tell Alena that her father did all this?”
“You don’t need to, I’ve told her.”
“And she’s all right that her father is alive and living in Russia?”
“That’s not the case, Red Fox. Her father is not in Russia. Her father’s right here in England, and I’m looking at him.”
Mikhail put his hands over his face in shock at this revelation.
“You mean Alena is my daughter Marina!”
“Our agent passed over this information yesterday. I didn’t know if you would survive this and she was the next of kin, so I had to tell her.”
“What does she feel about this?”
“That’s best left to you, Red Fox, to ask. I’ll tell her to come in.”
“Ron, how did Igor get my daughter?”
“When your mother died, your daughter was put in an orphanage. Igor’s wife couldn’t have children, so he decided to adopt your Marina as his own and changed her name to Alena.”
“Igor took everything from me,” said Mikhail to himself when Ron had left the hospital room.
He was deep in thought about why Igor did all these things to him when Alena walked in towards his bed. For the first the time he saw things about her that he had never noticed before, her red hair was similar to his mother, her eyes though hazel and his blue were as striking as his once were. And the way she walked into the room with the elegance of a dancer the same way Yelena had walked, as she had once been a dancer. When Alena came closer to his bed, he could see that she couldn’t have been anybody else’s daughter but his.
“I’ve been so worried about you. How could Sergei be so evil?”
“Ron told you something else.”
“Yes, he did. I am still in shock. I need you to give me time to get used to this,” said Alena.
Weeks had passed since Mikhail recovered from the poisoning. He had not seen Alena since her hospital visit. Jack McFadden had called him to say he was going to stay in Ireland and that Mikhail could keep the job and use the cottage as long as he wanted. Mikhail went back to the Pavilion Park cottage and carried on with the upkeep of the park, helping out with events held there. Ron contacted him to say he wanted to give him time to recover before getting in touch again.
One Sunday afternoon as Mikhail sat on the park bench looking at the family photos he had treasured for so long. Alena walked over to the park and sat beside him on the bench.
“This is your mother Yelena, she loved life.”
“I want you to tell me everything about her,” said Alena.
“Yes, I would like to do that,” said Mikhail.
“I want you to come and live with me in the house,” said Alena.
“To be your chauffeur?”
“No, to be my father. It’s not finished yet. There is so much more to do. Ron wants us to continue working with him. He says we make a good team.”
“And you want to do this?”
“Yes, I am my father’s daughter, after all. I hate corruption,” said Alena putting her hand in his. Mikhail held it tightly.
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Big Ben in the Badlands
15-year-old Ben Thomas is desperate to become the best online gamer in the world to earn enough money so he can take his family away from Goldstone Street - a part of town that fighting never stops and where he works on Saturdays in the market with his best friend, Fez. Everything changes one day when he’s given a prehistoric fossil in an antique shop. After discovering that the artefact has an incredible secret Ben and Fez wind up on an epic adventure that takes them to a land untouched since ancient creatures walked the earth. In this world, the friends get themselves in the middle of a struggle between good and evil. The fate of this world as old as time hangs in the balance with every move they make.
Big Ben in The Badlands is a thrilling, jaw-dropping YA adventure fantasy that takes another view of a Jurassic Park by R.P.Thompson but one which you will love just as much.
Discover how Ben and his best friend Fez try to help with a struggle, not unlike the one that they face back in their world.
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Copyright © R.P.Thompson (2018). All rights reserved.
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The Pavilion Man Page 11