Ganglands, Russia

by Ross Kemp

  Lena sighed, and looked out across the pond. ‘I don’t know,’ she admitted. ‘The modelling’s certainly out for a while. I don’t think fashion photographers are all that keen on the bandaged look.’

  ‘You’re still the most beautiful girl I know,’ Alexei said quietly.

  Lena smiled, and squeezed his arm. ‘Maybe I should go back to Volgograd,’ she continued, ‘but it doesn’t feel right somehow … kind of like I’m running away. Does that sound crazy?’

  ‘Not to me.’

  ‘But you’d like to stay in Moscow, wouldn’t you?’

  Alexei shrugged. ‘Maybe. I’d still like to study here one day. But right now, wherever you go, I’m going too.’

  He had known that from the very second Lena had woken up. It was the only thing that Alexei was sure of any more. The previous eight weeks had been a crazed blur of activity. Having escaped down the hospital’s back stairs moments before the police had arrived in Lena’s room, Alexei had been relieved that his true identity had remained a secret. Although Rozalina Petrova’s release had been splashed across the news reports and the papers, in her account of her ordeal the lawyer had never once mentioned his name, or that of Trojan Industries. The identity of the so-called ‘Good Samaritans’ who had saved her in Novodevichy Cemetery had remained a mystery, despite one tabloid offering a reward of 100,000 roubles if they stepped forward. Comforted by his anonymity, Alexei was able to attend the trials of Pavel, Medved and Marat – which had been fast-tracked due to the intense media glare surrounding their case. He concealed himself at the back of the gallery, watching with silent satisfaction as Rozalina provided a confident and damning testimony against the three men.

  When the judge eventually handed down lengthy prison sentences, a piercing scream rent the gallery. Alexei looked across and saw Svetlana clutching at the guardrail.

  ‘No!’ she screamed. ‘My baby! You bastards!’

  Medved looked dolefully down at his feet as his girlfriend spat curses at the judge. Officers sprang forward to restrain her. As she was carried kicking and screaming from the courtroom, Svetlana’s eyes met Alexei’s. Hateful recognition flashed across her face before she was bundled outside.

  For all her protestations to the contrary, Alexei could see that Lena was starting to tire. He led her over to a bench and sat down beside her. A copy of the day’s Moscow Times lay abandoned on the wooden slats, its pages rustling in the soft breeze. Its headline blazed ‘BILLIONAIRE TYCOON ARRESTED’. The accompanying photograph showed Boris Lebedev being led out of the entrance of his Construktko building in handcuffs. Just as Darius Jordan had predicted, someone in the Moscow Eagles had implicated the tycoon. Apparently, the authorities had already frozen Lebedev’s assets – Lilya was going to have to wait a while for a new fur coat. The Moscow Times was already eagerly anticipating Russia’s ‘Trial of the Century’.

  As he sat in a comfortable silence with Lena, his arm around her shoulders, Alexei felt his skin tingle in warning. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw a slender figure watching them from the trees. It was Nadia.

  Perhaps he should have been more surprised than he was. In a strange way, Alexei had expected to run into Nadia again. There had been a couple of times when he had thought about phoning her to check that she was OK, but somehow it hadn’t seemed right. She must have felt the same, because she hadn’t contacted him either.

  Alexei got to his feet. ‘I’ve just seen someone I’ve got to speak to,’ he whispered to Lena. ‘Don’t run off anywhere.’

  ‘Fat chance of that,’ she grinned.

  Alexei strode over to where Nadia was waiting, her hands clasped awkwardly in front of her. The blonde-haired girl’s face was grave, and there were dark rings beneath her eyes. She smiled uncertainly as Alexei greeted her.

  ‘Nadia! What are you doing here?’

  ‘I was waiting outside the hospital for you. I wanted to talk to you but you came out with your girlfriend and I didn’t want to intrude.’

  ‘How are you? I haven’t seen you since the night we freed Rozalina.’

  ‘Not so good, I guess.’ She paused. ‘I’m under arrest.’

  ‘What?’ gasped Alexei. ‘What for?’

  ‘Marat told the police that I had uploaded the videos of the Eagles fighting on the net. Apparently once he started talking, he couldn’t stop – he implicated anyone who’d even heard of the Eagles. They’re going to charge me with abetting hate crimes. There’s a good chance I’ll end up in prison.’

  ‘They can’t do that!’ Alexei protested. ‘Without you, Rozalina would be dead! I’ll tell the police that!’

  Nadia smiled sadly. ‘What will you tell them, Alexei? That I helped your secret gang-busting organization stop my brother? Marat tried to implicate you, but when the police couldn’t track you down they thought he was making it up. And they won’t believe you either – they’ll think you’re making it up to get the reward for saving Rozalina.’

  ‘But it’s just so unfair! How were you supposed to say no to Viktor?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Nadia said softly. ‘But I should have found a way. My brother’s gone now, and I want to make a fresh start. But I’ll never be able to move on if I don’t pay the price for what I did for the Eagles.’ She paused. ‘I haven’t slept properly since Viktor killed himself. Maybe when I’m in prison …’

  ‘I don’t understand,’ Alexei said, with a frown. ‘If you’re under arrest, how come you’re out here?’

  Nadia nodded behind her. Peering through the trees, Alexei noticed a man in a suit standing unobtrusively over by a set of railings.

  ‘Police escort,’ she said. ‘I promised them more information if they let me say goodbye to an old friend.’

  She looked away, biting her lip.

  ‘Nadia …’ Alexei began hesitantly. ‘Whatever happens, I won’t let you face it alone. Even if you do go to prison, I’ll come and visit you as often as I can.’

  Nadia shook her head. ‘Your girlfriend is waiting for you. She needs you more than I do. Goodbye, Alexei.’

  She turned and walked away without looking back. With a slight shake of the head, Alexei returned to the bench, where Lena was shielding her eyes from the sunlight as she observed his approach. ‘Pretty girl,’ she remarked. ‘Friend of yours?’

  Alexei watched as the man in the suit escorted Nadia away from the pond and helped her into the back of a white, unmarked car.

  ‘Used to be,’ he said.

  ‘I hope you haven’t been playing around behind my back,’ Lena said, with mock-seriousness.

  ‘Never,’ Alexei replied, kissing her on the forehead. ‘Come on. Let’s get back to the hospital. I promised Uncle Stepan I’d cook for him tonight, and he gets grouchy if his dinner is late.’

  As she got to her feet, Lena caught Alexei glancing at the newspaper headline. She gave him a shrewd look. ‘Why do I get the funny feeling that something’s gone on that you’re not telling me about?’

  ‘Female intuition?’ teased Alexei.

  A thoughtful look passed over Lena’s face. ‘I remember when I woke up …’ she murmured, ‘when I first saw you again … your face was bloodied and bruised. It looked like you’d been fighting. Did you get beaten up in the ring again?’

  ‘I got knocked down a few times,’ Alexei replied, gently squeezing Lena’s side as they walked away through the waning sunshine. ‘But I won in the end.’