by Beth Abbott
Drago turned to the Bellikov brothers.
“Where are you guys from, originally?” He asked.
“Podolsk, south of Moscow.” Kris confirmed. “But I don’t think we’ve been back there for almost twenty years. We’ve lived in America for almost twelve years, since we moved there with Gregor Diminov, our employer.”
“Drago said you were Spetsnaz. Which branch?” Abram asked.
“Counter-terrorism. Spetsgruppa A.” Yuri explained. “We left when Gregor made us an offer we couldn’t refuse.”
“How did you come to be working with Drago if you’re based in America?” Abram was obviously trying to piece things together.
“How long have you got?” Kris grinned. “The short version is that the guy we were working for hooked up with a bunch of other guys who see themselves as good Samaritans. They like to try and save the world when they’re not off playing happy families.”
“We happened to all be involved in the same rescue after I managed to make contact with someone who’s part of that family. You met Hannah this morning.” Drago continued the story. “She’s co-ordinating the mission we’re about to go on. We’re all on the same team now, albeit our pay-checks are signed off by different organisations.”
“And now, to add to your existing mission, you have to go in and rescue Micky Kozlova?” Abram snorted. “How lucky can you guys get?”
“Lucky?” Kellen asked. “How so?”
“Ok, well firstly, you get to go and beat the living crap out of a bunch of assholes. Fun times.” Abram grinned. “Then you get to swoop in and rescue the hottest piece of ass on the planet. Holy shit! If the guys in my unit could see me now, they’d be green with envy.”
“I saw the photo the General showed us.” Kellen nodded. “She looked pretty.”
“Pretty? Pretty?” Abram almost choked with laughter. “I don’t know what the picture was he showed you, but believe me, it couldn’t have done her justice. Micky could have been a beauty queen or a catwalk model. Hell, she could’ve played Wonderwoman!”
Kellen looked at Kris and Yuri with a frown.
“I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.” He wondered. “With her so-called boyfriend dead, she would have been better off being a plain Jane. The hotter she is, the more likely she is to be a target for Lebedev and his men.”
“I really don’t think you have to worry too much there.” Abram grinned. “You see, Micky is as smart as she is beautiful, so she can usually talk herself out of most situations. But if she can’t talk her way out, her daddy made sure she went through some of the toughest training available, the Spetsnaz Systema training, to be sure that she could take care of herself. I wouldn’t want to be the asshole who tried to mess with her.”
“She’s really that good?” Kellen doubted it, but Abram told a good story.
“Listen, when we were both stationed on the same base a few years ago, a bunch of the guys in my unit decided to try and get her interest, shall we say.” Abram chuckled. “The only guy who got close enough to touch her came away with three fingers dislocated on one hand. He needed hospital treatment.”
“Sounds like my kind of girl.” Kellen grinned. “I like a woman who can look after herself.”
“The guys in our unit put it around that she was a lesbian after that.” Abram grinned. “It was an easier way of saving face than to admit she just didn’t like any of them.”
“How do you know she’s not a lesbian?” Yuri challenged. “She wouldn’t be the first female in the military to prefer the company of other women.”
“Because I asked her, and she flat out denied it.” Abram shrugged. “There were a few of us, the ones who hadn’t tried to hit on her, that she actually talked to and occasionally socialised with, and she and I got to be pretty good friends. I asked her whether she was into girls, and she damn near wet her panties laughing at me. The woman is definitely not into other women. By staying away from men, she’s just trying to keep her nose clean hoping to redeem herself with her father, staying clear of doing anything that might upset him.”
“She’s a bad girl, too?” Kellen grinned. “I think I’m in love with her already.”
“You heard the General say she was a computer wizard, right? That’s how she managed to get picked up by Lebedev and why she’s so useful to him.” Abram leaned forward, as if he was letting them in on the world’s biggest secret. “Well, I bet you Lebedev doesn’t know the half of what that girl can do. She hacked into the Kremlin when she was barely thirteen, and almost got in to the US military missile launch system when she was fourteen. The only reason she didn’t actually get to fire something was because she chose not to. She was one click away.”
“Seriously?” Kris laughed. “She sounds like someone Hannah would want to meet.”
“Yeah, well… her old man didn’t take kindly to the FSB knocking on his door in the middle of the night and hauling her away.” Abram frowned. “He’d lost his wife when Micky was just ten and had thought his quiet little girl was a good, sweet kid. He had no idea what she was up to, probably because he was hardly ever home.”
“So, how did she end up in the FSB?” Yuri asked.
“Her release was conditional on her completing her education, including university, which she did by the time she was nineteen, and then going to work for the FSB.” Abram shrugged. “It was either ten years in prison, or ten years in the FSB. I guess she thought the FSB would be the easier option.”
“How old is she now?” Kellen asked, unable to guess from the picture he’d been shown because he didn’t know when it had been taken.
“She’s two years younger than me, so that would make her thirty, maybe close to thirty-one? Somewhere around there.”
“You said she had to serve ten years from the age of nineteen.” Kellen pointed out. “That means her time is up already. If we can get her out, she might be able to walk away from the FSB altogether. Wouldn’t Hannah be interested to know that!”
“I have no idea why Hannah would want to know that.” Abram shrugged. “But if we can get Micky out alive, and she can finally get out of the FSB, I reckon her old man will have his first decent night’s sleep for more than a decade.”
Yuri stared at Kellen with a frown.
“What exactly do you have in mind for Micky?” He asked curiously.
“Not sure yet.” Kellen shrugged. “But I’m feeling another Guardians recruitment drive coming on.”
Chapter 15 – Micky
“What’s the latest on Andre?” Micky sat in the office at the back of Lebedev’s casino, half her attention on her laptop screen, the other half on the one-way mirror in front of her, specifically on the man sitting just a few feet away on the opposite side of the glass.
“No news.” Sergei answered easily, as though he’d been waiting for her to ask.
“What do you mean, there’s ‘no news’, Sergei?” Micky scowled at her so-called employer. “He’s been missing for almost three months. You’re telling me that with all your resources, you can’t find out what’s happened to him?”
“Who says I have to apply all my resources to finding your boyfriend?” Lebedev smiled at her. “Why can’t you just accept that he’s found someone prettier than you? He’s run off with another woman, Micky. Get over it.”
Micky stared at Lebedev, trying to keep the look of contempt from showing on her face.
As much as she hated to admit it to herself, the only logical answer was that her partner was dead. They’d worked together for the last three years, spending almost twenty-four hours a day in each other’s company. They may not be lovers, as their cover had implied, but they were close friends, and there was no way Andre would have left her alone with Lebedev’s men if he’d had any say in the matter.
And there was definitely no way Andre’s cover had been blown. They’d been deeply embedded in Lebedev’s organisation for too long for anyone to have any suspicions about them or their loyalty to him.
“
Andre was talking about us getting married only the day before he disappeared.” Micky bit out. “He wasn’t fucking around with other women, so don’t try to tell me otherwise.”
Lebedev smiled at Micky as though he had a secret, he wasn’t willing to share with her.
“Women always think their men are being faithful to them, even when we all know its not in a man’s true nature to be monogamous.” He shrugged. “But if you want to believe Andre was being true to you, who am I to argue? Just don’t ask me to waste my time trying to track him down. If he doesn’t want to be with you, then far be it for me to find him and drag him home.”
“That’s fine by me.” Micky shrugged. “But don’t expect me to do his share of the work as well. I have two hands and one pair of eyes. That means I can only do one thing at a time.”
“If you stopped fucking whining, you’d be able to do that one thing far more quickly.” Lebedev pointed at her laptop. “So, what do you think? Does your all-seeing programme tell you he’s counting cards?”
Micky turned back to her screen.
The computer program she’d designed, looked at forty-eight different points on the man’s face, gauging his movements, blinks, twitches, even the number of times he smiled. It monitored where his eyes looked, and where they didn’t. It even looked right into his eyes to see if he could be wearing optically enhanced lenses, which may be able to help him track the cards.
Counting cards had been going on in casinos across the world for decades. Her method of monitoring had simply and effectively brought detection right into the twenty-first century.
Of course, computers and cameras alone couldn’t make the decision without at least a little bit of human interference.
“Sal, can you see any sign that the guy in the fourth chair is wearing an earpiece?” She spoke into the microphone that linked her to the staff on the casino floor.
Sal was one of the security team, but he was dressed like a waiter.
He immediately picked up a tray from the bar and made his way to the table in front of the mirror, collecting empty glasses as he moved around.
The slightest hint of a head-shake told her the guy wasn’t wearing any communication devices, but that didn’t mean he was innocent.
She glanced back at the laptop screen.
Eighty-eight percent positive meant that the guy was absolutely counting cards, but he really wasn’t very good at it.
At this point it was up to her whether or not the guy lived or died.
More than once she’d told Lebedev’s men that a guy was innocent, even when she knew he wasn’t, just because she didn’t want anything bad to happen to them. Sometimes she went on her gut instinct, sometimes she would run a background check, but whatever she decided, Micky knew she was potentially condemning someone to a very violent and sudden end.
Micky stood up and walked up to the glass, so she could get a better look at the inept cheat.
He looked very familiar to her, but she couldn’t remember why.
“Anna? Check out the guy in front of the mirror on chair four.” She murmured into her microphone. “I know his face, but I can’t place it. What am I forgetting?”
“Give me a minute.” She heard Anna’s voice through her earpiece, and a few moments later, watched the woman walk out from behind the bar to place some clean ashtrays on the tables.
As she walked around the table, past the mirror, Anna looked directly into the glass and pulled a face as if to say, ‘Are you kidding me?’.
When she was safely back behind the bar, Micky heard Anna’s snort.
“I can’t believe you didn’t recognise him.” She gasped. “He’s Katherine’s ex-boyfriend. The one who used to beat her up. Don’t you remember he was trying to get her to help him cheat when she first started as a croupier?”
“Oh, my God!” Micky gasped. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it. The beard threw me off. Thanks, Anna.”
“He’s cheating.” She turned to Lebedev with a smile. “The programme is virtually sure of it, and I’ve just realised that this isn’t the first time he’s tried to cheat the house. He used to go out with one of the croupier’s, and actually beat her half to death when she wouldn’t help him.”
“How did he get through the door this time?” Lebedev growled. “I thought that’s what we have security guards and cameras for. What’s the point in having facial recognition software if it doesn’t actually recognise people?”
“I’ve explained this to you over and over, Sergei. If you’d allow me to scan people properly as they enter, then we’d have a better chance of getting a full profile.” Micky pointed out. “As long as you don’t want to offend your high-rollers, you can’t blame me for doing a half-assed job.”
“Or maybe your software just isn’t as good as you say it is.” Lebedev smiled at her. “In which case, why do I bother keeping you around?”
Micky kept the smile on her face, but inside her stomach tightened and she felt the bile rise in her mouth, remembering that this man really did hold her life in his hands. He wasn’t a big man by any means, but he had a sure confidence around him that instilled more fear in a person than a man might who was twice his size.
“Oh, I think you keep me around because I can make more money for you in one month than all your illegal trafficking activities make for you in a year.” She sat back down in front of her laptop. “Of course, it could also be because you don’t get my scintillating brand of conversation from any of your thugs. But on balance of probabilities, I’d still go for the money.”
“You have a brattish mouth do you know that?” Lebedev leaned over her, his sheer presence intimidating her as he’d known it would. “Make sure you keep making money for me, or I may grow weary of it very quickly.”
“You’d miss me if I wasn’t around.” She shrugged. “Who would you have to be spiteful to if I wasn’t here?”
“Someone who would learn when to keep their mouth shut.” Lebedev tapped her laptop as if telling her to get back to work.
Micky decided to take the hint, and she started going through the currency reports that were starting to come through following the closure of the London Stock Exchange. Share prices were being hit again thanks to the trade war being triggered by the US President, and part of what she did was to make sure they stayed one step ahead of him in the money game.
If the FBI only realised how much money Lebedev had made ever since the US President had announced his trade war with the Chinese, they’d never believe it wasn’t some sort of payback for Russian collusion in the US election!
Micky had to control her urge to laugh.
She clicked onto her trading page and started moving money around, staying one step ahead of the game as usual.
“Have you arranged food and transport for this weekend?” Lebedev asked suddenly, breaking her concentration.
“What? Yes, it’s all sorted.” She confirmed, looking up at him. “Have you decided how many of the hostesses you want to take from the casino?”
“We have four special guests bringing their teams along, plus four of my guys, and each might bring a lieutenant, so we’ll need maybe twelve women.” Lebedev guessed. “It’ll leave the Casino a little short on numbers, but I’ll make sure the rest of the hostesses know they have to show up on Friday and Saturday.”
Mickey nodded.
“That can be arranged.” She agreed easily. “But what about you? Do you want me to add a few more for you?”
“Sure.” Sergei shrugged. “Who is the girl who does massage in her spare time? My back has been causing me pain for weeks. Perhaps I can kill two birds with one stone.”
“That’s Mara.” Micky frowned. “But she doesn’t usually work on weekends because she has a couple of kids and no family to help her.”
“Pay for the kids to be looked after and give her a bonus to make it worth her while.” Lebedev obviously thought good childcare grew on trees. “And make sure the cargo is loaded onto the ship long before anyo
ne starts to arrive. We don’t want customs getting curious as to what’s going on.”
“The containers carrying the weapons are due to arrive at the port on Thursday. They’ll be loaded the same day.” Micky confirmed. “Is that it? Or are you shipping anything else?”
“One of the last containers to arrive will carry a cargo of women.” Lebedev shrugged. “I thought we could offer them as rewards to the fighting men, to make sure they have a little extra incentive. They’ll probably need to be cleaned up a bit before they’re fit to be seen, so you’ll need to arrange for several changes of clean clothes and shit like that. I haven’t got an exact number yet. Somewhere between forty and fifty.”
Micky nodded, trying not to show her disgust at Lebedev’s dismissal of the women as gifts to be given to the fighters.
“I’ll make sure the Captain knows what he’s getting.” Micky nodded.
“And I want you there as well, ringside.” Lebedev said casually.
“Why?” Micky was instantly on the alert. “I’m not one of the hostesses, Sergei. I’m not getting on my knees to suck someone’s cock, just to please you. That’s not our deal, and so far, I’ve held up my side of our bargain.”
“For fuck’s sake, Micky, stop being so melodramatic!” Sergei chuckled. “I want you there to make sure that any money transfers we want to put through go ahead without any hitches.”
Micky inwardly sighed with relief.
“But, for the record, sweetheart.” Sergei came and stood behind her, running a bony finger down her arm. “If I tell you to suck on my cock in front of a room full of my business associates and employees, then the only words I expect to hear come from your mouth are, ‘Yes, sir,’ and ‘How deep?’. Am I clear?”
Micky should have just nodded. It would’ve been the easier option, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. She would never agree to whore for him, or that would be what he’d expect her to do whenever the mood took him.