by PETE DAVIES
“Where is he now?” said Ekam.
“He’s keeping a low profile in Mallorca. There’s not much the police can do with him as they haven’t got any evidence apparently, but they are making things very difficult with his business and now his boss is asking some very awkward questions, so I’m thinking of telling him to come out here,” said Jaz.
He couldn’t hide it. He breathed out and she heard the rush of air and looked at him.
“What? What is it Ekam? Would that be so wrong to help the man I care for?” she said.
“Miss, I’m sorry. I was only thinking of you and if he comes here, then we don’t know who he may bring with him who may present a threat to you,” said Ekam.
“Well you can protect me can’t you Ekam? Or are you saying you aren’t good enough to protect me against whoever these people may be?”
Once again, she had snapped at him. He said nothing. He loved her with all his heart and would never put her in any sort of harm’s way. But this Armenian thug, because that was what he thought of him as, had done just that. How could, or even how dare this gangster put her in any form of danger. Ekam would kill him himself if it meant she was unharmed, but he looked at her again. She saw straight through him. She knew he had feelings for her, but she had never encouraged him in all the years he had been with her. She treated him sometimes like an older brother, but other times and this was just one of those times, he felt like he was only another member of staff, a bodyguard who just needed to do what he was paid to do.
“You haven’t answered me Ekam. What are you going to do to protect me?” she said.
“What I have always done Miss. I will lay down my life if that is what is needed.”
She softened.
“I know you would Ekam,” she said, as she sat back in her chair and felt the wheels start to roll as the plane moved forward towards the runway.
Standing inside the corporate terminal, the man from the Hyundai SUV looked out the window and watched the private plane as it moved away. He then rang Eshaan.
*****
“Where is he Nino?” said Lori Garcia.
“Still lying low I reckon Boss. We haven’t seen him for days now and there’s been little or no activity from any of the others in the gang hierarchy.”
She sat back in her chair and thought about what Greg had said about what had happened in Armenia with Sergei Grigoryan and the mention of a restructure.
“How long do we think Sonny has been the boss of the OCG in the Balearics?”
“It’s about three years give or take. He came in and took over from the previous guy. Rumour has it that he was permanently retired so to speak and by Sonny,” said Nino.
Nino looked at her.
“Do you think that Sergei would do that?” said Nino.
“I don’t know. They are or at least were, very close, but he talked about a restructure to Greg, I mean Señor Chambers, and if Sergei feels Sonny has compromised him he may forget his past loyalty to his friend and do what’s right for the business. Sergei hasn’t remained at the top of the OCG without being ruthless as hell has he?” said Lori.
“No, you’re right there,” said Nino, “and Boss, it’s okay, I get that you like Greg Chambers, he seems like a really good guy.”
She smiled. She knew they would notice, but she was glad all the same that Nino had given a sort of sign of approval. She didn’t know why, as what had her life and in this case, her love life, got to do with Nino and the team anyway? She looked at him and saw him smiling.
“What are you smiling at Sergeant?” she said.
“Nothing Boss,” he said.
“Well stop smiling and go and do something useful, like find Sonny,” said Lori.
Nino looked back as he left her office, still smiling. She shook her head. Was she blushing? ‘Oh, who cares,’ she thought and she smiled back at him.
*****
Sonny was sat by the pool drinking a cold beer at the villa he had rented by Port d’Andratx. Was he getting paranoid? He hadn’t heard from Sergei in a day or so. No calls or texts when he usually had something from him, even if it was just sharing a joke. Had Sergei lost faith in him? If he had, that would mean only one thing. A restructuring is what Sergei called it.
That’s what had happened just over three years ago when Sonny had turned up at the house of the previous In-Country Head of the Balearics and retired him with a bullet to his head. Well he wasn’t going to wait around and see who Sergei sent. Besides, ‘Who did he have anyway who was better than Sonny Sargsyan?’ Maybe he should go on the offensive? Why shouldn’t he get rid of Sergei and take over the whole OCG? Next to Sergei, everybody was shit-scared of him, so why not? But whilst he still had this damn mole in his camp, who could he tell without risking it getting back to Sergei? He looked down and saw that his hand was shaking. ‘I’m getting paranoid,’ he said to himself. He took a couple of long deep breaths and thought for a moment. His phone rang. It was Jaz.
“Hello handsome,” she said.
“Just what I need,” said Sonny.
“In a good way I hope?”
“In a very good way,” said Sonny. “I think I’m going nuts here and I can’t trust anyone.”
She smiled to herself. She wanted to help and here was her chance, even though she knew Ekam didn’t approve.
“Look, why don’t you come and see me? I’m in Goa. I’m in the shit too and I’ve come out here to hide and I need some company.”
“What’s happened Jaz?” asked Sonny.
“The police raided four of my call centres. But we managed to shut everything down before they found anything that might be difficult to explain.”
He listened and thought about what she had said.
“In the world of criminal gang performance it could be said that you and I aren’t doing very well my sweet,” said Sonny.
“You are right there hun,” she said, laughing. “So, why not come out and keep me company?”
He paused for a moment. What would he say to Sergei? Maybe nothing. Leave him guessing where he had gone.
“Now that’s a great idea. If I get a flight to Goa, can you get me picked up at the airport?”
“Yes, of course, tell me when and,” she paused, “Sonny?”
“Yes.”
“I’m glad you’re going to come,” she said.
“Me too,” said Sonny.
*****
Terri was sat with the others, around a table in her room, when she took the call from Eshaan. His man at the airport had seen a private plane leaving the corporate terminal with the Kaur woman and a man believed to be her minder or bodyguard. Eshaan’s man had managed to find out where the plane was heading and it was, as Sam had guessed, going to Goa.
“I was going to meet Laura to get our gear but I’ll get her to hike the stuff down to Goa and we’ll tie up down there. Now before we do anything else, we need to decide who goes to Goa. There’s good reason for us all to go, but equally, this may suit a smaller team? My preference is a smaller team, but I’m open to everyone’s thoughts,” said Terri.
Greg had seen her do this before. She was very democratic was Terri, especially if she got her own way and if she didn’t, she’d just tell them what they were going to do. Simon and Tommy both understood this, but Sam and Anna obviously had no comprehension about how Terri operated and he wondered how they would respond to Terri’s form of democracy.
Sam was taken in by Terri’s offer to open things up and he set out a number of ideas, all of which she listened to carefully and then dismissed one by one. Anna had watched what was going on between Sam and Terri and Greg thought he saw a smile. ‘Did she know?’ thought Greg.
“Terri, I’m inclined to agree with you,” started Anna, and Greg saw Terri nodding approvingly. “However, let me turn this on its head. What would you need to see happening that would change your mind from a small team to a bigger team?”
To be fair, Terri acknowledged what Anna had just done with a nod
towards her dad. Greg saw Terri push her shoulders back into her chair as she thought. This wasn’t going to be railroaded through with just Terri’s ideas. Anna had been a past master of planning and Terri knew she had been out-manoeuvred with a classic counter-punch question.
“Good question Anna. If I didn't know what we were going into, then I might be persuaded to go to a bigger team.”
“So a bit like with Armenia?” said Anna.
“Yes,” said Terri slowly, before adding, “and that’s check mate I think Anna,” and she smiled at her. ‘God, this woman is good,’ she thought to herself.
Sam looked across at his mother having just seen a master class of negotiation.
“Right, that’s that then I think. We all go and then we recce her villa and then decide on the deployment,” said Greg. “Terri, can you get Daniel set up for us to roll and we’ll leave here once we’re all packed up and ready.”
“I’m on it.”
As the room broke up to get ready to leave, Greg took his daughter to one side.
“Are you okay with all that?”
“What? You mean Anna taking my legs?” said Terri.
“Well I wasn’t going to put it like that, but yes,” said Greg.
“Yes, I’m fine, especially as she did it in such a British and ladylike way. What’s to be offended at? She made a really good call and it was a good reminder that I can be a bit, well you know, bullish, can’t I?” said Terri.
“Yes, my darling daughter. Sometimes it can be one of your best attributes and sometimes it can get in your way. But I’m proud of you, for the way you dealt with that.”
She kissed him on the cheek and smiled.
“Love you Dad and see you later,” she said.
*****
Daniel and Frances were waiting in the terminal when they arrived and they were soon all out at the Citation and ready to depart when Greg’s phone rang.
“Lori, what’s up?” said Greg.
“We’ve lost Sonny and by lost, I mean we can’t find him. I was thinking what you were saying about a restructure and I’m wondering if he might have skipped the country?” said Lori.
“I’m assuming you’ve checked his villa, the one down by s’Arenal?”
“Yes, we went in this morning. It was on a slightly dubious warrant, but it got us in there. There was only the housekeeping staff in there, so Sonny has obviously cleared out of there and gone somewhere else on the island. There’s no record of him leaving under his own passport, so I’m making a guess that he’s either dead or he’s left the island under a different name.”
Greg thought for a moment. He had thought Sergei would be more efficient than this. Now they had Sonny running loose.
“You don’t think he might try for a restructure of his own and take out Sergei?” said Greg.
“It had occurred to me. I mean, he must be thinking that Sergei has lost faith in him and that can only mean one thing. What do you think, because under the European Court of Human Rights I have a legal obligation to warn someone, even if it is a criminal, if a serious threat has made against their life? However, thinking about it, I’m only making a supposition, so I’m happy that as we haven’t heard of any threat as such, we only tell Sergei if we think it may be a tactical option to consider?” said Lori.
“So we warn Sergei as a means of trying to secure some sort of response? Isn’t that entrapment?” said Greg.
“It could be construed that way if I did it,” said Lori.
“Ah, I get you,” said Greg. “Have we got Sergei’s phone number from the guy who was shot at the finca?”
“Yes, he was Sonny’s number two, so he was high enough up the organisation to have access to Sergei if needed.” She gave him the number and said, “I’ll leave you to make the call. And Greg?”
“Yes,” said Greg.
“Stay safe for me.”
“I will my love, don’t worry and I’ll be back before you know it,” said Greg.
“I can’t wait,” she said.
He turned to the rest of the team and updated them on the phone call from Lori.
“So what are you looking to achieve by putting a call in to Sergei?” said Anna.
“First of all, he’ll know we’re keeping tabs on him and I want to keep him feeling that pressure so that he goes through with his restructure. Second, if Sonny has left Mallorca on a false passport, we might never see him again. I don’t think John MacDonald will want his wife’s murderer going walkabout into a free and easy lifestyle, especially if he’s shacked up with his Indian girlfriend. So Sergei just might be able to find Sonny more easily than we will,” said Greg.
“What about if Sergei gets to Sonny before we do and then we never find out what’s happened? John won’t know then either,” said Terri.
“Okay, there’s some pros and cons here,” said Greg, “but as we’ve lost Sonny, I’m thinking we go with the best current option and get you Sam, to speak to Sergei. Agreed?”
Everyone nodded and Sam dialled Sergei’s number and put his phone on speaker phone.
“Yes? Who is this?” said Sergei Grigoryan.
“Sergei, it’s Sam Martínez.”
“Ah, Bookseller. What do you want now?”
“We’ve heard that Sonny has left Mallorca under a false passport. Did you know?”
There was just enough of a pause to tell Sam that Sergei didn’t know.
“Why should I confirm or deny the movements of my team to you Bookseller?”
“Because our business transaction still stands Sergei, that’s why. You deliver on the restructuring we talked about in the Balearics or we make life for your OCG very difficult over a number of different locations,” said Sam.
“Don’t threaten me Bookseller. We both know there would be casualties on both sides and so how many of your loved ones are you prepared to lose?” said Sergei.
Sam heard the menace in Sergei’s voice. He clearly wasn’t someone to be intimidated. Sergei would fight fire with fire if necessary and then see who was the last one standing.
“It’s not a threat Sergei. It’s just giving you the opportunity to not have to fight fires on too many sides of your business and leave yourself vulnerable to a takeover. Presumably it has occurred to you that Sonny will suspect that you may be thinking of a change of management and he may be considering a reverse takeover.”
“He wouldn’t dare…..,” said Sergei.
He hadn’t been able to stop himself coming out with the words. Sonny wouldn’t, couldn’t think of doing something like that? But then again, he himself hadn’t had any compulsion to arrange the death of Sonny, his long-time friend, who was like a brother to him.
“I can see that I’ve got you thinking Sergei,” said Sam. “So what if he’s on his way to you now? He knows you better than we do and we got to you easily enough.”
Sergei let the words sink in before he said anything. Had he made a mistake in challenging Sonny? They had been so close for so long. Had he been too quick to condemn him? He had no qualms over the death of some English woman. That was of no concern to him. It was the business that mattered to him and any unwanted attention, from the police and now this private security company who seemed to have significant funds and resources with which to make things difficult for him, was something he would do his utmost to protect against.
“Bookseller, you are right, I did not know that Sonny had left Mallorca. If he comes to me then I will deal with him personally. But if he goes elsewhere I will send someone who I know will find him. Now once again, I think our time together is at an end. Goodbye.”
Sergei rang off before Sam could respond.
“He hung up,” said Sam.
“He’s certainly got a thing about you being a Bookseller hasn’t he?” said Terri.
Sam laughed.
“But I suppose it’s now an accurate description of my life,” said Sam.
“Okay, let’s get back on track shall we?” said Greg. “Let’s leave things
to play out now, but we need to be mindful that if we find Sonny, then there may be one of Sergei’s team somewhere close behind.”
Just at that moment Daniel’s voice came across the intercom.
“Seatbelts everybody please, we’ve got clearance to take-off.”
THIRTY THREE
Sergei picked up his phone and rang Arman.
“Boss, what can I do for you?”
“Where’s Sonny?”
Arman paused. He hadn’t seen Sonny for a day or so, but that wasn’t altogether unusual. However, he wasn’t sure that would be an acceptable answer to Sergei.