The Devil's Playground

by Michael Reagan

look that ordered her to take a step back from the conversation, which reluctantly she did.

  "However, she is right," The President continued, "The concerns of Japan are not a matter for Turkmenistan and her people and if you are unwilling to remove the Transit fee from the contract then I am afraid that your business with our Government and its people is at an end," he said sticking to a script that had no doubt been written by Ruslan, Thomas bitterly concluded.

  "This of course saddens me," the President concluded with a sigh as if performing for his people at a rally. "Because I feel you are letting down not just your own daughter but all the daughters of Turkmenistan."

  Thomas stared at the President. He narrowed his eyes. Bringing Victoria into the conversation was tacky and unacceptable just as much as the insult, but nevertheless he managed to keep his anger in check for you never confronted a man with an army on the ground of his choosing.

  "I will discuss the matter with my partners and let them know your views," said Thomas despite the fact his mind was already made up.

  "Good. Turkmenistan awaits your answer," replied the President while getting up from his chair signaling to everybody the meeting was over.

  As Thomas got up he offered his hand once more to the President. He noted that the man did not once look at him. Instead he only looked to Ruslan. A signal that confirmed without a shadow of doubt whom was the master and who was the puppet. The body language of Ruslan, however, told Thomas something he never expected. For his eyes were firmly focused on the President's wife.

  "I never expected that! She the one pulling the strings!" his mind concluded in surprise and admiration.

  Releasing the President's hand he then offered it to Jennet once more and unlike that of her husband not once did she break his stare as she took hold of his hand firmly and held on rather too as long as far as Thomas were concerned as not to mean something.

  "Until next time, Sir Thomas," she said with her piercing green eyes of fire.

  "Until next time, Madam Amanyradova," Thomas said acknowledging her look with one of his own until he released her hand moments later.

  In the months following Ahmet's terrible death Jennet Marina Rejejowova had despaired of ever being able to leave behind her life as a whore. One man followed another and so it went on until Allah granted her mercy in the form of Balysh Agamyradov.

  Introduced at a party hosted by one of Dubai's power couples, Mahesh and Rekha Tourani, he had known what she was of course the second he met her but because he was intrigued by her education, a shared love of the arts and interest in the future of their country they had struck up an unlikely friendship.

  For the first two months of their journey together it was a friendship that worked well for both parties, he introduced her to his private clients and kept her out of Dubai's seedy nightclubs while she supplied him with young men to feed his private tastes; but it wasn't until high on drugs and after he had been arrested for beating up a young Syrian schoolboy that their relationship and her destiny changed.

  Desperate, because he couldn't dare call his father or the Embassy for favors because homosexuality was crime in Turkmenistan, unable to pay the furious Palestinian pimp who had arranged for his arrest the US$50,000 he had demanded to make the charges go away because he owed over US$250,000 to the illegal Indian bookmakers of the Dubai racetrack, Balysh had called Jennet.

  Jennet being an opportunist, although the money represented everything her family had left and armed with her mother's permission, had struck a deal with him.

  In exchange for paying off the Palestinian he would marry her and place her mother and sister under his family's protection and sponsorship. Although shocked at her terms but with no other options open to him, Balysh had readily accepted. Jennet had half expected him to back out on their deal, but to her surprise he didn't.

  "My darling," he had said when she picked him up outside the prison in her beaten up Mercedes, "I owe you my life." With tears in his eyes he had grabbed her face and kissed her forehead. "I will be honored to be your husband," he had said which had instantly reinstalled her faith in men.

  Although now married their arrangement had continued and Jennet continued to supply him with young men but instead of selling her body for coin she now only slept with men that could advance Balysh's career and those who would assist her on her quest to revenge her father yet their unique arrangement was only was only truly sealed when Ruslan Mingazov's name came up in conversation one night.

  "Mingazov?" she had asked.

  "Yes, darling. I would like us to host a private party for him," Balysh had requested before he had gone on to explain he was his largest client at the bank and was coming to Dubai for a health check and some private time.

  "I didn't know you knew him," she had said as Balysh had continued to smile at her.

  "I am hoping he will sponsor a seat for me in the upcoming elections," he had continued poured himself a shot of Johnnie Walker's Blue Label on the rocks.

  "He is a criminal!" Jennet had passionately replied.

  Balysh had raised a quizzical eye and then smiled at her.

  "A powerful one, my darling," he had replied. "His money and the power of TLH Turkmenistan make him a man we need to be friends with!"

  "TLH Turkmenistan?" Jennet had replied.

  "Yes, he sits on the board of the Englishman's company," he had continued.

  The shock of this information was like a dagger through her heart, so much so Jennet had remained rooted to the spot for what felt forever but in reality were only moments.

  The mention of Mingazov's name was bad enough as she had always known, courtesy of Ahmet, that he had taken over all her family's businesses in Turkmenistan yet the news that he also sat on the board of the Englishman's company was the equivalent of a tsunami hitting her. It was all Balysh had needed to see that something was wrong with her.

  "Darling? Are you okay? What's wrong?" He put down his tumbler then moved towards her.

  The floodgates had opened. Jennet had told him everything. The weight had lifted off her shoulders as Balysh had listened. Once she finished he had held her in his arms and had lifted her chin and had gently kissed her forehead then had made a promise to her.

  "When the time is right we take back what belongs to your family, I swear to you. Partners in blood!" he had said with sad eyes.

  It was that moment that for the first time in her life since her father had died Jennet had felt as though she had truly belonged. It was then she had resolved that when the time was right she was going to kill not just Mingazov but the Englishman. However for now she intended to use the man's power and wealth to secure Balysh's future and make him an instrument in the ending the Englishman's life and that of his family.

  From the moment Ruslan Mingazov had walked into the private party that they had hosted at their Penthouse Apartment in the Le Reve Apartment block in Dubai Marina two years ago, the little fat man had never stood a chance. Teasing him from the first moment Balysh introduced them Jennet had tormented him with all her skills, education, and the promise of her body. Sick of his wife and fast women Ruslan had fallen quickly under her spell and like a lovesick puppy he had sponsored her husband's entry into politics and his subsequent rise in power. Once that was achieved it was only then Jennet had slept with him, and then with Balysh's permission she had trapped him again far better than any Venus flytrap ever could a fly.

  Unbeknown to Ruslan, she had gotten pregnant and with the birth of a baby boy six months ago she had invoked one of the laws of 'qan dushar,' that to end a blood feud a man may take a daughter of his subject revenge. When Ruslan had found out he was going to be a father and she was carrying a boy he had been ecstatic. Having only had daughters with his wife and mistresses, he had reacted pretty much how Jennet had expected him to. He had demanded that she leave Balysh so he could claim his son. She had refused and instead she had demanded that her fat lover deliver the Prime Minister's position for Balysh and
set up a company which would be one day owned by their son. Although absolutely furious at the time, as always Ruslan had submitted to her wishes but only on the condition that she left Balysh once he delivered on his promise.

  She agreed, despite having no intention of ever following through on her bargain with Ruslan; In the event even Jennet had been blown away by what Ruslan delivered for he had gone one better and on the back of an unexpected but fortuitous heart attack he had delivered the Presidency!

  The appearance of the Devil in the garden this afternoon began of the final part of her plan. Now it was the time to it in motion.

  As she gazed at her baby son in her arms she whispered, "Seni? mertebe bolmak meni? mertebe," meaning "your fate is my honor," in a little musical hum before putting him in his cot for the night, before leaving for the night to join the boy's father for one final time before she killed him.

  There are 543 white marble buildings in Ashgabat and according to the Guinness Book of World Records it's the city with highest number in the world. One such building was a Hotel and Serviced Residences known as the Firyuza.

  Ruslan was sitting in the Penthouse of the recently completed fifty-story building that he owned through a trust based in Switzerland that he had set up for his newborn son. He was in his silk dressing gown watching the city beneath him from one of the 'floor to