Hard Win (Michelle Angelique Avenging Angel Series 3)

by Jason Stanley

  Jelena shook her head. “I still don’t understand. You are not ugly dog. Why say you are dogs?”

  “Dog just means someone who is down,” Deja said.

  Jelena shrugged her shoulders and shook her head again.

  “You know, someone who is, um, is, reliable,” Deja said. “Yeah, that’s it. They are reliable, you can trust them and they know the score.”

  “Dog is trusted person who keeps score. What do they keep score on?”

  “No, we’re not doing that. This can keep going all day and I don’t have time to teach you how to talk real English. I have a question for you. Honestly, did you think you couldn’t leave?”

  “Yes, most of us were bought when in Russia. Some for debts for our family, some for our own debts. Ascia bought all of us from Russian mafia.”

  “Well, let’s get this shit straight. No one is owned. That absolutely does not happen. Never will, no matter what,” Deja said.

  “We are lucky. Other womans are not so lucky. They should all work for you and Michelle.”

  “What do you mean, other women?”

  “There are others like us.”

  “That’s not a surprise. Do you mean, others like in general, or others like under the same asshole that owned you?”

  “The same man owns them.”

  “Who? How many? Where?”

  “I don’t know how many or where they are,” Jelena said. “I came in a container on ship with fifteen womans. Eight of them are here now. Svetlana also. I don’t know where other six go. They left a few days after we land. The rest of the womans here all come in one group. They said there were nineteen in the container. It is difficult trip, so crowded.” She shrugged, “Where the others are now, we don’t know. I think there are about thirty womans in Houston. I don’t know exactly how many.”

  “Are they all from Russia like you?”

  “Mostly, some are from Ukraine or Slovakia.”

  “I’m confused. You said there were six women that came over with you and you don’t know where they are. Also, some of your crew here were part of a larger group and you don’t know where the others are. Is that right?”

  “Da, I mean, yes.”

  “Aren’t they in Houston with the others?”

  “No.”

  “That means there are about thirty women in Houston, who like you were shipped in from Russia. Plus, what, ten or more women, somewhere else and you don’t know where they are?”

  “Da.”

  “Holy shit, this is fucked up! Okay, who is in charge? I mean you worked for Jack-Move, and I heard about this asshole Fast Eddie. Is he the top guy?”

  “I tell Michelle, Jack-Move worked for Fast Eddie. Fast Eddie is terrible man, he is worse than pig. He has big dick and hurts womans who are not ready for him. He makes every women fuck him. I hate him. Everyone hate him.”

  “Oh my God! You should hate him. Is he the top man?” Deja repeated her question.

  “There is also a more top man. His name is Mr. Ascia.”

  “Who is he?”

  “I don’t know. I only see him one time. When they let us out of stinking container from ship, he was there to check us. After he look at us, and doctor look at us, he told another man to send money.”

  “You mean he fucking bought you?”

  “Da, he buy us from Russian mafia.”

  Deja stopped in the middle of the room. She didn’t remember standing up or when she started pacing. Looking around, Jelena and the rest had fear written on their faces and posture, Deja realized she had been shouting.

  “Oh no sweetie, I’m not upset with you.” Fighting to keep her voice down, Deja when on, “I can’t believe this shit. This is too crazy.”

  Jelena and the others watched quietly with big eyes.

  “This guy, Ascia, he bought you and the other women?” Deja asked.

  “Da.”

  “He keeps all of them slaves?”

  “Da.”

  Deja sipped her coffee. It had gone cold and was black and bitter. “I’m fixing myself a real cup of coffee with sugar and cream.”

  Jelena rattled off something in Russian and a woman jumped up and reached for Deja’s cup.

  Deja held up her hand to stop. “No, I’ll do it. I know how I like it. Also, I’m going to go outside on the patio and make a couple calls.”

  While rummaging around the kitchen, finding sugar and milk and fixing a cup of coffee, she calmed down enough to use the phone. She swiped Michelle’s name.

  “Sup,” Michelle answered her cell.

  “Holy shit Michelle, you won’t believe this,” Deja said. “Well, of course you’ll believe it, but still, it’s way out there.”

  “You’re pregnant?”

  “What? Stop that,” Deja said. “Don’t even think it, let alone say it out loud. No, thank God, that isn’t it.”

  “I didn’t think so, you haven’t been getting laid much lately.”

  “Oh. So now you’ve got jokes. Although that’s true, but no, it doesn’t have anything to do with me. This is some serious shit. Trust me, it’ll piss you off.”

  “Alright, tell me. I’m all ears.”

  “They’re slaves! Well, they aren’t now, but they were.”

  “Who were slaves?” Michelle asked.

  “Our Russian girls. Some asshole named Ascia in Houston bought them from the Russian mafia. Jack-Move kept them as slaves. They couldn’t leave or even to go to the store or have their own money or nothing. It’s totally deep shit. Also, there’s a bunch more.”

  Deja waited for Michelle to say something but the phone had gone quiet.

  “Hello? You there?” Deja asked.

  “Yeah, I’m here,” Michelle said in a quiet, deliberate voice. “Did you say, Ascia? The man’s name is Ascia? In Houston?”

  “Yeah, that’s the name Jelena gave me, or at least as best I can understand her accent. Yeah, Ascia. The Houston part is right.”

  Silence . . .

  After a long pause Michelle asked, “What do you mean, there’s a bunch more?”

  “More women, who are being held, held as sex slaves by this guy Ascia. Jelena thinks there are thirty in Houston. She said there are others, but she doesn’t know how many or where they are.”

  “What else do you know about this?” Michelle asked.

  Deja sipped her coffee, then threw the rest out onto the grass.

  “All Jelena and the others were able to tell me was everyone comes into Houston in a container on a ship. Ascia is there when they come in. After the first time they never see him again. Fast Eddie, the guy you told me about, runs both the new girls and the working women in Houston. They told me he is big, real big, like six feet five inches tall and heavy, like a boxer. Like that guy in that Bruce Willis movie where they go out to space — Armageddon — that’s it. He is big like that guy. He’s tar-baby dark and has a lot of bling in his teeth. He wears a couple earrings in both ears and lots of rings. They say he looks like the pimp on TV, but couldn’t tell me what program. I think they meant he looked like a stereotype movie pimp.”

  Deja went back inside the house to the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator and got a Pepsi. “They said he laughs a lot and loud, but can be mean and turns mad real fast. He makes some of them fuck him every day.”

  “Sex slaves. Muthafuckin Ascia. I knew he was bad, but didn’t understand the man has no soul.”

  “Do you know this guy?” Deja asked.

  “Yeah. He’s a big baller here in Houston. I can’t believe it’s him. Christ, we have some history with my other work. This shit here, him being connected with Jack-Move can’t be a coincidence.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “I mean my head is spinning with this news. Look, Deja, it’s all crazy and looks like it is all connected, even back to Michael’s murder. But I need to take some time to think it through before I jump to conclusions. Well, before I jump to action, I’m already making some conclusions.”

  Two of the Russ
ian women came into the kitchen and started banging pots and pans preparing to cook. “Do you need me to come out?” Deja asked.

  “No, not yet anyway. This changes everything and I’ll have to change our plan. Give me a day or two. Okay, anything else? How are the rest of the girls?”

  Deja put her Pepsi in a glass with ice and returned to the back yard. “They’re quiet. I let everyone know Jack-Move is gone, but didn’t say how or why we know. But your big shoot-out and that dead woman next to the jacked up Caddy at his place was on all over the news. A couple of our girls asked if it was you and I just smiled, but they all figure it was you. Anyway, all of our regular girls are all back at work. Most of the regulars have had six months working for us and know we expect them to be on the streets on their nights. I’ve kept it quiet about the Russians; none have been on the streets yet.”

  “If this is what it looks like and it’s all connected up to Ascia we are in a whole different world. This has us running with the big dogs, I mean seriously big time thugs.”

  “Does that change things?” Deja asked.

  “Oh boy! It is a complete game changer,” Michelle said. “It doesn’t change the simple fact that we’re taking out Little-T’s murderer and probably a couple more. That’s the same. Everything else is different. With Ascia in the picture, we have to up our game. This is more than the next level, it is off the charts like Godfather, Michael Corleone, shit. For now, keep doing what you’re doing, but more. Make a point of being visible. With Ascia in the picture, we have to make it look like it’s business as usual.”

  “No problem,” Deja said. “I’ll hit all the spots so people will see me.”

  “It’ll take some time to put a basic plan together, then figure out how to find everything I need. In the meantime, Nikky will come out to help with keeping up appearances. She can be there tomorrow evening for about five hours and will catch the red eye back here. I think it best if you pick her up so nobody is curious about where she’s been.”

  “Sure, have her text me her flight info. Is there anything you need from me here?” Deja asked.

  “Did the Russians give you a better description of where Fast Eddie’s place is?” Michelle asked.

  “No. The same thing they said before. They described the apartments, but couldn’t say where they were.”

  “Okay, good enough. It won’t be hard to find. I already know where Ascia’s place is.”

  “Um, well. . .,” Deja paused.

  “What is it?”

  “This sounds serious. Maybe like something we should be worried about. Are you sure we can go up against these guys?” Deja looked through the kitchen window and made eye contact with one of the women who was standing at the sink. I wonder if you have any idea of the shit storm you’re causing?

  “Yeah, you’re right,” Michelle said. “I hear you, girlfriend. We have a lot of good reasons to be scared. I’m scared, and we need to stay that way. I won’t tell you not to worry. That’s stupid and people wind up hurt or dead when they don’t worry. But we can’t let our fear and worry stop us either. We go through the fear and do the thing we have to do in spite of it.”

  “If you’re scared, I’m petrified. If it was up to me, I’d give it to them.”

  “We can’t let —” Michelle said.

  “Wait, before you say anything, let me finish. I’m glad it isn’t up to me. I’m glad the three of us will hang tough and get these slave-making scum asswipes. So, yeah, I’m fucking petrified. I’m also grateful that between us, we have the skills and courage to do this thing.”

  “Me too Deja, me too.”

  Sixteen: Some Mixed Up Shit

  STANDING IN FRONT of the open minibar refrigerator in her hotel room, staring at a can of Coke that she had no intention of drinking, Michelle realized she had been pacing in circles.

  Slaves. Damn. Slaves. Okay, calm down, it’s nothing new.

  She jogged in place a minute, did some stretching exercises, and followed up with some calming breaths and focused on the implications. This thing had grown from revenge on a single lowlife to something much bigger.

  Michelle swiped Nikky’s name on her cell.

  “Sup?” Nikky answered.

  “I need to talk to you. Can you come to my room?” Michelle asked.

  “I’m out walking. I should be back in about a half an hour. If I turn around now, I can cut that to fifteen minutes. Do I need to run back?”

  “No,” Michelle said. “Just come straight to my room when you get back.”

  Michelle swiped G-Baby’s name. He was her uncle and only living relative. They had a lot of special history. Not all of it pleasant.

  Over four years ago, his son, Gabe Jr., was with Michelle’s brother, Michael, when they both were killed by a street lieutenant named Lewis on orders from the top guy, Jackson. Michelle killed Lewis and his back-up. She and her uncle G-Baby worked as a team when she took out Jackson and a couple others. They thought it stopped with Jackson.

  “Sup, Michelle?” G-Baby, Michelle’s uncle Gabriel, answered his cell.

  “I’m in Houston. I chased Little-T’s killer here. It’s a long story that should be told over beer and ribs. Bottom line, he’s part of what I believe to be the largest, most well established, powerful crime syndicate in Houston. Sit down because what I’m going to tell you next is some wild-ass shit.”

  “You know you’re a drama queen. You do know that, right?”

  “Yeah, always have been. At least that’s what my friends tell me. Are you sitting or not?”

  “Jesus, Michelle, yes, I’m sitting down.”

  “The asshole who killed Little-T works for a guy named Ascia. As far as I can tell, Ascia is the main man here in Houston.”

  “If this guy is connected to heavy money, you better be real careful about capping his ass.”

  “You got that right, but that isn’t the big issue here.”

  “Okay, I’m still sitting, so lay it on me,” G-Baby said.

  “I recently found out Jackson was connected to a dirty cop in the Anglewatts Police Department. A fucking captain. We’re talking royalty.”

  “Yeah, Jackson had a bunch of cops in his pocket,” G-Baby said. “That he had a captain is pretty high, but not surprising.”

  Michelle paused, took a deep breath, and collected her thoughts. “That’s the thing. This captain wasn’t in Jackson’s pocket. Jackson was in his. Ascia was pulling this cop’s strings. What I know for sure is the captain transferred from Houston to Anglewatts. Shortly after that, Jackson has a ticket for a free ride into the hood. From nowhere he shoots right to the top.”

  “Are you saying—”

  “Yeah, the captain helped Ascia install Jackson. Ascia was the man behind Jackson. Jackson’s boss.”

  “He what!?”

  “He was the man who put Jackson in Anglewatts. He had to have ordered Jackson to kill Big John as a part of the deal. That means he also ordered Gabe Jr. and Michael’s murders. Maybe not by name, but it’s still the same.”

  “We’ve got to get this muthafucka!” G-Baby said. “Do you need me to come out there? What can I do? Fill me in on your plan.” His words sped into one connected sentence.

  “Where are you?” Michelle asked.

  “What? What do you mean, where am I? I’m at home.”

  “I mean, are you bouncing off the walls? Can you sit back down?”

  “I’m not— Um, yeah, I guess I’m sorta pacing around the room, but Goddammit, Michelle, this is crazy. We’ve got to do something.”

  “You’re right. We do have to do something. But like before, we have to be smart and careful. So please, Unc, can you sit back down for a minute?”

  Michelle heard the muffled sound of footsteps hitting the hardwood floor and clink of glasses.

  “Sure, talk to me while I fix a drink. What’s the plan?”

  “I don’t have a plan yet. So, right now, I don’t need you to do anything except be ready to come out. Sorry to bring you in on this
, then ask you to hang back doing nothing. But I need you to know what’s happening and be ready to jump in if it goes that way.”

  “How about I fly out and lay low, so I can be available? I could be a spotter like last time. Anything you need.”

  “Uncle G, I know how hard it will be to sit still. This has my guts wrung out. I’m so glad I got all of that training on how to calm down. But I have to tell you, I almost lost it when I figured this shit out. I wanted to run into Ascia’s office and kill him no matter what. Of course that would’ve only got me killed. But I’m so mad because I already know Ascia. I’ve known that cocksucker since before I came back.”

  “What? How?”

  “He’s one of the guys I’ve been working for. You know, he’s given me contract jobs.”

  “Do you think he knows who you are?” he asked.

  “Oh yeah, he knows exactly who I am. He’s the one who gave me the contract to kill Jackson. On the surface that doesn’t make any sense. When he put out the contract, I thought he was brokering the deal like in the past with most of the contracts I did for him. But, it had to be Ascia because he would’ve stopped the deal if someone else tried to broker the contract through him.”

  “If Ascia paid you to kill Jackson then he had to have a plan on how to fill Jackson’s place. What do you think?”

  “It doesn’t feel that way,” Michelle said. “I think some kind of big problem happened real fast. Could be with the DEA or other government types. Maybe Jackson did something to cross him that royally pissed Ascia off. It would have to have been big. Whatever it was, something happened that Ascia wanted to take Jackson out. The important thing for us is he needed to do it so nobody would connect it back to him. That was why he hired me. He needed an outside contractor.”

  “Makes sense, kind of.”

  “I also think whatever the problem was, it must have gone away so Ascia warned Jackson about the hit. It’s the only thing that makes sense of how Jackson knew we were on the roof and sent his men after us.”

  “Now what?” G-Baby asked.

  “I need you to lay low. It’ll be tough, but that’s what I need you to do right now. I’m trying to get my head around the best way to get at these guys. I feel like I walked into a science fiction movie where everything is in a different world and totally screwy.”