Standing was finishing his steak when his phone beeped to let him know he had received a text. It was a reply from Shepherd in London. ‘OLEG IVCHENKO.’ And there was an address in the Hollywood Hills. He looked up and grinned at Kaitlyn. ‘My phone-a-friend has come through,’ he said.
27
‘Whoever said that crime doesn’t pay?’ said Standing. He was looking out of the windscreen as he spoke, so Kaitlyn couldn’t read his lips.
She tapped him on the shoulder. ‘What?’
He turned to face her and smiled. ‘Sorry, I keep forgetting,’ he said. ‘I said that crime doesn’t pay, except for the likes of the Russian mafia.’ He gestured at Oleg Ivchenko’s house. ‘I mean, how much do you think that place is worth?’
Kaitlyn shrugged. ‘Eight million? Ten maybe. But it could be a rental.’
They were looking down on a large compound halfway up one of the hills that overlooked downtown LA. There were three buildings – a main two-storey house next to a large pool, a parking area with a garage with a tennis court behind it, and a small single-storey block next to the gated entrance. There were half a dozen vehicles parked near the garage including three black SUVs, a red Ferrari and a white Bentley convertible. As they watched from their vantage point, a fourth black SUV with tinted windows arrived and pulled up at the gate. Two big men came out of the block. They waved at the driver and the gate opened and the SUV drove in. The two men stayed where they were until the gate had closed again before heading back into the block. They didn’t appear to be armed but they were definitely security.
It was eleven o’clock in the morning. They had spent the night in a motel in West Hollywood, which Standing had selected because its car park was hidden from the road. After a quick breakfast they had driven to the Gateway Mall on Santa Monica Boulevard. Kaitlyn was understandably reluctant to go back to her apartment to pick up clean clothes and toiletries, so Standing had taken her shopping instead. Now she was wearing a blue Gap shirt and jeans with a white pullover tied around her neck.
They watched as the SUV drove to the house. A man got out of the passenger side. A big man with a goatee and dark glasses, wearing a black suit. It was Ivchenko. Standing had bought a pair of high-powered binoculars from a military surplus store and he put them to his eyes and focussed on the man. ‘That’s him all right,’ he said. Another man got out of the back of the SUV and followed Ivchenko inside the main house. The car drove over to the garage area. ‘Do you think that’s where they kept you?’ asked Standing.
‘Maybe,’ she said. ‘I never got to see outside, but there was definitely a gate and I felt the vibration of cars coming and going.’
‘Maybe you were in the garage block,’ he said. ‘There don’t seem to be any windows there, there could be storage rooms inside.’
Standing used the binoculars to methodically check out the compound. There were three men walking around the walled perimeter, dressed casually in loose baggy shirts or jackets that could easily have been concealing handguns. The wall was only about ten feet tall and easily climbable, but he counted eight CCTV cameras on the buildings that covered all the approaches to the compound, plus two on the wall by the main gate. The gate was the only way in.
The roof of the main building had two satellite dishes, a small one and another that was the size of a car. Dotted around the roof were several floodlights that illuminated the gardens at night. The compound appeared to be pretty much impregnable.
Kaitlyn tapped him on the shoulder and he lowered the binoculars and turned to look at her. ‘Are you thinking of going in there?’ she asked.
‘I was,’ he said. ‘But I don’t see how I can. It’s a bloody fortress.’ He shook his head. ‘I can’t understand why he’s not behind bars. You know what they’re into? Drugs, trafficking, racketeering. And I’m damn sure they killed Koshkin and framed your brother. The cops must know what’s going on, but they’re living like bloody kings as if they don’t have a care in the world.’
Kaitlyn patted him on the knee. ‘Big breaths,’ she said.
‘What?’
‘Chill, Matt. Don’t let it get to you.’
Standing looked at her for several seconds, then his face broke into a grin. ‘You sound like my therapist.’
‘You have a therapist?’
‘I used to. I had anger management issues.’
‘Seriously?’
Standing nodded. ‘I still do. I have a tendency to react instinctively, without considering the consequences. Like when I hit that cop in Hollywood Boulevard.’
‘He grabbed you. I saw that. You just reacted.’
‘Yeah, but I hit a cop. And there’s no excuse for that.’
‘Matt, I saw what happened. He grabbed you from behind. You turned and hit him and when you saw he was a cop, you stopped. You didn’t do anything wrong.’
He laughed. ‘Yeah, well if I end up in court, I hope the jury sees it that way.’
‘What did the therapist say you should do, about your anger management issues?’
‘Like you said, big breaths. And chill.’
‘She didn’t give you medication?’
Standing shook his head. ‘Basically she said I should count to ten. And she taught me square breathing.’
‘Square breathing?’
‘You breathe in for four seconds, hold it for four seconds, breathe out for four seconds, then hold it again for four seconds. And you keep doing that.’
‘Does it work?’
Standing nodded. ‘Actually it does. It’s quite calming.’
‘So you’re better now?’
He chuckled. ‘I guess so. The trick is to know when to use it.’
She frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I’m a soldier, Kaitlyn. If I start doing square breathing in a combat situation, I’ll be dead. In combat I have to react instinctively because it’s kill or be killed.’ He shrugged. ‘The problems start when I’m not in a war zone. Like with that cop. I hit him and he’ll be fine. But suppose the situation had been different and I’d had a gun in my hand. I could have shot him.’
‘You’d have seen he was a cop and you’d have stopped yourself.’
‘You say that, Kaitlyn. But when I’m fighting, it’s as if my subconscious takes over and it does whatever it thinks is necessary to protect itself.’
‘Because of the way you’ve been trained, right? Bobby-Ray’s the same. You’re trained to react quickly.’
‘It was more than training. It’s difficult to explain but when I’m in combat I function almost on remote control. Say we’re in the desert and we’re being fired upon. Okay, so we’re trained not to panic or freeze, we’re trained to look for cover and to return fire. And in the SAS we do a lot of training. But with me, it just sort of happens naturally. We can be taking fire from multiple attackers and I instinctively know where to go, and in what order to take out the targets. I don’t panic, I don’t even worry about it, I just do what I have to do. I don’t know what it is that I do, but it’s never let me down. Whereas I’ve seen guys make calculated decisions and come a cropper.’ He shrugged. ‘Like I said, it’s only a problem when I’m back in the real world.’
She patted him on the knee again. ‘Try a bit of square breathing while you decide what we’re going to do next.’
He chuckled. He put the binoculars back to his eyes. A red minivan with tinted windows had pulled up at the gates and the two guards were back. The gates opened and the van drove in and then stopped. The guards moved to either side of the vehicle, looked in through the side windows and then waved it on. It drove slowly to the main house and pulled up. The side door opened and four pretty girls tottered out on impossibly high heels, two blondes, a black girl with waist-length dreadlocks and a Chinese girl in a bright red minidress with gold dragons on it. The front door had already opened and the girls went inside.
‘Do you think they’re hookers?’ asked Kaitlyn, and Standing burst out laughing.
‘I don’t thin
k they’re dressed for housework,’ he said.
She grimaced. ‘You couldn’t pay me enough money to sleep with a pig like that,’ she said.
‘Good to know.’
‘Do you think they’re on drugs?’
‘Maybe.’
The front door had closed and the minivan was heading back to the gate.
‘Why don’t we go to the police?’ said Kaitlyn. ‘I can tell them I was kidnapped.’
‘It would be our word against his,’ said Standing. ‘There’s no proof.’
‘We could tell the police that they wanted Bobby-Ray. That proves that they are connected with what happened to Koshkin.’
‘It’s all circumstantial, Kaitlyn,’ said Standing. He gave her the binoculars and she put them in the glove compartment. ‘The thing is, we’re still no closer to finding out what happened that night in Bel Air.’ He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. ‘We need more intel.’
‘But everyone there that night was killed, right? Except for Bobby-Ray and the Russian guy.’
‘There was another witness,’ said Standing. ‘Let’s see if he can help.’ He took out his mobile phone and called John Keenan. Keenan didn’t seem pleased to hear from Standing, but agreed to meet him at a diner in Pasadena.
Standing put the address into the Polo’s SatNav and thirty minutes later they were parking outside Tom’s Famous Family Restaurant. Keenan was already sitting in a booth and he stood up when Standing and Kaitlyn walked over. Standing introduced Kaitlyn and Keenan shook hands with her. ‘Bobby-Ray talked about you a lot,’ he said.
‘Nothing bad, I hope,’ she said.
‘He was very proud of you,’ said Keenan. ‘You’re deaf, right?’
‘As a post,’ she laughed.
‘But you can hear me?’ Realisation dawned. ‘You read lips.’
‘I try,’ she said.
The three of them sat down. Keenan already had a coffee and a waitress came over with menus.
‘I ate at home,’ said Keenan. ‘But you guys feel free.’ The waitress recommended Tom’s Famous Pastrami sandwich so Standing ordered one with a coffee, while Kaitlyn went for a turkey and avocado sandwich and a Coke.
‘So what’s up?’ asked Keenan as the waitress walked away.
‘I spoke to Lipov in London,’ said Standing.
‘You called him?’
Standing shook his head. ‘I went to see him.’
Keenan looked over the top of his coffee mug. ‘And how did that go?’
‘Not great,’ said Standing. ‘He attacked me which I took as an admission of guilt. But he wouldn’t tell me anything.’ Standing thought it best not to mention that Lipov wasn’t in a position to say anything to anybody.
‘Yeah, as I said, he wouldn’t talk to our people either. He attacked you? He’s a big guy.’
‘He is,’ agreed Standing.
‘I’m surprised he didn’t kill you.’
‘He gave it his best shot,’ said Standing. The waitress returned with Kaitlyn’s Coke and a cup of coffee for Standing. They stayed quiet until she had gone. Standing leaned towards Keenan. ‘Look, the night that Koshkin was killed, there were two drivers. Did they both see what happened?’
Keenan shook his head. ‘One had already left. The other, Paul Dutch, was still outside in his vehicle. He saw Bobby-Ray run off.’
‘This Dutch is a former SEAL?’ asked Standing.
‘Delta Force,’ said Keenan.
‘Can I talk to him?’
‘He was interviewed by the cops on the night, and the following day. He saw Bobby-Ray running away from the scene but that’s all.’
‘I hear you, but I’d like the chance to talk to him. If that’s okay with you.’
Keenan looked at Standing for several seconds, then he nodded and slipped out of the booth. He took his cellphone out and headed outside to make the call.
While he was outside, their food arrived and Standing and Kaitlyn tucked into their sandwiches.
After five minutes, Keenan returned. ‘He’s not far away, he’ll be here soon,’ he said as he slid back into the booth.
‘Is he primarily a driver?’ asked Standing.
Keenan nodded. ‘He’s good at it. Plus clients like him. He’s good with wives and the like. He had a couple of problems with the cops when he first left Delta so he’s not allowed to have a concealed carry permit but as a driver that’s not an issue.’ He was looking at Standing’s sandwich and Standing pushed his plate towards him.
‘Take half,’ he said.
‘You sure?’
‘Go ahead,’ said Standing.
Keenan picked up half of the sandwich and took a large bite out of it.
‘So the night that Koshkin died, this Dutch wasn’t armed?’ asked Standing.
‘No, we tend not to arm our drivers anyway. If there’s any trouble they’re told to get the client out of danger immediately rather than to start returning fire.’
‘Where’s he working now?’
‘We’ve placed him with a Hollywood producer who’s having a few problems at the moment, so Dutch’s main job is to keep him away from the paparazzi. Easier said than done in this town.’
Standing was just finishing his sandwich when a black Towncar pulled up outside the diner. ‘There he is now,’ said Keenan. ‘I’ll bring him in.’
Keenan went outside as Standing sipped his coffee. A few minutes later Keenan returned with a tall man with a neatly trimmed beard. Standing stood up. Dutch had piercing brown eyes that scrutinised Standing as the two men shook hands. ‘You’re the SAS guy?’ said Dutch.
Standing nodded.
‘Bobby-Ray mentioned you a few times. Said he saved your life in Syria.’
‘He took an IED blast in the back,’ said Standing.
‘Yeah. Blew his lung, so that was his SEAL career over.’ He shrugged. ‘Me, I was happy enough to move into the private sector, but Bobby-Ray wanted to be where the bullets were flying.’ He grinned. ‘That’s ironic, considering how things turned out.’ He looked down at Kaitlyn. ‘You’re the sister, right?’
‘I am,’ said Kaitlyn. She held out her hand and Dutch looked at it for a second or two before shaking it. He sat next to Keenan and ordered a coffee from the hovering waitress.
‘I’m not sure what you want me to say,’ said Dutch as the waitress walked away. ‘I told the cops everything. It seems open and shut, right?’
‘My brother wouldn’t kill anybody,’ said Kaitlyn.
‘Darling, your brother was a Navy SEAL,’ said Dutch. ‘That’s what he was trained to do.’
‘I meant he wouldn’t kill someone for money,’ said Kaitlyn, folding her arms defensively.
‘You think SEALs work for free?’ said Dutch. ‘Girl, you need to wake up and smell the coffee.’
Standing could see that Kaitlyn wasn’t reacting well to Dutch’s teasing, so he put up a hand to intervene. ‘I think what Kaitlyn means is that her brother isn’t the type to work as a killer for hire, and I agree with her on that. And that’s what this killing looks like, right? Bobby-Ray had no connection with the victim, this wasn’t a revenge killing or a moment of anger, this was an assassination and that’s not the sort of thing that Bobby-Ray would get involved in, not in a million years.’
Dutch nodded. ‘I was being flippant.’ He turned to look at Kaitlyn. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you. I like your brother, he’s a good guy. But I saw what I saw. And I went into that room after he ran off and I saw the bodies.’ He grimaced. ‘It wasn’t pleasant.’
‘You heard the shots?’ asked Standing.
‘I heard a couple of shots, yes.’
‘Just a couple?’
‘I was in the car for part of the time. And then I was in the garage.’
‘So how many shots did you hear?’
‘Two or three.’
‘But which is it? Two or three?’
Dutch looked sideways at Keenan. ‘Am I being interrogated?’
‘I’m
just a stickler for details,’ said Standing. ‘I’ve no ulterior motive here.’
Dutch looked back at him. ‘I hope that’s true.’
‘Paul, I don’t think for one second that you were involved in what happened. But I’m equally sure that Bobby-Ray didn’t kill Koshkin and the bodyguards.’
‘Well, Nikolai Lipov says he did. And I saw Bobby-Ray running away.’
Standing nodded. ‘You did, yes. So tell me, why did Bobby-Ray run and not shoot you?’
‘Because he knew I wasn’t armed. I wasn’t a threat to him.’
‘So he just ran?’
Dutch nodded.
‘Did he have a gun?’
‘Sure. The cops found it.’
‘Did you see him drop it?’
Dutch frowned but didn’t reply.
‘It’s a simple enough question,’ said Standing.
‘No, I get the question,’ said Dutch. ‘But now I think about it, I didn’t see a gun in Bobby-Ray’s hand. But the cops found it later.’
‘Found it where?’
‘Near the wall. Bobby-Ray went over the wall and they found the gun nearby.’
‘And did Lipov go anywhere near the wall?’
Dutch nodded slowly.
‘What are you suggesting?’ said Keenan.
‘I think Lipov killed the client and the bodyguards,’ said Standing. ‘I think he planned to kill Bobby-Ray, too, and make it look like he had done the killings.’
‘Wow,’ said Keenan.
‘But Bobby-Ray ran and managed to get away. Lipov ran after him and dropped Bobby-Ray’s gun by the wall.’
‘You know this for sure?’ asked Keenan.
‘Lipov told me that he came down the stairs after he had heard the shots. But Bobby-Ray was a pro; if he really had gone rogue he would have shot Lipov. Lipov says he fired at Bobby-Ray and that scared him off but that’s bollocks. Bobby-Ray was a highly trained Navy SEAL, he wouldn’t panic under gunfire. Lipov was a big man, he’d have been an easy target.’
Keenan raised an eyebrow. ‘Was? Past tense?’
‘Is. Was. Whatever. I’m just saying, if Bobby-Ray had killed the client and three bodyguards, he wouldn’t have baulked at killing Lipov. Or Paul, here. If he really had killed four people then why not kill five or six?’
Last Man Standing Page 20
