by K. A. Ware
…
I scanned the VIP booths for Boris or Ivan but came up empty. Looked like I was going to have to wait a bit longer for one of them to make an appearance. I had done my homework, I knew both of them frequented this club. One of them was bound to show up eventually. Two ginger ales later I finally saw Boris sit down on one of the couches in the raised VIP section to the right of the dance floor.
Now to just get his attention. I set my glass on the bar and made my way onto the dance floor. I slowly shimmied and swayed my way through the throng of people until I was right in front of his section. I began to dance alone letting my body roll and dip to the hypnotic beat. I peeked up at him through my hair as I continued putting on a show. He was sitting on this throne watching me.
Good.
A hand came down on my shoulder and I jumped, spinning around to find a large eastern European man in a black suit directly behind me.
“Come,” he said in a thick Russian accent, “Boss want you.”
“I’m sorry what?” I played along as the dumb club girl.
He pointed to the dais where Boris was sitting and glaring at me, looking almost mad. As if he was impatient that I was making him wait.
“Oh, um I don’t know him, I think you might have me confused with someone else,” I said trying to sound innocent.
“No confused, you come now,” he said with finality, grabbing my arm and none too gently hauling me up the stairs to Boris. He pushed me forward as if to present me to Boris and turned on his heel to resume his post at the far end of the stage, keeping watch over the crowd.
I stood there awkwardly looking around as if lost, “Umm, hi.” I said to Boris with a coy smile. I had to give it to the guy, he was definitely not ugly. He was a large man, and from the information I gleaned from Carlo and the men, he wasn’t all that smart. He was the brawn to Ivan’s brains.
“Hello,” he responded with a nod. When I didn’t say anything he continued, “I saw you dancing, what is your name?”
I cocked an eyebrow, game on, time to bring on the flirt. “I don’t make a habit of telling strange men that demand my presence my name when I still don’t know theirs,” I replied with a slight attitude and hand on my hip.
He laughed, loudly, “My name is Boris, yeah?”
I smiled and flipped my hair, extending my hand I replied, “Janelle.”
His large hand engulfed my own much smaller one and then he pulled, causing me to fall next to him. I giggled as I plopped down on the loveseat and curled up to his left side. A brush of my breast against his side revealed a pistol holster under his arm, a rub of his leg with my left foot revealed another small gun and finally a graze of my hand down his chest proved a second holster on the right side. In a matter of seconds I had effectively identified his personal weapons and cataloged them in my mind, I would need the knowledge later.
I spent the next hour flirting my ass off and dancing for him. I apparently did a good job because he was up and guiding me out of the club and into his car before midnight. He had shrugged off his security. Opting to drive his Lamborghini in an effort to impress me, I’m sure. Foolish move, but he didn’t know that yet, he just thought I was some young girl that he picked up at a club. Little did he know that he was my prey, I had stalked him and soon I would go in for the kill.
The drive to the hotel was short but it gave me enough time to flash some leg and complement him profusely on his car. We pulled up to the hotel and two valets came running out. The first stopped at my door and helped me out of the car, the second made a beeline for Boris and the keys. I made sure to let my hair cover my face so the valet wouldn’t be able to ID me later. Didn’t matter much though since the two young men seemed to only have eyes for Boris’ pretentious, over compensating car. Keeping my head down so onlookers couldn’t catch my face, I let Boris guide me into the hotel and up to the 32nd floor where he led me into a hugely extravagant suite.
Of course I had done my recon work and knew where he was staying. I had studied the layout of the hotel marking out my exit strategy and memorizing possible alternatives in the event that things didn’t go as planned. The one thing I didn’t have was backup. I was on my own here, and no one knew where I was, or what I was doing. If any of Carlo’s men had any inclination of what I had planned they would have never let me leave the house.
By now they probably knew I wasn’t where I said I was going to be and were bound to have started figuring out my plan. Carlo wasn’t stupid. As soon as he found out I wasn’t in Seattle he would know that I went after the Kashnikov’s. The only person that knew was Mouse, but that was only because I needed him to get me the layout of the hotel and the intel on Boris. I hadn’t clued him into the timeline since I didn’t want him involved any more than absolutely necessary.
“Drink?” Boris asked, motioning to the wet bar and interrupting my rapid-fire thoughts. My heart rate had picked up and I could feel the adrenaline pulsing through my body. This was it.
“Please,” I said sweetly, “let me, go sit down.”
Boris smirked and loosened his tie as he made his way over to the couch.
“What would you like to drink?”
He gave me a weird look as if to say what the fuck do you think? “Vodka.”
I smiled as I turned to grab an old fashioned glass and rolled my eyes, seriously this man was a walking, talking stereo type. If I had to smile at this guy for one more goddamn minute I was going to fucking scream. With my back still turned I poured his vodka into the glass and set down the carafe. With my right hand I grabbed for a napkin as my left hand unscrewed the pendant on my necklace. Before I turned around I poured the clear liquid into his drink. The drug was nearly untraceable on its own but mixed with straight vodka on ice there was no way Boris would be able to detect that I slipped him something before it was too late. Sauntering from around the wet bar I put an extra sway in my hips, handing him his drink and sitting beside him.
He sipped his drink and surveyed me, “Why you so far away?” he asked in his harsh accent.
I grinned at him and straddled his lap, “Well, when you finish your drink, we can get much, much closer,” I purred the words as I wrapped my arms around his neck, and it made me want to vomit. This man was responsible for Gina’s death and here I was seducing him.
Fucking disgusting pig.
He downed his drink in one gulp and set it on the table immediately grabbing for me on his lap. The drugs hadn’t kicked in yet, and given his size I didn’t know how long it would take. I could flirt with this guy, touch him, sit on his lap but I could not kiss him let alone fuck him, I had to stall.
Shit, I did not think this through
I went for his throat, kissing him there, it was better than having to kiss his lips and it gave me time to think. I mentally calculated the dosage in my necklace and his weight, thinking he was about two fifty and the vial on my necklace held about two doses for a normal person. I had given him the entire thing, it was only a matter of a few minutes before he should start to feel the effects. I started to push at his suit jacket, I might as well shoot two birds with one stone and disarm him now.
Next I unbuttoned his shirt, making sure to take my time and slide my hands all over his chest. The coarse hair abraded my cheeks as I kissed down his neck and ventured south.
This shit had better start fucking working because like hell was I sucking this bastard’s cock.
With his size I wasn’t confident that I could overpower him or even get the upper hand. While I was contemplating going for his ankle holster since he had removed his side arms and was running out of torso, a heavy hand landed on my head.
“Da, good baby, so good,” he slurred, and that was my cue. I moved quickly grabbing the gun holstered to his ankle and rolling out of reach. I stood above him, his own gun aimed at his head.
“What? What you do to me?” he could barely get the words out, his tongue was thick and by the way he smacked his lips together I assumed his mouth was dry.
“Just something to make things a little fuzzy. Don’t worry, you will still feel everything I plan to do to you,” I took my wig off and pulled the handcuffs from my purse. Walking over I secured his wrists behind his back and retrieved his two side arms making sure they were plenty far away. Next I lifted my skirt and unsheathed my push dagger. Kicking off my shoes I stalked back across the room, fury heating my blood.
“You murdered my best friend, you beat her, and you raped her!” I yelled in his face. I was so close, we were breathing the same air and it made me sick.
Boris was looking at me with far away eyes, not even trying to defend himself. I don’t think he even knew I was talking to him, but when I straightened and brought my blade down across his chest he let out a pained grunt letting me know he felt it. I brought my blade up this time, making a long line up his side. The cuts were shallow not reaching the muscle, just the flesh. I kept slicing him at a manic pace. I wanted him to feel it. I was going to mutilate his body just like he had done to Gina.
Once his neck and torso were covered in shallow slices, I walked back over to the fully stocked wet bar. Grabbing the container of limes along with the salt I made my way back over to where Boris was feebly trying to fight against his restraints. I set my haul on the side table and approached Boris again.
“You are pathetic, and I am going to show you how much I can make you hurt.” I grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him on the floor, with some effort I was able to get him onto his back. He was out of it, he could feel the pain but he couldn’t fight against it.
I stood over him and grabbed for the limes first, slowly squeezing the juice onto his cuts. He cried out in pain but that didn’t dissuade me. By the time I was done, not a single cut was left unsaturated with citrus juice. I smiled as I reached for the salt, pouring it all over his chest and rubbing it in with my foot. That woke him up, he was thrashing and bucking so hard that he almost knocked me over. I needed to end this soon, I had been in here too long already.
Grabbing my phone from my bag, I pulled up the camera app and hit record; really the scene made for an especially lovely picture, it was almost artistic. The word OMERTÁ was carved in his skin, dozens of slash marks covered his torso and arms, even his face. The lime wedges strewn about around him added a nice pop of color, which complimented the red salt stained blood nicely.
“Bo-ris,” I singsonged his name, “Why don’t you tell your Papa and brother what you’re feeling right now?”
When he didn’t move I grabbed my dagger and stabbed him in the stomach, not one of the shallow slices I was using before, this was deep. As soon as my blade sunk into his flesh he let out a blood curdling scream for the camera, and I laughed. It was maniacal, it was wild and dangerous. I was starting to lose myself in this room. I knew that I needed to get out, but I wanted to stay and play.
His screams slowly dissolved into groans. I kept the camera aimed at him as I leaned forward and sliced his throat from ear to ear. It took more effort than I had imagined but my knife was sharp and I had rage fueling me so I managed to get a clean cut. I let the recording roll for another minute as Boris gurgled and sputtered, finally succumbing as his blood pooled beneath him.
I turned off the recording with my left hand and tossed the phone on the couch as I stood. It took a while to roll Boris far enough onto his side to remove the handcuffs. The fucker was heavy. Moving to the sink at the wet bar I washed the blood from my knife, hands and arms watching it swirl down the drain. As the water began to run clear, the haze of bloodlust started to dissipate and reality started to seep in. I quickly splashed water on my face and neck to wash away the rest of the blood, and grabbed some napkins to dry off. I threw them into the sink and rushed over to get the glass from Boris’ drink, and the container from the limes and salt. I brought them back to the sink, and quickly washed the glass and wiped my prints from everything else.
I made another trip into the living room collecting my wig, purse and phone. Taking a lighter from my purse, I lit the paper napkins I used in the sink and watched them burn. My heart was racing. I needed to get out of here but I needed to be smart about it, make sure I covered my tracks in case someone found Boris before his brother or father. My prints weren’t in any database, but I didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks.
Slipping everything into my purse, I made my way to the mirror at the entry of the suite, replacing my wig I gave myself a onceover. My black dress camouflaged any blood spatter and my skin had been rubbed clean. I appeared to be a normal club girl as long as no one looked too close. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door with my arm, careful not to get my prints on the handle and slipped out into the hallway.
I moved quickly to the elevators using my knuckle to press the call button, conscious not to fidget or make any unnatural or nervous movements in case someone approached. Taking the elevator would run the risk of more people seeing me but if someone witnessed me taking the stairs down thirty two floors it would be far more suspicious.
The doors opened and thankfully there was no one in the elevator. Pressing the button for the underground garage I closed my eyes and breathed a sigh of relief as the doors started to close. It was short lived though, because at the last second a hand flew into the space between the doors causing them to open again, and my gaze followed the hand right up to the ice blue eyes of Ivan Kashnikov.
Chapter 37
Carlo
“Where the fuck is she?” I yelled into the phone. I knew it was no use, no one knew where she was. She told me she was going into the city this afternoon for a meeting but that had been a lie. When it past eight that evening with no word from her I called her assistant at the main office and she had told me there was no meeting that afternoon. In fact, Mia had told her she had some personal business to take care of and would be unreachable for the day.
“Sir, we’re trying to find her but her cell was left at the estate and her car is parked at the office in Seattle, which is as far as we’ve been able to track her. There has been no activity on any of her cards and she hasn’t used her name for any sort of travel. I’m sorry, Sir, but it looks like she was pretty thorough. I don’t think we are going to find her until she wants to be found.” Enzo’s voice came through the phone sounding calm.
“Call me if you find anything,” I snapped into the phone and disconnected before he could respond.
I started pacing in front of my desk, “What the fuck is she doing?” I asked to no one in particular. Angelo was on the computer trying to search for any sign of Mia.
“The good thing is that we’re pretty sure she did this willingly. It doesn’t seem like she was taken by force since she lied about where she was going and purposely left her cards and phone,” Angelo said from his post behind the computer.
“That doesn’t mean whatever she had planned didn’t backfire. You and I both have a pretty good fucking idea of what she was, is, trying to do. FUCK!”
“We don’t know that for sure. We don’t have anything to go on right now and assuming the worst isn’t going to help us find her any faster. At this point, the best solution is to wait until morning. If she isn’t back by then, we go after the Kashnikovs.”
“But if they have her now she could be dead by morning!” I shouted as I continued my pacing, running my hands through my hair. This is why I don’t make personal attachments. I was going fucking insane. It was midnight and she had only been gone for eight hours. Jesus, I couldn’t even imagine what I would do if she was hurt.
“If we go in half-cocked without a plan and they do have her, they might panic and kill her. And if they don’t have her, we just showed our hand. There are too many unknowns right now Carlo. Besides, Mia is intelligent and well trained. I don’t like this situation any more than you do but if she did do what we think, she would have been smart about it. Obviously from the way she took off and covered her tracks she had thought this through. Have some faith in her, we’ll get her back,” Angelo said with more confidence than I fe
lt.
“I swear if she has so much as one hair out of place when we get her back, I won’t rest until I see every last one of those fuckers burn.”
Chapter 38
Mia
My heart was pounding so hard in my chest I was sure he could hear it as he entered the elevator and pressed the button for the lobby. He gave me a sidelong onceover and a head nod, I smiled weakly in return.
He didn’t know.
I was tempted to try and take him out now, two birds with one stone, but I immediately dismissed the idea as foolish. I needed time to prepare and plan, and I definitely wanted to take my time with this one. I was certain it was his call to kill Gina and I wanted to make sure his end was slow and painful, even more so than his brother’s.
As the car descended I noticed Ivan glance at me again, lingering on the half obstructed view of my face.
Fuck! Did he recognize me? How is that even possible, am I acting suspicious?
“How much?” he asked with is twisted smirk.
What the fuck?
It took me a second to realize that he thought I was a prostitute. I covered my face with my hands and stifled a laugh, “Oh god, I am like never wearing this dress again, I don’t—I mean I’m not like a hooker.”
What the fuck was that?
My nerves were getting the best of me, the first thing I could think of was to play up the part of ditzy party girl. I just hoped he couldn’t see through the act. I could feel my hands starting to tremble. Shit! I quickly rubbed my nose and sniffed loudly a few times. Maybe if he thought I was high it would help make sense of why I was acting like such a fucking spaz.
Ivan immediately took the bait. Raising an eyebrow and smirking, he reached into the breast pocket of his suit and pulled out a card, handing it to me. “Well if you want to make some money let me know, we are always looking for new girls,” he said.
I looked at the card in my hands.
Ivan Kashnikov, Owner
