“Hello.”
“Hey Tiff, we heard from them. We’re on our way tae meet them now. Hopefully we’ll have yer brother back soon.”
“So, where are you meeting them?”
“At an old warehouse. Just tae the West of Moscow.”
“Oh Scott, please be careful. This doesn’t feel right, I don’t like this.”
“None of us like this. But we dinnae have much choice.”
“I know.”
“How are yer Mom and Dad doing?”
“They’re doing as well as can be expected. Bill and Sue came over a few hours ago. Britney’s here too. It has been a while since we have all gotten together. The distraction of getting caught up with them is good for Mom and Dad. And it is really nice for them to have their closest friends here.”
“That’s guid, I bet yer running oot of room there,” Scott said. He was worried about what Britney might be saying to Tiffany. But, then again, there were more important things on his mind.
“They’re not sleeping here, they’ll be going to a hotel later. But, it was really sweet; they said they would stay up here until Kyle comes home.”
“That’s guid fer yer parents. Hopefully, we’ll have some guid news fer them soon. We’re meeting them in an hoor.”
“Okay, that’s great. Please call us as soon as you have Kyle back. I know my Mom wants to get to talk to him first.”
“I will, I promise. We’re just getting in the car now tae leave. I’ll call yer as soon as possible, bye.”
“Good luck Scott, bye. Oh, and be careful!”
It was a warm, humid night in Moscow, the sky was clear and there were lots of bright stars visible. They all got into the car, Tom was driving again and they slowly made their way away from the center of the city towards the Western suburb. There was still quite a lot of traffic considering it was so late, and just as Tom had estimated, it took a little over half an hour to reach the Krasnogorsk area of Moscow. Chris used a wifi internet connection and he surveyed the map up on his laptop, so they easily located the street that they were looking for. It was really dark. And, it seemed to be a semi-rural area. After a few more minutes driving, and searching, they found their precise destination. There were about twenty minutes early, Scott asked Tom to drive past, so they could look at the place they would be going to.
As the man on the phone had said, it appeared to be an old warehouse. It was located in a fairly isolated area and it was very dark. There weren’t any street lights or any lights on the building. As they drove past, Scott did notice that there was a dark van parked near the warehouse. He wasn’t sure what make it was. He commented that it looked like the ‘A-Team’ van, but without the red stripe.
When they drove about half a mile past the warehouse, Scott asked Tom to stop the car. It was time to go through some last minute details and to decide exactly how they were going to proceed. They still had a few minutes before they needed to be at the rendezvous point. Scott informed all the men, that he and Tom would leave the car, and only the two of them would approach the kidnappers. Chris and Alexei needed to remain safe in the car. After a brief, final pep talk, Tom turned the car around and headed back to the warehouse.
Tom pulled slowly into the parking lot and stopped the car on the opposite side of the lot, facing the black van. It was about fifty yards away. Tom left the engine running while they sat there, and waited for something to happen. It only took about thirty seconds before the lights on the van flashed twice. Tom flashed their lights too. Scott turned to Chris.
“This is it. Here take the phone, and let me have the laptop,” he said, handing Chris the cell phone.
“There yer go, be careful.”
“Aye we will,” he said, taking the computer.
Scott opened his door and stepped out. Tom did the same and walked by Scott’s side, towards the van. Both men were wearing lightweight short dark colored jackets and carried their guns, holstered underneath.
After they had taken a few steps, the driver’s door of the van opened and a tall man got out. He was wearing jeans and a short black leather jacket. He was carrying a semi-automatic assault rifle, on a strap, over his shoulder. He strode towards Scott and Tom.
“Why you no come alone,” he shouted in their direction. He had a deep voice and strong accent, along with the broken English. This led Scott to believe that this was the same man he had spoken to on the phone earlier.
“I have yer money. My friend is here fer back-up. We dinnae want any trouble,” Scott shouted back, as he held up the laptop and pointed to it.
“There will be no trouble if you have money. But, you should have come alone.”
“I’m sure yer nae alone,” Scott responded. He was angry that he needed to comply with these thugs. Ideally he’d have liked the chance to take them on, but this wasn’t his call. It wasn’t his son that was kidnapped, so reluctantly he held back.
“No, you are right. I have comrade inside.”
“So, where’s the lad?” Scott shouted.
“Inside, you come,” the man said, and walked towards a door on the front of the building. When he got there he held the door open and signaled for Scott to come inside.
Scott and Tom approached slowly. When Scott was a few yards away he opened his jacket and pointed to his gun.
“We’re armed too, but we dinnae want any trouble. We just want the lad.”
“Follow me,” the Russian said, walking into the building.
They followed slowly and carefully. Scott turned around and waved at Chris before the door closed behind him. Chris knew what to do. They had arranged earlier that if Scott went inside the building and anything seemed to be going wrong then Chris was to get away from there with Alexei. He was to be there bargaining chip if things weren’t going to plan.
It was dark inside the warehouse, apart from one corner where there seemed to be an office. A little light was coming from a window, which looked out of the office into the warehouse. Scott noticed there didn’t seem to be much inside the huge building, just some old cars and trucks that didn’t look like they had been driven for a long time. They continued to follow the man towards the office. He stopped just outside and turned to them.”
“Inside, you go,” he said, as he opened the door.
Scott walked in slowly. There was some light, but it was still quite dim. He saw another man sitting behind a desk who was smoking a cigarette. On the desk in front of him was a laptop. Scott’s eyes moved to the far corner of the office. There was a man sitting on a chair with a hood on his head. His arms were tied behind his back. Tom entered the room with Scott.
“So, you are friend of Robinson’s,” the man behind the desk said, smiling and leaning back in his chair. He had shoulder length dark wavy hair, and a full beard and moustache. He too was wearing a black leather jacket which was opened and spoke with a strong accent.
“Aye, I’m their friend. Who are yer?”
“That’s not important my friend, all that matters is that you have my money,” he said, motioning at the other man by the door that it was okay for him to leave. He did, and closed the door behind him.
“Untie the lad. Let’s get this done,” Scott said, confidently.
“You don’t make demands my friend. First you transfer the money. Then I give you boy.”
“Kyle, are yer okay. Did they hurt yer?” Scott asked, loudly.
The figure in the corner seemed to nod and mumbled something.
“Boy is fine, he can’t talk, and we have mouth gagged. Transfer money and then you can all go.”
Scott turned around; Tom was standing by the door. The other Russian had indeed left the room. He opened up the laptop and placed it on the corner of the desk.
“It will take me a couple of minutes tae get in tae the account. Where are the details of where yer want the money sent?”
“Right here my friend,” he said, as he turned his own laptop around to face Scott.
It didn’t take long for Scot
t to type in the details and codes. After a few minutes he was ready.
“Just one more button tae press and the money is yers,” he said, looking into the Russian mobster’s eyes with disgust.
“So press the button, and then boy is yours.”
Scott hated giving in to people like this. But, he was left with no choice. He reluctantly pressed the button and started the transfer. The man nervously watched his laptop and after a couple of minutes, he smiled.
“It is done, ten million U.S. Dollars. Thank you my friend.”
“I’m nae yer friend. Now, untie the boy so we can go,” Scott responded, raising his voice.
“Not so fast, we should celebrate. Come drink vodka with us.”
“Untie him now,” Scott said angrily, as he quickly pulled out his gun and pointed it at the grinning Russian.”
“That is not a good idea, very bad manners.”
“I have nae problem shooting yer. This is yer last chance tae untie him or I put a hole in yer.”
“You would be dead before you could pull the trigger my friend.”
At that very moment, Scott felt the cold metal of a gun barrel pressed firmly against the back of his head. He was shocked. He hadn’t heard the door open. There was no way anyone could have taken out Tom and come up behind him so quietly.
“Put your gun down my friend,” said the Russian, still grinning.
Scott kept his gun pointed directly at the seated man’s head.
“Nae a chance. Tell him tae put his gun doon or I’ll shoot yer.”
The man leaned back in his chair and smiled.
“Go ahead then, shoot me.”
“Just put the gun down, Scott. It’s over.” The familiar voice came directly from behind Scott. He was dumbstruck.
“What the f…?”
“There are no bullets in your gun Scott, they’re blanks. Just put it down.”
“Yer have tae be kidding me? What the hell is going on Tom?”
“I’m sorry Scott. It’s nothing personal, just business.”
Scott’s head dropped, he was in shock. The man behind the desk stood up and untied the man in the corner. He stood up too and removed the hood, it wasn’t Kyle. It was another Russian mob member. The newly untied man moved around behind Scott and Tom moved away. The man held Scott’s arms behind his back while the bearded man stood in front of him and looked him up and down.
“So this is the mighty skirted warrior who was going to defeat us and save the boy, he doesn’t look so tough now,” he said, as he punched Scott repeatedly in the stomach.
Scott didn’t make a sound; he wouldn’t give the man any satisfaction of knowing he inflicted any pain.
“I’ll go and get the other two,” Tom said, as he left the room.
As the door shut behind him, Scott’s beating continued.
“You thought you could stop us, we are former Spetsnaz, we piss on your S.A.S.,” the man said, as he continued to punch Scott.
“Aye, just put the guns away and let me take yer on, one-on-one. We’ll see how tough yer are then?” Scott replied, he couldn’t resist. He knew it was going to get him hit harder, but he didn’t care. At that time, he didn’t care about anything. A couple of minutes later Tom returned to the room.”
“It’s done. The other two are in the back of the van.”
Scott’s hands were tied tightly behind his back, while Tom concluded his business with the Russians. Scott sat and watched as his former boss and friend, shook hands with the mobsters and joked with them at his expense. The bearded man performed another bank transaction on the computer, this time transferring money to Tom’s account.
“So how much did yer get fer selling us oot Tom?”
“Ten percent. One million dollars, Scott. Come on. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t have done the same.”
“Nae, I would nae have.”
“That’s bull and you know it. Plus, the first million is just the start. They’ve got three extra hostages now. I stand to get ten percent of whatever they get.”
“The Robinson’s will nae pay anymore. I told them that specifically afore I left.”
“Oh we both know that they will. They want their son back, plus their daughter’s boyfriend now. And I know Alexei’s family have money down there in the South. Also, I’m sure we can get something for Chris.”
“Enough, we go now,” the bearded Russian, interrupted.
Scott was taken out to the van and thrown into the back. Chris and Alexei were there. Chris seemed calm but Alexei was panicking. Both of their hands were tied, and they were gagged and blindfolded. Scott watched from the back of the van as Tom shook hands with the mobsters again.
“When I get oot of here I’m coming after yer Tom, I promise.”
“Okay Scott, have a great night. I’m going to get drunk and party. Then, I may take a woman or two back to my suite,” he said sarcastically, laughing at Scott.
Then Scott was gagged and blindfolded too. His final memory before everything went dark was Tom’s smiling face. He heard the van’s back door shut and then the engine started. They had no idea where they were being taken.
Chapter 19
The van drove for about an hour before coming to a halt. Scott listened carefully. He heard both of the front doors of the vehicle as they opened and closed. Next he heard footsteps and then the back door was being opened up. Someone took Scott’s arm and pulled him out of the van. It was quiet, apart from Alexei’s muffled cries as he was removed.
They were led inside a building and guided down a flight of stairs. When they reached the bottom of the stairway, Scott’s blindfold and gag were removed. He looked around and it appeared they were in a basement. It was a fairly small room with a damp concrete floor, and there was a distinct odor of mold. The walls were brick and there were no windows. The only way out was back up the steep, narrow staircase that they just descended. He noticed two mattresses on the floor in the corner of the room, and a couple of blankets as well. The bearded Russian removed Alexei’s gag, and then looked at Scott.
“So what do you think of your new home?” he sneered.
“I dinnae think we’ll be here fer long. So, I will nae get too comfortable.”
“Well, that depends on how quickly we get money for you.”
“Aye, I already told yer that yer will nae get any more money from the Robinson’s.”
“We will see my friend. We will be in touch with them later.”
“Please, let me call my Father. He will pay,” Alexei pleaded.
“Oh don’t worry. We will be contacting him tomorrow, too. First, we must rest. It is late,” he said, as he started to climb the stairs. The other mobster who was with him followed directly behind him. He was the guy who had been tied up, and pretended to be Kyle in the office. Scott wasn’t sure if the third guy was there too, the one who approached them initially in the parking lot. He thought he heard three voices while they were being transferred in the van, so he presumed he was somewhere nearby.
“So, is Kyle here?” Scott asked.
“Yes, he is up here. And, if you try to cause trouble, we will kill him. So be good.”
“Are yer going tae untie our hands?”
“No. Tom warned us about you. You stay tied up,” he said, laughing as he pulled the cord at the top of stairs that turned out the single light bulb. For a second, the room went completely dark. Then, he opened the door at the top of the stairs so some light filtered into the drab basement.
“Hey, can yer at least get us some water?” Scott asked.
“Of course my friend, we are not monsters. I will send some down, soon,” he replied, as the two men left the room and the door closed behind them.
The room was plunged into total darkness. They heard the sound of a bolt clicking that confirmed the door had been locked. Scott didn’t waste any time.
“Chris,” he whispered.
“Aye, I’m here mate. How the hell are we going tae get oot of this one?” he replied, quiet
ly.
“Stay close tae me mate. Yer too Alexei,” Scott whispered, as he huddled together with the others. They started to move slowly towards the corner where the mattresses were.
“There are some mattresses here. Just sit doon.”
“What are we going to do now? I can’t believe you got me into this!” Alexei said nervously, as he dropped onto the mattress with the others. He was obviously scared and his voice continued getting louder.
“Be quiet Alexei. Dinnae let them hear us. I’m sorry we got yer in tae this. But, now is nae the time fer this. Just listen and do as yer told and I’ll get yer oot of here.”
“What’s the plan, Scott? There’s nae much we can really do, is there?” Chris whispered.
“Aye, there is. Chris, work with me. See if yer can move yerself so yer can reach in tae my boot,” he said quietly, as he maneuvered himself around.
“Okay. What’s in yer boot?”
“My mini Swiss Army-knife keychain. I separated it from my keys when I left them in the safe. I put it in my boot. They did nae notice it when they frisked me. It’s on top of the tongue of my left boot, under the laces.”
“Nice, hang on. I’m trying tae reach it,” Chris said, as they continued to move into position. It proved to be quite difficult while their hands were tied. But, being in total darkness, made it even harder.
“That’s it, yer nearly there,” Scott replied, as he felt a hand on his ankle.
“I have got it Scott. Damn this is nae easy. How many tools are on this thing?”
“There’s aboot seven I think. The main blade would be best, but they’re all sharp. The blades are only aboot an inch long, but they should cut through these ropes.”
“I think I have the main blade, it feels quite sharp. Move up a wee bit and I’ll try tae cut yer free.”
“Okay, I know it’s nae easy mate, but try tae go as quick as yer can. The sooner we can get oot of here the better. Hopefully, someone will come doon tae give us water soon and we can make a move.”
KILTED DESIRE 2 - Russian Roulette Page 16
