by Finian Blake
“And what will we do to help.”
Rich noticed that John said, ‘will’ instead of ‘may’. “I need to find out who is in charge of the police in this district,” He said
John was quick with his answer, “Captain Richter runs the district. Ely’s son is a lieutenant under him. Your alderman friend got him on the force. It was one of the favors that you were never thanked for. My youngest Steven just started on the force last year. You left too soon. Your friend put me up against the Republican Alderman and I won the election. I am still an alderman and so is your friend. The Russian’s buildings are on the edge of my ward. What do you want?”
“Their building is under surveillance and I would like to have it removed starting tomorrow.”
“These are very bad people and we are trying to get rid of them.”
“If you remove the surveillance, the problem will just vanish. The drugs, prostitution and extortion will just vanish.” John liked the sound of the idea. Rich had been his benefactor years ago, so his cooperation was unquestioned.
John knew of a few strings that he could pull. “Come back tomorrow and I will have a definite answer. I believe it can be done. Is there anything else?”
“I would like access to the building department. I need the plans for both of their buildings.”
“My son Troy is a lieutenant on the fire department he could check for you,” John volunteered. “Let me call him and see what he can do.” John poured another round of drinks and made a call. He hung up after a quick conversation and waited by the phone. When the phone rang again he spent several minutes talking on the phone and came back to the bar. “Troy will call the building department and get back to me ASAP.” John was about to pour another round when the phone rang. After a minute John returned to the bar. “The building department had one set of plans. One of the buildings was recently remodeled. They made several major improvements to the foundation so detailed plans were filed. They are sending them over to him with a priority runner. He could have them here by five.” John had a critical look at Rich’s friends. They were definitely not street toughs, but they all had a certain hard look about them. “What line of work are your friends in.”
“They are garbage men and they are here to take out the trash.”
Rich called Wanda, “I will have what we need, but I am blasted. Would you see if you can drive Anna out here? I am at John’s place in Pat’s old neighborhood. We have all of the requests and more. I have to wait here until five for the plans.”
Wanda was alarmed, “What about the Russians you are very close to their home?” An alarm bell went off in Rich’s head. He waived John over.
“What about the Russians? Do they ever come here,” Rich asked?
“They are allergic to this side of the ward especially my place,” John smiled. “They tried to shake down some of the businesses around here, and they came in here trying to shake me down. I had a marked police car parked in front of their building every day for a month. I had every type of inspector in the city knocking on their door and they lost power for a few days. We came to an agreement. They will not come into this side of the Ward and I will back off. We are safe here, but have Anna dress down when she comes. We are in a working neighborhood and have her bring some clothes for Nadia and Angela. You had them dress too fancy for this area.” Rich called Wanda back immediately relaying John’s request. Rich hung up the phone. “John do you have some place private? We can’t be seen here.”
“Come up to my apartment and you can wait there.” Everybody moved up to John’s place and he called in his reserve bartender so that he could visit with his old friend. Wanda and Anna arrived at four thirty and Wanda claimed the ‘Old Men’ just before Troy arrived with two sets of plans.
“They improved both buildings,” Troy began, “They were rewired and plumbed. There was also a request to dig the basement down two more feet over all, so they had to submit detailed plans. Cook County has the strictest building codes in the country. The addition is listed as a party room.” Rich looked at Troy.
“Is there any chance that this building could burn down?”
“The walls in these buildings are two feet thick. At best everything in between the walls would go up.” Troy took out a red pen. “There are fire breaks in these areas and two utility stacks that run from the basement to the roof. If there were holes in the roof here and here,” Troy circled two spots on the plans, “the place would turn into a giant blast furnace. The heat would be enough to shatter the interior bricks and melt steel, but the outer layer would stand. If someone dumped accelerants down the utility stacks, the situation would be hopeless almost immediately and the fuel would be consumed in three hours. All of the heat would go straight up especially if the basement windows were open to feed the draft.” Troy gauged Rich’s expression and smiled. “With the thickness of the walls the house next store would receive little or no damage.”
He turned his attention to Angela. “Now, who is this?” She was wearing a dark green spandex tube top without a bra and a short black spandex mini skirt. Angela was athletic so her patterned black hose and high heel ankle boots made her legs an absolute stand out. Troy’s eyes were glued to Angela looking her up and down several times to make sure that he had not missed any of her assets.
“Troy, I would like you to meet my daughters Nadia and Angela.” He could not take his eyes off of Angela so it was not difficult to tell who Troy was interested in. “Their sister was kidnapped by the Russian gangsters. We are going to get her back and remove all of the trash in the process.”
“It sounds like they are the Russian gangsters that moved in a few years back.”
Rich made his intentions clear, “Yes they are. Only a very few Russians are bad, and these are the worst. It is similar to the Italians, only a very few Italians are gangsters. If both of these buildings caught on fire, there would be no one inside that would need rescuing.”
Troy appreciated Rich’s comment, “That is a comforting thought. Is that a thought that we can count on?”
“Absolutely…” Rich did his best to show his certainty on this point.
“I will have the watch on Friday it is a twenty-four-hour shift,” Troy said. Rich noticed that Troy could not take his eyes off of Angela even when talking to somebody else.
“She lives in Manchester, England. I don’t think that we will be back here again, but you and your family are welcome to visit. From the looks of it Angela would like you to visit.” Angela readily nodded her head in agreement not being able to take eyes off of the handsome young man.
Angela asked her most important question, “Would you be bringing your wife?”
“I am not married. I never found the right girl.” She stood up kissing him on the cheek with more than sisterly affection.
“I can easily arrange my time. If you come, I would be happy to show you around. I set up security systems all over the country and know all of the most interesting spots. I am sure that I could find something that you would be interested in seeing.” Angela said in her most seductive voice. Troy watched her sway seductively to the door. Angela was four foot eleven and slim built. Her narrow hips made her look like a young girl. Anna, Nadia and Rich stood to leave. Troy did not break his gaze until Rich stepped, into his line of sight.
“Why don’t you show Angela to the car?” Troy was up like a rocket and out the door behind her. Rich shook John’s hand. “It looks like there is some interest there.”
“He is a good son.” John said seriously.
“And she is a good daughter. Troy seems to have caught her interest too. Anna and I have a place in Huntington Beach. Here is my number. It has been much too long.”
“Louise misses Chloe and her family. Do you know where she is?”
“I have her address. We will get together in a few days when I have sorted this out.” Rich went down the back stairs. Troy and Angela were talking next to the car with their foreheads pressed together holding each ot
her. “That was fast,” Rich said with a quiet laugh.
Anna laughed, “The women in our family are not slow. Didn’t you see Angela kick Nadia when Troy walked through the door? She wants that young man, there is no mistaking that.” Rich shook his head in agreement and laughed. Anna climbed in the driver’s seat and Rich climbed in the passenger seat. When Angela finally joined them Anna pulled away from the curb.
Angela sounded hopeful, “Troy was telling me that there is some kind of international exchange program for police and fire fighters. He is going to put his name in for the program, since England is on the list. Does Susan have any influence?” Anna laughed, at the thought of Angela doubting Susan’s influence.
“I am glad that your father and I came out when we did. Five more minutes and you would have been married.” Nadia pulled her boot off and stuck her leg between the seats.
“Look I have a bruise from where she kicked me. My sister is in lust.” The laughter did not stop until they pulled in the garage.
With twelve men gone the schedule was brutal and the outside operations were very limited. Victor and Dennis would have to recruit help soon because they were losing money on drug sales every day. ‘Mercury’ promised to help some of the new recruits get into the country, but with her refusal they would be pushed to the limit every day. They had to have reliable people soon. Vladimir and Margarita would be in town Friday afternoon, and he would set up the trade for Alice on Friday night. This business needed to be settled. Anna was calling tonight and she would want to talk to Alice. Victor knew that she was not in his class but she was not stupid. Anna would want to talk to Alice. This would postpone the deal even longer. He needed ‘Mercury’ to come through soon. Victor wanted his former troops for the core of his operation. He considered Valentina’s proposal to use ‘Hermes’, but he quickly rejected the notion. There was a good chance that ‘Hermes’ would take over his whole operation if he brought him in on the deal. The large pay day was attractive, but not at the cost of losing everything. Victor wanted the secret of moving that much contraband at one time. Other groups were lucky to move a hundred pounds at a time without being caught. Five metric tons was beyond a major movement. The price of heroin was just now coming back up after two years. If he could do that big of a deal he would move to the top of the food chain.
Twenty thousand was ridiculous for a set of papers. He thought about the history that went with them, but he was able to get his crew a passport, driver’s license and birth certificate for a thousand. They were supposed to be perfect, but then his whole crew was arrested by MI. Twelve men out of thirty were gone and they were his best men. Was it the papers? They might trace the trail all the way back to Russia and in some circles he was considered both a defector and a traitor. Russia could send a Spetsnaz team for him. They had to have figured out where the arms went. That bitch Anna denounced him as a defector with the fake raid to kill Seraphina. Selling half a million pounds of weapons to the Afghans made him and the others traitors. Would MI turn the team over to the Russian government? This raid was a disaster. Victor had to make it pay and he needed ‘Mercury’s influence to make this deal before ‘Hermes’ could organize a response, but it should be at least another week before he had to worry about that. Recruiting local help was the logical answer, but where? Valentina interrupted his thoughts.
“Anna is on the phone.”
“Tell her to call back. I am not in.”
“She said that this is the only call that she will make.”
Victor picked up the phone, “You risk your daughter’s life.”
“If she is not already dead, I want to talk to her.” Anna pressed.
“She is still on her way out from California.”
“I have flown back to England, created a story, and brought Seraphina and Nadia back with me. You are crude and inept. Victor, I think that you killed her and are playing me.”
“We have her.” Victor bristled at the inept remark.
“Let me talk to her.”
“You may see her Friday when you bring the others.”
“I will not be anywhere within ten miles of you until I talk to her.”
“How do you know where I am?”
“You are in Chicago,” Anna scoffed. “I am in Milwaukee since ‘Hermes’ is making a delivery here in a few days. What you really want is Seraphina. She was the forger in our spy school. I know that she is your key to moving your old comrades in from Russia, and with the right equipment she could turn out currency too.” Anna had all she could do not to laugh. Baiting Victor was too easy. “Seraphina is the one that you really want.”
“I hear that Cassandra can forge too.”
“And I hear that there is a Spetsnaz team waiting to travel,” Anna jabbed. “How many of their brothers did you kill with that arms deal? They might like a location for you. I am sure a city will do.” Victor was beginning to think that he may have underestimated Anna. Her idea about Seraphina never occurred to him and he definitely did not like the threat about the Spetsnaz. “Victor, I will call back on Friday morning. If I do not hear her voice, I will assume she is dead. I could have hitchhiked from LA in this amount of time, good bye.”
Anna bumped the receiver against the phone. She heard Victor throw the phone against the wall, and scream.
“Bitch, I am going to personally rip her tits off and send them to Laurita.” Anna silently listened the hook was set Victor was totally incensed.
“Vladimir was always inept, the only reason he made general was that he never refused an order. He was what you call a ‘Yes Man’ and his wife keeps his balls in her purse. The only reason that he was in on the deal was he would sign anything he was told to. Vladimir signed his ass off on that arms deal. He also had Seraphina sign many of the authorizations, forging the other general’s names on the documents.” The contempt in his voice was obvious. “The thing that worries me is that he may kill Alice by accident. I hope that Margarita is with him. I could have made it out from LA on a bicycle in this amount of time.” Anna silently broke the connection. It was one of Wanda’s favorite tricks.
The RV broke down in Omaha. The garage would not let anyone remain in the RV while it was being worked on. Vladimir found a small resort with individual cabins instead of a motel and with the cold weather approaching they were the only guests. Margarita stripped Alice naked keeping her hand cuffed to the bed leaving the eight-inch platform shoes locked on her feet so that she could not run. The RV would be fixed by noon on Thursday. If they left Friday morning they would be in Chicago by five or six.
Now, that they had a completion time Vladimir would call Victor.
“Victor, how are you,” Vladimir asked warmly
“Where the hell are you, Vladimir?”
“We are outside of Omaha. The RV broke down and we had to find a place to stay. They will have it fixed by noon tomorrow and we will be in by six on Friday.”
“Your caution is about to blow this deal. I don’t care if you have to tie her on your back and crawl. You will be here by six AM Friday morning.”
“We could not…”
“Let me talk to Margarita.” Victor was tired of the excuses. He lost all pretense of restraint, “If you shoot Vladimir we will deal directly with you. I need you here no later than six AM on Friday.”
“Yes, we can do that.” Margarita said brightly as if she had received good news and hung up the phone. Margarita turned to Vladimir with a smile. “Good news darling. Victor said that you can screw sweet Alice, but she must pay for Anna’s games.” Vladimir started walking to the bedroom but she held him back. “Victor wants you to humiliate her, so you will screw her in the mud while I take pictures for Anna.” Vladimir had been looking at her naked body for three days and Margarita refused to let him touch himself let alone Alice. He did not care where he screwed Alice and the thought of humiliating Alice only increased his mania. Margarita dressed Alice in bra, panties and hose while he pulled out the camera. Placing a coat over Alice’
s shoulders they loaded her in the back seat with Vladimir getting in back with her.
“Vladimir darling do not grope Alice until we find the right spot. I want her to look fresh when you drag her down into the mud.” They drove around until Margarita found a quiet pond with thick reeds surrounding it just off of a disused gravel road. The late October weather was threatening rain and the high would only be fifty degrees.
“Vladimir, get out of the car and strip naked.”
“Why...?” Margarita ripped open the coat that was covering Alice.
“Do you want this or not. I want you to screw her in the mud like a pig. Take her from behind and make her scream oink. I want Anna to see that there is a price to pay for betraying us. You may do anything you want with her without restriction.” Vladimir stripped naked and stood in the chilly October air shivering. “Go in the reeds and find the muddiest spot.” Vladimir waded around until he sunk up to his knees and the top of the reeds were up to his collar bone.
“I have found a spot. Send her down.” Margarita prodded Alice to the edge of the pond with the gun in her back removing the coat and her gag to keep Vladimir’s interest.
Alice dropped to her knees with her back to Margarita, “Mistress, you can’t do this. I have done everything that you asked.” Vladimir could see the gun being held to her head. Margarita looked down at him standing naked in the reeds with his bare feet in ice cold mud.
“Alice is right, we can’t do this,” Margarita said with a twisted smile on her face. “I made a promise to her, so you don’t get to screw sweet Alice.”
“You crazy bitch, I am going to beat the hide off your ass this mud is freezing,” Vladimir said not trying to hide his rage as he started to struggle through the mud in Margarita’s direction. The freezing ooze sucked at his feet causing him to fall to his knees as he screamed at Margarita, “I am going to screw you in this freezing shit and leave you here.”
