A HOLLOW CACKLE erupted from Nikolay and Alice did her best to echo his extraordinary good humor but all she could manage was the smallest of grimaces.
“Once you‘ve been in this country a while, you learn that sometimes it is who you know that counts and not what caliber pistol you‘re holding.”
“There are stories that you hold politicians in your pockets and I offer the utmost respect to you if those tall tales are true.”
Now it was Alice‘s turn to stir her cup and stare at Nikolay. That was his first positive statement about her family the man had ever uttered. Almost as if he knew the direction she was taking the conversation and wanted to hustle her to the end point.
“Work with people and you build up relationships that can last for decades.”
“Your mother‘s achievements are well known. If we hadn‘t got off on such sour terms, I would have had the chance to find out more about her. These are the difficulties you face when blood is shed - not that my nephew was worth jack shit. I was concerned about the principle, not that sniveling piece of garbage. He came from my sister‘s loins, not mine.”
Alice perceived a judder run along Nikolay‘s body as he mentioned his sibling. She almost felt a connection with him at that moment, but wondered if she had merely projected her own thoughts onto his actions.
“Family life isn‘t always a bed of roses.”
“Tell me about it.”
Nikolay checked the time on his watch.
“This has been a most pleasant exchange, but unless there is something specific to discuss then I need to make a move.”
“I wanted to hear your thoughts on us working more closely together. Our tribes would benefit.”
“You and I?”
“Our families.”
She knew he‘d only asked her that to rattle her and she‘d almost fallen for his ruse, but she was a smart cookie.
“If there are particular opportunities then I‘m happy to consider them, but on similar terms to the Red Stocking.”
“That deal was agreed to create a ceasefire. What I‘m suggesting is a long-term partnership so we would split profits equally and fairly. That stops resentments building up, which lead to perceived sleights and loss of life. Successful businesses should be about making money, not killing people.”
“I understand you might not want the Stocking as a basis for future considerations, but one thing is not negotiable: I would always be in charge. No woman has ever told me what to do and it ain‘t gonna happen now.”
ALICE CONTINUED TO mull over each of Nikolay‘s words two days later when Sam made a rare appearance on the west coast. Despite telling herself how much she needed Sam in her life, Alice hadn‘t noticed her absence as much as she thought she would. There was only that time when Mama cracked before her eyes that Alice yearned for her lover.
In bed entwined with Sam‘s body, Alice wondered the extent she could trust Nikolay and whether a man - like Bobby, say - might thrash out a better deal, just to play off Nikolay‘s prejudices. Also, she needed to work out what he would need to be offered to give up control over any new operation.
Her musings were interrupted by Sam‘s fingers and tongue which were busy toying with her erogenous zones. She relaxed into the experience and spent the next hour fondling and fucking until both she and Sam were exhausted. With her head still within licking distance of Sam‘s bush, Alice asked herself what other options did she have? Bobby was too old, Frank was too much and Milton was too incompetent.
“If you‘re going to hang around down there, do something useful, dear.”
Sam‘s admonishment shook Alice back to reality. The Markov dynasty must wait at least until the morning. While Sam was in her bed, she should make best use of that succulent body. Thirty minutes later, Sam was asleep and Alice carried on ruminating on Nikolay Markov.
27
ALICE AWOKE WITH the shock of finding Sam between her legs and the pleasure of all that implied. Later, Alice got out of bed to make them both a coffee. Sam stepped onto the balcony and had a smoke. When Alice returned, she popped the coffees down and lingered on Sam‘s silhouette. That woman still turned her on and her stomach butterflies flew around in a circle while she gazed at the beauty in front of her. She soaked in that long back and visible spine, those calves and up to Sam‘s curvy ass.
At this point, Sam looked over her shoulder and saw Alice staring. In response, she sashayed into the bedroom like a catwalk model, hands on hips, walked up to Alice and planted a kiss on her lips. Their bodies were so close, Alice imagined she could feel every part of Sam‘s body against hers. Every touch. Ev-e-ry hair.
They returned to bed and fooled around until the coffees went cold. Then they fooled around some more.
“I gotta go.”
“Huh? Weren't you staying until tomorrow morning?”
“No can do, honey. I‘ve got to go into work this weekend. I‘m sure I told you. There‘s a major client meeting on Monday and a heap of preparation to do.”
“You never said...”
Alice saw zero point in hiding her disappointment because she wanted to be with Sam and when they met, she didn‘t get the vibe her feelings were reciprocated. Sure, Sam flew across the country to see her but she always seemed to itch to go home. This morning was a typical example.
“Do you like being with me?”
“Don‘t start this again, honey.”
“But do you, because I love the time we spend together.”
“Good times, yeah.”
“Only good. Nothing more?”
“I‘ve told you over and over again, it‘s great with you but the rest of my life is in Boston.”
“The company is headquartered there so you need to be in the center of things. I get all that, but what if I set you up with your own practise here?”
“In Malibu?”
“Anywhere in California. San Francisco, LA. You tell me.”
Sam stopped stuffing her possessions into her travel bag.
“You‘d be willing to do that for me?”
“So we could be together... more.”
“Are there strings attached? Sounds as though you‘d only support my business if I carried on sleeping with you. Makes me sound like you want to be my pimp.”
“What? No. I mean that if your work is the only barrier to being together, I can sort that out. A business deal is just that: business. What you and I have outside the office would be separate. Do I want us to get even closer now? Yes. Will living on the same side of the country help? Yes it should. Do you want to do that? I have no idea.”
Sam sat on the bed and held Alice‘s hand.
“That‘s a fabulous offer, honey. Really. But I need to go away and think about it. You see, the truth is I don‘t know how I feel about any of this. Of course, I love our being together. The sex is amazing and you are truly great company but I don't know what I want of my life. Until then I can‘t answer your questions because I don‘t know any answers.”
“I understand but I still must know. Take your time, but if you don‘t want us to carry on, be honest and say so. Don‘t leave me hanging.”
A tear dripped out of Alice‘s left eye and splashed onto Sam‘s hand. They hugged until the redness around Alice‘s pupils had faded. After, they lay down and fucked again. When Alice was resting, eyelids closed, Sam kissed her again and slunk out of the apartment.
ALICE STAYED IN bed the rest of the morning. She spent the first hour replaying her conversation with Sam. By the end of that time she had no greater insight into what Sam wanted or would do than when she started analyzing the thing to death. So she moved onto Nikolay Markov.
He was open to some form of alliance but he couldn‘t bring himself to cut a sensible deal with a woman. Yet. Alice needed to create the opportunity for him to work with her so he could judge her based on her deeds and not his prejudices. The trick would be to find something he wanted which would be an easy give-up for him so she could get her foot in the door. On
e thing was certain: nothing about the Red Stocking deal should be on the table.
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER cup of coffee. Alice and Nikolay sipped and covered as much small talk they could both stomach. Alice kicked off proceedings by thanking him for meeting up again. She knew how to manipulate male egos.
“I‘ve been thinking about our last chat and have a suggestion I‘m hoping you‘ll find of interest.”
“There had to be some proposal otherwise why meet up. Unless you wanted an excuse to see me again.”
“That‘s right. But as we‘re here, I‘ll explain about my idea, anyway.”
Nikolay half-smiled and sat forward in his seat.
“We discussed how your men are so effective and I was wondering if you‘d be interested in a simple trade. Six of your fellas for either hard cash or narcotics.”
“I don‘t need your drugs.”
“That‘s fine. Our product is cheaper and better quality, but that‘s your choice. How about the green?”
“My men aren‘t cattle to be bought and sold.”
“Nope. They provide a useful service and I am proposing to pay you for them to render that service to me. With one addition: I pay you an extra amount upfront so that if things work out, after twelve months they move over to my wage bill. If it doesn‘t pan out, no harm, no foul and you pocket the money I‘ve already given you. The end.”
“I underestimated you, young lady.”
“You‘re not the first.”
ALICE STAYED OVERNIGHT in Fog City as she‘d agreed to continue the discussion with Nikolay the following evening over dinner. He picked an ordinary looking pasta joint in the Tenderloin district, near to the Red Stocking. She arrived in the neighborhood sixty minutes early because the venue was in the heart of his territory and she wanted check the area out. She had no desire to let herself get kidnapped - or worse.
There was nothing out of the ordinary about the restaurant, the surrounding buildings or any of the people who came and left in the thirty minutes before their scheduled appointment. Nikolay arrived a little over fifteen minutes early while Alice made him wait until the allotted hour.
As she headed for their table, Nikolay stood up and Alice offered her hand which he took and leaned in to kiss her on both cheeks, European style. The Old Country remained inside him despite being so many miles away. He pulled the chair out for her to sit down - ever the gentleman and quite the reversal of his gruff exterior the previous day.
They ordered food and light conversation ensued. Nikolay came across as an earnest figure surrounded by hordes who wanted to knock him off his perch. His situation wasn‘t that much different from the Lagottis. Only he had a Russian accent and Mama had a Southern drawl, even after all these years away from the Confederacy.
DESSERT WAS SERVED and all she had achieved was to massage Nikolay‘s ego and in return he‘d paid her several compliments about her dress, her hair and other aspects of her appearance. Business hadn‘t been mentioned and Alice was getting impatient.
“Have you considered my proposal?”
“Yes I have. While the terms are well structured, I wonder why you have need of Russian muscle. What ruse are you planning that you wish to exclude me from?”
“Good question, Nikolay. It‘s thinking like that which makes you an attractive business partner.”
“And?”
“You want me to lift my skirt before you‘ve said whether you‘re in the game. That‘s not how I operate. Show me you want to work with me and we can share in the profit together. If you don‘t pay into the ante, you don‘t get the right to look at my cards.”
“You can have six of my men for a year. That is not a problem. Pay them fifty per cent more than I do and you can buy their loyalty for every minute the money lasts. An upfront consideration of twenty thousand will be sufficient.”
“Even though I‘m saving you much more than that in wages alone, I accept those terms as a sign of good faith.”
“Agreed. Now tell me your plans.”
“I‘m looking for some enforcers because it is time to break new ground. Our gambling operations stretch across California, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey and Massachusetts. I want to use these locations to move into neighborhood prostitution and labor racketeering if possible. We would need to seize opportunities on a case-by-case basis and have fellas who can handle themselves for that. Ours are great but it never hurts to hold more baseball bats than the other guy.”
“I would love to have a piece of that action.”
“For a price. Your strength lies in your ability to find tough men, but my understanding is that your reach doesn‘t stretch much beyond the Tenderloin. A statement of fact and not a criticism.”
“No offense taken - yet.”
“Seems to me if we are a good fit together, success will follow for both of us.”
DESPITE HER PROTESTATIONS, Nikolay insisted on driving Alice back to her hotel - or rather his driver took them both. When the limo pulled in, they carried on talking until Alice thought it only polite to suggest they continued the conversation over a cocktail. Nikolay agreed in an instant.
“What would you like?”
“I insist. Let me buy you a drink.”
“Very kind. A cosmo is always welcome.”
Nikolay ordered the cocktail and a vodka tonic for himself. Once the drinks arrived, they moved to a table which had more comfortable seating and gave Alice a view of the bar area leading to the hotel lobby.
“You reckon we can pull this off?”
“With my brains and your brawn, we'll rule the world.”
“Your beauty and my experience, you mean.”
Nikolay squeezed Alice‘s knee under the table but removed it back onto his lap. A momentary invasion of her personal space, which raised a red flag in her head. For the rest of their time in the bar he did nothing else inappropriate and Alice relaxed again.
“It‘s been a great evening. And I think we‘ve made a lot of progress.”
“Certainly. Looks like we are a good fit as you were saying earlier.”
They were in the lobby by now and Alice halted. Nikolay stopped too but gave no sign he was ready to leave the hotel. Alice tried to think how to call it a night.
“Let‘s call it a night.”
Sometimes go with the obvious.
“The least I can do is to walk you to your door.”
“There is no need.”
“I insist.”
Alice shook her head, shrugged and headed to the elevator, followed by Nikolay. At her door, Alice unlocked it and turned round. Nikolay pushed past her and walked in. She sighed and followed.
“Now you‘ve seen me in, it‘s time for you to go.”
Nikolay walked up to her and picked off a piece of fluff from the front of her dress, just above her breast. She swallowed hard, grabbed his hand and put it by his side.
“Don‘t be like that. I thought we were getting on fine.”
“We have been: so far, but you‘re overstepping the mark.”
“No I haven‘t.”
With those words, Nikolay grabbed the front of Alice‘s dress and ripped it apart so the material above her waist fell away. Standing semi-naked, her knee instinctively traveled straight up to smash against his groin. Nikolay hit the ground clutching himself as Alice towered over him.
“If you think I‘d want your dick anywhere near me, you are delusional. Now get the fuck out of my room, little man, before I cut it off.”
JANUARY 1997
28
NIKOLAY‘S RESPONSE WAS more subtle than Alice could ever have imagined. Instead of coming back that night and slicing her open with a bolo knife, he put the squeeze on the Red Stocking and anyone associated with it. Bobby then instructed Naldo to pay a visit to the Bay City to find out why the Markov clan was getting fresh. He returned with bupkis so Bobby told him to take a bite out of their territory.
The next day, Naldo visited the B-Bang, a lap dancing club on the edge of the Tenderloin.
There was nothing to distinguish it from any of the other clubs on the same drag once you got inside. The exterior comprised an ordinary facade with a ten feet high neon sign perched on the roof of the low-rise building. The lights depicted an animation showing blue panties lowering to reveal a red pubic triangle. No-one could claim they didn‘t know what to expect when they walked through the door.
Naldo scooted round the rear of the club and found a yard filled with garbage and three girls, coats over their shoulders, sat having a smoke before returning to the drudge of their work. In the meantime, they gossiped and laughed, ignoring the slight chill of the night. Naldo opened the metal gate and stepped inside. One girl, wearing yellow and black, noticed his arrival.
“Beat it, bud. This is for staff only.”
He ignored her instruction and ambled toward her.
“Go round the front if you want to watch. This area ain‘t for the likes of you.”
Naldo nodded but continued his journey to the girl, both hands in his jacket pockets. The other two stood up and formed an approximate line either side of Yellow-and-Black. He stopped when he was four feet away from the nearest skirt. None of them were over sixteen and Naldo closed his eyes for half a second.
“If you don‘t get out, I‘m gonna call the manager.”
As he opened his eyes, his right hand whipped out of his pocket to reveal a two inch blade and he swiped at Yellow-and-Black‘s face. A line of red appeared below her left eye and she screamed, clutching the side of her head. Naldo stepped a pace forward and swung at the other two. By the time his arm returned to rest by his hip, all three were cut and screaming. One headed to the backdoor and Naldo turned round, out the yard and vanished into the night. Although they didn‘t realize it, they were lucky. Under any other circumstances, Naldo would have slit their throats, but he was following strict instructions: give Markov a warning not an all-out assault.
The Lagotti Family Series Page 81
