by KJ Dahlen
Adrik sat across from him, he was the IT, undercover Ops and weapons expert.
Grisha sat in the back, his specialties were weapons and explosives, ground and air tactics.
Deter who was really second in command sat next to Viktor in their SUV. He was an expert in camouflage, geography, trail hunting, weapons, setting traps and more.
Then there was Andrey who sat in the back behind Viktor, a pilot that could fly anything with an engine and propellers and he was also tech, alarms, hardwiring computers, surveillance equipment.
Matvey, a medic among many other things, such as a point blank sniper sat inside a car parked a ways down the street from the boarding house. For the enforcers, Matvey had utilized all these skills, born over the years while in training for the Bratva he was a medic among many other things, such as a point blank sniper.
There was also Nubic, Maxim, Cacheski, Peter, and Manki that were nothing but ghosts. They were sitting in various perches in the Bayou area behind the small neighborhood and they had been sending info on the activity inside and around the boarding house. They were usually sent in to case a place to watch your backs without being seen... like ghosts. They killed swiftly and silently when they had to.
Finally, there was Viktor Andronikov. He was also a soldier from the Bratva ranks, trained in hand to hand and many different martial arts. He had ascended from that years ago, handpicked by Sergi himself to lead this group of elite fighters and the top men in surveillance. With only one true purpose. Chase Russian criminals down who had wronged the Bratva or others. His job had been a challenging one, but he felt more than satisfied with it. They were true enforcers, he and his team, they helped to right the wrongs done by men who had no excuse except for maybe greed and avarice.
The men in this group were Viktor’s family and they had been for years now. His team knew what they were doing. He could depend on them all to do what they were trained to do. His team was considered by many countries ‒ not just in Russia ‒ to be the best of the best. They all worked hard to get where they were today and it showed. With each member and their skills covering their backs, they could do the impossible and very often did.
The enforcers all got out and gathered at the back of Viktor’s vehicle as it sat far inside the backroad of the Bayou Cane.
He and his crew were all in their work clothes. Tight black pants and a long sleeve black shirts. Each man had fastened a utility belt to their waists and an under the jacket holster. Then they put their weapons, each hand gun had a silencer attached and each knife had its own sheath, one at the waist and one under their pant leg.
Andrey then gave each of them a jammer scanner.
Then before they left, each man grabbed a rifle fitted with a silencer.
The plan had already been put into place during the wee hours of the night before. They would first, spread out and case the area to know what was out there. To see if there were any traps, hidden surveillance or any sensors. Then they also searched for any unknown others or enforcement like cops patrolling the area that they hadn’t picked up on already. They would spend the next hour doing this to be sure of the plan being uninterrupted by anyone or anything.
Then upon synchronization of their watches, they would go in just before daylight. It would save anyone from being caught in the crossfire, as this was a domestic neighborhood. With lawns, children, older couples. They needed to get in and out without any mishaps.
Now, they made their way silently through the back of the property. When they got close to the fence, Adrik stopped and pointed at the camera before anyone could get caught on video.
Andrey took out a spray can and blacked it out.
Now, the takedown would begin.
Greta sat in her cell. She was still livid. Stuck here in captivity by these pigs, the Bratva. Still, she knew Pavel would get her out. He’d already tried once. She looked over at Boyra in the next cell. He’d been snoring for hours. She huffed. Like anyone could sleep in a jail cell. Didn’t he know he was headed to the gallows, even as he slept on? A walking dead man. She had never known his crimes, but she assumed he had them. The same as the others in the smuggling group.
It was no matter to her, however. As she would be freed. Those men with Pavel, all had money to get and she was the only one who could get it for them. It had taken years to get herself into a position of importance. Back in Russia, women weren’t looked upon as active and intelligent. They were chattel and nothing more. Used to generate heirs and make the males look virulent and prosperous. Merely baby producers who could keep house and feed their men.
So, even though early on when they were first married in Russia, she had Pavel doing things that she had devised, but it hadn’t been enough. Then being here in this country, she had risen to a place where she was the key to a whole smuggling empire. Worth at least four million.
This was why she hadn’t been scared nor panicked when they had dragged her in here and locked her up. She was important to all those men in the boarding house. Their smuggling bounty, their very futures had been locked away by her.
She paused in her thoughts, as she did need some tea and breakfast, she could tell it was way after 8 in the morning, so where was her meal? She did consider that they might starve her out now, until she told them where Pavel was hiding out.
A sound came from the door to the cell room.
Greta looked up at the door...Finally, her meal had arrived.
More noise than was normal came from the doorway as large men marched in with other men in tow.
Greta watched as her mouth fell open. She stared at Sajeff Blanko, Boyra’s brother. Another was Anton Vericovok and Boris Nicovic.
They were all swearing in Russian with various cuts and bruises on their faces and other parts of their bodies.
“You cannot do this!” Anton yelled. “Take us from our homes and lock us up!”
“Da, this is America you filthy Bratva pigs!” Boris shouted as they pushed all the men to other cells.
Their protests and struggles were completely ignored as they were shoved into the other cell with Boyra.
Boyra had awoken as he too, gawked at his brother, Sajeff.
Greta looked behind the men and saw no one else. Pavel and Andric Yetivif were the ones missing. She breathed a sigh of relief. If they had been caught, she would be joining all these men in an execution back in Moscow.
Greta did not recognize these new men who’d brought her co-conspirators in. One was taller than the others were, and he seemed to be in charge. Greta could always tell who a leader was when she saw them.
His ice aqua blue eyes were startling in their color and his hard wide body matched the hard look on his handsome face. The man found her staring at him as those eyes narrowed in on her. “Greta Zorah. You are also on my list,” he spoke with no emotion in his voice or on his face.
Shivers ran down her spine at this man’s manner. It felt as if he were someone deadly and dangerous. No one had scared her since she’d been a little girl. “And pray tell what list is that?” she bluffed with a firm voice.
“The Enforcer’s list of course. As are all these men in the cells here.” He then pinned her with that aquamarine gaze. “Pavel’s name was right next to yours in fact.”
The prisoners in the cells all gasped.
“No wonder, you all just appeared out of nothing and had us down before we even blinked!” Sajeff Blanko exclaimed. “The Bratva Nomads!” He looked pale as a sheet.
Anton Vericovok who usually seemed confident and arrogant took a few staggering steps back. “So we are not here just for Pavel’s misdeeds?”
The leader of the enforcers took a step closer to the cell and spoke in a soft toned but cold voice, “No Mr. Vericovok. You have murders to account for, do you not?” He cocked his head to the side as if he were recalling something. “Four.”
Anton blinked. “Four? Four what?”
“Four young women. Sexually abused and killed by you. In your twenties, I
believe. Yes.” He gave him a nod and recited their names from memory, “Julianna Nevick, Petra Slolva. Annamarie Petrovich—”
“NO!” Anton’s eyes rounded and almost bugged out of his face as he moved back, all the way to the cell wall.
Nodding, the man finished, “And Cezarinne Pavalov. She was just eighteen when you took her life away.”
Anton slid down the wall to the cell floor his face in his hands.
“Finally, their souls can rest,” the blue eyed man went on. “After they execute you on Russian soil.” The leader of the Bratva enforcers then paused to look at the other men in the cells. “You all, I know as well. Though, you simply stole and robbed people. The sentence may be life imprisonment for you.” He shrugged. “However, I am not the Council. I simply bring in the vermin who have crossed them.”
“Life?” Boris shouted. “We are old men! We will die there!”
The man said nothing as he nodded to his three men there and turned to leave.
“Where is my Pavel?” Greta yelled.
The enforcer leader paused and turned his head to look at her. “Do not worry, Greta. He will be dead or caught by nightfall.” Then the man left the cell area.
The doors shut as his men followed him out.
With the finality of the sound of the door slam—all that could be heard was Anton’s desperate weeping.
Chapter Fourteen
They arrived at the hotel and were greeted by Kosta of course...Yuri Anatoly’s man.
They entered the suite and found Sergi, his man Felix, Yuri and Roman.
Viktor shook hands with him and motioned to Grisha and Deter. “I believe you know my men.”
Sergi nodded. “Each one has experience in what we might face. I know I met you before when we had the Pandora incident.”
Grisha nodded as did Deter.
Sergi did not smile and he looked unsettled as he paused and pointed at a young woman at the table. “This is Abby George.”
Felix stood behind her chair his hands resting on her shoulders.
Abby spoke up, “I am Abigaile Zanken Zorah.”
Viktor paused and stared at her.
“Yes, the granddaughter of Pavel and Greta.” She nodded.
Viktor looked over at Sergi.
He motioned to the chairs around the table.
After they all sat, Sergi did not sit. He instead stepped out and stood in front of the table. “This is a matter of extreme urgency.”
Viktor and the men remained mute.
“First off, I wanted to thank you for your timing in catching those men.”
“Pavel and the other man were not there when we stormed the boarding house.” Viktor stated.
Abby gasped and looked up at him.
“Da, as was reported.” Sergi nodded. “And this is why I called you and your 2 men in here. Apparently, the man with Pavel is an expert at building devices, mainly explosive devices. We feel...” He looked over at Yuri and Roman as they both gave him a nod. “...that they intend to plant a bomb somewhere at the hotel.” He stared at Grisha. “You as we all know, are this same kind of expert. Considering that you saved all of our lives and this hotel, months back.” He gazed around and spotted the tropical plant by the window. “In fact it was...”
Six months ago in this same suite...
Stephanou had looked around at all of them. “Can’t you see? I did it all simply to be able to be in Bratva. I shouldn’t have had to pay for my father’s sins! I was a great asset to the organization too. And now that you all know. See the way you are looking at me? Like I am the trash beneath your feet.” He moved his hand and reached into his other sleeve.
Grisha had raised his gun and aimed it right between his eyes.
Raven had screamed as a bullet hole appeared between Stephanou’s eyes and he dropped face first onto the floor.
Sasha had jumped then knelt down to his prone body in concern.
There were metallic clicks all over the room as the other men all had their weapons out.
Yuri grabbed Raven and placed her head onto his chest so she wouldn’t see any more of his dead bodyguard. He then glared at Grisha. “You mother fucker. Why?”
“Because he had to,” Viktor replied in defense of his man.
Sergi looked over at his head of the enforcers. “But Stephanou had no weapon in his hand. He was still speaking!”
“He had this.” Sasha held up a remote from where he knelt by his dead friend. “He was reaching for it.” He looked utterly saddened. “I worked side by side with this man for so long.” He lowered his head in sadness and disappointment.
“A remote?” Sergi asked.
“Da.” Viktor didn’t look at all surprised as he then looked to his men. “Get them all out.”
Sergi looked stunned. “A bomb?” as he finally realized what just happened.
Nikoli grabbed the Bratva leader and rushed him out as Nicky grabbed his laptop and followed in a run.
Yuri was already out the double doors while carrying a surprised looking Raven in his arms.
“Get them out! Everyone in the building!” Viktor yelled. “All except Grisha and I.”
Grisha got out a device. One he’d used maybe two whole times in his life. He hoped that Stephanou had used C-4. Well, no that was highly explosive and deadly but this detector only picked up its unique taggant chemical based explosives. He also had one that picked up signals but he had stupidly let Sasha take the remote.
He suspected the bomb had to be somewhere out of sight, yet close. He turned the detector on. It pinged immediately and he almost jumped.
“So, it is right here? In this suite.” Viktor looked around.
Waving it slowly around, the beeping grew louder. Grisha simply relaxed his body despite the circumstances and followed its lead.
The beeping grew louder as he neared the window.
Viktor was beside him as he too, kept looking all around.
The beeping grew incessant.
Grisha looked down at a huge elephant ear tropical plant by the window. He himself had sat right in front of it just minutes ago. He shook that scary thought away.
“It is in or under the plant,” Viktor surmised.
“Da, but it may be rigged too. Remember, he was Bratva.”
“Da, we set traps of all kinds, don’t we?” Viktor quipped.
His boss would always remain an enigma to him and his teammates. The man never seemed to be nervous, here he was joking when a very large bomb sat a mere foot away from him. His nature amazed the team more than once. The more dangerous it was, the more Viktor became a very humorous guy.
Grisha set the detector down and slung his bag from his shoulder then grabbed his next tool. It detected wiring. Mainly copper and some other metals. Hopefully it would point out some wiring if it had some tripwire. Then he paused as he remembered Stephanou’s words.
“I would give my life for your children, to protect them.”
Would a man like him, jeopardize say a child or some housekeeper in order to tripwire a bomb, causing it to go off by mistake? Maybe even while he himself was in this very suite?
Grisha put the tool away and got out his utility spectrum. It had a small digging tool.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Viktor asked. “What about a trap?”
“He wouldn’t have done that.”
“How the fuck do you know?”
“What he said, protecting them and the kids.”
“I hope that you are smarter than you look, Grisha.”
Grisha blinked at the joke. “Me too.” He couldn’t afford to laugh just now.
He dug up the plant and carefully removed it from the pot. He could now see plastic. A plastic sheeting that would hold enough C-4 to take out this entire floor of the hotel. He carefully cut the plastic with a whisper of a cut from his utility knife.
Viktor knelt beside him.
The man would stay with him too, right to the very end, Grisha knew this already
Fin
ally, he slowly uncovered the wrap and saw the detonator. He grabbed his spectrum belt and retrieved his small cutters. He then took a deep breath and looked over at his boss. “Here’s hoping I am much smarter than I look.”
Viktor grinned at him.
Grisha bit at his lip. Oh yes, now the man was grinning. Of course, he was. He snipped the wire.
SNIP.
And that was all it took.
Now the C-4 was harmless enough.
“Bylad that was awesome!” Viktor cheered.
Grisha shook his head. “Fucking adrenaline junkie,” he muttered.
Sergi nodded at Grisha. “And to this day, you are in my nightly prayers.”
Grisha raised his brows at this heavy claim made by the leader of all Bratva. “I am humbled by such an honor.”
Abby cut into the conversation, “But this will be more sophisticated than C-4.”
All the men turned their heads to stare at her.
Felix stared at the back of her head then lowered his body to ask into her ear, “And how do you know what C-4 even is?”
Shrugging, Abby bit at her lip. “My grandparents had an arsenal in our basement while I was growing up. It’s not that I loved the idea, but every time they added something new, I would go and research it. Hell, they never cared that a child could access it.”
“But you weren’t the avenge child were you, my dear?” Sergi asked her.
Shaking her head, she replied, “No. I was always alert, aware and careful. I had to be in that household.” She turned her head and gazed over at Grisha. “It will be something outrageous. Not your average bombmaking. Andric built rockets, small ones as a hobby. I used to watch him in the yard next door when I was about ten. He also now has drones that he built himself.”
Grisha paused. “Drones and explosives?”
Nodding, Abby sighed. “He has had years to do nothing but tinker and I suppose as technology grew, so did his skills?”
“So it will land on the roof,” Viktor concluded.
“If they even do it,” Roman offered.
“Oh, they will,” Abby declared. “Pavel will have to come and get Greta or the information she has for the 4 million they all have in an account will go with her when she is returned to Russia.”
