Tears stained his cheeks. Urine had stained his trousers.
The young boy quivered with terror, his muffled voice begging for help. The sound of the safety latch of the pistol clicking echoed around the garage like a gunshot and Aaron stepped forward, gun in hand. He aimed squarely at Sam’s chest.
‘I want you to kill him.’
Chapter Twenty-Three
Dana Kovalenko hung up the phone and a sickening grin spread across her full, red lips. Her extravagantly tipped fingers clutched the phone tightly as she turned, her heels clicking against the marble flooring as she strutted from the guest room of her brother’s penthouse suite. A few of the armed guards who followed her family tried their best not to lay eyes on her tight, figure hugging dress that highlighted her phenomenal body.
Leering at Dana would have your eyes removed.
Andrei had blinded four of his own men for ‘eye fucking’ his sister, and she took pride in both the danger she put the surrounding work force in and also the pedestal her brother placed her upon.
She approached her brother’s bedroom door and rapped her knuckles against it. As she waited, she peered out of the large glass window at the city below. Lit up like a million fireflies, she adored the beauty of the city.
The life they lived was so far away from the one they grew up in that it lightened the load on her conscience. In a different life, she may well have been one of the young girls, tied up in containers and shipped off to warehouses in the derelict, run-down towns in the south of Ukraine. Her father was a monster of a man, and if selling her body would have brought in more cash, then he would have done it.
Thankfully, Andrei put a stop to that.
The door clicked open and her brother emerged, his shirt open and his hair messy. His body, once neatly sculpted, was now a little looser but the tattoos were still as prominent. Over his shoulder, Dana could see two women lying on his bed, their naked bodies entangled and a pile of cocaine on the bedside table. Andrei cleared his throat.
‘What is it, sister?’ he demanded impatiently. ‘I’m busy.’
‘Oleg called. He says that Sam Pope drove to the docks early this morning and scouted the place.’ Dana’s eyes lit up. ‘Shall I give the order for Oleg to eliminate?’
‘No, not yet.’ Andrei lit a cigarette, taking a deep drag before tilting his head back pushing the smoke upwards. ‘Where is he now?’
‘Oleg says he is at a house in London. We believe it’s the father that Wiseman spoke about.’
Andrei nodded and took another puff. Oleg had relayed the information he had beaten out of the young kid. The desperate father of one of the girls in his next shipment had caused a scene and managed to get Sam Pope hunting for her. Knowing that the city’s most wanted man was hot on their tail should have been enough for him to change the schedule.
But Andrei didn’t bow or bend for anyone.
Certainly not a man with a gun.
‘We keep to schedule. Have the girls delivered to the port tonight. You stay here, in case anything does happen.’
‘You’re going?’ Dana asked, her immaculate eyebrows raised.
‘Yes. If this Pope wants to get involved in my business, then maybe I make him my business.’
Andrei’s thick, Ukrainian accent had always added a tint of danger to his words and Dana hung off every one of them. Andrei finished his cigarette and turned back to his sister.
‘Tell Oleg to keep following Pope. If he needs to intervene, tell him I want him brought to me. Alive.’ Andrei’s face twisted into a cruel grin. ‘We can then post him to our partner, piece by piece.’
‘That will certainly help his campaign.’
The two siblings laughed, their cruel humour only exacerbated by the complete ignorance of their partner. His ties to the city were huge and his involvement with the large businesses were what had funded his entire campaign. He had unknowingly opened doors that allowed Andrei to operate his business.
Soon, when the man was in power, Andrei would show him the evidence trail and secure him in his pocket forever. Andrei managed his crime empire like a game of chess, always thinking five moves ahead.
Two more moves and it would be check mate.
Behind him, a gasp of pleasure erupted from the bed and he turned, a sickening smile on his face.
‘Duty calls.’ He flashed a grin at his sister and turned back towards the bed, unbuckling his belt and dropping trousers as he did. As he positioned himself behind one of the woman, he shot a glance back to his sister, who watched on from the doorway. He knew she would be impressed at his display of power, and once he had sent off that evening’s shipment, he would publicly kill Sam Pope and send a message loud and clear to his partner and to the Metropolitan Police.
London belonged to Andrei Kovalenko.
‘No,’ Sam said firmly, turning back to face Aaron whose eyes lit up with fury. He took another angry swig of the whisky and then slammed the bottle down on the tool bench at the back of the garage. The cupboards shook and the metal tools clanged together. He wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve and stepped forward, gun raised.
‘Kill him.’
‘No.’ Sam shook his head. ‘He’s just a kid.’
‘The kid who took my little girl.’
‘Aaron, this boy isn’t the person responsible for what has happened to Jasmine. You need to calm down.’
‘Fuck you,’ Aaron spat angrily. ‘This little prick lured my girl to a party and snatched her from me. So do what it is that you fucking do.’
Sam stepped away from the boot of the car, his arms up in surrender. Aaron’s eyes were watering with anger, tears sliding over the lids and down his tired face.
‘What do you mean?’ Sam asked.
‘This is
