***
Adnan awakened several hours later. After he had screwed the Russian blonde, he fell asleep, sprawled out across the bed.
He scanned the room for the woman, but she had left a while ago. For a minute, he thought she was a foggy fragment of his imagination, but then he smelled her faint, pungent perfume that clung to the air and bed sheets. Then his smile widened.
Adnan snatched his cell phone from his pants pocket and called Damir to check in. He had to let Damir know that Sasha screwed them out of a thousand euros. He became anxious because the phone rang and rang, but no one picked up. Damir always answered his cell phone, especially from his war buddies.
Adnan glanced at his watch, almost 5 PM. He couldn’t believe he had slept so long, and the boss didn’t answer his phone.
Then Adnan called Jasmin. The phone rang a couple of times, and subsequently, a feminine Bosnian recorded voice stated, “The person you are calling has his phone turned off or is out of service range. Please try again later.”
Adnan muttered to himself in frustration, “What the fuck?” A foreboding feeling tingled up the back of his spine and chilled the base of his mind. Something felt wrong. He knew that sometimes Jasmin didn’t answer the phone, but Damir always answered. Something was wrong. Adnan always could contact one of them, always.
Adnan leaped out of bed and hastily dressed. He glanced at the shower in the bathroom and quickly dismissed it. He should wash off the whore's scent, but he shrugged his shoulders. To hell with it, he must return quickly to Bosnia. He must check up on Jasmin and Damir. They needed him.
Before Adnan could leave, Sasha's bodyguards directed Adnan to the back patio near the enclosed swimming pool.
Sasha donned a flamboyant bright purple shirt with black pants. These rich young Russians dressed in bright flashy clothes that were fashionable a decade ago.
Two hot Russian blondes sat on both sides of Sasha. They both wore black cocktail dresses that fit the contours of their bodies, revealing the women's smooth, milky skin. They glanced in Adnan's direction and looked away, quickly losing their interest.
A cold, calculating Sasha had replaced the earlier friendly Sasha, and he snapped, “Please sit, my friend.”
Adnan sat down in the vacant seat directly across from Sasha. Then he stared at Svetlana.
With a blank face, Svetlana pretended not to recognize Adnan, although they mated earlier that day.
Adnan searched her face for any emotion but found nothing. Svetlana seemed not to recognize him. Then Adnan contorted his face in a crooked smile.
Knowing what was going on, Sasha glanced at Adnan's face and then Svetlana's.
A large silver tray laid in the center of the table with a concentric layer of beef prosciutto laid out, like overlapping dominoes. “Ah, you have my favorite. You have prosciutto!” Adnan stated in a cheerful voice.
Adnan pushed his empty plate next to the tray, and used his fork to scoop all the slices of meat onto his plate like a bulldozer. He left the sliced cheeses and green olives behind. Then he began to shovel the meat into his mouth with his hands.
Sasha snapped his fingers, and a butler rushed to the table and immediately poured Adnan a glass of Montenegrin red wine.
Svetlana frowned a little as she watched him guzzling his meat down, like a sea lion swallowing fish after fish at the zoo. Then she sipped her glass of wine, but Adnan spotted her distorted grin behind the wine glass.
Sasha said, “The prosciutto is excellent. I also import Russian sausages and cheeses, which are also good,”
After everyone had finished eating, Sasha cleared his throat, “Ladies, go upstairs and get ready for tonight. You have a long shift in front of you. Before you leave the house, Svetlana, please check up on our new guest. I want to make sure she’s okay. Prepare her a plate of food.”
Svetlana grabbed a clean plate and began filling it with a sample of everything on the table. Then the ladies disappeared into the house.
Adnan and Sasha sat alone at the table while Sasha's bodyguards patrolled in the darkness, scanning everything around the house.
Adnan looked behind him and saw a large bodyguard standing sentry ten meters away.
Sasha began, “I saw the smile you gave Svetlana. Don't sweat it. She’s nothing but a fuck toy, nothing more, nothing less. Of course, she is a very expensive fuck toy. She normally goes for 300 euros per hour. Of course, I hope you didn’t plan to marry her or something. That would be dangerous to steal my cash machine.”
Adnan almost choked on his food and then burst into a short, soft laugh. Afterwards, he replied, “No, of course not. I have several Bosnian girlfriends scattered around Tuzla. I just wanted something other than Bosnian. She’s definitely not Bosnian. I’m just confused because she pretended not to recognize me, even after I put my cock into her a few hours ago.”
Then Sasha laughed coarsely and added, “Now that we have our carnal pleasures satisfied, let's talk about business.”
Sasha became serious while his eyes shone with icy coldness. Then he began his discourse, “I’m thinking about expanding my operations to Sarajevo. I want to open several brothels in Sarajevo and sell a little cocaine on the side. We can go into partnership with each other. Damir can supply his other drugs. Then we’ll carve up the territories, so we can extract as much as we can from Bosnia.”
Sasha took a sip of his wine and then continued, “I’m planning to import more talent and muscle and enroll them into Damir's university. That way, they have legal papers to live and work in Bosnia. The university is a perfect cover. Who would ever suspect a university concealed a major criminal enterprise?”
Adnan's face became blank and expressionless. Damir warned him about this coming day. Damir knew Sasha would not be content to stay in Montenegro. Eventually, Sasha would reach out with his slimy hands into other countries, like Bosnia.
Adnan knew his Bosnian history well. The Russians always caused problems. A few people in the world knew the Soviet Union created the Yugoslavian war machine. Joseph Tito, the first leader of the Communist Yugoslavia, didn’t construct a military to fight Western Europe or America. Tito built up the military to stop a Soviet invasion. Tito wanted to share his communist paradise equally with Russia, but the Russians wanted to control everything and make all communist states subservient to Moscow. Tito stopped the Soviet aggression with a strong military, a military that led to the nasty Bosnian War.
Adnan knew the Russians invited themselves as friends, and then they took over and ruled with iron fists.
Although his heart began racing and became more nervous, he answered in a mechanical voice, “I must discuss this with Damir. I can’t do anything without Damir's approval.”
“Of course, I understand. By all means! I hate to discuss business over the phone. That's why I waited until you arrived. Have Damir reply with a yes or no. Just remember, we can make an insane amount of money together. We can carve up Bosnia and become extremely rich men.”
Adnan didn’t buy a word of Sasha's business proposal. He knew the Russian way of doing business. But he must maintain appearances. He didn’t want to piss Sasha off or incite a bitter feud or at least not yet, especially with a person standing behind him holding an AK47.
Adnan raised his wine glass for a toast, “We give a toast to a new business deal. Shall we become rich and grow old together, we’ll become the new kings of Yugoslavia.”
Then their glasses clinked together, and they gulped down their red wine.
Adnan knew better. This business expansion would lead to war. Damir would not stand to let another gangster enter Bosnia. A war was simmering in the underworld, and the body count would be massive.