Yuri Popov was impressed with what he saw. Of the dozen or so women standing before him, at least half of them were under twenty with gorgeous bodies. These would be his bread and butter—the cream of the crop. The rest of them would be sufficient at best; perhaps he would send them to the south where the men like their women with lots of meat on their bones. He had heard from some of the clients that the fat ugly ones were the best ones on the job—possibly to compensate for their misgivings in the looks department. He couldn’t give a flying fuck either way. They were all sluts any way you sliced them and the money they would bring him was all he was concerned about.
The girls were all lined up along the wall in various stages of undress. Ivan certainly knew how to present the goods, he had to give him credit. He had ordered the ones with the best looks to remove most of their clothes and then carefully arranged them in such a way that none of the good-lookers stood side by side. This of course downplayed the fact that most of the remaining women were basically ugly cows with less than alluring figures hidden beneath their clothes. As they should be—
All of these women had one thing in common, however: they were all scared shitless. And that was for good reason: they were all eventually going to be bought and shipped off to work in brothels or on the streets either in Europe or in the States.
He walked over to the most beautiful girl in the group. She was about twenty or so, with long blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes and a face like a cherub. She reminded him a lot of Nadiya in fact, with the exception that she was a bit shorter with smaller breasts.
“Turn around,” he told the girl in Russian.
She glared at him and Ivan stepped over to the group.
“Do as the man says, bitch!” Ivan snapped.
He raised his hand to slap her but Popov seized him by the wrist.
“Don’t you dare strike this beautiful woman, Ivan! She is just a little hesitant to comply because she is frightened. Now, honey, please turn around for me. I won’t harm you.”
The girl remained still and continued to stare at Popov defiantly, which excited him to no end. She could be a perfect replacement for Nadiya! he thought. So much spunk! But the slut still needed to learn how to take an order—
“Turn around now, dear, before you get me all worked up too,” he said, with more than a trace of threat in his voice.
The girl rolled her eyes and then turned around. Yuri stared down at her sweet ass as he reached for the clasp of her bra and undid it. The bra fell to the floor and girl flinched.
“Now turn back around, uh—what is your name, dear?”
The girl turned slowly around. But instead of staring at the floor, as so many of them did after being humiliated, this one simply glared at Popov with eyes of pure hatred.
This was more than Popov was about to take from the silly bitch. He backhanded her hard on the cheek. There was a loud smack as her head whipped backward. The entire room suddenly fell silent—only the clicking of a wall clock was audible.
Popov glared at her, his face beet red. “I asked you what your name is, wench, and you will tell me this instant!”
She was still reeling from the blow, a hand-sized red welt already visible on her cheek. Her eyes had lost their fire and were now fearful and docile as a lamb’s.
“Lydia,” she moaned quietly.
“Lydia, eh? Well, that’s a very sweet name. But you could use a few lessons on obedience, Lydia. I want you to follow Ivan back to your room now. I will rejoin you there a little later.”
“Please, sir! I am sorry—I will obey you!” she cried.
Popov got right in her face, smiling broadly. “Oh, but I know you will, Lydia. That’s why you will go to your room and wait for me there. Ivan, take her away.”
“No!” she shouted as Ivan grabbed her by the arm and led her out of the room.
“Oh, and Ivan—send Mikhail and Sergei up here after you’re finished with her.”
Ivan nodded.
Popov continued slowly down the line of women, enjoying the look of sheer terror on their faces. This is the way it is supposed to be, he thought. All of these bitches put in their places. He stopped at a girl who was clearly the youngest in the group. She was tiny and didn’t look a day over thirteen. Her eyes were all puffy from all of the tears she no doubt had shed since being plucked up from her family and her home. A pity, really, that she now found herself in this place at such a young age. But the amount of money she was going to bring in would make that pity disappear like magic.
He moved on to the next one, a tall brunette with large breasts that actually looked like they could be real. He was about to examine her when he felt his cell phone vibrate. He pulled the new Blackberry out of his breast pocket and glanced at the caller ID. The woman would have to wait for a moment.
“What is it, Hank? And it better be good.”
“She’s gone, Yuri!” his man said.
Popov wasn’t sure he heard him right. “What are you saying, Hank? Who is gone?”
“Nadiya, sir! She has escaped!”
Popov felt a sharp pain in his chest as he turned and walked toward the door. “You had better be fucking kidding me, Hank, or I am going to personally string you up by your nuts and hang you out to dry!”
“I’m sorry, Yuri, but I’m telling the truth—she took off about an hour ago and I can’t find her anywhere.”
Popov stepped out of the room and went over to a window in the hallway, in utter disbelief of what he was being told by his Long Island security man.
“Hank, take a deep breath and start at the beginning. Is it possible she is running an errand? She left the house once before, if you recall, when she decided to take a walk to the grocery store. I nearly killed her for doing it but still, maybe she’s just decided to sneak out for a short time while I’m out of the country.”
“No, sir, I’m pretty sure she has escaped. It looks like she took some of her stuff with her. And there was a man who came to the house earlier today. I was making my rounds and spotted his car parked out front. So I hung out a few blocks away and waited for him to leave—just to make sure he left alone. I mean, I thought he was just some kind of traveling salesman or something. He only stayed a half hour or so and then he left. Alone. I decided to tail him to see where he went—just to be on the safe side. But, well, he sort of lost me near the center of town.”
“Judas Priest, Hank, are you fucking shitting me? Am I really hearing all of this? Please tell me you aren’t that stupid, please! How could you sit around in your goddamn car and hang out while a stranger was inside my goddamn house with Nadiya? Have you lost your mind?”
“I’m sorry, Yuri. I just figured that as long as I kept an eye on him, no harm would be done. I swear, it’s standard procedure. I didn’t want to make some kind of big deal out of nothing with the guy and possibly arouse suspicion.”
“Standard procedure? To sit there like a fucking duck while this guy has run of my entire house for thirty minutes? Now does that sound like standard procedure? But finish the story, Hank, before I blow a gasket here. Do you think this guy has anything to do with Nadiya’s leaving?”
“I’m not sure, but it sort of looks that way. I mean, I looked all over the place for her—combed the neighborhood, the beach, everywhere. No sign. But she was on foot—so she couldn’t have gotten too far in the time I was out tailing the guy. Unless somebody picked her up—that’s the only way she could have disappeared like that.”
“So you think the stranger who lost you came back and picked her up?”
“Yeah, I’m afraid so. What else could it be?”
Popov fell silent. If what Hank thought may have happened really did happen, that meant that the man who took Nadiya probably had been looking for her. Or himself. Either way, this was fucked up. He would have to find out where the stranger took her and pronto.
“What did this guy look like?”
“White, about six foot, longish dark hair, medium build. I’d say he’s about thirty to thirt
y-five.”
“We’ve got to find out where they went, Hank. Please tell me you took down his license plate number. Or I may just have to kill you when I get back.”
“Of course I took it down, chief. And I’ve already had it traced to a rental car company in Manhattan. I’m heading there right now to see what I can find out.”
“Good, at least you’ve done something right. But Hank, I must say that I am very disappointed in you. You know you are going to pay dearly for this after we find her, don’t you?”
“But sir, I thought I was doing the right thing! I’ll find her and everything will be good again!”
“It will never be good again, Hank, if this guy is some kind of investigator or something. It isn’t going to be good at all. And you are going to be the second person I take care of after all of this is said and done. Nadiya, that fucking slut, is going to be first to bite the dust.”
“Please, Yuri, don’t do this! I promise I’ll make it all up to you. I’ll find the girl and the guy—I promise!”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Hank. It isn’t healthy.”
“I’m going to find them. You’ll see.”
“You had better, Hank. And I want you to call in every half hour until you do. Understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
Popov pressed the end button.
Yuri had always been a laid back, cool cookie his entire life. His philosophy was to lay low and make all of the money he could without getting caught. He had spent his life making that happen and for the most part, it had worked. And he’d been as clean and cool as a cucumber through it all.
But he had a bad feeling about this. Never had anyone stepped foot in his house that he didn’t know or wasn’t invited. He had ordered Nadiya never to let anybody inside the house while he was away—to never even answer the door if somebody rang the doorbell. That went for Fed Ex drivers, the mailman—any fucking body, period.
Yet the silly slut had defied him. She had evidently not only answered the door but actually let this bastard inside. And she had let the guy remain for half a fucking hour—
Nadiya was dead meat. He should have gotten rid of her a couple of months ago when he first started really growing really tired of her. But he had held off. And now look at what had happened—
Why in the hell had she let this guy in? Had she been expecting him? That would be the most obvious explanation. Otherwise, he just couldn’t see the bitch opening the door up to a total stranger. But of course nothing was impossible with the dizzy Ukrainian whore—
So if that were the case, why had she been expecting the guy to show up? Had she called him or had he called her? And what was the reason for his visit? Could he be a cop or an investigator working on a case?
Possibly, but unlikely. Popov had always maintained a low profile—obsessively vigilant to keep his name and outside business transactions out of the public eye. In all outward appearances he was nothing but a successful restaurant owner with clean hands—he hadn’t so much as a traffic ticket on his record. And the house was squeaky clean. This stranger couldn’t have found a single shred of evidence suggesting he was anything but an honest tax paying restaurant owner. He was certain of that.
So what the hell is going on here? Had Nadiya actually turned a deaf ear to his threats and spilled the beans to this guy? Is it possible?
He seriously doubted it and this was the only thing keeping him focused right now and not totally freaking out. Nadiya had her flaws and could be weak at times, but she would never do anything that would jeopardize the lives of her beloved parents. He had made it crystal clear to her that if she pulled something like this, he would blow her parents away quicker than flies on shit.
Popov had already given this action some thought. But first, he wanted to be absolutely sure Nadiya had indeed crossed him before he would have her folks executed.
There were other possible explanations for what had happened. What if Nadiya had been abducted by the visitor? What if he had gained access to the house by force and kidnapped Nadiya? It was even possible that the guy was a pimp he knew that had it out for him, so he’d taken his woman.
But why would he leave her there alone at the house if he were going to kidnap her? That didn’t make any sense—she would have simply run away before he got back.
Which may have been what happened. And the guy had been able to track her down after he lost Hank.
Or, for all he knew he had managed to talk her into leaving with him voluntarily. Which case, he simply ran to get something while she packed her belongings.
Fuck! Why did this have to happen?
Mikhail and Sergei suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs and walked over to him. Popov stared at the two scruffy-looking Russians and wondered if he would be able to rely on them to take things over from here. The issue was moot though since he had no other choice.
“Listen carefully—something’s come up. I want you both to go in there and separate them into two groups: Mikhail, you take the best lookers but leave a few for Sergei. And I don’t want to hear one fucking complaint from you, Sergei—you know I’m still pissed after what you pulled last time I was here. Then I want you, Mikhail, to take your group down to the cellar and keep them there until I can get a hold of Fergie to drive the van down and transport them over to his place. You are to stay here, Sergei until Bruce arrives from Hamburg—that should be some time tomorrow morning. You are both to lay low until all of the paperwork is finished—Klaus will take care of that. Then take your ladies and go your separate ways. I’m going to have to fly back to the states pronto so you guys are on your own. Don’t fuck anything up or I’ll personally have you both deported to the bottom of the Dead Sea. Got it?”
“Yeah, we got it. So what’s come up that you have to fly back so soon, boss?” Mikhail asked.
“Let’s just say there was a breech in security and leave it at that. No big deal, but you need to focus on your own business and not worry about mine.”
“Right,” Mikhail said. He looked at Sergei. “Well, let’s go inside and divvy up the goods, my friend.”
Sergei smiled idiotically and followed Mikhail into the room where the women were being held.
Popov clicked on his cell phone contacts and chose Viktor Skipetroff. There was an appreciable delay before his friend finally answered.
“Viktor, it’s Yuri. Where are you now?”
“At the spa, why?”
“I’m in Berlin and just got a call from Hank. Nadiya has flown the coop.”
“You have to be shitting me! What happened?”
“Someone visited my home today and the cunt let him inside. I don’t know what the hell went on while he was inside but after he left Hank tailed the guy and then lost him. By the time he made it back to the house Nadiya was gone. He thinks the guy came back to get her.”
“Why in the holy hell did Hank let the guy get away in the first place? He didn’t even question him?”
“No, the fucking idiot! Anyway, at least he got a license number and is trying to track the guy down in Manhattan. I’m calling to see if anything suspicious has happened at either of the places in the last few days. You know, like has anyone been snooping around or anything like that? This guy is white, about six foot, dark hair medium build, thirty-ish.”
“Nothing that I’ve noticed. Everything has gone fairly smoothly at the bar and this place is running like clockwork. In fact, I had a special guest show up again for a massage.”
“Let me guess, one of your cop friends from Queens.”
“Yeah. This one especially loves the spa, and for good reason. I mean, where else can you get all of the nookie you want for free?”
Popov forced a laugh. Nothing like a couple of cops on the take to keep things kosher. Back to the question—can you think of anything at all that seemed suspicious? What about my dear Elena? Has she been behaving herself?”
“Yeah, she’s been pretty good. But I’m actually a bit worried ab
out her. I probably should get someone else there to take up the slack—business has been booming the last week or so and the poor bitch is getting pretty burned out. I just may have to start looking for some fresh goods and get rid of her altogether if she doesn’t start perking up.”
“Why don’t you just take a couple of the girls from the parlor and lay Elena out to pasture if she’s that fried? I could have Mick pay a visit and take care of her for you. You know how good he is at liquidating waning assets.”
“Yeah, I may just give that some thought. If that place didn’t pull in so much easy money, I’d sell Stokley’s and just stick with the parlor. Less headaches, for sure.”
“That might mess up your arrangements with the boys in blue, though. You got to keep them happy, too you know. At any rate, let me know if anything suspicious comes your way. I’m thinking that the guy who took Nadiya could have been some kind of investigator—and may have been tipped off somehow. I can’t think of any other way he would be able to track down my house, for chrissakes.”
“I hear what you’re saying, it definitely sounds fishy. I’ll ask Tommy if he’s noticed anything suspicious when I see him later on.”
“Good, thanks. Listen, Vik, I have to go. I’m going to have to settle up things here and then fly back home tonight. I’ll touch base with you when I get a chance.”
“Okay, Yuri. Have a good flight.”
Popov disconnected. The next call he made was to Luka Rusakov.
“Luka, it’s Yuri.”
“Hey, my friend, how are you?”
“Not so good at the moment. I’m calling to find out if anything out of the ordinary has been happening there.”
“What do you mean by that, Yuri?”
“Has there been anyone asking questions about me or any of our associates?”
“What kind of questions?”
Popov sighed. Luka was so daft that he had to spell everything out for him. “Questions like they are trying to find out what we do—you know, like they are investigating our business.”
“Oh, I understand. No, nothing that I can think of. There have been the police snooping around once in a while, but no more than usual. You know how they want to look like they are on top of things when they really couldn’t give a shit.”
“Okay, that’s good. I’m afraid that someone has taken one of the women. From my house, no less. I think this guy could be trying to bust me.”
“Shit, Yuri! You think this guy found out where you lived and took your woman on purpose? That could be big trouble!”
No shit, Luka? Popov thought to himself. “Yes, Luka, it could really be big trouble. So you can’t think of anything unusual that has happened in say the last week or so? Nothing suspicious at all?”
“Well, there was the man who called from the States who was interested in buying Fowler’s girls. That seemed strange because not very many know about that deal.”
Popov felt the pain in his chest again. “What’s this? When did the man call?”
“Just a short while ago.”
“What was his name?”
“Let me see, a Gordon, uh Davis. That’s it, Gordon Davis.”
“And he was asking specifically about the girls that you found for Martin Fowler?”
“Yes.”
“Did he tell you how he found out about them? No one knows about that but a handful of people—certainly not a Gordon Davis.”
“He didn’t say exactly how he found out about them—he just said that he had connections, like he was some sort of big shit. And he said that Viktor gave him my cell number. That’s the only reason I talked to him in the first place.”
“That isn’t possible! I just spoke to Viktor and he told me nothing about giving a Gordon Davis your number or having told anyone about those girls!”
“Not to worry, anyway. I told him that the girls weren’t for sale now. He tried to talk me into seeing the girls so he could decide if he would be interested in them once they went on sale. I of course told him that would be impossible because of the deal I had made with their present employer.”
“At least you did the right thing there. What did the man say after you told him that?”
Luka paused and didn’t reply right away. Popov sensed there was something his primary recruiter was holding back.
“Luka? What did he say?”
“Uh, you may not like this, Yuri, but I’ll tell you anyway. Like I said, this man was pushy and he sort of, uh, talked me into calling Fowler to see if he would change his mind about showing the girls.”
“He what? I told you Luka under no circumstances to contact Martin Fowler once the deal was done, did I not? And now you’re telling me you called him just because of this stranger?”
“Uh, I know Yuri that I shouldn’t have. It’s just that—well, I sort of wanted to see if I could keep the guy interested in case we can’t find a buyer for all of them. Or at least be able to get a price war happening. I never spoke to Fowler, anyway. His assistant answered my call and told me that Fowler was busy at the time. I never told him who I was and just hung up.”
“Judas Priest, Luka! Now do you see why I told you that I would take care of this matter once Martin was through with those girls? You are such a dolt! You don’t know your ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to business matters!”
“But I made a good deal with Fowler for those girls—you even said so yourself!”
“Listen, Luka. I let you negotiate the deal with Martin Fowler because he is a personal friend of mine and needed a favor. I figured that since you were the best recruiter I had that if you were able to acquire what he was looking then I’d let you handle the deal, too. Let you make some big bucks for all your trouble. But that was to be the end of your involvement. And I told you so. Now we’ve got some guy we don’t know from the man in the moon calling about girls he shouldn’t even know about!”
“I am sorry, Yuri.”
“You sure as fuck are! Is there any more you haven’t told me, Luka?”
“That’s it. I told him that Fowler still refused to show the girls and then he gave me his cell phone number and told me to give it too Fowler in case he changed his mind. I told him that was not likely to happen and that was the end of the conversation.”
Popov tried to collect himself. On one hand, none of this necessarily seemed relevant to Nadiya’s escape. He couldn’t think of any possible relationship between this Gordon Davis looking for the young girls to buy and what had happened at his home. But it seemed just a little too coincidental not to give pause. What bothered him the most was the fact that this guy had found out about the girls in the first place. He had promised Martin he would keep this arrangement confidential, which is exactly what he had done. Viktor, Luka and himself were in fact the only ones who knew about the deal. He had given Viktor the link to Martin’s website with the photos of the girls on it just so Viktor could show them to Elena and taunt her about her little sister. He hated Elena that much and knew that it would upset her. But he told Viktor under no circumstance was he to show those photos to anyone else because of his promise to Martin of complete anonymity of the situation—
He needed to call Viktor back. Find out if he had given Luka’s phone number or any other information to a Gordon Davis.
“I’m going to have to call you back Luka. Keep your cell phone on.”
He disconnected and called Viktor back.
“Vik, I need to ask you something. Do you know a man named Gordon Davis?”
“No, that name doesn’t ring any bells. Why do you ask?”
“I’m following up on something that Luka just told me. Has anyone inquired about Fowler’s girls or asked you for Luka’s cell phone number? I need the truth, Vik—no bullshit.”
“Yuri, we go back a long way. And I can honestly tell you that I have not told a soul about those girls or given out Luka’s number.”
“Okay, I believe you. It looks like someone is snooping around.”
Popov proceeded to tell him of his conversation with Luka.
“So what are you going to do about this, Yuri?” Viktor said.
“I don’t know yet. I’m going to have to wait and see what Hank finds out. If the guy who took Nadiya is the same guy who just called Luka inquiring about those girls, it could be real trouble. Nothing to do but wait it out at this point.”
“Well, let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”
“Thanks, Vik. I’ll call you when I get back to New York.”