Saving Anya (5 page)

A quarter after midnight, Anatoly sat with a group of mafia heads from Vegas in the back of Mother Russia restaurant discussing a possible relationship in the very near future.

The Colgnetti family was relatively young, but they were coming up out west. All they needed was a good weapons connection, and everyone who was anyone knew that Anatoly Medlov was the man to see.

Anatoly poured himself another shot of vodka and placed his large shoulders over the sides of the leather booth, waiting to get the meat of the conversation, but as his father had taught him over the years,
a certain amount of finesse was needed
. First, you talked, entertained, got to know each other. Then you moved on to the deal. His father had called it relationship building. Anatoly called it bullshit.

The appointed leader, Toni Colgnetti, a distinctively attractive Italian man in his mid-twenties with a heavy muscular build, dark brooding brown eyes and locks of curly black hair, finally reached down beside him and pulled up a titanium briefcase to place on the table between them.

Anatoly could tell by the way that the man carried himself that he was a lady’s man as well as an alpha male, used to drawing the attention of the opposite sex with his genetic charms and controlling his men with his earnestness and hunger. Oddly enough, he reminded Anatoly of his father in a way with his enchanting duality. But he could also tell that Toni’s good looks had likely led to jealousy, deceit and now war. It was a path that most men in his position were forced to take.

The Intel from the streets said that Toni was quiet, pragmatic and a man of his word. The only problem was that he was in the middle of taking over territory that belonged for a long time to Johnny Pescetti. This territory issue was headed towards a war for the two families and while Pescetti had a tie with a huge New York family back home, which meant that he could get access to weapons, Toni couldn’t get his hands on a sling shot. Long term, the firepower he was seeking would determine which family stayed and which family took a long dirt nap on the outskirts of Vegas.

Same story.

Different family.

Anatoly’s eye twitched at the thought.

Now, here they were doing what they did best, preparing for blood lust. The formalities were in place. He understood that
relationship-building
was a tricky business. The clients wanted to get to know you, understand your way of doing business, see if you were truly as respected as people said. So, he entertained the two-hour meeting even though, normally, he would have cut it short at thirty. But now…finally…things were coming to a head. He wanted to see just how much power these boys had amassed, and if it was enough to blow his skirt up, then they would grow to be good friends. And maybe later, once a relationship was built, he could give Toni a few pointers in how to keep his pretty little head.

“
This is what I’m proposing,” Toni said, unlocking the briefcase.

Vasily stepped forward out of the shadows with his hand on his gun. He watched Toni’s every move, while his men watched everyone else. Gritting his teeth, he snarled as Toni’s hand went toward the clasps of the case.

Toni quickly moved his hand. “Where’s the trust?” he chuckled nervously.

“
You earn trust around here,” Anatoly said softly. “You can’t buy it.” He nodded, indicating that Toni could
slowly
open the case.

Toni stilled his quivering stomach. “Well, I don’t want to buy your
respect
. I want to buy a shit load of semi-automatics that will blow the Pescetti crew back to the stone ages.” He turned the briefcase full of money around towards Anatoly. “And that should about do it.” He swallowed hard.

“
I’d say so.” Anatoly counted the money without touching it. His eyes gazed over the case and then he nodded at Vasily to step back into the shadows for the moment. “There is only
one
golden rule. We never trade at the same time. You pay today. You pick up tomorrow.”

“
We’ll be in town,” Toni assured.

Anatoly had to smirk at his ignorance. “No need. We don’t carry product in town. It will be shipped to your restaurant tomorrow via an 18-wheeler driven by a cowboy named Leroy from Texas. He’ll pull up to the back of your place, and your men will unload. It’s just that simple.”

“
So you want me to
just
leave 2.4 million dollars with you tonight with the hopes that I’ll get a delivery tomorrow?” Toni clenched his jaw.
Did this guy think that he was a pussy or something?

“
Who has trust issues now? The terms are simple enough. I won’t explain them again. It’s your call, Mr. Colgnetti. As I said, respect is earned. That goes both ways. We do this every day, Monday through Saturday and twice on Sunday. If you want to get in on it and keep your men safe, be my guest. If you are hesitant, then by all means take your little briefcase of coins with you and find someone else who can supply you with clean, untraceable weapons. I don’t’ really give a fuck.”

Anatoly’s voice was barely above a whisper. His demeanor was calm and enchanting, full of confidence from years of doing deals ten times as big as this one. It was no hair off of his chest if the man chickened out. It only ensured that he’d be dead well before his enemy.

Toni gave a long thought to his choices and then stuck his hand across the table. “You’ve got yourself a deal,” he said, feeling like he was out of options and time.

Anatoly shook his hand and smiled. “Pleasure doing business with you. Now, why don’t you and I grab a bite to eat and your men and mine can go and take care of the particulars. I don’t like logistics very much. I have Vasily for that.”

Toni wasn’t used to such a calm meeting, but he quietly greeted the change. Most men with this kind of power spent hours touting their horns or talking just to hear themselves speak, but Anatoly was different. He was only about business. It couldn’t have been easier if he had ordered them online and paid with a credit card. “Okay, sounds good,” he said, relaxing his tense shoulders.

With the snap of Anatoly’s fingers, three women came out of the kitchen with trays of food and more drink for the two and entered into the party room ready to serve.

Toni looked over at the tallest redhead waitress wearing a tight-cut uniform and black heels and cut a naughty grin. “Is she on the menu?” he asked, sitting up in his chair.

Anatoly looked over at the woman and narrowed his eyes on her. He could see that she was at least attracted to Toni, but he really didn’t know much about the girl accept that she was a good worker. “I don’t know. You have to ask her. We’re not into the sex shit,” Anatoly said a little offended.
Motherfuckers always expected Russians to sell pussy.
He shook his head at the absurdity. Like he had to sell something that was thrown at him like rice at a wedding.

“
Just guns huh?” Toni asked.

“
Just guns,” Anatoly said, sizing the man up. He knew that Toni was not expecting a man his own age to be running such a large operation. What he was expecting was a lot of unneeded fanfare, not a quiet meal in the back of a restaurant.

That was the difference between the Medlov men and everyone else. They focused on the job and they did it professionally. For a two-block radius, all cell phones and computers had been jammed for the meeting and spotters and snipers were on buildings all around them. It would have taken an army to get inside of Mother Russia tonight.

The word through the underground networks was that The Medlov clan was the easiest to work with because of all of their intricate vertical integration, their thousands of distribution checkpoints, their banks, their workers and most importantly their word. If the Medlovs’ said a thing would happen at a particular time and place, it happened no matter what. Not one deal had gone sour to date, and the clients were always protected. With a near 100% success rate, they were sought out by organized crime syndicates globally, but everyone knew that if you crossed them, you’d have to face the most torturous death imaginable. So, you had better be good for the money and your word.

Toni looked over at Anatoly and knew that he was witnessing the real deal, and he didn’t know whether to be happy or really fucking afraid.

Conversely, Anatoly looked at the food as the waitresses set the plates down on the table and picked up his napkin with a clear mind. Business was over. It was time for him to relax. Shoving the napkin down the front of his black Versace tailor-made shirt, he rubbed his hands together and smiled. “Shall we dine finally, I’m starving?”

“
Let’s,” Toni said, picking up his shiny, silver fork.

Just then, Anatoly’s phone rang. His body stiffened to the sound. How he hated an interruption, especially during a deal. It showed the slightest glimpse of disorganization.

It could only be one of two people at this hour.

Renee or Dmitry.

Either way, he had to pick it up.

Every cell phone was jammed,
except his
. That was the way it always was. And Renee knew what he was up to, so she wouldn’t call unless it was an emergency.

With a sigh of frustration, he ran his hand over the crisp white tablecloth to smooth out the wrinkles and scooted out of the black leather booth. “You’ll have to excuse me for a minute,” Anatoly said, pulling his phone out to see it was his father.

Vasily walked in front of Anatoly and opened the French doors that lead out of the private room to the rest of the restaurant.

“
Papa?” Anatoly said concerned. “What’s the matter?”

“
Someone has kidnapped Anya,” Dmitry said without emotion. His voice was hollow and hard.

Anatoly wanted to ask his father to repeat himself but he knew better. Instead, he waved Vasily off and walked towards the back of the restaurant where it was pitch dark. His feet made an echo on the hardwood floor as he disappeared into the shadows.

“
When?” he finally asked when he was sure no one was around him or could see the apparent worry in his face.

“
About thirty minutes ago. Davyd is dead also. It looks like they were ambushed while taking Anya to school. Several workers nearby saw a helicopter shortly after the shooting. There is no sign of her, no note, nothing, just a few dead bodies that we’re trying to trace.”

Anatoly felt a strain in his stomach like someone had just punched him. He pushed his body up against the wall and tried to be as clear-headed as he could, but this was his baby sister, a girl who had given him a reason to live during many dark moments in his life.

“
Are the police involved?” Anatoly asked with his head dropped.

“
For the moment.”

“
How is Royal?” Anatoly asked, concerned about his stepmother.

“
She has gone…insane,” Dmitry answered, looking behind him at the hysterics happening in the next room.

Anatoly could hear his stepmother in the background, her voice shrieking in anger and pain. “I’m on the way, papa.” He wanted to say more, to comfort him, but he knew that his best show of support would be to do as his father asked.

“
Call Gabriel first. Tell him to drop everything and come also. Bring Vasily with you and have a few of your most trusted and skilled men there on standby. For that matter, bring Renee and
Brigitte
for safe keeping. Anya may not be the last on the list to collect.” Dmitry gritted his teeth and growled. “I want my fucking daughter back alive, Anatoly.”

“
I want my sister back alive, Papa.”

“
Then get here and let’s get this done.”

With that Dmitry hung up the phone.

Anatoly stood in disbelief. Whoever would be stupid enough to do this had to expect a war of epic proportions.
Anya of all people. His father’s pride and joy.
It occurred to him at that moment that he might not live through this one. His father did not play about family. He would be out for blood.

Suddenly, he was more paranoid than ever. Pulling his gun out of the holster attached to the back of his pants, he checked it, and then called Vasily over. “V, come here,” he said in a whisper as he waved him over.

“
Da
?” Vasily answered as he walked quickly to his boss. Even he knew something wasn’t right. He stood square shouldered and waited for an order or at least an explanation. Being Anatoly’s personal bodyguard for over four years now, he could read his body language and anticipate his needs even before he spoke.