Ganglands: Russia: Russia (19 page)

She stiffened.
‘You know?’

‘Everything,’ nodded Alexei.
‘I know the Eagles kidnapped her.
I know she was held at Boris Lebedev’s dacha until I spooked them. I know she’s going to be
killed tonight.
The only thing I
don’t
know is where they’re going to kill her.
But you can help me find out.’

‘You must think I’m a monster,’ Nadia said, her voice trembling.
‘Ever since I learned about her kidnap, I’ve had nightmares about them killing her.
But if I help you and Viktor finds out, you don’t know what he’ll do to me!’

‘Listen to me,’ Alexei said fiercely, clutching her hand. ‘I don’t think you’re a monster.
I saw what happened outside the club. I know Viktor hurts you.
I understand why you help him.
But this isn’t you, Nadia! You’re not a Nazi!
You’re not evil like he is!’

‘You understand, Alexei?’ Nadia said bitterly. ‘You’ve known Viktor for five minutes; I’ve spent my life with that bastard.
Our parents died when I was a baby – he brought me up.
You get used, eventually, to the beatings and the intimidation.
I spend time with his subhuman cronies; I upload their sick videos.
But you know what the worst thing is, the realization that really breaks you?’ She looked down at her hands.
‘
He’s all I’ve got
.’

Nadia sat motionless as tears fell silently from her eyes.

‘Hey,’ Alexei said softly, putting his arm around her. ‘I can’t begin to imagine what you’ve been through.
But if you let Viktor get away with this, then nothing’s ever going to change.
Help me stop him, Nadia.
Don’t let this woman die.’

They sat in silence in the shadowy room.
Then Nadia wiped the tears away with the back of her hand and briskly stood up.
Opening her laptop, she began tapping
away on the keys.
Within seconds she was logged on to the darknet.

‘Viktor protects his email with a password.
Luckily for us, he never changes it – and I hacked his account a few months ago.’ She pointed at the screen.
‘See?
He sent Tsar a message an hour ago.’

She clicked on the message, which said only:

2200 hrs.
Novodevichy Cemetery.

‘They’re going to kill her in a graveyard,’ Alexei said, suppressing a shiver.

‘That sounds like Viktor,’ Nadia said darkly.
‘He always knew that Rozalina’s death would be a more powerful symbol than Borovsky’s release could ever hope to be.’

Alexei glanced at his watch.
‘I’d better make sure it doesn’t happen, then.
Haven’t got long to get there.’

‘You can’t go to the cemetery, Alexei!’ gasped Nadia. ‘It’s too dangerous!
What about this secret organization of yours; or the police?’

‘I can’t trust the police.
I’ll call my company but they’re on the other side of Moscow, and we haven’t got the time.’

‘But they’ll kill you!’

‘That’s a risk I’m going to have to take.’ Alexei scribbled down his phone number on a writing pad.
‘If you get into trouble, call me.
Whatever happens, I’ll make sure that Viktor doesn’t hurt you.
I promise.’

He hugged the girl gently, whispered ‘thank you’, and turned for the door.

‘Wait!’ Nadia grasped his arm. ‘Before you go, tell me one thing: why are you doing this?’

Alexei hesitated.
‘Some of the Eagles beat up my girlfriend, Lena,’ he said finally.
‘She’s still in a coma now.
I swore that I’d get revenge – Trojan just came along at the right time.’

‘Oh my God.’ Nadia’s hand flew to her mouth.
‘Did it happen on the metro?’

‘Yes!
Did you hear about it?
Do you know who did it?’

Nadia nodded.
‘It was Marat and Medved.
Marat boasted about it to me.
He thought I’d be impressed.’

Alexei felt his stomach tighten with rage.
All the time he had been around the Eagles, it had been the people he’d known best who had hurt Lena.
They had been within his grasp all along.

‘What are you going to do?’ asked Nadia.

He looked back at her from the doorway.
‘First of all I’m going to find Rozalina.
Then I’m going to kill as many of the bastards as I can.’

24. Grave Trouble

The party was spiralling into chaos.
As Alexei marched back towards the stairs leading down to the lobby, students were spilling out into the corridor, arms draped around one another as they stumbled back to their dormitories. Music thundered out from one of the rooms, speakers crackling with the sheer volume. Stepping over the prone form of a boy asleep in the middle of the hallway, Alexei got out his mobile and called Trojan.
Darius Jordan answered on the second ring.

‘We’re nowhere here,’ he admitted.
‘What have you got for me?’

‘Novodevichy Cemetery,’ replied Alexei.
‘Ten o’clock.’

‘Well done, son.
We’re on our way.’

Alexei didn’t break stride as two girls stumbled into him, howling with laughter.
‘I’ll see you there,’ he said.

‘You’ve done your part.
Leave this to us now.’

‘But you won’t get there in time!’ Alexei protested. ‘It’s already half past nine, and I’m much closer than you are!’

‘Stay away from the cemetery,’ Jordan said tersely. ‘That’s an order.
The Eagles will be armed and in numbers.
You’re not prepared for this.’

‘Do what you like.
I’ve been through too much to walk away now.’

‘Alexei –’

He flipped his mobile phone shut, cutting off the American in mid-sentence.
Alexei took a final look back at the party, then turned his back on it and strode down the stairs.
He was halfway across the lobby when he heard a voice calling out his name.

‘Wait for me!’

Alexei turned round to see Nadia hurrying through the hall after him.
She had changed into a pair of jeans, and was pulling a coat over a thick jumper.

‘You’ll never get to Novodevichy in time if you take the metro,’ she explained, jangling a set of car keys beneath his nose. ‘I’ll drive you there.’

‘Are you sure?’

Nadia nodded.
‘You were right.
I’ve let my brother get away with things for far too long.
It’s time to make a stand.’

Torn, Alexei scratched his cheek.
He had placed Nadia in enough danger just talking to her – he didn’t want to make the situation worse.
But given that he had just ignored Darius Jordan, how could he deny Nadia the right to defy the Eagles as well?

‘OK,’ he said finally.
‘Lead the way.’

She took him outside to a small car park in front of a laboratory, and unlocked a white Lada.
Alexei got inside, shivering in the freezing cold air.
Nadia flicked on the headlights and drove into the night, the Lada’s engines shrieking in protest as she floored the accelerator.
Alexei sat in silence,
nervous energy surging through his system.
This was the calm before the storm – like sitting in the changing room minutes before one of his kickboxing fights.
He tried to keep calm, focusing on the impending collision with the Eagles.
As the car careered through the streets of Moscow, Alexei saw himself walking slowly towards the ring, bouncing on his toes and banging his gloves together.
Whatever happened tonight, someone was going to lose.
Alexei just had to make sure that it wasn’t him.

Nadia bounced the Lada across an intersection and took a sharp right, on to a road that followed the curve of Moscow River.
They hurtled past an imposing turreted building, its golden domes rising up behind a high stone wall.

‘That’s Novodevichy Convent,’ said Nadia.
‘The cemetery’s right next to it.’

As she spoke, the convent passed out of sight and a long railing appeared in front of a line of trees.
Nadia pulled over by the entrance – a heavy metal gate between two squat, red-brick buildings.

Alexei glanced at the high gate in desperation.
‘How the hell am I supposed to get inside there?’

The gateway to the cemetery opened, and a security guard appeared in the driveway.

‘Leave that to me,’ Nadia said.
She kissed him fiercely on the lips.
‘Good luck,’ she whispered, and then she was gone.
Alexei watched as she ran up to the guard, catching him before he could lock the cemetery gates.

‘Excuse me,’ she called out, with a shy smile. ‘I’m lost.
Could you help me?’

The guard grinned, and pushed his cap back on his head. ‘I’ll do my best.
Can’t have a pretty girl like you wandering around on her own at night.
Where are you trying to get to?’

Nadia launched into a long and complicated explanation, pointing away down the road so the guard was forced to turn his back on the entrance.
Alexei slipped out of the Lada and crept through the shadows towards the gate.
He heard Nadia’s tinkling laugh, and then he slipped through the open entrance into the graveyard.

Novodevichy Cemetery was enshrouded in a portentous quiet, its graves spread out among towering trees.
Following a broad path through the dark, Alexei plunged deeper into the cemetery, past a sombre honour guard of headstones.
Some of Russia’s most famous artists and statesmen were buried here; every footstep took Alexei past a glorious episode from his country’s past.
His senses were working on overdrive, alert to every leaf rustling in the wind, and every small animal scuttling through the undergrowth.

As Alexei hurried along the path, he checked the time on his phone.
It was ten minutes to ten.
He was running out of time – there was too much ground to cover on his own.
The cemetery was a vast maze of paths and graves, a labyrinth of the dead.
Alexei prayed that Trojan were closing in on the cemetery.
How quickly could they get across Moscow?

Just as Alexei was beginning to give up hope, a woman’s scream rent the air.

He broke into a flat-out sprint, skirting between graves
as he left the path and hurtled through the trees.
He ran towards the sound, willowy branches lashing his skin, his stomach lurching at the thought that he might be too late.
An exposed tree root caught his foot, sending him crashing to the ground.
Hearing voices ahead, Alexei picked himself up and crept towards them.
He crouched down behind a giant birch and peered around its trunk.

He looked out on to a small clearing amid a knot of trees, backed by a row of ivy-tangled tombstones.
Rozalina Petrova was on her knees in front of the tombstones, her hands bound behind her back.
A gag had fallen from her mouth, and was hanging around her neck.
Three men were standing around her: Marat, Medved and Viktor Orlov.
The leader of the Moscow Eagles was pointing a pistol at her head.

‘If I were you, I wouldn’t scream again,’ he said matter-of-factly.
‘There’s more than one way to die – and some of them are infinitely more painful than others.
I’m not squeamish.’

Viktor looked as unruffled as ever, his dark suit pressed, his side-parted hair wavering slightly in the wind.
Medved looked on impassively at his side, his burly arms folded.
A few paces away, Marat’s face was pale as he glanced around the clearing, his fingers drumming nervously on the strap of the digital camcorder in his right hand.
For all the boy’s violent bluster, Alexei doubted whether he had the stomach for murder.

‘Isn’t it ten o’clock yet?’ Marat asked jumpily. ‘Let’s get this thing over with.’

Viktor shot the boy a murderous glance.
‘There’s still
ten minutes to go.
You just make sure you’re ready to film when the execution begins.
We want the world to witness our actions.
Now is not the time for doubt, Marat.
Tonight you’re going to prove yourself a true Russian hero.’

Icy rage coursed through Alexei at the man’s words.
These were the scumbags who had hurt Lena – and now they were going to murder an innocent woman in cold blood.
He was shocked to hear the sound of thin laughter carry across the clearing.
It had come from Rozalina Petrova.

‘A true Russian hero?’ she said faintly.
‘Does this execution count as an act of heroism?’

‘Shut your mouth, bitch,’ barked Medved.

Rozalina’s eyes blazed with defiance.
‘I’m not scared of you,’ she said, her voice unwavering.
‘Kill me; don’t kill me. You’re still cowards.
No matter how many people you murder, there will always be true Russians lining up to defy you.’

She closed her eyes as Viktor pushed her forehead back with his gun.

‘Your death is only the beginning,’ he said grandly. ‘The Moscow Eagles will soon dominate the streets of this city.
And with our backer’s support, it will not be long before the state marches in step with us.’

‘If you believe that,’ Rozalina said through clenched teeth, ‘then you’re even more stupid than I gave you credit for.’

Viktor slapped her across the face with an open palm, sending her crashing to the grass.
Alexei had to grip the
birch to stop himself from running to Rozalina’s aid.
He couldn’t believe how brave she was.
But the seconds were still ticking away, and Trojan were still nowhere in sight: Alexei was on his own.
Outnumbered and out-gunned, it didn’t look like there was anything he could do.

Still, thought Alexei as he steeled himself, there was no way that he was leaving Rozalina to face the Eagles alone …

He was clambering to his feet when a twig snapped behind him, and a cold gun barrel dug into the back of his head.

‘Don’t move,’ a voice breathed in his ear.
It was Pavel.

25. Avenging Angels

‘I had a feeling you’d show up,’ the ex-soldier said softly.
‘Knew you wouldn’t be able to resist sticking your nose in.
How did you find out we were here?’

‘Lucky guess,’ Alexei retorted.

Pavel chuckled mirthlessly, then struck Alexei across the back of his head with his handgun.
Bright cloudbursts of pain exploded in front of Alexei’s eyes as he fell to the ground.
Through blurred vision, he saw Viktor Orlov glance over in their direction.

‘Who’s there?’ he snapped.

‘It’s me,’ Pavel called back.
‘With an uninvited guest.’ Hauling Alexei to his feet, he marched him into the clearing at gunpoint. Viktor’s eyes lit up at the sight of them.

‘So glad you could join us, Alexei!’ he crowed.
‘I was most disappointed when you escaped from the little party we’d thrown for you at the bathhouse.
May I introduce Rozalina Petrova?’