***
When Sven woke, he realized that he was no longer at home. He remembered a very large Russian man busting into the door and shooting his bodyguard. When Vasily approached him, even though he didn’t have a gun, he had tried to fight back, but with one punch was knocked out cold. After that, he remembered the plane and then nothing.
His face was now swollen. One eye was closed shut. The pain caused him to wince, and he had a splitting headache. When he tried to reach up to touch his busted lip, he realized that he was tied to a chair with thick rope and left alone in a cold dark barn.
He looked up above him high into the rafters and saw bats hanging in the rafters upside down sleeping. The barn was drafty and filled with empty stables and missing boards that allowed the wind to slip into the barn and shake the rickety foundation. Taking in his surroundings, he surmised that it was early evening although he wasn’t sure if it was the same day of his abduction. And even thought it was still daylight, he could see the yellow hue of the sunset in between the broken boards.
Frantically, he tried to pull himself free but his limbs were secured tightly. Struggling against the rope, he twisted his arms until his sensitive flesh began to bleed. “Shit!” he screamed out in frustration. “What the fuck do you want from me?”
His voice echoed through the barn, upsetting the bats that moved about above him, but there was no other reply. That fact did not bring him a bit of comfort. He was freezing cold and even if no one ever came, he would die out here from being exposed to the elements.
Wiggling his arms again, he tried to pull his hand out of the tie but the harder her pulled, the tighter the ropes restricted around him.
“
Ahh!” he screamed again. “Motherfucker!”
Behind the large doors, he suddenly heard multiple footsteps coming towards the barn. Raising his head, he looked toward the door and felt his heart drop to the floor. He had no idea who he had been kidnapped by other than the fact that they told him they were
Russians
. However, he had an idea, and if he was right, then he was dead.
The door opened and the sun shined in and blinded Sven. Wincing away from the light, he tried again instinctively to cover his eyes with hands and felt the ropes pull closer around his wrists and legs. Giving up, he let out an exasperated sigh.
In between his futile efforts, he saw a man taller than anyone he’d ever seen before approaching in a dark suit, beside him another man nearly as tall and then to the largest man’s right a shorter, muscular man with golden blonde hair that looked like it glowed in the sunlight. As they got closer, he realized that two of the men were from the plane.
When the doors slammed shut behind them and the sun was not shining directly into his eyes, Sven looked up to behold Dmitry Medlov in the flesh. His eyes swept from side to side of the man. The dark haired man to his right looked a great deal like Dmitry, but all of his features were opposite. His eyes were a mossy green, his skin was deeply tanned like he was from a tropical locale, his cheeks were high but his chin squared and his stance was as intimidating as Dmitry’s.
The blonde man had a scowl on his face. His menacing eyes sparkled like blue diamonds and while nearly a foot shorter, he looked even more like Dmitry with distinct symmetrical features that made him look more like a Greek god instead of a Russian demon. Veiny, muscular arms were crossed across his broad chest as he looked down at Sven like he wanted to spit on him. Sven thought that he probably would before this was all over.
Dmitry, however, smiled. That scared Sven even more. “Do you know who I am?” Dmitry asked, his voice booming like lightning as he broke the silence.
“
Yes,” Sven answered in a near whisper.
Dmitry raised his brow at Gabriel and then turned back to Sven as he put one hand in his pocket. “And do you know why you’re here?”
“
Where’s
here
?” Sven asked, looking around again.
Anatoly sucked his teeth at Sven’s response and made one intimidating step toward him. “Don’t grow any balls of a sudden,” he snarled. “It will just make chopping them off a little more painful for you.”
“
Here
is…my barn. You’re at my chateau in Prague,” Dmitry answered truthfully.
“
That question alone just cost you your life,” Anatoly bit out in a growl. “Any more…questions?”
“
We’re not here to negotiate life or death, Anatoly,” Dmitry reminded, putting his hand on his son’s shoulder to calm him down. “We’re here to discuss what Sven knows. He might be useful to us.”
“
I don’t know anything,” Sven answered quickly.
“
I haven’t asked you any questions yet, Sven. Are you already preparing to be difficult?” Dmitry asked, taking off his suit jacket and passing it to Gabriel.
Gabriel took it obediently and threw it over his arm. He kept his eyes on Sven, watching his every move critically, looking at all of his body language to determine if and when he lied.
Dmitry walked up closer to inspect Sven.
“
Did you die your hair blonde or is that natural?” Gabriel asked with a smirk.
Sven didn’t answer.
“
Looks like a die job to me,” Dmitry joked as he palmed Sven’s head and then pulled his head back, gripping the roots of his hair in his meaty fingers. “Didn’t you know, Gabriel? Our friend Sven is a Nazi. He quite favors blonde hair, blue eyes.” He looked over at Anatoly. “Just your features alone make you more superior to other races, to my daughter and my wife even. Isn’t that right, Sven?” Dmitry asked, tightening his grip on the man’s hair.
Even though the pain was excruciating, Sven tried to have a backbone. “I have an appreciation for my German history and culture that is all,” Sven corrected.
“
He
is
preparing to be difficult,” Anatoly said, walking across the barn to a long table where a large potato sack sat. He turned it upside down and poured the contents on the table: vice grips, small torch, knives, salt, sulfuric acid, vinegar and duct tape.
Sven looked over at the dusty, wooden table and began to stutter. Tears formed at the sides of his eyes though he fought it. “I really don’t know anything. This isn’t necessary. You have to believe me. I am artist. That is all.”
“
We are all more than just what we do for a living,” Dmitry said, letting Sven’s hair go. He wiped his hands on his pants.
Sven’s voice strained as he pleaded “I don’t know anything.” He shook his head emphatically, hoping that Dmitry would believe him. His badly swollen eye pushed a tear through its puffy lid and it fell to his cheek.
Dmitry put his fingers to his own lips. “
Shh
. We’ll get to the screaming and crying in just a bit. For now, boys, would you mind leaving me and my new friend alone?”
“
Sure thing,” Gabe said, giving one final look at Sven. “You know the Nazis lost, right?”
Sven did not reply. Instead, he kept his eyes on Dmitry.
“
Papa, be careful. He could have…
the package
,” Anatoly warned like Vladimir had warned him on the plan. He looked at Sven again and shook his head. “I really wouldn’t want to be you right now.” A devious grin crossed his full lips. “Then again, I wouldn’t want to be you period.”
When both men were gone, Dmitry turned his full attention to Sven. Rolling up the sleeves to his dress shirt, he went over to the table and slipped the lead apron over his clothes. “You’re going to tell me everything I need to know, or I’m going to make the last hours of your life the worse that you’ve ever endured.” He heard Sven’s sobs behind him.
“
I don’t know anything,” Sven said again.
“
Warum willst du nicht
glauben mir nicht?
”
“
Why don’t I believe you?” Dmitry asked him, letting the man know that he spoke German fluently. “
Denn du bist
ein Lügner.
Ich kann es in
deinen Augen sehen
.
”
“
I’m not lying. I don’t know…”
Dmitry cut him off. “If you say that sentence one more time during our visit, then I’m going to cut your nipples off and shove them down your throat,” Dmitry promised. “So unless you really like S & M, don’t push me, young man. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t know anything. I don’t make mistakes like that. And it offends me that you even suggest through your lies that I do make mistakes like that by continuing to deny it.”
Sven swallowed hard but closed his mouth.
Turning around with the apron on and a knife in his hand, he pulled a chair over to Sven and sat down. In a chipper voice, he began his interrogation. “First question. Where are Balthazar and my child?”
“
I don’t know.” Sven looked at the sharp, serrated edge of the long knife and frowned.
Dmitry brought the knife to Sven’s face and looked him in the eyes. He reeked of pure fear. His eyes were wide and afraid, making Dmitry even angrier. The cold blade ran down Sven’s cheek and cut the flesh open in a deep, wide gash.
Sven cried out in agony, especially when Dmitry poured vinegar into the wound. Avoiding the dripping blood at his son’s advice, Dmitry sat back in the chair and waited for a minute. Placing the knife beside him on the dirty ground beneath him, he put his elbows on his knees.
“
Where could Balthazar possibly be?” Dmitry finally asked.
“
Croatia or South Africa. He has homes in both,” Sven offered quickly.
“
Which one of the two is he more likely to be at now?”
Sven thought hard. “Croatia.”
“
Why?”
“
The home in South Africa is so far away. He normally only goes there when he plans to stay for a while, a few months at least. And he normally has it prepped first, before his arrival. He never told me to prep it or had anyone else prep it, so he must not have been going there.”
“
Where in Croatia does he have a home?” Dmitry clenched his jaw.
Sven stuttered, “I’ve…I’ve only been there once. Normally, we stay in Geneva. It’s nearer his businesses. He’s a strategic planner for Bach and Lidenman, very similar to America’s Blackwater.”
“
So you don’t know the location of the home in Croatia?”
“
I’ve only been there once, and it was many years ago.”
“
What does he normally strategically plan for in his job?” Dmitry asked, picking the knife back up.
“
It’s a black bag company. He plans covert operations for operatives who go into third world countries to extract those who have been kidnapped and he gives consultation to paramilitary forces.”
“
And he’s massed enough money for three homes doing this
strategic planning
?” Dmitry probed.
“
He also makes money… elsewhere,” Sven hesitated. He looked at Dmitry and wondered if he should continue, but the look in Dmitry’s eyes told him that he had no choice.
“
Go on,” Dmitry said growling.
“
He makes money putting children from those countries on the black market for sale.” Sven watched Dmitry’s eyes, but they were void of all emotion.
“
He’s a slave driver,
eh
?” Dmitry said with a half-grin that sent chills down Sven’s back.
“
Yes,” Sven said, looking at Dmitry’s knife.
“
And you’re okay with this as long as they are not German and white?” Dmitry asked.
“
He’s a grown man. I can’t control him.”
“
I like that theory. Because you see, I am a grown man too,” Dmitry smiled. His accent became thicker. “And you can’t control what I’m going to do to you. At least we understand each other. Now, when was he going to send for you? After he brokered the deal on my daughter or before?”
Sven watched the knife as he came closer to his eye. “Two days from now he said that he would call and tell me where to go after he got his part of the ransom and sold the girl to Upheil Kalensko.”
Dmitry shook his head. “See, you
do
know something. Now, let us hope that you know more. How do Manon and Vladimir fit into this plan of Balthazar’s?”
“
Vladimir is the brain child behind the idea. He came up with it after he found out his father was in the last stages of cancer and was cutting him out of any part of his inheritance. When Vladimir found out that all the money was going to you, he flipped. He reached out to Balthazar, who -
for a fee-
provided Vladimir and Manon with the men for the abduction, the place to house the girl and the money to fund the operation upfront. Vladimir would have never been able to fund it otherwise, because his father has him on a very strict allowance.”
“
What did your lover do in exchange for?”
“
One third of the money,” he said, looking down at his slacks that were now dripping with blood. He hated the sight of blood, but seeing his own made him want to pass out.
“
And Manon?” Dmitry, said getting his attention again by snapping his fingers. “Stay with me.” Dmitry could see him getting lightheaded.