“Did you, for a moment, think that Rico has suddenly become generous? Offering you a five percent cut off his business profit, that’s a lot of generosity for a cold-blooded animal like Rico. Director of operations?” Gorevoy snorted. “What do you possibly know about the Casino business?”
“I should have known better. He almost had me there.” He walked heavy-footed to the armchair and sank himself into it. “Rico thinks I'm responsible for Pascal.”“He isn't sure, that's what he wants to find out,” Gorevoy returned. “You've got to call Lopez before he does. Tell him about me.”Cain quickly took out his phone and began dialing Lopez's number.…Rico walked briskly to the elevator. He thumbed the button number, thirty-one, and was whisked to the next floor, above. He got out of the elevator, walked to the door at the far end of the corridor, and thumbed in the bed push.TheRico came slowly awake; under the influence of someone’s weight. He opened his eyes; to find Natasha on him. Her head was on his chest, her eyes were looking up toward his face. A thin smile was on her lips.“Morning, handsome,” she said. “Morning darling,” he returned, ran his fingers through her hair, and jerked her head forward, toward him. His mouth landed on hers, as his hand duck into her nightdress, and slid down her back. She pulled away with a smile. She stretched her hand and picked up a silver case lying on the far side of the bed.“What is this?” Rico asked as she handed him the case.“It's for you... A gift.”He collected the case, swung it open. On the velvet lining, a pregnancy test strip laid, signaling positive.“I'm pregnant, Jamie,” Natasha said happily.Rico took out the strip and gawped at it. The color drained out of his face. His eyes closed, and after a long
Natasha felt her body go limp, her head was doing circles, and she collapsed on the bed, with her hands covering her face.“Do you mean what you're saying, Rico?”Rico stood up, crossed over to the wet bar. He opened another bottle of whiskey, poured a liberal shot into the glass on the countertop, and brought it over to Natasha.“Take this.” She appreciated the drink, gulped it down, dropped the glass on the bed, and flopped back down on the bed.“If you're going to jail, then what is it, about you getting out?”Rico lit two cigarettes, gave one to Natasha, walked over to the dressing table, leaned on it, took a drag on his cigarette, and let the smoke drift down his nostrils. “I hope you realize all that I'm telling you must remain a secret?”“I'm not dumb.”Rico nodded.“I know you’re not. The thought had never crossed my mind... that's why I married you.&rd
After a few seconds, the conversation was up, and he ended the call.“Who was that?” Natasha asked, as sharply as he hung up.“David Donovan. He's the representative of the Nackize Corporation. He wants us to meet,” Rico said, rushing off to his study.He came out about five minutes later with a sealed white envelope. He gave it to Natasha.“I want you to go to St. Peter's Hospital for a checkup. The routine checkup, newly pregnant women have to endure. Dr. James Smith will attend to you. Give him the envelope. Don't open it, and don't ask either, what it is for, or what’s in it. Promise you won't do that.”Natasha hesitated.“Would it make any difference if I knew what it is?”“I don't want you mixed up in this ugly business. Natasha, I want you safe, I want my child safe.”Natasha nodded.“Okay, I promise.”… The doorman of the Marie Hotel, a
Once Rico departed, Rossi turned toward Donovan. He looked inquiringly at him.“What do you think of it?”“Offering a hundred and fifty is a lot of dough.”The corners of Rossi's mouth tilted further downwards in a cunning smile.“Don't worry about the money. He would not get it if he was responsible for Pascal. The syndicate does not tolerate private killings. I want you to dig deep into the matter and find out who killed Pascal. You've got three days to find out.”With his cigar hanging between his teeth, Rossi left the room through the door he had used to come in.… Dr. James Smith, a broad-shouldered man, going bald, probably between forty and fifty years old, with piercing blue eyes, which had a friendly light in them, was in his office.He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk, with his hands clasped together.“Mrs. Rico, you don't look all that excited that you're six weeks
St. Gertrude Cemetery was one of the best and most expensive in Miami. It catered for the rich and important. Not the cemetery you would expect a man of Pascal's caliber to be buried in, but Rico was sparing no expense. With the pressman and photographers watching, he felt this was a perfect opportunity to make a show. After all, in another two days, all the money would go to the state.Rose Alison stood before the bunch of red roses, lying on the fresh-turned earth on Pascal's grave. Two steps behind her stood Natasha. Rico and Cain stood beside each other, far behind. Larry, his new driver, waited by the Lincoln.Everyone was dressed in black.“Is it arranged?” Rico whispered to Cain.“Yeah... Tommy is taking the hit,” Cain returned.Rico nodded, satisfied.“No chance for a blowback.”He plodded across the path of the well-kept cemetery, past Natasha, and came to a stop beside Rose. He stared mour
Gorevoy paused as he drank from his glass.“But, Rico and I, had high ambitions. A rural farm just couldn't contain it. In the day, we worked on the farm. In the evening, we went with the trucks going into the city, where we picked pockets. We had plans of migrating to America. Rico's father had been an American who had migrated to Russia, got married, and started a farm, so Rico was obsessed with the thought of going back to his fatherland. We saved what we got from our pick-pocketing. After two years, we had enough money to move to America. But, before we migrated, I had my first sex with your mother. She was sixteen then. She was against me leaving her and going to America. Your mother saw the thirst for money in me, and she knew such thirst would only lead me to something bad. I guess that was why she regarded me as bad in her letter and never told me about you. But, funnily enough, she kept in contact with me all the time I was in America until I went to prison. She
Gorevoy paused as he drank from his glass.“Pascal told them his own story of how he was a hitch-hiker who had been given a free truck ride, and after the trucker had dropped him off on the highway, he had hailed down my car. His story was checked, and the trucker who was assumed to have dropped him off on the highway collaborated the story. The cops got a search warrant. They searched my house. My car was found in the garage. They checked the car. The car didn't seem to have had any recent fuel leak. They found five million dollars tucked inside the mattress in my bedroom. That was when I realized that the whole incidence wasn't a coincidence, but a perfectly planned and executed set-up. Rico was in to see me. He brought me a lawyer. He told me, he would have to wash his hands of me. That the business was causing a lot of stink for the organization. He told me, Don Mazzo was behind the set-up. That it was payback for assassinating his friend, Don Massino and taking over
Gorevoy turned away from her. As he walked back to his chair, he said, his voice bitter, “Not to a daughter who has developed feelings, and married my arch enemy. But, I would tell you how much Rico's head is worth to me. Ten million dollars. Just to let you know that, you wouldn't be losing this quality of lifestyle even if Rico dies.” He paused, then turned to her. “It just depends on where your loyalty is going to lie. To your father or his betrayer?”“You can't blame me for getting married to Jamie, dad.”“I don't blame you, daughter. You did what you had to do to survive. I'm just asking you, now that you know the story, where are you going to stand? With your father or with your husband?”…
Natasha came slowly awake with a dull headache. She felt like her brain was rolling inside her skull. She squinted at the blurred figure of a man before her, against the light. Then, the man moved away, and the light fell directly into her eyes. She shut her eyes again and drifted to the steady throb inside her head.She heard a voice say, “She’s awake, boss.” The voice seemed to come from far away, but she guessed it was the man who had stood before her.The light burned through her eyelids, and she tried to shift away from it. When she found she couldn’t move, she raised her head and looked. The sudden movement exploded something behind her eyes, and she had to stay still again. Then, after a while, the throb went away, and she tried again.She found she was sitting in a wooden chair, her hands tied to the arms of the chair, her legs tied to its legs. A desk and another chair faced her. The wall of the room; which faced her, was a wide; ceili
Alessa had seen Natasha come out of the condominium, hail down a taxi, and got in. And as the taxi had driven away, she had gotten a glimpse of its number. She could still remember the number. She dialed a number on her phone.A man’s voice came through.“Hello?”“Nick, help me trace a taxi, numbered; 285.”…Alec Barley had lived alone now for over five years, and from time to time, he got himself a woman, ‘to take care of his blood pressure,’ as he usually quoted it to himself.Tonight, he was all alone. He picked up the boiling kettle and made himself tea.He carried the tea into the living room and sat down limply in the big armchair. The springs creaked under his weight, but tonight, he didn’t care about the gradual wearing out of his furniture. With Natasha’s ten thousand dollars, and with the twenty thousand Gorevoy had promised him, he knew he could give his apartment a fresh look
A Toyota Prado drove into the warehouse and pulled up behind the cab. Out of it spilled two black powerfully built men dressed in black suits. The driver held a small black briefcase. He came over to Gorevoy and handed him the briefcase.The other man went over to the rear door and opened it. Natasha’s shrill scream filled the warehouse.He raised his gun to her.“Hold it,” he said in a voice that was loaded with menace. And just like a cheap magic trick, a dead silence fell on the warehouse. “Get out.”Natasha did as she was told. He nudged her forward, and toward the Prado, and as she moved forward. With speed, akin to that of a Black Mamba about to strike, he closed in on her and struck a needle into her arm. Almost immediately, she went limp. He picked her up and bundled her into the back seat of the Prado.The two men got into the car. Gorevoy watched them drive off, then he shrugged and got into the cab.Rico edged th
Rico stared at the phone, bewildered, and just as he was about to close the phone, a message from Rose dropped in. He viewed the message, and an obscene, crude, sexually brash picture filled his screen.It said a lot about him that his face remained expressionless. He felt an increased rate of blood flow to his extremities. The phone became too heavy for him to hold, but he held on to it.Natasha looked into his eyes. The light in them made her shift away from him.“What’s it, Jamie?” She asked carefully.He turned the screen of the phone to her.“What is this?” His voice roared.Natasha’s hand flew to her mouth as her breath came in quick gasps. The look on Rico’s face frightened her. She had never seen him look like this before. Immediately, she stood up and edge back into a corner of the room.“I can explain, Jamie. It not what you think.”Rico made after her, but stopped in his tracks.
Rose took the envelope, lifted the flap, and drew out six photographic prints. A single glance stopped her heartbeat for a split second, her heart raced, and she felt icy sweat break out on her face. She shuffled through the prints, then returned them to the envelope, and put the envelope down on the table. Tears welled up in her eyes. She couldn’t believe Pascal had betrayed her.Gorevoy regarded her. “Four days ago, I gave the originals to Rico; these are photocopies. The next day, I read in the papers that Pascal was dead. Rico knew I was the only one who had evidence; linking him to Pascal’s death, so he dropped two tails on me. That was when I knew my life wasn’t safe anymore, and I had to talk to you. This disguise was essential to shake off the tail. If Rico gets the idea that I’ve talked, I’m as good as dead. If anything happens to me, you know who’s responsible. You are a press woman. You know what to do with these photog
Gorevoy dropped the phone in his pocket. His mouth twisted into a crooked grin. So Rico was onto him. Well, even if he would not get any money out of this, he would get his revenge, and that was a promise he had made to himself.He stripped off his clothes. It was essential to his plan that he wouldn’t be followed to where he had to go to now. He opened the closet and took out the woman’s dress he had bought for an occasion like this. He slipped into it, wore a brown topcoat, and slid his feet into a Mary Jones shoe. Making himself up, he wore a black wig and dark shades, took a handbag, folded his clothes, and put in the bag. He picked up a brown envelope from the table, dropped it in the bag, and left the room.Outside the condo, he sneaked a surreptitious glance at Alessa. She paid him no attention. He hailed down a taxi and got in.The taxi pulled up in front of Rose’s apartment building. He got out, paid the cabman, and proceeded to the bu
There was a scuffling noise. The silence of the room was split by Cain’s scream, then a thud that seemed to shake the entire apartment.Immediately, Alessa stood up. She took a mass of foam from her pocket, crossed to the bath, soaked it with water, crossed to where Cain was sprawled on the floor, still dazed from the shock of the fall. She dropped on him, her knees pinning his hands to the ground. And as the wet foam came above his face, Cain suddenly realized what was about to happen to him. He gave a sharp squeal of terror, and he made a frantic effort to save himself, but it was too late.Alessa dropped the foam on his face and applied pressure. Water flowed down the sides of his face. His legs kicked helplessly.Keeping the pressure steady, Alessa watched the desperate heaving of his body and the movement of his fingers scrabbling at the tiles.Cain suddenly realized he had no chance of surviving this. Alessa’s weight on him felt like a h
About an hour’s drive from Miami, Rico’s Lincoln, turned from the main road into a narrow dirt road, just wide enough for one car. Either side of the road was screened by tall trees and shrubs.Seated in the driver’s seat was Rico. Beside him was Rose. Since their drive from Miami, she hadn’t said a word, and with the way she had her hands between her knees, he could tell she was nervous. Well, he couldn’t be blamed. Before the drive, he had tried to talk her out of this foolishness, but her heart had remained as hard as a diamond.Finally, down the dirt road, the powerful headlights of the Lincoln picked up the rear of a car.“I think there is a car on the way,” Rose said sharply.Rico noticed that the hardness he had gotten used to was
After ten minutes of driving, Cain’s taxi turned into the street, which housed the high-rise; where he had his apartment, and as Alessa’s driver was about to follow suit, she leaned forward and said, “I’ve changed my mind. Drive me to Sam’s bar.”The driver nodded.Ten minutes later, the driver slowed down and pulled up outside Sam’s bar.“Here we are, miss.”Alessa paid him, got out of the cab, and entered the bar. Moving through the crowded, smoke-hazed air, she came to rest at the bar where Sam; an obese man, was serving drinks.He looked up from the drink he was mixing, noticed her, then smiled.“I’m expecting a friend, Sam,” Alessa said.“Room three and five, are available,” Sam returned.“I’ll take room five.”Sam took out a key from the key rack and handed it to Alessa.“You care for a drink?”Alessa shook her