10|Can Even Do The Tango

"They're here!" Ivan announced as if Andrei and Igor didn't have eyes and couldn't see the Cessna C421C Golden Eagle touch down on the tarmac and glide towards them. 

Their guards were instantly on the alert as the plane stopped a few meters away. 

Several minutes passed before the plane doors opened, and out came Juan Pérez, dressed in an all-white suit, his long black hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail.

A pretty little thing with dusky skin and a mass of black twirly hair cascading around her bare shoulders hung onto the man's arm. Her tight metallic dress left little to the imagination, showing off her voluptuous body in all its glory. The sparkly shoes on her feet did wonders for her toned legs. Toned legs were one of Andrei's very few weaknesses. The things he could do with those legs—

"I see he brought company," Ivan muttered beside him, gatecrashing Andrei's drool fest.

"Did you expect anything less?" he drawled, irritation quickly replacing his anxiety as he scoped out the five guards trailing behind Juan and his lady friend. 

They were all dressed in black suits and serious Ray-Bans to complete their look, and Andrei instantly hated them. Nothing screamed mob, drug dealing and human trafficking than guys dressed in black suits and Ray-Bans and carrying shiny briefcases. 

Couldn't they have been a little discreet?

"Mr Ivanov!" Juan was the first to speak when his entourage finally closed the gap between them. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you." His accent was so thick that Andrei struggled to understand what he was saying. But he shook his hand and welcomed him to Africa. 

"I hope you had a good flight?"

"It was fantastic!" said Juan's arm candy. "I love Africa already. The weather is beautiful, and I can't wait to see the lions. Juan says we'll go to the safa…safa…"

"Safari!" Juan snapped at her, his irritation evident. "I told you, you don't talk. Your only job is to look beautiful, and dare I say, you look magnificent. Now be a good girl and wait in one of those nice cars."

"But—"

"I wasn't asking, Sofia," Juan said, sounding calm enough, but the crazy look in his hooded eyes said otherwise as he pointed at the four luxury SUVs Andrei's security occupied.

"Fine, Honeypot," Sofia pouted as she leaned in, kissed him on the cheek and sashayed off, leaving a thick cloud of feminine scents behind her. 

They watched her stroll to the car, swaying her hips dramatically with each movement. 

"Sorry about that. Women sometimes…" Juan said, laughing his head off as if he didn't just disrespect his wife, girlfriend, sidepiece, or whatever Sofia was to him. 

Andrei didn't laugh. He found women a nuisance half the time, but he didn't get off on blatantly disrespecting them, especially in company.

"Shall we begin?" he asked.

"Yes, of course," Juan nodded, and they slid into Andrei's car. 

"Show me yours, and I'll show you mine," the Mexican said as soon as the doors closed.

"Right," Andrei nodded at Igor to do the honours. His second in command reached down to retrieve an unassuming briefcase under the driver's seat. 

For some reason, Juan seemed to have major trust issues. One minute, Andrei was watching his captain retrieve the cash, and the next, the muzzle of a gun was pressed to the back of Igor's shiny bald head, and all their guards, with their weapons drawn, surrounded the car.

"You have ten seconds to get that shit off my man's head, or your brains will be splashed all over these windows. I don't think Sofia would like to miss her safari, do you?" Andrei said calmly. 

He'd been in his fair share of blitz attacks. Some he'd initiated, and others sprung on him. But from past experience, he knew that remaining calm was the only way to escape any hairy situation with his head still intact. 

"What is your guy trying to do?"

"What the hell do you think he's doing? Getting your cash, of course!"

"Under a car seat?"

"I don't know how you do business where you come from, but here, we're discreet. We don't fucking walk around with shiny briefcases. Now you have two seconds left, or the deal is off, and I'll put a fucking bullet in your head myself."

Juan didn't look convinced and needed a little motivation. Before anyone could even process what he'd done, Andrei had reached for his backup pistol strapped to his ankle holster, cocked it and aimed it at Juan. Both were now on equal footing. Armed, loaded and ready.

"Don't be a dumb ass, Juan. This is my fucking territory. I call the shots here. Look around you. Private airport, no flight manifest. I can make all of you disappear, and no one would even know where to look."

"Right!" Juan broke into manic laughter as he lowered his gun. A collective sigh of relief swept through the car as Igor and Ivan relaxed in their seats. 

"I like you!" Juan decided, still cackling with laughter. "I like how decisive you are!"

Andrei didn't share his sentiments. He couldn't deal with the Mexican's erratic ways. The deal was—

His phone vibrated in his pocket. He put away the gun and pulled out his phone, half expecting Juan to aim his Glock at him now. Surprisingly, the man was now smiling inanely as he motioned to him to answer the call. 

"My men will handle it from here. I'll be back. Igor, Ivan, do the necessary," he said before stepping out of the car. 

He walked a few feet away from the two security teams still engaged in a tense standoff and answered his phone, wondering who was calling him from a withheld number. 

The moment he heard her voice, Andrei wished he'd ignored the call.

"You declined my Hot Connexions match?"

"What? Did the little prima donna's ego get bruised? Can't handle a little rejection?"

"Why did you reject me?" Holly demanded, sounding drunk out of her mind. "I'm beautiful, fairly wealthy and educated! And oh, I can dance. I can even do the tango! What more do you want?"

Andrei didn't know he needed a wife who could tango until Holly brought it up. Yes, he had to add knowing how to tango to his list of requirements. There was no dance sexier, bolder and more intimate. His future wife definitely had to know how to tango.

"Tell me your requirements right now! And I bet your ass I meet all of them. I think I even give good head. I'm pretty sure I do!"

"Holly Anderson! Who do you think you're talking to?" Andrei barked at her, unable to believe he'd left his meeting for her drunken nonsense. "Call your driver to take you home right now, and I'll be generous enough to pretend this call never happened."

"What will it take?" She slurred. 

"Nothing! You and I can never happen—"

She barraged on, cutting him off. "What will it take to get my penthouse back?"

So that's what this was about? Her penthouse? All her drunken talk about being a damn good catch, knowing how to tango, and giving good head was about her damn penthouse? Thank heavens she wasn't fixated on him!

"Listen carefully, you little prima donna, that penthouse is mine now. I'm not selling it."

"But you don't use it!" Holly shrieked on her end. "Give it to me! Give it to me right now!"

"I'm not having this conversation with you right now! In fact, I'm not having this conversation with you, period!" Andrei snapped and hung up, pissed out of his mind that the spoilt princess had taken five minutes of his life he'd never get back. He switched off his phone just in case she was tempted to call him again. 

When he returned to the car, Denis, their resident cook, had just finished checking the samples.

"What's the verdict?" Andrei asked as he resumed his seat and yanked off his tie, sorely tempted to call Liam and tell him to keep his little sister on a leash. 

"It's fucking beautiful!" Denis effused. "I've never seen anything so pure. This…This will be our rainmaker!"

"Of course, I deliver only the best," Juan said smugly, and Andrei's mood soured even more. He should just put a bullet in the back of the Mexican's head, take his shitty samples, and keep all his money. But, he was a man of his word. He signalled to Igor to hand over the cash.

"We'll call you with the next steps," Andrei informed Juan as they traded briefcases.

But he had no intention of doing business with the Mexican. Juan had shown his true colours when he pulled a gun on Igor for no reason. And if Andrei had learned anything throughout his long, colourful career, it was to believe people when they showed him who they were the first time around.

Igor's phone screeched, and it was his turn to jump out of the car. When he hopped back in, he wasn't a happy camper. "Boss, we have to go. Family crisis. Helga couldn't reach you. There seems to be trouble at home."

With their business concluded, Andrei shook Juan's hand, albeit reluctantly, promising to keep in touch, even though he had no intention of doing so. 

He walked the Mexican and his crew back to their Cessna.

"We should meet up after we return from the safari. I'd like to see more of your beautiful country," Juan said before turning to the plane.

"Sure, call me!" Andrei nodded as he watched him smack Sofia's ass. He really hoped this was the first and last he saw of the Mexican. 

As soon as the plane took off, Andrei returned to the waiting cars. His security wanted to hold a debrief session to discuss the shitshow with Juan, but Andrei asked them to shelf it for later. He had a far more pressing matter to deal with.

"But we need to—" Lev, his head of security, tried to protest, but Igor put him in his box.

"The boss has an emergency, Lev!"

With that, they bundled him in the car and headed off, with Andrei feeling somewhat relieved the meeting had gone fairly well.

"Did Helga say what the emergency is?"

"She mentioned an intruder."

"Fucking hell!" Andrei swore. Could this damn night get any worse?

"You missed the off-ramp," he said when he noticed they were driving in the wrong direction. Linksfield was in the opposite direction.

"It's not the house in Linksfield. We're heading to Forrest Creek!" Ivan announced.

Andrei didn't ask why because he had a pretty good idea. 

Damn that Holly Anderson!