Black Friday

  James cracked up laughing. ‘I think you’d be biting off more than you could chew with her, mate.’

  It was gone eleven when Ryan tracked Igor down. The Russian had been for a meal in town and rolled into the Kremlin bar with three women from the admin department and a couple of the last remaining pilots.

  ‘Farewell!’ one of the pilots spat, hardly able to stay upright as he stumbled into the table. ‘We’re all buggered. Buggered!’

  ‘Here’s to the scrapheap,’ the other one added.

  Amy was trying to keep up the pretence that the clan had only suspended operations, but many people weren’t convinced and airlines wouldn’t be queuing up to employ middle-aged pilots who were only certified to fly forty-year-old cargo planes.

  As always, Igor was buying the drinks and Ryan caught him as he reached the bar.

  ‘I got a message from Andre,’ Ryan said. ‘We need to talk.’

  Igor smiled. ‘Gimme a second. I’ll cast off these miserable sods and be right with you.’

  Igor bought Ryan a Coke and carried a tray of drinks across to his dining companions before returning.

  ‘Dubai,’ Ryan said. ‘That’s all Andre said, but I’m going to keep pushing. Tamara’s almost out of money and I get the impression they’re getting desperate. Speaking of which.’

  Igor smiled and went down his pockets for five thousand som.

  ‘I want twenty thousand if I find out where they are,’ Ryan said, as he pocketed the money.

  Igor grimaced, then smiled. ‘If you find that out, it’s worth twenty thousand,’ he said.

  Ryan swigged his Coke as Igor went back to his companions. His grazed leg still hurt and he planned to head upstairs to bed, but that changed when he caught Natalka’s reflection in his glass.

  She’d left her room like he’d suggested; showering, grooming and dressing in white pumps and a skirt so short it could have moonlighted as an elastic band. She looked amazing, but walked like she’d had too much to drink and only stayed upright because Vlad’s steroid-pumped arm was holding her up.

  Vlad deliberately took stools at the bar close to Ryan. ‘Vodka,’ Vlad said. ‘Double rum and Coke for the lady and a lemonade for the little boy.’

  Ryan shook his head with contempt. The barman took the hint and didn’t pour his lemonade.

  ‘Hello, Ryan,’ Natalka said, slumping over the bar and giving him a limp wave. ‘I’m having fun with Vlad. He’s got really big muscles and he’s not a liar!’

  Natalka giggled as Vlad pushed the double rum and Coke at her. ‘A toast,’ Vlad said. ‘To the most beautiful girl on earth.’

  Ryan felt like he’d been stabbed as Natalka downed her double, then pulled Vlad in for a snog. When Natalka broke off, she caught Ryan’s eye and gave him an evil little smile.

  ‘I haven’t been with a proper man for ages,’ Natalka said.

  ‘Reckon it’s past your bedtime, Ryan,’ Vlad said. Then to the barman, ‘Another double for my girl.’

  The barman wasn’t convinced this was in Natalka’s best interests, but Vlad’s diet of steroids made him aggressive as well as strong. He wasn’t a guy you could easily say no to.

  Ryan didn’t want to admit defeat and leave, but rage and jealousy chewed him up as Vlad tugged up the back of Natalka’s skirt. Anyone who cared to look got a view of her bum as he scooped her easily off the stool into his lap.

  ‘Drink up,’ Vlad told Natalka. ‘I’ve got two hundred Dunhills for you in my room.’

  Ryan baulked, certain Natalka would get more than two hundred cigarettes if she ended up in his room.

  ‘Where you going?’ Vlad asked, as Natalka slipped off his lap. ‘You’re my girl.’

  ‘Piss,’ Natalka said, before setting a wobbly course across the cigarette-scarred carpet.

  Vlad turned towards Ryan once she was out of earshot. ‘I’m gonna be banging that tonight. How’s that make you feel?’

  Ryan tutted. ‘She’s fourteen. You must be really proud of yourself.’

  ‘God only puts tits and arse like that on the earth for one reason,’ Vlad said, giving a wink. ‘She can have little Vlad babies!’

  ‘The amount of steroids you do, I’m amazed your balls haven’t shrivelled completely,’ Ryan said.

  Ice cubes chinked as Ryan drained his Coke and jumped off his stool in disgust.

  ‘Sleep tight, baby boy,’ Vlad said.

  Ryan shook his head as he crossed the bar and headed for the stairs. Part of him wanted to go to bed and try to forget everything, but he loved Natalka and felt responsible because he was the one who’d told her to get out of her room.

  Although Ryan had done a ton of combat training on CHERUB campus, he’d seen Vlad bench press 240kg and do sets of bicep curls with dumbbells that he couldn’t even lift off the rack. If Ryan was going to take Vlad on, he had to knock him out fast. Steroids make you super-aggressive and a guy that strong can cave your head in with a few punches.

  Ryan needed a weapon, but his window of opportunity began to close as Natalka stumbled out of the toilet into Vlad’s arms.

  ‘I’ll look after you, baby,’ Vlad said, feeding an arm around her back to hold her up.

  Natalka had been drunk when she arrived at the bar and Vlad forcing two double rum and Cokes down her neck had left her near comatose.

  As Vlad waited for the lift up to his third-floor room with Natalka, Ryan raced upstairs still trying to think up a plan. He was on the last landing when he noticed a sand bucket and fire extinguisher.

  The extinguisher was a big chrome job, marked Expiry 2006. But while its fire-fighting ability was questionable, Ryan only cared about its weight. By the time he’d picked the extinguisher up and stepped through double doors into the third-floor corridor, the lift was on its way up.

  Natalka was coughing as the doors opened and Vlad sounded furious as he shoved Natalka out of the lift.

  ‘Puked on my best shirt, you dumb slut,’ he snarled.

  ‘I didn’t mean it,’ Natalka said weakly.

  ‘Might have to punish you for that.’

  Natalka was coughing and groaning as Vlad grabbed a handful of hair and shoved her towards his room. The waft of Natalka’s boozy puke coming from the lift made Ryan heave, but he managed to stifle it.

  ‘Hey, big man,’ Ryan shouted.

  The instant Vlad turned Ryan lunged, belting him in the face with the end of the fire extinguisher. Natalka screamed and slid down the wall as Ryan booted Vlad in the guts, making him crumple forward.

  Despite the head shot, Vlad remained conscious and he grabbed Ryan’s ankle and pulled him down. He swung a huge punch, skimming Ryan’s head and smashing his fist through the plasterboard wall. As Vlad tried pulling it out, Ryan scrambled forward and knocked his opponent out with an elbow to the head.

  As Ryan rolled off he realised he was spattered with blood, and chunks of puke off Vlad’s shirt. Natalka leaned forward and started retching as Ryan stood up. When she finished she gave Ryan a weird look. Gratitude? Hate? Ryan couldn’t read it and her head went limp before she could speak.

  ‘Natalka?’ Ryan said, gently pinching her cheek to see if she was conscious.

  He tucked hands under Natalka’s armpits and groaned as he lifted her floppy body off the floor and threw her on to his shoulder.

  ‘Christ you’re a lump,’ Ryan told himself, as he tried not to heave from the smell of her boozy sweat. ‘Let’s put you to bed.’

  30. AIR

  James was beat after ten days working with Andre, so his sister Lauren offered to help out and take the early drive to the airport in her Challenger.

  They met up with Tamara and the MI6 officer who’d led her training at a Pret A Manger in terminal five. Andre was pleased to see his mum, but then got sad when it was time to go. He sneaked off to a gift shop to buy James a fancy box of mints, then welled up as he hugged James before passing through the security barriers for his flight to Dubai.

  ‘Sweet kid,’ Lauren said, once Andre,
Tamara and their MI6 escort had disappeared. ‘But I never felt like buying any of my training instructors presents. You must be too soft.’

  ‘Andre’s smart, but real CHERUB training would break him in about two hours,’ James said. ‘Sweetie?’

  James tipped some mints into Lauren’s palm.

  ‘So when’s the love of your life flying in?’ Lauren asked, as they started strolling back towards her car.

  ‘Kerry’s staying in the States,’ James said. ‘We’ve not been getting on too well.’

  Lauren smiled. ‘Who’d she catch you in bed with this time?’

  ‘Nobody,’ James said indignantly. ‘And why does everyone think I’m some kind of sex maniac? I’m a normal bloke with normal appetites.’

  Lauren tutted. ‘You’re a good-looking bloke. Women flirt and you tend to say yes if you think you can get away with it.’

  ‘Half the kids on campus seem to think I had sex in the campus fountain.’

  Lauren smirked. ‘Cool! That was my rumour.’

  ‘What?’ James gasped. ‘Why’d you do that?’

  ‘I was bored,’ Lauren said airily. ‘You know when you’re a bit drunk and you just make some gossip up to keep the conversation going?’

  James laughed so hard he had to rub a tear from his eye. ‘I miss having you around.’

  ‘My uni’s only an hour from campus,’ Lauren said. ‘If you do stay in the UK you’ll see a lot more of me.’

  ‘That’d be cool.’

  ‘So are you and Kerry fighting, or is it worse than that?’

  James shrugged. ‘Can’t say for sure. We’ve been together so long there’s not the same spark. I don’t know if that’s a problem, or if it’s just what happens to a relationship after a few years.’

  ‘Surely she’s not spending Christmas on her own?’

  ‘She hasn’t told me anything, but there’s this guy Mark who she’s been meeting for coffee and stuff,’ James said. ‘I half suspect she’ll be Christmasing with him.’

  ‘Heavy,’ Lauren said.

  ‘I threw my breakfast at the wall when I first found out she wasn’t coming for Christmas,’ James said. ‘But the more I’ve thought about it, the more chilled I’ve got. Me and Kerry have grown apart. Zara’s offered me a job on campus and I think I’m gonna take it.’

  By this time, they’d gone down an escalator and reached the platform for the monorail out to the short stay parking.

  ‘And what about you?’ James asked. ‘Rat, uni, other stuff?’

  ‘First term at uni’s been good. Rat’s happy, though some of the guys he hangs out with are annoying. I miss being a cherub, but who doesn’t?’

  Amy had given Ryan the login for the fast Internet connection on the fifth floor and he felt down as he used his iPhone to look at a picture on his Ryan Sharma Facebook page. His best mates, Max and Alfie, had posted a pic of themselves dressed in Scream masks and Santa hats, with Alfie’s yucca plant draped in tinsel between them.

  Max, Alfie & Doris wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a splendiferous 2013!

  It was funny, but it also made Ryan feel lonely. He’d been scared that Natalka might puke in her sleep and choke, so after wiping her face and putting her to bed he’d found a blanket for himself and spent the night in an armchair watching over her.

  The knock at the door was gentle, but Ryan had been to his room to pick up Kazakov’s gun, in case an angry Vlad came to and went on the rampage. He kept it within reach as he opened the door.

  ‘How’s Natalka?’ Amy whispered.

  ‘Dead to the world,’ Ryan said, stepping back relieved.

  Amy walked into the room and pushed the door shut quietly. ‘Vlad’s dealt with,’ she said.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Vlad’s father’s taken him to the hospital in Bishkek to have his head stitched. They were already preparing to leave, so Vlad can come back to the Kremlin to pick up his bags, but that’ll be it.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Ryan said.

  ‘Do you know if Vlad’s got any close mates who might cause trouble?’

  Ryan shook his head. ‘Vlad’s not popular. He was friendly with Andre’s big brothers, Boris and Alex. But since they got kicked out with their dad, he doesn’t really hang with anyone.’

  ‘Makes it easier for us if no one cares that Vlad’s gone,’ Amy said, before glancing across at Natalka to make completely sure she was still sleeping. ‘More importantly, we’ve now got information on Leonid. You were right about Squashed-Nose, he is Igor’s brother. He’s got friends at the Russian embassy in Bishkek and he’s been using their secure channels to send messages to Leonid Aramov.’

  ‘How’d we pick that up?’

  Amy smiled. ‘That kind of information is above my pay grade, but the Aramov Clan has long had close friends inside the Russian Government. I’m guessing the CIA can decode Russian diplomatic traffic. The messages are being routed to Mexico.’

  Ryan looked perplexed. ‘I thought he’d be in Russia, or maybe United Arab Emirates.’

  ‘Who didn’t?’ Amy said. ‘But Mexico makes sense, given the current situation there.’

  ‘How so?’ Ryan asked.

  ‘Our sting operation meant we got almost all of Leonid’s money, but we didn’t take his knowledge. Leonid knows pilots, corrupt officials, weapons manufacturers. Mexico is embroiled in a vicious turf war between drug gangs battling over smuggling routes into the USA. It’s probably the nastiest and most prolonged drug war there’s ever been anywhere. Now, imagine turning up in the middle of that environment, with expertise in smuggling and contacts who can supply large quantities of weapons.’

  Ryan nodded. ‘Leonid’s connections would be priceless. And having no money hardly matters because the drug cartels can pay millions to someone who’ll supply what they want.’

  ‘Leonid Aramov may be a psycho,’ Amy said, ‘but he’s no fool.’

  ‘So do we know where in Mexico?’

  ‘TFU headquarters in Dallas is working on some leads for me,’ Amy said. ‘But for now, our best hope remains that Andre and Tamara will lead us to him.’

  ‘Igor seemed pleased when I spoke to him last night,’ Ryan said.

  ‘I’ll bet he was,’ Amy said. ‘In one of the decoded transmissions, Leonid threatened to cut Igor’s throat if he didn’t find out what had happened to Tamara.’

  ‘Andre and Tamara must be airborne by now,’ Ryan noted.

  Amy nodded. ‘James Adams called me a while back to say their flight left on time. They’ll arrive in Dubai this evening. Ted Brasker will meet them. He’s sorted out accommodation in a hostel used by migrant workers. Once we’ve confirmed that Andre and Tamara are in place, you can go and tell Igor that you’ve been into the bazaar and chatted to Andre online in a web café. Then you give him the address where they’re staying.’

  ‘What do you reckon will happen then?’ Ryan asked.

  ‘The messages we intercepted between Igor and Leonid confirm what Tamara said: Leonid still has extremely strong feelings for his ex-wife. Tamara will say that she ran away because Josef Aramov was pressuring her into having a relationship with him. She’ll say she needs money and a place to stay. With luck, Leonid will reach out to his damsel in distress. As soon as Tamara and Andre get to wherever Leonid’s staying in Mexico, they’ll let us know.’

  ‘So once I’ve told Igor the address?’

  ‘Your job will be done,’ Amy said. ‘If anyone notices that you’ve gone, we’ll say you went back to the Ukraine to live with a relative. Flights will be booked up at this time of year, but I might still be able to get you back on campus for Christmas with all your mates.’

  Ryan looked longingly towards Natalka. ‘You said I could stay here to the end if I wanted to.’

  ‘You’ve got it bad for her, haven’t you?’

  ‘I know I’ve got to go back,’ Ryan said sadly. ‘Natalka doesn’t even like me any more, but when I think about never being able to see her again, I feel like blowing m
y brains out.’

  Amy half smiled, but picked up Kazakov’s gun. ‘You won’t need this now you know Vlad’s gone.’

  ‘Love sucks,’ Ryan said, smudging a tear from the corner of his eye and staring up at a ceiling stained by water leaking from the floor above.

  Amy smiled. ‘I wish there was something I could say to make you feel better, but I’m not gonna sugar-coat it. You’re gonna go back to campus feeling like crap and nobody on earth can do a thing about it.’

  31. FEET

  Natalka woke with a thudding hangover. She showered before throwing on a fake Armani polo shirt and cut-off jeans. It was early afternoon when she invited herself into Ryan’s room, barefoot and puffing on a king-size cigarette.

  ‘So … ’ she said, before blowing a plume of smoke.

  Ryan tried not to sound excited, but an involuntary grin gave the game away.

  ‘Heard of knocking?’ he asked.

  Natalka gave a shrug and spoke softly. ‘I opened one eye in the night and you were in my mum’s rocking chair, watching over me.’

  Ryan put the book he was reading down and sat up. ‘Choking to death on your own vomit’s not a good way to die.’

  ‘Can I sit?’

  ‘Free country,’ Ryan said.

  Natalka could have sat at the dining table, but she sat on Ryan’s bed, with her knee almost touching his outstretched foot.

  ‘Don’t I get an I-told-you-so lecture?’ Natalka asked.

  ‘I’ve done my share of stupid things,’ Ryan said.

  ‘Brave boy taking on Vlad,’ Natalka said, blowing smoke Ryan’s way before dropping the last of her cigarette into a glass of water on the bedside table.

  It was a perfect Natalka moment: knowing that Ryan hated smoking, but absolutely confident that she could get away with it. To Ryan’s surprise, she then grabbed his foot and rested it on her knee.

  ‘A lot of guys have ugly feet. Cracked nails, hairy toes. Yours are cute. Like a little boy’s feet.’

  To show her point, Natalka raised Ryan’s foot up to her lips and kissed his big toe.