The old factory unit outside of Bucharest was every bit as grim as every other place they’d ever stopped. A run-down abandoned building with, if they were lucky, a filthy dirty bathroom, and some sort of inner building where the women could be kept overnight.
Niko watched the women climb down from the trucks, and yelled over, instructing Ilya’s men to lead them into the derelict office building.
She glanced around to see Roman sitting with Vanya, patiently showing her his toys while the woman sat filing her nails, looking about as bored as it was possible for a human to be and still have a heartbeat. Niko had seen statues with more life in them!
Drago arrived as she watched the orderly procession across the warehouse floor.
“The food is in the back of the van.” He signalled to a couple of men to start bringing it over. “Breads, cold meat, cheeses, and plenty of fruit. I can’t stay to help you, as I’m due to meet up with Ilya in half an hour, but you can use the men from the auctioneer to keep watch over the women, can’t you? I’m taking Ilya’s men with me.”
Niko nodded.
“We’ll be fine, Drago.” She smiled. “As long as you’ve ordered enough food for everyone, so it doesn’t descend into some sort of riot.”
“Trust me, I ordered twice as much as we’d need.” He grinned. “Ilya gave me his credit card to place the order. You know he has no idea how much food costs. If he queries it, I’ll just tell him I ordered bread and water. He’ll never know the difference.”
“What about the next couple of stops on the route?” Niko frowned. “Will there be enough food when we get there?”
“Stop worrying, Niko.” Drago shook his head. “Don’t you have any faith in me? I took the liberty of arranging for food to be ready at both of the other locations as well. The women won’t go hungry, I promise you.”
Niko looked at him strangely.
“Normally, I’m the only one trying to protect the women.” She said quietly. “How is it you’re keen to help me, all of a sudden?”
Drago stared at her for a few seconds, his brows furrowed.
“Can you tell me one time, Niko, when I’ve treated those women harshly? Just one time when I’ve shouted at them or manhandled them in any way.”
Niko stared at Drago. Now he pointed it out to her, she realised that she’d never even heard him speak to the women or go within twenty feet of them.
“That’s right.” He didn’t wait for her to respond. “When Ilya is here, I ignore them as much as possible because I don’t want to draw his attention to them. But if you think back, I’ve had your back against Ilya’s men from day one, and I’ve done everything in my power to keep them safe. I don’t know whether there’s any point in trying, what with all that’s in store from them when we reach Rotterdam, but I’ve always supported your efforts to keep them from harm along the way.”
“I’m sorry.” She said quietly. “You’re right, I’ve never seen you treat them badly.”
“Niko, I hate this side of your brother’s business as much as I know you do.” Drago looked around the room, giving the appearance that they were having a casual conversation. “This might sound completely twisted, but I’d far rather he traded solely in guns or drugs than people. This is abhorrent.”
Niko watched the last of the women be herded into the office.
“Can’t you try and persuade him to change track.” She asked. “He listens to you.”
“No, Niko, he listens to nobody.” Drago shook his head. “I tried to persuade him to do something against his nature only this afternoon, and your brother clarified exactly how much I’m worth to him if I keep shoving my nose where he doesn’t want it.”
“Was he still high when he said it?” She asked, wondering what state Ilya might be in this evening.
“Not so much.” Drago shook his head. “He’s all but back to normal ahead of the meeting tonight. If all goes well, he stands to make millions from this one exchange. I think that’s why he’s been so flaky these past few days. There’s a lot riding on this deal. It’s like a stepping stone to even bigger and more lucrative deals. He’s becoming a big name in the right circles.”
Niko knew Ilya’s drugs deals were getting bigger and that he was moving significant amounts of cocaine, but she’d had no idea how much it was worth.
“If the drugs make so much money, can’t you try and persuade him to stop the trafficking?” Niko almost pleaded. “He doesn’t need the hassle.”
“Unfortunately, sweetheart, the trafficking gives him access to some of the big money men in the drug trade. All of those businesses interlock somehow.” Drago shook his head. “It’s only by having an interest in a lot of different activities that you get to meet the men who sit right at the top of the food chain, the ones with wads of cash to throw around, and access to a network of arms, drugs and human traffickers who’re just waiting to get a slice of an even bigger pie.”
Niko almost groaned.
“He’s never going to stop, is he?” She looked up at Drago. “He’s just getting himself deeper and deeper, to the point where he can’t get off the merry-go-round.”
Drago shrugged.
“Just make sure you’re nowhere nearby when the shit hits the fan.” He warned. “You and I both know it’s coming, so just keep clear.”
“How are you going to manage to keep clear?” She frowned. “You’re supposed to be his right-hand man.”
“Don’t worry about me.” Drago grinned. “I’m like a cat with nine lives. I’ll be fine.”
Niko watched as he turned to walk back to the now empty van.
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that if I were you.” She called after him. “I’ll bet you’ve used up some of those nine lives already.”
Drago spun back to face her, even while he continued to walk backwards away from her.
“Don’t worry yourself, Niko.” He winked at her. “I still have a few lives left.”
“I’ll just bet you do.” Niko watched him turn and climb into the van, where he started the engine and pulled out of the warehouse on his way to pick up Ilya.
“Everything Ok?” Hollywood’s voice came from behind her, making Niko jump.
“Everything’s fine.” She nodded. “We just have to get the food to the women before Ilya’s men get back and decide to appropriate it for themselves.”
Hollywood glanced at the pile of food dumped next to the van.
“This everything?” He asked.
“Yeah. If you and the guys can get about three quarters of it inside, I’ll get some of the women to arrange distribution.” Niko nodded. “Make sure you keep some of the bread, meat and cheese back for the men.”
Niko looked at all the bags. There was hopefully going to be more than enough for everyone.
She headed for the steps to where the women were being kept and motioned for the two men at the door to get out of her way.
“You’re supposed to be on the vans.” She nodded to the last of the vehicles. “They’re leaving now.”
Luckily, they were two of Ilya’s lowest ranked thugs, and with Hollywood and his gang only a few feet behind her, they weren’t about to give Niko a hard time. They turned and jogged across to the few vans that remained.
Niko stepped into the gloom of the building and looked around at the tired faces of the women sitting on the floor.
There were half a dozen mattresses against one wall, as though the room had been used for a similar purpose before, but as they were transporting far more women than was normal, obviously there weren’t enough mattresses to go around.
She spotted the woman who had given her a filthy look on that first encounter, and Niko called her over.
The woman stared back at her, surprised that she was being singled out.
“Come.” Niko beckoned her again. “It’s Ok.”
The woman staggered to her feet and walked hesitantly to where Niko was standing.
“We have food for you all, but we need to supervise distribution, to make sure everyone gets some.” Niko signalled to Hollywood to bring the food in. “There’s bread, meat and cheese, enough for everyone to have at least one sandwich if it’s rationed properly. And some fruit.”
She glanced around the room and spotted a table in one corner, and a bathroom in another.
“Find something to wipe the table with, and I’ll send over some antibacterial cloths for you to make sure it’s clean enough to serve food from.” Niko looked at the other women. “Pick two older ones to help you out, and make sure you all use the wipes to clean your hands before you handle the food.”
She turned back to see the woman looking at her strangely.
“What?” Niko demanded. “Do you want to end up with food poisoning? A hundred of you in the back of the trucks with sickness and diarrhoea? That would be fun, wouldn’t it?”
She turned to find Kellen behind her.
“Could you go back to the truck and get the pack of antibacterial wipes I left on the bed in the cab? They’re the ones I use for Roman.” She explained. “We need to give them a clean surface to prepare the food on.”
Kellen’s eyes twinkled as he gave her a little salute.
“Yes, ma’am.” He added the bags he was carrying to the pile, and walked off towards the truck, whistling.
Niko rolled her eyes and wondered why dealing with Ilya’s men couldn’t be that easy.
She turned back to the woman who was still staring at her suspiciously.
“Look, I know you hate my guts, and that’s fine by me.” Niko said quietly. “But, so far, at least, nobody has beaten you, you haven’t been raped or molested, and you’re still alive. All of you.”
She watched the woman’s face as she took in Niko’s words.
“Do you think every trafficked woman is as lucky as that?” Niko hissed. “I’m doing the best that I can for you, to keep you safe and alive. I don’t expect you to thank me, but you do need to appreciate that for a lot of people it’s a whole lot worse. Follow my orders, and make sure the women do the same, and my brother will have no reason to replace me and put one of his goons in charge. That’s probably your only chance of staying safe between now and our destination. Do you understand?”
The woman nodded, but Niko could see she was still conflicted over whether or not she should comply with Niko’s orders. It was as if she was unsure of Niko’s motives, and scared to get it wrong, either way.
“Where do you want the water?” Hollywood walked into the room carrying a tray of bottled water on each shoulder.
Niko turned to find a bulging bicep right next to her face.
“Umm, over there by the table?” She suggested, her mind racing as her eyes appreciated the view very much.
Dear God! Niko watched Hollywood crouch down and carefully drop each pack onto the floor where she’d instructed, and her gaze never strayed from the bulging muscles rippling beneath his t-shirt.
Ok, so he wasn’t the first guy she’d been around with muscles. Drago had his fair share of them, and some of Ilya’s other guys were huge.
But then again, while Drago might have the looks as well, most of Ilya’s men looked like they’d gone fifty rounds with the Klitchko brothers, all broken noses and cauliflower ears.
What not even Drago possessed was the clean cut good looks which probably meant that the camera loved Hollywood like few others. Even with a two-day stubble, he still looked so handsome, maybe even more so than when he’d walked out of the airport with her.
“Shall we start handing them out to make sure everyone gets one?” Hollywood interrupted her thoughts, as his Russian friends arrived with four more cases of water.
“Yes, please.” Niko nodded, looking around and seeing the amount of interest the guys were getting from the women.
If this had been a hundred women out for a good time, she imagined them showing an interest in all of the new guys, not just for the way they looked, but for the way they behaved towards them, with respect.
Nobody was actually being flirty towards the men, but Niko guessed it wasn’t hard for the women to realise that these men were a whole different breed to the ones that Ilya employed.
Ilya’s men were pigs. Animals.
You’d have thought they’d never had mothers or sisters, the way they treated these poor women.
At least with the six guys she’d brought in, the six she now liked to think of as ‘her’ guys, she knew that if she wasn’t around, the women would still be treated properly, and weren’t at risk of being beaten, raped, or worse.
Niko looked around to see all three guys passing out water bottles, smiling at the women to put them at ease.
Kellen returned at that moment and handed her a pack of antiseptic wipes.
“I brought an old t-shirt they can use to get the dust off the table before they use the wipes.” He handed it to the woman assigned to divide up the food.
She scurried over to the bathroom to wet it, while Hollywood brought the table closer to the food. It wasn’t too filthy, so would clean up without too much effort.
Satisfied that the food and water would be distributed as fairly as possible, Niko turned and walked out into the slightly cooler air of the warehouse. She’d had just about enough company for one day.
All she wanted now was some food, a drink, and then to curl up on the bed in the truck with her son, and with a bit of luck, sleep right through until morning.
One of the British guys was sitting on a rickety chair next to the remaining food.
“Have you eaten yet?” She looked at how many bags remained.
“I thought we’d better wait for Ilya’s men to get back, so it didn’t look liked we’d helped ourselves.” The red-haired man growled. “Wouldn’t want to start something unnecessarily.”
Niko shook her head.
“If you think Ilya’s assholes will give a damn whether you’ve eaten or not when they come back then you’re kidding yourselves.” She warned, bending to pick through one of the bags. “They’ll go through this lot like a plague of locusts, and even if they don’t eat it all, it won’t be fit for human consumption once they’ve had their hands all over it.”
Niko heard the door shut and watched Hollywood and Kellen walk down the steps towards her.
“I was just telling your friend that there’s no point waiting for Ilya’s men to get back before eating. It’s a sure-fire way of guaranteeing you’ll go hungry if you do that.” Niko nodded to the rest of the food. “Get some now while you can.”
Hollywood shrugged.
“I think Niko’s got a valid point.” He glanced at his friends. “Get your food while it’s going, guys.”
Niko made up three sandwiches, wrapping them in some empty packaging, grabbed three water bottles, and took them over to where Roman was now sitting with Evan.
“Where did Vanya go?” She asked Evan, looking around for the bimbo.
“She heard that the vans were going to meet up with Ilya, so she hopped in the last one.” He shrugged. “Lucky I saw her leave, or Roman might have been sitting here by himself.”
Niko fumed. So, Ilya thought Vanya was a responsible adult, huh?
She handed Evan a sandwich and bottle of water before turning to Roman.
“Ham and cheese sandwich?” She smiled. “You like both of those, don’t you?”
“Yummy.” Roman smiled. “But can we go and eat with H and Ken? They were gonna tell me some stories.”
Niko forced herself to smile.
So much for any hopes she had for some quiet time alone with her son.