“He is on death row,” he sounded somber. “I had received threats to have him released. My connection to the congressman, senator, and president have been revealed. They tried to force my hand to convince the president to sign an executive order for his immediate release.”
That was not good, not good at all.
“Your connection to the president?” I asked. I might as well find out all I could.
“We both served in the Middle East together. I saved his life.” There was no boasting, no pride. Just a matter of fact statement. “I beg of you. She’s…” the old man almost sounded pathetic. “She’s all I have left. Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you.”
Someone should tell the old man he should never promise whatever you want to a rússkaya máfiya sinner like me. But then I suspected he already knew that. He wanted his daughter back, home safely, at all costs.
“Why don’t you do what Boris is asking?” It seemed a sensible question, although it would be bad news for everyone, including me, if he got out. There would be unnecessary bloodshed. I was stronger and smarter than him but I hated having unnecessary blood spilled. And my brothers and I were so close to getting to the life on the other side of the crime.
“He’d kill her when he got what he wanted.”
The man was smart. He understood exactly how Boris operated. I carefully weighed my options. I didn’t want to get involved, make things complicated, but information was power. Having Manciatti on our side and both the senator and governor in our pocket would be priceless. And if we could eliminate Boris permanently, life on the legal side would be so much better. We wouldn’t have to constantly look over our shoulder.
After Boris’ arrest, I stepped up and took the reins of the operations with Nikolai’s and Sergei’s help. Then we slowly started legalizing businesses and operations that would allow for it. The illegal ones were left with Vlad, who used to be Boris’ right hand man, to manage since he preferred that side of it. It was surprising that Vlad turned his back on Boris but I suspected he had enough of Boris’ killings of women. So I let Vlad handle illegal dealings. My goal all along was to dissolve the illegal businesses and the timing was now. Especially if there was a risk of Boris trying to get out of prison.
As if Nikolai and I were thinking the same thing, he nodded. Nobody would know that Manciatti reached out except for Nikolai and me. And when I find the traitor amongst my men, he would regret the day he was born.
“I need everything you have.” My decision was made. “Last location, any information on witnesses, latest picture of your daughter, everything.”
“I have it all. Send me your secure line and it will be in your inbox in minutes.”
An hour later, I went through all the documents and a summary of events. There wasn’t much of a lead to go on. She had been traveling Europe with girlfriends for two months, her last stop in Russia. The night of her disappearance, she was with her friends in the Russian Orchid and she left early, alone.
Stupid girls. Didn’t they know you never separate when you go out at night?
I wondered how they ended up in the Russian Orchid. The nightclub was known only to locals. Nikolai and I grew up in Moscow and knew every corner, every street. The Orchid was the place to be noticed, where current mobsters of the city wanted to show off their power. It was very unusual to ever get foreign visitors, unless they accompanied a local. How did they get past Sergei’s bouncers?
“Tell Sergei to send us surveillance of the club or if he remembers her.” The Russian Orchid was owned by the third member of our brotherhood, Sergei. It might give us extra leads or information on what happened. “Tell him to call when he has a moment.”
“He’s sending it now,” Nikolai answered. He had already reached out to him. We often thought the same, it was what made us so tight and able to work well together. We were made from the same cloth.
I glanced back to the picture her father sent. It was taken during her European vacation with her friends. Someone must have taken it in the midst of her laughing. Anastasia Manciatti looked happy and carefree. Her wild mahogany curls framed her face. Her eyes were big on her heart shaped face. I wished the picture was a close up because I couldn’t quite distinguish the color of her eyes. She wasn’t a classical beauty, more of an exotic type of beauty. Her body was slim, about five foot six. She looked nothing like her plain old dad. But there was no mistaking it, you could see she was sure of herself and her self-worth from the way she carried herself.
“Check your email.” Nikolai’s voice stopped me from staring at the young woman in the picture. “And he’s calling us now.”
Sure enough, the phone rang at that moment.
I pressed the speakerphone and answered, “Sergei. Thanks for sending it over so quickly.” Sergei was the one out of all of us that preferred to spend most of his time in Russia. Nikolai was my right hand man, and Sergei was my left.
“No problem, brother.” I wished Sergei would come to the States and settle here. He handled most of the businesses in Russia and Europe to save me traveling back and forth.
“There were three American women that went to the Russian Orchid two weeks ago,” I started, then gave him the exact date they were there. “How did they get in?”
“Hmmm, that was the day I had some business to handle so I didn’t go into the club,” he responded and I silently cursed. Sergei had an almost photographic memory. He would have spotted if anything even remotely looked off. “Let me ask Sasha if he remembers them.”
I heard him talk to Sasha. He remembered them, which I wasn’t surprised. They stood out among the regular Russian Orchid crowd. Not only because they were Americans but also because all three women were beautiful and didn’t exactly blend with the crowd.
“How did they get in?” I heard Sergei ask Sasha.
Sasha’s voice was slightly muffled when he answered since he was away from the headset. “The doorman thought they were hot. They were smoking hot. You should have seen the ass on the girl that sang. Fucking men were drooling, and some women.”
Nikolai murmured agitated, “Fucking moron,” at hearing Sasha’s words. He couldn’t stand when men thought with their dicks instead of brains.
“Did you see anything unusual?” Sergei continued questioning him.
“Nothing more than usual. They danced pretty much all night. There was a guy with them and before night was over, the girl that sang left on her own. The guy and two girls stayed a bit longer. He seemed pissed as he was leaving with the other two.”