Denis where they are, in Moscow. But Vasily has built up a great team of men out there, a good team. He trusts them. In particular, he trusts Bohdan, a guy I don’t like because he’s too good looking by far. He’s the kind of man that women fall over for in the street. He’s the kind of man that eclipses me when he’s around, and that’s a fucking first. His name also means God’s gift, which is ironic. He must have fucked hundreds and hundreds of women. He never dates. Never. He simply screws.
Thing is, though, he’s trustworthy when it comes to business, and he’s clever. Got a real head for numbers, and an ability to see through a person almost instantly. I think that’s why he doesn’t date. It’s as if he’s got x-ray glasses that see into a person’s soul, and let’s face it, most people’s souls are greedy, jealous, dark dens of iniquity.
“I’ve been thinking,” I say.
“Oh, yeah?” Vasily raises his eyebrows and takes out another cigarette, a sure sign this convo is stressing him.
“Yeah. You run Moscow well. No complaints, but…”
“But?” His eyebrows go higher.
“If things get hot with Popov, I’m going to need backup I can trust. He’s got a lot more men on the ground here than I realized. I won’t know the extent of it until my source reports to me, but from what I’m hearing, his operation is more widespread than I realized. I don’t want to have to recruit guys over here and train them myself. I haven’t the time, not while I’m running legitimate stuff too. So I might need you guys here.”
“Fuck, boss.” Vasily shakes his head. “I can’t leave Moscow. No fucking way.”
“You can…to Bohdan, let him take over for a while.”
“Nah, he’s not ready,” Vasily argues.
“I think he is. Hell, there are others who could take over, too, if we really need it, for a while at least. You’ve built a solid army. You just don’t want to leave.”
“No, I don’t. It’s my baby. I come over here and what? Be a glorified lacky, training up a load of goofy young idiots to be your new army?”
“No, you come here and be my second, and work right by my side as we defeat an enemy and take over this area. Fuck, Vasily, come on; this is London.”
“Yeah, and it will be yours, so…”
He stares at me, pissed.
What’s he saying? Does he think Moscow is his? I’d cut the throat of anyone else who even hinted as much. Moscow is mine; he just works there for me.
“So? I don’t get where you’re going with this. And think very fucking carefully before you answer, because if you’re saying what I think you’re saying, then you’re saying something major here, and we might have issues.”
He sighs. “K, I know I run Moscow for you. I’m not saying otherwise. But I do it well. It’s my territory, where I’m at home. Not this place. Not London. I hate the British.” He takes out his cigarette packet and taps out a cigarette before lighting it.
“What?” I stare at him, nonplussed by his bizarre statement. “Why?”
“They’re so … flat. Stupid. All they do is drink shitty beer and tell bad jokes.”
“All Russians do is drink shitty vodka and tell bad jokes,” I say with a laugh.
“I don’t know, K. I’m someone in Moscow.”
“You’ll be someone here, more than. If we take over Popov’s empire, someone has to run it, yes?”
He nods.
I put it out there. The thing I’ve been thinking for the last two or three days. “I’ve gone over and over this. Do I let Allyov take over? Do I do it? Do I let the Greeks have the territory? I don’t trust Allyov to take over, but at the same time, we’ll need to work with him. That means I can’t just put a lacky in Popov’s place because whoever does this needs to be able to work with the snake Allyov.”
“Christ, Allyov.” Vasily grimaces.
“Exactly,” I say.
“Don’t really know anything about him, other than he’s a Bratva Pakhan.” Shrugs Denis.
“You know Andrius?”
Denis crosses himself, and I smirk. Some people still do that when you mention the fucker’s name. Good job he’s on my side. “Well,” I go on. “Allyov was his boss here, sort of. It was complicated, but anyway, Allyov couldn’t get Andrius under his thumb the way he wanted him. So he kidnapped a waitress, one of his own waitresses I hasten to add, off the street, and