they’re taking people through Turkey, then into Greece before smuggling them into the rest of Europe. They’ve also been supplying some of the wealthy Greeks with domestic servants, or rather unpaid laborers. Stamatis Kantos is not going to like this. I’ve spoken with Damen about an hour ago, and they’ll be in touch. He’s handling this, but he’ll be reporting back to Stamatis of course, so we’ll see how much help they can come up with.”
“We’ve updated the security,” Reece says. “Now, we can’t all stay and help full-time, much as we’d like to. Liam and Ethan start a job tomorrow, and Luka has to get back home, but I’m going to stay. We’ll all help as much as we can though.”
His words hit hard. So not the four Brits then. They are on our side, but they have jobs to do.
“The good news,” Reece carries on, “is your security is fucking top notch now. No one is hacking you, and no one is getting in or out of here without your say-so. Once we arm everything, you’re going to need a bio-marker to get in and out of the property. Michael and his fiancée will need to come here tomorrow so I can scan them and input a thumbprint. We have three levels of security a person needs to pass to enter once this is turned on. The code, which can be changed regularly if you wish. Thumbprint, and then facial recognition. The alarm will sound and lock everything down if the gates or fences are breached. We haven’t had time to do it yet, but there’s a company that we regularly use for our clients, who can fit shutters, bulletproof, heavy duty, which will also lock down if the alarm is triggered. I’ll go over that with you, Konstantin, later, and you can decide.”
I consider where I stand. I have Andrius, Reece, Alexei, Kasper, and Bohdan on his way. Plus, the guards I pay. With this kind of security, it’s enough. There’ll always be someone keeping watch now, always someone awake, and we are ready for a hit. Unless they come at us with tanks, the fact that Liam and company have to get back to their lives isn’t as worrying as I first thought.
In many ways, the fact the Greeks are now likely to get dragged into this is good news for me. They won’t want the Armenians pushing into their territory. I wonder why the fuck the Armenians have overplayed their hand in such a way? It’s a bold move, and I wonder if they’ve got someone behind them? Backing them? They had Popov and yes, he held a lot of territory here in London, but his handling was shoddy and amateur. He’s lost territory and influence since Kyrylo Voloshin died. Maybe Aram, the Armenian leader, didn’t know this, but it would surprise me if he hadn’t done his homework.
People smuggling, too, that takes a lot of firepower. A lot of connections. People paid to look the other way at borders, and to ignore boats in the wrong place. Yeah, Aram must have someone big onside, or he wouldn’t be making such risky moves. The question is, who?
The next hour is spent with us all going over the security system with Reece. Alexei is the last to get his thumbprint scanned. He tests the system before he scans in and tries to enter the property. Everything works as it should. The alarms blare out. The fences have a nice flow of voltage running through them, and the security cameras will pick up any movement and track it.
As we stand in the kitchen, once more, going over how well that went, Liam speaks, “Any breach won’t only trigger an alarm here but also at our headquarters. We have over twenty employees now in the London region, all highly trained and armed. For a monthly fee, I can promise you that at least two of those employees will be on their way here asap if the alarm is triggered.”
I bet it’s a hefty fee, but I don’t give a fuck; I’ll take the extra help. I nod at him. “Let’s go to the study, and we can finalize everything.”
Liam and I will never be friends, but I’m happy to pay for his services as back-up, no matter the cost. When we’re done, he, Ethan, and Luka take their leave, and Reece talks to me once more about the security system.