LINDEN
“Any helpful advice?”
“Linden, you know I always like you, but I advise you not to go there. It’s not worth it, but I know I’m just wasting my time, and you won’t listen to me or anyone. So, why bother asking for advice?”
I let go of a long draggy breath. “I don’t know, Terzo. You know how this family works better than I do.”
“It’s not just a family. It’s an organization. Have you heard the Absolom? Bigger than that. Think about it as The Hover without license and certification. That’s how broad and big that is. Even my father doesn’t wanna cross paths with Ilya, the son. And he’s already the bad wolf in the blizzard. That cold doesn’t bother him.”
“I have to do this.”
“Then did you say goodbye to your wife and your child? Congratulations, by the way. I hope you receive my gift.”
“That was kind of you. Thank you, Terzo.” Terzo was a son of a bitch, but he helped us, and I didn’t thank him enough. I thought sending us a gift, a Moka pot, was thoughtful.
“Then you just got your ticket punched, my friend.”
“You’re terrible at giving advice.”
“Maybe we are criminals in your eyes, but one thing we don’t like is people getting in our business. You are a nobody once you are there. You are not invited or have a business deal with them. Never provoke anyone. Never curse. You American likes to curse. Never insult them. They may know your secrets, so don’t lie. Tell your true intentions and that way, they may give you what you came for, but don’t expect without challenges.”
“What do you mean?”
“They may challenge you in a ring or ask you to kill someone in cold blood.”
Fuck.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t worry. Your wife has my protection. Take care, my friend. I hope to see you again soon. Good luck.”
We had to travel to Athens in the morning. It was hard to leave. My heart was always with Estelle, but I owed something to Jasper even if he didn’t ask for it.
“If I don’t make it back in four days, give this to my wife. She knows what to do with this.” I gave a manila envelope to Sax. I guessed I came unprepared. I was too caught up with finding Jasper, getting married, and going on a honeymoon. I didn’t update my last will or talk to my lawyers about legal matters. But I knew my wife didn’t marry me to rob me.
“You will be back in two days, brother. You have my word. I will protect this with my life until you can have this back.”
I jumped into the ferry with only a small backpack containing cash, ID, and a passport. The ferry left as soon as I got in that would send me to the small island of Poros, and I would be meeting someone to take me to Jasper’s location. This way, I had no tail. I couldn’t be traced.
I entered a small bar in Poros, not exposed to tourists, which could be the best place to deal with drugs and trafficking.
“Tsipouro.”
A man around my age quickly understood my code. He tipped his head to the staff door to my left. He then placed a distilled spirit in a small glass similar to vodka.
I poured a shot and drank it. I pulled a bill to cover the entire bottle before I went to whatever was behind that door, then pushed it open.
Before I could look around, someone must have been behind the door all this time, waiting for me. My hand instantly went to the pain like a bee sting on my neck.
Fuck.
The effect was fast before I even realized what it was. My vision blurred. No matter how I tried to crack my eyes open, the drug went into my system quickly. I felt falling to the floor before my vision went black.
***
My head was heavy and hammering, but that wasn’t the first thing I felt— the cold cemented floor, the smell of sweat, dirt, and blood. The noises, the crowd cheering, hit my ear.
Where the hell am I?
I was quick in my seat when I remembered what happened at the bar. There wasn’t much to look around because I was in a human-sized cage, and my bag wasn’t with me anymore.
Hard footsteps were closing in, something similar to combat boots. I rose to my feet and waited for the man to appear. To my dismay, it wasn’t Jasper. I didn’t even have a fucking clue who he was— probably just a low-life thug, a middle man with long curly black hair, a long mustache, with dark eyes.
“You wanna meet Jakob?” Jakob? Fuck. I made it.
“Where am I? Where’s my belongings?” My watch was gone too. Shit.
“The only way to meet Jakob is through that door.” He tipped his chin at the metal door before unlocking the cage. “If you can’t survive in there, ba-bye.”
I didn’t have a choice, did I?
I exited the iron cage and entered the door he pointed at. The loud bang almost startled me as the thick metal door closed and locked behind me, leaving me nowhere to go but forward.
“Get in the ring, American.” I didn’t notice the accent of the middleman guy until the man talked. He was tall, Caucasian, mid-forties, with brown eyes. He was Russian. So I was precisely in the lion’s den.
“Enter, or you will be shot dead.”
I scanned around and noticed one bald man with a handgun on his hip, who didn’t try to hide it from me. At three o’clock, another man in a leather jacket met my eye intensely. My guess was he had a gun stuck on his back.
The audience started cheering, yelling, and booing. Hundreds of people surrounded the ring, worse than the MMA cage. The smell of blood and sweat was nauseating. And I was left with no choice. Me in that cage or dead outside.
“Take off your shoes, American.”
I did as he said. Then my life depended on how I fought or who would be my opponent. The gate to hell opened. The ring announcer started. My heart began galloping, and the fight hadn’t even begun.
I stepped inside. These people enjoyed human cockfights and just went crazy, not because they were here to cheer for me but to boo and yell, if my non-existence Russian vocabulary was correct, kill. Now I wished Lynx taught me before I walked into the death trap.
The only thing I understood from the announcer was Linden, the boss. They could have given me a better catchy name, but whatever. When he announced my contender, the crowd went wild. I knew what this meant. He was a good fighter, maybe had been champion more than once, a crowd favorite, and this would only mean one thing— I was in so much trouble.
The door from my opponent’s side opened. I was tall and muscly, but he was taller than me and with the body of a wrestler. If his look could kill me, I would be dead instantly.
Then it hit me as I looked at the ugly scar on his left cheek. Son of a bitch. Aleksandr Gusev. He was one of those files sent to me by Moses— he must have known it would come down to this, so I could prepare myself and find my opponent’s weakness. I kept a mental note on that.
The bell rang.
My pulse raced, and I’d never been more terrified than today.
Estelle’s crying face flashed into my head, breaking my heart, and I swore I would not put her through that again if I could make it out tonight. I would devote my life to making my wife happy and taking care of my child.