Massive Attack (A Guy Niava Thriller Book 1) by Dana Arama (diy ebook reader TXT) 📕

understand that this weapons deal was a onetime deal. The deal would create my cash flow to finish the drug deal. As compensation for me taking away a small bit of their business, they would be part of my first shipment. Their agreement would legitimize my weapons deal, and would also reveal their market. It was a game I had to play. I had a full house in my hand. I needed to play hard and mercilessly, so pitying the boy, or anyone for that matter, was something I couldn’t take into account.

“Drive into this parking lot,” I ordered Aldo. “Go down three levels and park in level D.”

“I don’t like this, boss.” Aldo was like my mother and father and big brother, all in one. He smothered me with concern and was determined to protect me every time he thought that my security was at risk.

“What are you afraid of?” Alex asked. Aldo’s concern worried him, and he immediately became alert. He had put his puzzle magazine aside, and now drew his gun.

“We’re going to a meeting with the Red Mafia, aren’t we?” Aldo didn’t wait for confirmation and added, “We are walking right into their trap. I don’t like it.”

By the time the preparations for the meeting ended, Dubroshin had already scoped out the area. He didn’t like the situation either, and neither did I. But as opposed to them, I kept a poker face. I said, “Don’t worry, guys, they want this meeting as much as I do.”

“A deal is a deal and honor is honor…” announced Alex and didn’t add another word.

We all knew that my actions could be interpreted as an insult to the older members of the Red Mafia, those who had an alliance with my father. I had promised I would keep away from the weapons market, but I preferred to look at my actions as honoring them. I had a chance and I was willing to give up a chunk of the money from the weapons and hand it to them, even though they hadn’t lifted a finger to complete any part of this deal. Not lifting a finger meant also not killing me, and for that I was grateful.

“Who else knows we are here?” asked Aldo.

I kept silent. We both knew the answer.

“Boss…” Aldo was insistent. “You know that I am committed to you heart and soul, but if something happens to you, my whole family and I will have to pay the price to your father. So, who else knows we’re here?

“No one,” I admitted.

He stopped the car in the middle of ramp that led to the lower floor. “I can’t go down there.”

“Keep driving Aldo,” I ordered him firmly.

“I’m sorry boss. We need to notify your father.” He looked at me in the rearview mirror. “You know I would put my life on the line for you. But if they are going to finish us off here… At least someone will know about it.”

“If they finish us off here, will our kidnapped boy will become Yassin’s property, or will he pass the boy on to the Russians?” Alex asked abruptly.

Annoyed, I responded, “What’s the kidnapped boy got to do with all of this?” Something about Alex’s fear and his forebodings stuck with me and put a damper on my whole plan.

“No reason, boss. Because we are the only people who know where he is.”

“Why do you bring him up now?” I yelled at Alex. He had inadvertently touched the spot I’d been trying to avoid. Something about the way the boy looked must have aroused his mercy. “Okay, Aldo…” I gave into his fears. “Notify my father about this meeting.” I hated having to reveal the cards in my hand but then added, “Tell him that Dubroshin is covering my ass.”

Aldo smiled. “Dubroshin’s okay. He knows the job.” Then Alex asked, “Who is this Dubroshin guy?”

“No one that should worry you,” I answered.

Aldo laughed. “Dubroshin is definitely someone to be afraid of. That is why I am happy he is on our side.” He backed out of the parking garage until he found a spot that had cellular reception.

“You just sit, and I will notify the big boss that we are meeting with the Russians on their terms.” He smiled at me again in the rearview mirror. “When the big boss knows, it is sort of a life insurance.”

I smiled back at him. I didn’t want to upset him and tell him that when the big boss found out about it, it would be a sort of a death insurance for me.

Laura Ashton,

El Desconocido’s office, November 14, 2015, 11:10 a.m.

Through a mist of the pain I struggled to recognize the familiar voice. She’d always carried a hint of amusement in her voice. She was a born cynic. She looked at the world with one eye crying and the other chuckling, maybe because she grew up knowing that she had caused her family’s death. Her crying fit had started her vomiting, which had led to the accident. I never blamed her and I hadn’t left her because I was angry. But I had disappeared, first because of the competitions and then because of the university and in the end because of the cadet course. She’d brought up the subject more than once. She thought I had abandoned her because I was cross she had vomited, or because I didn’t believe her when she told me about his harassment. I believed her the first time she told me, but I didn’t know what to do about it. I knew that he had connections in all the right places and that it was hopeless. He, our uncle, our guardian who took it upon himself to look after us two orphaned girls, was the head of the Anti-Drug Authority. He was a dignified figure in public, sexually abusing a helpless young girl, his niece, in private.

In the beginning I’d run away from him and in the end, because of her, I