When he heard a scream, Milan ran down the corridor and thrust the door to the ladies’ room open. Jan was standing at the open cubicle door, looking at a pool of blood on the floor. The window at the rear of the stall had been smashed, and there was no sign of Jessie. He looked out the window and down both sides of the street but saw nothing at all.
“Fuck,” Milan said. He alerted security and ran to the room that housed the video surveillance equipment. He wound the tape back and watched. Around the time Jessie had gone there, he saw a man standing outside the restroom window. He then saw him smash the window and reach inside. The tape rolled a little more, and Milan saw Jessie being dragged out through the window by whatever was around her neck.
“How the hell did he mange to do that?” Limonov asked after Milan had explained what had happened.
“I don't know.”
“How did he know she was in the toilet?”
“I haven't got a clue.”
“Fucking Albanians. You know, when we came to the US, they were still in that cesspit they call a country. Now they're all over, like some kind of venereal rash,” Limonov said. “We're gonna have to take him out, aren't we?”
“Be we don't know where she is,” Milan said desperately.
“Do you think they'll kill her?”
“I don't know,” Milan said.
“They are greedy bastards. If, as you say, he knows you two are an item, he'll ask for a ransom rather than kill her. If he kills her, he gets nothing.”
“I hope you're right.
The next morning, the doctor’s son came rushing up the drive to Milan's house. “I've got another note,” he said, shoving it under Milan's nose.
“One p.m., Seven Mile End. Only you need come,” it read. Milan stared into space and forgot the boy who was waiting eagerly for a tip. He gave him a hundred-dollar bill, and the boy walked away looking as if he'd just won the lottery.
“We can surround the place and take him out,” Vladimir said when they met in Milan's office.
“But he expressly asked me to come alone,” Milan replied.
“Seven Mile End is an exposed spot. There's nowhere to hide a sniper,” Limonov said.
Milan was standing with his father's top men, the same guys who had welcomed him after he’d returned from college. “I don't see what we can do, other than I go there,” Milan said.
“I want you to go with him and hide wherever you can,” Limonov said, pointing at Dima and Valentin.
At twelve thirty the three set off for Seven Mile End. It used to be a freeway interchange, but since the city administration had implemented their new traffic plan for South Las Vegas, the interchange had become redundant and was now a large area of disused tarmac with weeds growing through it.
Milan told the others to get out and find a place wherever they could to watch. He drove onto the waste ground and parked in the middle of it. At 1 p.m. a van appeared and stopped opposite him. He got out and waited.
Jessie stumbled out of the back of the van and turned to Milan. She had a wire in the form of a lasso around her neck. Nobody else appeared, but someone did speak via a megaphone.
“If you want to see her alive tomorrow, the price is five million dollars in cash.”
Milan clenched his fists and began to walk toward Jessie. He'd made a decision. There was no way she was going to suffer at the hands of this fool anymore. He walked slowly but purposefully toward her.
“Stop. Stop now or she gets it.”
“You won't shoot her. If you do, you'll get nothing,” Milan shouted back as he continued his walk. A bullet hit the ground just in front of him, but he didn't stop walking.
“Stop, Milan. They will kill you,” Jessie shouted.
“They won't. They are too yellow. They know what my father will do to them if they kill me.”
He continued until he reached Jessie. Two men jumped out of the back of the van. They were confused. They didn't seem to have considered that Milan would act so unpredictably, and they certainly didn't want the death of one of Russia's top mafia sons on their hands. One of them pointed his gun at Milan.
“I'm unarmed. Let her go and take me. Do you know how much more money you'll get for me?”
They were both jittery and confused, and Milan didn't want to be shot just because some guy's hand was shaking too much. “Calm down, guys. I'm gonna swap myself for her. She can go. Take me instead.”
He reached up and took the wire from around Jessie's neck.
“Run to the car,” he said.
“What are you doing? They will kill you.”
“They won't. Now go to the car,” he said. Jessie looked at him and saw the determination in his eyes. Milan jumped into the back of their van and sat down. “Come on. Let's go.”
*****
“You fucking idiots. You complete fuckups,” Dritan shouted. “What the fuck were you thinking? I'm surrounded by imbeciles.”
“But he just kept walking and jumped in the van,” one of the men said. “There was no way we were going to shoot him. He's too valuable.”
“Do you know what his father will do to us if he finds us?” Dritan asked.