The following morning, while Dritan and his accomplices were on the way to the airport, Milan managed to struggle free from the bed he'd been tied to and stagger out of the building, his legs still tied together. He tripped on the sidewalk and staggered into oncoming traffic. A lady driving a VW Beetle slammed her brakes on and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she was an inch away from Milan, who was lying in front of her bumper.
The young man told her a remarkable story. When he described how he'd swapped himself for the woman he loved, in such a dangerous situation, he almost made her cry. She was only too happy to give him a lift and so curious to see what the young woman he spoke of so highly looked like.
“Oh my God,” Jessie shouted as she ran to him. The lady in the VW Beetle beamed. Milan didn't say anything, just held her to him. “I'm cross with you, very cross,” Jessie said.
“Why?” he asked.
“Doing what you did was foolish. You could have been killed.”
“So could you, and that would have been much worse. Do you think I like seeing you in captivity? Being held by that asshole? Any man would have done what I did.”
“I don't think that's true. Not all men are so foolish.”
“What was I supposed to do?”
“You could have paid the ransom and have done with it,” Jessie said.
He laughed. “It's a lot of money. Do you think you are worth so much?”
“She's worth more than that,” Limonov said as he entered the room. “Welcome back, Son.” He put his arm around him. “But if you ever do anything that stupid again, I'll kill you myself. You should learn from this. The sensible thing to do would have been to pay the ransom and take revenge later. You put yourself in a lot of danger.”
“Okay. A lesson learned. You handled it very well, Pops.”
“Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. What I said was only partly true. It was a bluff, because once they are in Albania, it won't be easy to find them.”
“Well, it's over,” Milan said as he put his arm around Jessie.
Limonov's cell rang and he looked at the display. It was a number he didn't recognize.
“Mr. Igorevich?”
“Yes. Who is this?”
“My name is Kasparov, Dmitri, US Customs. I work at the airport in Las Vegas. I have something I would like to discuss with you.”
Limonov wondered what he'd done wrong. “Go ahead,” he said.
“I saw you on TV last evening. You were talking to a man called Dritan Polyakov.”
“Yes, I was.”
“Do you still want to talk to him?”
Limonov looked at Jessie and Milan. “Yes. I would very much like to speak to him.”
“He is here. I will gladly introduce you to him if you care to come to the airport.”
“Yes. I think that would be a very nice thing to do. What about the police?”
“I don't think there is any need for them, do you?”
“Tell me,” Limonov said, “are you of Russian decent?”
“Yes, sir, I am. Pleased to be of service.”
“Thank you. You have been very helpful. I will send someone to fetch Mr. Polyakov.”
Limonov laughed out loud. Milan looked at him quizzically. “Russians, we are everywhere,” Limonov said.
******
“So you don't think I'm worth five million dollars?” Jessie said as Milan came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around him.
“Who said that?”
“You said as much. You weren't prepared to pay for me. Not a cent.” Jessie was very good at acting, and Milan looked puzzled.
“I would have paid for you. I just though what I did was better. That's all.”
“But it wasn't, was it? You almost got killed just because you didn't want to pay for me. Well, if I'm not worth anything to you, I think I'll have to increase my value.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” he asked.
“Sex. It's going to cost you from now on.”
“You're joking, right?”
“No. If you think I'm worthless, I need to show you I'm not.”
He looked at her, lying next to him in the sexiest nightie he'd ever seen, her breasts gently falling and rising. “How much?”
“Five hundred a time.”
“Jesus. It would have been cheaper to pay the ransom.”
He pulled her to him and kissed her. “That’s ten bucks already,” he said.
“What did your father do with Dritan?” she asked.
“He put him on his private jet and had him flown to St. Petersburg.”
“And what will happen to him there?” she asked.
“The river is deep, and concrete doesn't float in Russia.”
She pulled him on top of her and wrapped her legs around him. “Take off that towel and show me what you've got,” she said.
He reached down and threw the material onto the floor. He entered her in one movement. She flung her head back on the pillow and let out a sigh of deep satisfaction.
As he made love to her, he leaned down and kissed her deeply, his tongue probing her mouth.
His body felt better than ever on top of her. It was wonderful to have him inside her again. She met his thrusts with the movement of her hips, taking him into her hungrily. She ran her hands over the smooth skin on his back and down to his tight buttocks.