Page 85 of Savage Warrior

“Come, now. You can’t be leaving so soon. We haven’t finished chatting, and I still have to send this shithole of yours up in flames. With you in it.”

“No.” She shuffles away from me on her backside. “You can’t. It’s just business. I have a living to earn, like anyone else.”

I’m not about to debate the shortcomings of her moral compass. Apart from anything else, my Russian isn’t up to it. I just want information.

“Where’s the market in Minsk?” I demand. “When are the sales held? How do I get in?”

“You want to buy a girl?” She stares up at me, eyes narrowed. “I can get you a discount if you let me go and leave my club alone.”

“There are no discounts at an auction,” I point out.

“Well, first pick, then.”

I pause to consider and confer quietly with Ethan. I explain what’s on offer. “Maybe we could get in there posing as buyers. Easier than shooting our way in.”

“You’re thinking we should buy the girl?” he asks.

“Maybe. What do you think?”

He nods slowly. “I can see the logic. Won’t be cheap, though.”

“I’m good for the cash.” I hope.

“Don’t worry about that. Okay. That’s what we’ll do. Strike a deal.”

I regard the woman still sprawled on the floor. “I’ll need a private viewing.”

“Are you mad?”

“Then say goodbye to your fleapit of a club.”

Aaron chooses that moment to return carrying a can of petrol. “Look what I found in the back yard,” he announces cheerfully. “Shall I start sloshing it around?”

“Yes,” I reply. “Our discussions aren’t going very well here, so we’re probably going to need it after all.”

He begins his task of dousing the room, eliciting more shrieks from Madame Zora.

“Stop that. What the fuck? Are you quite demented? All right, I shall do what I can for you.”

“Ah, then we might have a deal,” I suggest.

“All right, all right. A private viewing,” she concedes. She grabs a chair and hauls herself to her feet. “You bastards. You will regret this. Olaf Sokolov will—”

“Now, now, Zora. We’re business partners, remember. All you have to do to keep your precious club intact is tell me how to get into the sale. And organise a preview for me, to take my pick.”

“You need to get a pass from Fedor,” she tells me.

“Where will I find him?”

“You won’t. You talk to him on the phone.”

“His number?”

“He’ll ring you. I’ll tell him you are interested.”

“Not good enough.” I produce a box of matches and toss them to Aaron.

“No! No!” She shrieks. “I will phone him.”

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