Page 70 of Savage Warrior

He inclines his head. “That was what I thought. So…?”

“She won’t stay, though. She wants to, I think. Or she will. There’s nothing for her in Belarus, but not if it means abandoning her family. She’s scared of what might happen to them.”

Ethan’s eyes narrow. “Has she reason to be worried?”

“I think so. The Sokolovs are hunting for her, and they won’t give up. She’s a witness to their sex trafficking enterprise as well as the murder of a police officer.”

Ethan murmurs his agreement to that. “The police have been scouring the country for the gang who pulled that one. It’s been all over the news for days and it’s a bloody nuisance, disrupting business for all of us. I suspect the man they’re looking for is lying dead in that forest south of Inverness. Maybe I should organise a discreet tip-off.”

“Yes, probably. That would be the public-spirited thing to do. But there are more of them out there, and Arina is still a loose end to be dealt with. If they can’t find her in Scotland, they’ll be watching for her to return home. They know where she lives, they know about her family. They’ll all be targets.”

Ethan considers this. “Can the family not relocate? Disappear?”

“They’re just kids, boss. A girl of fourteen and a boy of six.”

“Ah.” Ethan’s mouth flattens in sympathy. He may be a mean, sadistic son of a bitch when it suits him, with a reputation for violence, but he has a soft spot for children. “What are you planning to do?”

“I mean to find them and bring them here.”

My audience remains silent. I’m aware of Tony and Aaron who are listening to all of this, but my attention is fixed on Ethan. He has the final word, but in that moment, I realise that I’m going anyway, with or without his blessing.

Ethan clears his throat. “When you say here…?”

“Here, to Caraksay. At least at first, then, I don’t know. Maybe they could stay with me in Glasgow. I’ll work that out later.”

It’s Aaron who responds first. “Nice idea, bro, but have you seen the state of yourself? You can barely stand, let alone mount some sort of dawn raid to abduct two children who don’t know you from Adam and probably won’t be keen on going anywhere with you.”

I nod. “You’re right, and that’s where you come in. I need a couple of men to come with me.” I begin to marshal my arguments. “I can’t wait until my leg recovers because they could be killed at any time. It may already be too late. And I’ve been there for you when it mattered. Do you remember when—?”

Aaron raises a hand. “Okay, I get it. I’m in.”

I gape at him. “You are?” Can it really be so easy?

“Definitely. What about you, Tony?”

“No one’s mounting any dawn raids without me,” Tony asserts. “When do we leave?”

“Whoa,” Ethan interrupts. “You’re not waltzing off with one of my choppers and two of my best men without a bit more of a strategy in place. Do you know exactly where to find these kids?”

“Not yet, but—”

‘Any local contacts to act as support? A bolthole if things go wrong? Refuelling?”

“I can work that stuff out,” I argue.

“No. I can work that stuff out,” Ethan replies. “We need some local intelligence and an ally in the region.”

“You’re thinking of Marius?” Tony remarks.

Marius Bival is Cristina’s brother, Ethan’s brother-in-law. More to the point, he is head of the Moldovan Bratva and a close ally of ours.

“Yes.” Ethan grins. “Moldova doesn’t border Belarus, but it’s a lot closer that we are. Marius can offer backup if we need it, and a place to refuel. He probably knows the Sokolovs, too, and can tell us more about their operation. I’ll call him soon. First, though…” He produces his mobile phone and places a call through his speed dial. It’s answered in a couple of rings. “Casey? I need your help.”

Casey Savage, Ethan’s sister, is our in-house computer hacker and all-round spy. Her ability to discover secrets is beyond awesome, and I can’t believe I haven’t contacted her myself before now.

Ethan issues his instructions. She is to locate Natalija and Yuryl Kovalyov and report back any information she can find regarding their whereabouts and general welfare. “It’s urgent,” Ethan adds. “Can you have something for me within the day?”

“I’ll start with their education records,” Casey replies, “and go from there.”

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