Page 25 of Titan

One month earlier…

The poundingon my bedroom door wakes me from a deep sleep.

I sit up in bed and frown, glancing at my cell to check the time. It’s nearly nine on Monday. I’d been up late in a meeting with potential clients until 3AM, discussing a contract that will be very lucrative for Harrison Investments, Inc.

“Just a minute,” I reply and grab my robe, running a hand through my hair to smooth it. I go to the door and pause. “What is it?”

“It’s me.” Jonas, my household manager, speaks in a quiet voice. “One of the guests was found unresponsive this morning. We tried CPR, but we were too late. The police and ambulance have been called.”

I open the door and glance down the corridor. Alexi is standing in the hallway by his bedroom. He’s wearing a pair of boxer briefs and his hair is mussed. Tattoos cover his arms andchest. He even has tattoos on his knees. He holds out his hands to me, like he’s pleading.

“I don’t know what happened, Harrison my friend,” he says. “When we go to sleep, she's fine. She must have taken too much…”

I finish tying my robe and go into Alexi’s bedroom, where a nearly naked Sherri lies across the huge bed on her back, her eyes closed, her arms spread. She's pale and motionless.

“She’s not breathing?”

“No,” Alexi says, shaking his head. He stands beside the bed, rubbing his eyes. “When I woke, she's cold. I think it’s because the blanket is off, but when I try to wake her, she does not respond. I call Jonas. He tries CPR.”

“Oh, God.” I run a hand through my hair. “I’ll get dressed.” I turn to a worried looking Jonas. “You said the police and ambulance were on their way?”

“Yes,” Jonas replies, grimacing. “They should be here any moment.”

“I got rid of drugs,” Alexi says, placing his hand on my arm. “Flushed down toilet.”

My blood is boiling that he was willing to take such risks with the girl. “You shouldn’t have given her any drugs.”

Alexi shrugs. “She is grown woman. I am not babysitter.”

I leave them and go to my room, fuming. History repeats itself, and under my roof this time. I feel terrible for Sherri, and angry with myself for not warning her off. She was so young and so full of life. Alexi and his gang of Russians were careless with everything — money, drugs, women. I knew it would be a risk associating with him, but to get to Sidorov, my ultimate target, I had to find a way inside…

I quickly dress, and within minutes, I hear the wail of several sirens as the police and a fire crew arrive. I greet them at the front entrance and speak with the firefighter, who’s an EMT,escorting them up the stairs to the bedroom where Sherri lies dead.

I speak with the police officer in charge of securing the scene. While we watch, the medical examiner checks Sherri’s body.

“We should leave the ME to his work,” the police officer says. I nod, and together, we go down the stairs to the main floor living room, where another police officer is talking to Alexi.

I listen to the story he’s telling them.

“I pick her up at bar, and we come back here to party. We drank, we smoked some pot. When we went to sleep, she's fine. When I woke up this morning, she's cold.”

He fails to mention the other drugs they did. I’d been busy in a teleconference and was unaware what the two were doing. I assumed the usual, but the room was quiet when I passed it on my way to my bedroom at three in the morning once the teleconference ended.

I knew Alexi does coke, and who knows what else.

“We’re going to want you to come down to the station to give a statement,” the police officer tells Alexi.

They put Sherri’s body on a stretcher, and remove it from the second-floor bedroom, carrying it down the stairwell and out the front entrance to the elevator. I stand with Alexi as he watches, wondering if the man felt any guilt at all. When he first hooked up with Sherri at the party, I thought she was too naive to be hanging out with a Russian thug, but there are a lot of young women who seem attracted to the wealth and mystique of the Russians. Some of them like to party, and the easy access to drugs and the club scene that being one of the ‘bitches’ brought with it.

Sherri didn’t strike me as one of the usual ‘bitches’, as Alexi called them. She seemed like an ordinary young woman, a college student, ready to graduate and start her new life. At thetime, I felt a sense of sadness and frustration that the Russians caught her in their grip.

Now, they destroyed yet another bright young woman.

And it was partly my fault…

Police search the apartment, but luckily, Alexi was smart enough to flush any illegal drugs down the toilet, leaving only the cannabis which is legal. When the police leave, I go to Alexi and tell him to pack up his things and stay at a hotel.

I’ve had enough of partying with him and his various women.

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