Page 153 of Koroleva

The man accepted my answer, and if he didn’t, he said nothing about it. I dialed the boss’s number to update her and find out what she wanted me to do.

As soon as she picked up, I started speaking in Russian so that the taxi driver wouldn’t understand me.

Koroleva cried out when she realized that someone had tried to kidnap Sarka. She asked for the exact coordinates, both of the place where I left my car and of the kidnappers' vehicle.

I listened to her instruct Romeo, wanting him to send the guys to both locations as soon as possible and to notify the

police they had "under guardianship."

My fingerprints had to be everywhere. Although I wasn’t registered, I didn’t like it much, I mentioned it so she would keep it in mind.

I asked Koroleva whether she preferred I return to her father-in-law's house with her sister or continue the journey. She replied that it was best to get Sarka out of there as soon as possible and that I should stay in St. Petersburg until things cooled down, and she would let me know when I could return. The image of Aleksa crossed my mind, although I said nothing.

"Do you have the passports and plane tickets?"

"Yes, boss."

"Good, then get on that plane and scram. Make sure to assign a couple of bodyguards to my sister there, if necessary, let them sleep in the car stationed outside Olga's house, I want her monitored at all times and inform her too, so she knows they're there to protect her."

"Yes, boss."

"Were the guys you killed Chinese?"

"I could only see the faces of two, they weren’t. The third had a full-face helmet with a dark visor."

"Well, that doesn’t really tell us anything, Cheng has Spaniards in his ranks."

"I took the car papers; I didn’t have time for more. Sorry, boss."

"You did what you could."

"Everything happened in broad daylight and in the middle of Marbella, so there are witnesses, both of the kidnapping and the shootout."

"Don’t worry about that, I'll handle it. When you get to the airport, give the papers you’ve got to the taxi driver and pay him off with a generous tip to take them to Massimo’s house and take the rest of the day off. We arrive tomorrow, hopefully, with what you’ve obtained we can unravel this mess."

"As you command."

"You’ve done a good job, Andrey. Thanks for saving my sister's life."

"You don’t have to thank me, it's my job, you pay me for it."

"Still, thank you, and be careful. If you see anything suspicious, take cover. Call me before you board the plane and as soon as you land, it will keep me more at ease."

"Don’t worry. I alerted our men to come pick us up, they’ll be waiting at the airport."

"I like that you're so cautious, take care."

The call dropped, and I looked at the little blonde girl resting, oblivious to everything, next to me. I hoped we wouldn't have any more problems, at least until we reached Russia.

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Answers

My head was spinning after Andrey's call.

Someone really tried to play me. I was determined to move heaven and earth to find the person responsible for the attempted kidnapping of my sister.

Romeo had been making phone calls to soften the blow and to cover up what had happened without it affecting us. The joke was going to cost us a pretty penny.