Chapter 41 #2
"We tried to get valuable information from her recently when we held her captive for five days," he explains with a bitter tone. "That stubborn woman refused to say a single word to us."
The blood turns cold in my veins.
"We could have ended this upcoming war before it even started if she had simply opened her mouth," Levan complains angrily. "But she stayed silent the entire time. Now she is carrying his child and still causing massive disruptions. Her escape makes Romanov look incompetent."
The soldiers erupt into more laughter. They start shouting disgusting jokes about Alexei and making graphic threats about what they would do to me if they ever caught me again. My stomach twists violently, and I fight the sudden urge to throw up.
"But that works out perfectly for our plans," Levan shouts over the noise. "Let her run away. Let Romanov waste his time chasing after her. While he is distracted by his personal drama, we will launch our attack."
The whole room bursts into loud cheers of agreement.
Levan waits patiently for the cheering to die down.
"As many of you know, the world believes I am dead.
I have been hiding for ten long years since I destroyed the peace treaty.
" He pauses to let the heavy statement sink in.
"Some of you might secretly hate me for assassinating the former Russian boss.
You might blame me for the terrible retaliation that endangered your families and caused so much destruction in our community. "
The whole place goes quiet.
"I stepped up to support the victims of Alexei's revenge," Levan promises the crowd, holding his hands out like a savior.
"I sent money to the widows. I backed the men who lost their families.
I swear to you, we will put him in the ground.
But we need to keep our heads, because an all-out war is coming fast. Tonight, we plan our next move. "
Turning his attention to the wide maps covering the table, he leans in.
"Our first move is stripping away his government protection.
Alexei controls the city by tossing heavy bribes to the judges and local politicians.
If we want to destroy him, we just offer those same officials a bigger paycheck to switch sides. "
A broad man with a thick beard raises his hand from the second row. "I have a question about that plan, sir," the man calls out.
Levan gestures for him to speak. "Go ahead and ask.”
The polite exchange feels strange in a room full of dangerous criminals. I might have laughed at the odd politeness if I were not so focused on hiding my panicked breathing.
"We simply do not have the cash to outbid Alexei," the bearded man points out. "He has billions of dollars moving through his system right now. Besides the money issue, we do not even know the names of his government contacts because he keeps his network highly secretive."
"Valid concern," Levan says, his chest puffing out just a bit as he smiles. He loves holding all the answers. "But the solution is gold. We bring them raw, solid gold."
He pauses briefly to let the greedy men process the idea.
"During my years in hiding, I connected with wealthy partners in Saudi Arabia. These powerful men desperately want access to the Russian drug markets. Alexei stubbornly refuses to do any business with them and keeps the borders entirely sealed against their operations."
The men nod as they follow his logic.
"These foreign partners have been searching for a new path into the country.
Since we are offering them a perfect opening, they have agreed to fully fund our war.
They are sending us incredible wealth to use.
We can bypass cash entirely and hand heavy gold bars directly to the corrupt officials.
Greed has absolutely no loyalty, so the politicians will eagerly switch sides for a larger payout. "
Excited murmurs of agreement spread quickly through the rows of folding chairs.
"Once we buy his contacts, we take over his entire intelligence network," Levan explains proudly. His face suddenly turns dark with anger. "This process would have been much easier if we had secured inside information from that bitch, but his stubborn wife completely ruined that shortcut."
He glares out at the audience. "To make matters worse, the enemy has captured my young nephew Stanislav."
Shocked gasps and angry whispers immediately fill the warehouse. I quickly force out a fake gasp to blend in with the surprised crowd, so nobody suspects me.
Levan holds up his hand to restore order. "It is true that Romanov holds Stanislav hostage. Unfortunately, my nephew is an incredibly weak person. He will eventually break under pressure and reveal all of our secrets. Because of his capture, we must assume our original schedule is ruined."
He turns to Dato for the next part of the presentation. Dato steps forward to address the crowd. "We are speeding up the invasion," he announces loudly. "The original attack was planned for next month, but we are moving the launch date to next week."
The sudden news makes the men shift uncomfortably in their seats.
"We are handing out the firearms immediately," Dato continues. "We are short on some weapons because Romanov married the daughter of our previous supplier. The massive arms supply we expected from Koval is now heavily protected by the Russian guards. We completely lost that important advantage."
Levan steps back in to reassure the nervous men. "Do not worry about the missing guns. Our rich partners are buying enough weapons to cover the shortage. The new shipment will arrive in just a few days, and we will launch our war next week."