The International Assassin A Sexy Times Crime Thriller (29 page)

“Hardly. So why are we going to Monte Carlo? Is Roy there?”

“I bloody hope not. I’m sick of that idiot. I wish I had killed him when I had the chance,” I said as I nursed my damaged nose with an alcohol soaked swab.

“He’s made a right mess of your face. The brute.”

“He’ll pay for that.”

“So you kill people? I mean when you were in Chelsea, you were killing people?”

“Yes.”

“As a job?”

“More of a hobby really.”

“A hobby? People in Chelsea don’t kill people for a Hobby.”

“They should try it. Beats having your nails done and afternoon tea at Harvey Nic’s.”

“So what is in Monte Carlo?”

“Anatoly.”

“Who is he?”

“He’s Vladimir’s brother. I killed Vladimir.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Johnny…Roy told me to.”

“Why did he want to kill him?”

“You know, I
still
don’t know that. According to what I do know Roy thought he was doing an arms deal as part of some lunatic get-rich-quick scheme to short the market off the back of a terrorist attack. In reality Anatoly was setting him up in revenge for him killing an FSB agent. Honestly speaking I’ve lost track and am past caring.”

“So why are you going after Anatoly?”

“Because he has Nick.”

“And who is Nick?”

“The guy you met. I love him.”

“What’s he doing involved?”

“He’s After Anatoly. And Roy probably. Mostly I think he’s just here because of me. Now they have him and I have to get him back.”

“He works for the Russians?”

“No, Nick is MI6. I think.”

“You
don’t know
?”

“That’s just the way this business is. People tell you one thing and they are another. I’m pretty sure he is MI6.”

“I hope he’s not from Luton as well.”

“No he’s definitely not from there.”

“How do you know? You were wrong about Johnny.”

“Everyone makes mistakes.”

“I don’t know how you got yourself into this mess in all honesty.”

“You know something Charlotte? Neither do I…”

“So what are you going to do?”

“Get Nick back, find a nice beach house in St Barts and stop killing people.”

We arrived at the border with Italy. I smiled at the Italian border guard as I handed over our passports. He frowned at me in concern.

“Are you okay Miss?” he asked gesturing at my face.

“Ah
that
. We had a disagreement over the driving. Things got out of hand.”

Charlotte smiled at him, her face almost as bruised and battered.

“I think she won,” he said gesturing at Charlotte.

“I went easy on her. You know what blondes are like, first sign of violence and they burst into tears.”

“Maybe take it easy huh? Pretty young ladies shouldn’t do this to each other. You not find a nice husband this way.”

“That’s okay. We’re lesbians,” I told him with a smile. His eyes lit up at the idea.

“You like my number? Maybe I take you both out!” he scribbled his number down on a piece of paper and handed it back with the passports.

“Thank you.” I drove off with the border guard waving cheerily.

“Why did you tell him we were lesbians?” asked Charlotte with a frown.

“Because we’ve had the shit beaten out of us and we have more than three point five million Euros in cash and a whole shitload of machine guns in the boot. I’d really rather he didn’t search the car.”

“For Gods sake! We’ll get arrested for terrorism!”

“Don’t worry. We got rid of the Rocket launcher. It’s nothing serious now. Mostly small arms.”

“Rocket launcher!”

“Yes quite glad to be rid of it if I’m honest. Bloody dangerous things.”

“Why did you have a rocket launcher?”

“It was Nick’s.”

“Why cant you just settle for a
normal
relationship with a
normal
boyfriend?”

“Like your car stealing, drug dealing rapper friend?”

“He had a nice personality.”

“Compared to
what
? A farmyard animal?”

“He was very talented.”

“Not at music…”

“And he was good in bed.”

“The thought of getting in his filthy pit makes me want to vom.”

“Why did you kill him?”

“Roy told me to.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Because he wanted to set me up so he could steal my trust-fund and get rid of your boyfriend so he could shag you.”

“That bastard!” said Charlotte incensed. “And you went along with this?”

“He told me your dad wanted it done.”

“
Daddy
? Why would he want to kill him? I know he didn’t approve but that was a bit extreme.”

“Maybe you can take it up with him when you get home.”

“I can’t. Since this business with Roy he’s not been speaking to me,” Charlotte said glumly.

“Nick thinks your father is involved in all this.”

“That’s ridiculous. I can’t believe he would have him killed. Johnny just made that up.”

“Roy.”

“Quite.”

“By the way Charlotte what the bloody hell has the thug done with my Foxy?”

“Oh.
That
. He said he didn’t like the way the little rat looked at him. Sold him on Ebay to a tanning salon owner from Chelmsford. She’s into all that vajazzling business. Very vulgar.”

“I
bloody
knew it! I can’t believe he sold Foxy to someone from Essex. Poor Foxy. He won’t know what to do in the provinces.”

“She was bright orange. Despicable creature. She had that weird lip surgery,
trout-pout
I think they call it. God only knows what she had done to her lady garden. Probably plastered in Swarovski crystals. What’s the point of it?”

“Vajazzling? I have literally no idea and no intention of ever finding out.”

“I tried to stop him selling poor Foxy to someone outside of Chelsea but he wouldn’t have any of it.”

“Bastard.”

“What do you think has happened to him?”

“Something painful I hope.”

“Do you think the Russians have him?”

“No I don’t think so.”

“I just want to go home and have a manicure,” shrugged Charlotte pitifully. I handed her the Italian border guards phone number as compensation. Despite her ordeal she still took it. Some things never change - Charlotte will always be a sex mad slut from Farnborough.

We arrived into Monte Carlo. Expecting that Anatoly had guys at the major hotels I opted for the small place I had stayed in with Nick to keep a low profile. I booked two rooms for us. As a stroke of luck the hotel owner had kept the bags Nick and I had left behind so I was reunited with my precious killer Loubi’s. I was sure they would come in useful at some point. Having suffered Charlotte’s blonde ramblings the entire way from Geneva I gave her some money and packed her off to a salon to have her hair done to quell her constant complaints that her carefully tended goldilocks had been utterly ruined by the cancerous evil of plaster dust. 

Freed from her vacuous blonde company I decided to walk down to the Pizza place where Nick and I had shared our meal before recovering the money. It didn’t feel the same without him. The owner, who clearly remembered me smiled as I entered.

“Your husband not with you tonight?” he asked.

“My husband? Oh no. He couldn’t make it,” I replied saddened by the fact.

“Shame, I saw him this morning. Down by the harbour.”

“Really? Are you sure? Was he with someone?”

“No he was alone. He was checking out the boats. Maybe he wanted to surprise you?”

“Maybe…” I said confused. “Are you sure it was him?”

“Yes very sure.”

“And he wasn’t with anyone?”

“No, he was alone.”

I frowned, paid him and left a tip. Surely the pizza shop owner must have been mistaken. I very much doubt Anatoly would have let Nick go walking about unescorted. I walked down to the harbour to eat my pizza but of course there was no sign of Nick and I put it down to mistaken identity.

I didn’t feel much like sightseeing without Nick but decided to walk up to the casino to scout out the location for the meet and find potential escape routes if the devious, double-crossing Anatoly decided to pull any funny business. I found all the fire escapes and plotted an escape run out of the back of the casino. I planted my spare pistol discretely behind some large waste bins by the fire exit just in case I was searched or disarmed then I had a fallback position to rearm myself.

Satisfied I had planned everything as well as I could I walked back to the hotel where Charlotte was sat waiting in the bar looking bored, freshly preened from the trip to the salon. I ordered a beer from the small bar in the hotel and sat down with her.

“You got your hair fixed then?” I said trying to at least fill the time with polite conversation. Difficult since Charlotte and I had nothing in common apart from sharing the same postcode and social circle.

“He’s not as good as Rafael on Sloane Avenue,” she complained.

“Never mind,” I replied not really caring.

“Is this the best hotel we could stay in? It’s very shabby,” she opinionated looking down her nose at the surroundings.

“It’s the safest. Besides it has sentimental value to me.”

“You’ve changed.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely. You wouldn’t be seen dead in a place like this before…or drink beer.”

“A lot’s happened in the past few days. Its been a life changing experience.”

I found myself drifting off into my own thoughts as I remembered my time spent with Nick.

“You can say that again. Simply awful business. I’ll need therapy for years.”

I nodded and drank my beer.

“In some ways it had some good points.”

“Do you think they will let your man go? I wouldn’t trust the Russians. Filthy working class beasts.”

“I hope so. I have to believe so. Otherwise there’s been no point to any of this.”

“Will you come back to Chelsea?”

“No I don’t think so. That’s part of a different life now. It’s time to move on.”

Charlotte nodded. Her blonde ditzy brain unable to comprehend how anyone could imagine life outside SW3. 

For me the thought of going back to the claustrophobic social circle of idle gossip and endless dull lunches with trust fund socialites filled me with dread. It felt like a lifetime ago. 

I abandoned Charlotte to the clutches of two Italian businessmen, made my excuses and headed back to my bedroom. In the cramped bathroom I did my best to deal with the mess Roy had made of my face. I was partly thankful Nick wasn’t around to see it. I don’t imagine he would leave a single limb of Roy intact for the mistreatment he had cruelly inflicted on me. Feeling drunk enough to mask the aches and pains I went to my bed that felt so empty without Nick’s presence.

I missed him so much. I had blocked my mind from the thought Anatoly would betray his word and I would never see him again, a thought that was unbearable especially due to the fact we had parted on such bad terms.  I wondered what Nick thought after that. I was scared he would have concluded I was indifferent to his fate and would leave him to Anatoly. I hoped he would have faith enough to realise such a quarrel was merely brought about by too much stress and frayed tempers but underneath was something resilient enough to endure.

I hugged my pillow and stared at the empty space in my bed. We had rushed headlong into our love affair and now we were apart for the first time my feelings were being tested. That awful empty aching feeling of being apart from someone you had come to depend on kept me awake.

Charlotte it seems had gotten over Roy much quicker, sometime after midnight I heard her drunken laughter in the corridor then the banging of her door followed by thirty minutes of huffing, puffing, moaning and groaning from Charlotte and two overexcited Italian men. The dirty slut had not even limited herself to a single encounter but opted for a sleazy
ménage a trois
.

I buried my head under the pillow to drown out Charlotte’s noisy nocturnal exertions and tried to sleep.

Chapter 24

I ARRIVED
at the casino just after lunch dressed for the occasion accessorised by my trusty killer Loubi’s just in case things got out of hand.

Anatoly was already waiting for me at a table in the lounge bar flanked by a pair of shiny suited gorillas. The bar was full of the usual collection of committed gamblers, their bored courtesans, a smattering of hanger-on’s and tourists. I strutted over to Anatoly, overweight with a ruddy complexion and a
boozers nose -
the family resemblance to Vladimir was unmistakable.

“Am I late or are you early?” I inquired casually. Anatoly gestured for me to sit down. He feigned a smile.

“I’m glad to see you in such good health Miss…”

I nodded at the waiter who came over to take my water.

“Water, an unopened bottle please,” I said. 

I wouldn’t put it past Anatoly to have someone working in the bar to try and drug me.

“Very good Madame,” the waiter replied and departed to fulfil my request.

“You can’t be too careful these days,” I said to Anatoly.

“Quite… a lesson my brother could have taken heed of.” 

Anatoly poured another large Vodka from the open bottle of Grey Goose on the table.

“To business,” I said coldly. 

Anatoly smiled.

“Let’s talk a little first. You’ve caused me quite a few problems. I’m interested to know more about you and why we under-estimated you so much.”

“You always fear what you don’t understand.” I replied coldly.

“You think we fear you?” he said then laughed softly to himself. “No Miss. We do not
fear
you. You have been a mild irritant on the great journey that is life. A challenge perhaps. But not something to be
feared
.”

“Over-confidence can get you killed.”

“True…
true
. But this can work both ways,” he replied looking around to see if I had some trap planned for him.

“There’s nobody hiding behind the pot plant with a sniper rifle if that is what you were worrying about,” I said.