Chapter thirty five

        "Vladimir, where is your son Sergei?"

          Vladimir seemed very confused and a little alarmed by the sudden change in topic," What do you mean? Why are you bringing Sergei into this?"

        Marcus continued to smile, "Humor me."

        "He is at his friend Sophia's house, he told me so before he left this evening."

         Why would Sergei lie to his father about coming to my house? He had told me that he was going out with his mysterious new girlfriend. I had been really busy this past month so he has been hanging out with her a lot lately so I didn't think it was strange that he was going out with her again but now I was starting to get a very bad feeling about it.

        Marcus sneered," Well I hate to break this to you but I have footage that says otherwise."

          The image of Marcus was replaced by a handheld video camera recording of Sergei. He wasn't tied up , handcuffed, or restrained in any way, in fact he was just sitting down on a chair in the middle of a large room with a dopey smile on his face as he looked at whoever was holding the video camera.

          A girly voice suddenly giggled and said,"Alright honey, just like we practiced. Look into the camera and say the words."

          Sergei's eyes were unfocused as he looked at the video camera and happily declared, " I am being held prisoner, do whatever they say or I will be killed in twenty four hours."

          "That was great sweety, now for your reward....."

            The video cut off at that point and the smug Marcus returned on the screen," He sure looks like he is having a good time. It never ceases to amaze me to see what a man would do with a little feminine persuasion, now back to our negotiation."

           For the first time in my life I saw the cool and collected Vladimir lose his temper," What have you done to my son? If you have harmed a single hair on his head I swear I will hunt you down and kill you after I've made you watch everything you care about crumble around you."

          "No need to bare your fangs at me Vladimir, this is a negotiation. I have something you want, your son and you have something I want, access to your docks so that I could use them to ship some cargo once or twice a week. Look I am not being unreasonable, I am not going to undermine your control in any way. I admit that we made made an error when we initiated the war between us , we severely underestimated you and we paid the price for that. I apologize for any inconvenience that I have caused you and I am willing to pay an indemnity for any loss I have caused. All I am asking now is to let me use the docks for a reasonable even exorbitant fee."

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           Vladimir was silent for a second and said," What is the cargo?"

            Marcus seemed to fidget a little, "Oh this and that. What does it matter anyway? I will pay you the top price for ..."

            Vladimir cut him off," What is the cargo?"

            "People , the cargo is people. The homeless, runaways , orphans, prostitutes, the dregs of society, people that nobody is going to miss."

             "I have been called a lot of things in my life. A murderer , a drug dealer, a gun runner. I know I am not a very good person but what you are asking me is to sell people to you, the monsters."

             "Oh, a crime lord with a conscience , how sweet, seriously I have tears in my eyes. What you are forgetting is that I have your son. Now I am faxing you the  contracts I want you to sign . I want them signed, notarized and sent back to me in twenty four hours. The penalty for breach of contract is the considerable shares you have in oil in the world stock market, so don't even think about double crossing me. It has been a pleasure doing business with you."

             Then he disappeared off the screen. All this time I had stayed silent because I didn't trust myself to speak and give myself away as someone who cares for Sergei. After Marcus disappeared from the screen I said a single word,

             "Stall."

              Vladimir was a little startled after I spoke, he was so deep in thought that he had forgotten that I was even there."What do you mean?"

            "Stall while I get Sergei back, drag out the process as much as you can and if I fail to get him back in twelve hours you can do whatever you want. Hell I can probably do it in six."

            "You think you can get him back? You are that certain?"

             "Yes I'm certain. I'm a little worried about his state of mind but I am sure I can rescue him."

              "But you don't even know where he is, how are you going to find him?"

              "I already know where he is."

               "How?"

               "Let's just say I made a really dumb decision that is now paying off."