Ganglands: Russia: Russia Read Online Free PDF Page A

tries to squirm free, but Oleg’s grip is as tight and remorseless as a vice.The teenager grins as he approaches.
    ‘Sweet dreams,’ he says mockingly.
    Rozalina feels a stabbing pain in her thigh, and slowly her fear ebbs away and the world drifts out of focus.
    If any of the tenants of Rozalina Petrova’s apartment block had been staring out of the windows that afternoon, through the teeming rain they would have seentwo men hurrying from the building, one carrying the slumped form of a woman in his arms.Maybe they would have thought it odd; maybe they would have rung the police.But the windows of the nearby flats were all empty, and so there were no witnesses as the woman was dumped in the back of a white van, and the vehicle was hurriedly driven off with a squeal of tyres.

5. War Heroes
    As soon as he woke up in the spare room of his uncle’s flat, Alexei’s mind was flooded by a series of images from the previous day: the barrage of punches overwhelming him in the ring; Lena in the hospital bed, her beautiful face battered; Darius Jordan’s dark proposal.His heart heavy, Alexei rolled over and pulled the covers over his head, but his mind was working too frantically to let him fall back to sleep.Reluctantly he dragged himself out of bed.
    Alexei pulled on a tatty T-shirt and wandered into the kitchen, where his uncle was stirring a pot of kasha on the stove.Stepan Zhukov was in his sixties, his hair silvery and his imposing frame beginning to sag.As a child, Alexei had been intimidated by his uncle’s burly physique and his gruff manner; now he was older, he could appreciate Stepan’s dry sense of humour and quiet compassion.
    Stepan winced at the sight of his nephew’s face.‘I take it the fight didn’t go well, then?’
    ‘Not for me.’ Slumping down at the table with a sigh, Alexei watched as his uncle doled out two portions of porridge from the saucepan.
    ‘You must have got in late last night,’ Stepan said.‘I didn’t hear you.’
    ‘Yeah.’ Alexei ran a hand through his ruffled hair.‘Uncle, there’s something I have to tell you.’
    Stepan listened with disbelief to his nephew’s story, spluttering into his porridge when he learned what had befallen Lena.
    ‘Dear God!’ he exclaimed.‘This is monstrous – what kind of animals would do such a thing?Why didn’t you call me?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ Alexei replied truthfully. ‘Everything happened so quickly, I wasn’t thinking straight.’
    He decided not to tell Stepan about Trojan Industries.In the cold light of day, the idea that he had been asked to become a secret agent seemed ridiculous.His uncle would probably think he was making it up, or that the shock of Lena’s assault had somehow affected his mind.
    ‘Have the police said anything?’ asked Stepan.‘Are they going to catch these thugs?’
    ‘They haven’t spoken to me yet.I’m going back to the hospital today – maybe they’ll be there.’
    ‘Do you want me to come with you?’
    Alexei shook his head.‘Not today.I need some time alone with her.’
    Stepan patted his hand.‘I’ll go tomorrow,’ he said softly.‘Give her my love.’
    After showering and getting dressed, Alexei walked slowly towards the hospital, unsure whether he could face seeing Lena hooked up to all those machines again.In the street, he passed a young couple walking hand-in-hand; the girl giggled as her boyfriend whispered something in her ear.Seeing them gave Alexei a dull pain in the chest.
    The nurse behind the hospital reception desk was thesame as the previous evening – she nodded at Alexei as he walked past. Half-expecting to find Darius Jordan waiting for him in Lena’s room, instead Alexei was confronted by the sight of Adrine Saroyan sitting at her daughter’s bedside, her pale face streaked with tears.
    ‘Hi,’ Alexei said uncertainly.
    At first Lena’s mother didn’t reply.Then she sprang to her feet and began beating her fists on his chest.
    ‘Where were you?’ she