Ganglands: Russia: Russia Read Online Free PDF

shouted.‘Where were you when they did this?’
    Alexei stood dumbly, at a loss for words.What on earth could he say?How could he defend himself?He realized that Adrine had stopped hitting him, and had dissolved into tears on his shoulder.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ she sobbed.‘But how could they do this to my daughter, my beautiful Lena?’
    ‘It’s OK,’ Alexei said softly, awkwardly putting his arms around her.‘It’ll be all right.I promise.’
    Eventually Adrine’s tears subsided, and they sat quietly by Lena’s side, watching her chest rise and fall as she breathed.The heart monitor continued its slow, metronomic bleeping.
    ‘What if she doesn’t wake up, Alexei?’ Lena’s mother whispered, at one point.
    ‘She’ll wake up.Lena’s a fighter – you know that.’
    Even though he tried to sound confident, to Alexei his were hollow words. The horrible truth was that he had no idea whether Lena would wake up again.If only she hadn’t won that stupid modelling competition!Then they wouldn’t have moved to Moscow, and instead ofbeing trapped in this airless hospital room they’d be messing around with their school friends back in Volgograd.
    Alexei was keenly aware that Darius Jordan’s business card was still sitting in his pocket.The American had given him a day to give Trojan his answer. It would be madness to volunteer to work for him, but what would happen if he said no? What would they do to him?More importantly, what would they do to Lena?
    Too many questions.Not enough answers.Alexei said farewell to Adrine and trudged home, feeling completely and utterly lost.
    The first thing Alexei noticed as he returned to Stepan’s flat was the acrid smell of cigarettes.The sound of voices filtered through from the sitting room.Cautiously, Alexei peered round the door.
    His uncle was sat in his favourite chair, leaning forward as he talked animatedly.A slim woman with a dark-brown ponytail was sitting opposite him, a pair of sunglasses pushed up on her head, curls of smoke rising up from her cigarette and out of the open window.Alexei’s eyes widened as he recognized her – the last time he had seen this woman, she had been sitting in the front seat of Darius Jordan’s people carrier.
    ‘Come in, Alexei, come in,’ urged Stepan.‘This is Dr Valerie Singer.She’s come from Moscow State University to discuss your future. Isn’t that an honour?’
    ‘It’s a surprise, all right,’ Alexei replied carefully. He gave the woman a meaningful look.‘But I’m not sure there’s that much to talk about.’
    ‘Don’t be so sure,’ said Valerie, surprising Alexei by speaking in flawless Russian.‘At least not until you’ve heard our offer.All through the spring we run short training courses at MSU – designed to give potential students an idea of university life. They’re only two weeks long – hard work, but very rewarding.Our engineering course has had a last-minute dropout, and we were sufficiently impressed by your academic record back in Volgograd to offer you the place.’
    ‘These courses sound very prestigious,’ Stepan added excitedly.‘They could really help your chances of enrolling properly in the autumn, Alexei.What do you say?’
    Alexei shook his head.‘I think you’ve got the wrong person,’ he said coolly.‘I think you’d better leave.’
    ‘Manners, Alexei!’ scolded Stepan.‘Please forgive my nephew,’ he said apologetically to Valerie.‘There’s been a dreadful incident concerning someone very close to him, and as you can imagine it’s affecting him.’
    ‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ replied Valerie.She stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray.‘Your uncle was telling me all about your grandfather, Alexei.I didn’t realize he was a war hero.’
    ‘He was given the Medal for the Defence of Stalingrad,’ Stepan said proudly.‘Helped keep those bastard Nazis out of the city.Of course, there was a terrible cost – two million people died, Alexei!And not just soldiers,