Anna, Svetlana, Mikhail, Joe Pt. 02

He drank a lot. He went out one day on the boat he worked on and never came back. Her mother could not support her and her older sister. A man in the city said he could get them out. She agreed and traded sex for their tickets out. But when it came time to go, the man told her mother that he only had a passage for two. Her mother told them to go and that she would follow in a few weeks.

"We never saw her again. It seems they only wanted us for prostitution. They took our passports and all our other papers, and pimped us out soon after we arrived. I was 16 years old; my sister was 22."

"Your sister is here, too?"

"Yes; her name is Anna. Anna Doneshiona. "

"How old are you?"

"I am 22 years old. Mikhail is only 4 weeks old."

'Son of a bitch,' I thought. "Is your sister still...... alive??"

"Yes, she is still working for them in Anchorage. They operate out of the Leningrad club on the south side.

"She is very popular. But.......she is 3 months pregnant."

I realized what she was saying.

"So she will soon be unfit for business. More quickly than I, because she is older. Then they will get rid of her." Her eyes fell and filled with tears.

Alright, I'm not heartless. I'll have to do something. But what? I started to turn over plans in my mind.

The first thing I had to do was erase Svetlana from their screen. No, not like that. Tomorrow.

"Alright, I want you to get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow we make a list and come up with a plan. O.K.?"

Her eyes dropped downwards, and she started to remove her sweatshirt.

"Whoa, Whoa, I don't want that."

She looked at me and hesitated. "Are you gay?"

I gagged and said, "No. No, I'm not. You are very cute. But even though it has been a while, I won't take advantage of you. Now get to bed and take Mikhail with you."

She was puzzled but picked up Mikhail and went down the hall, followed by Joe.

I shut down everything and went and took a shower. I climbed into bed and fell asleep, going over everything I had done. Somewhere I thought I had missed something, but I couldn't think of what.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

I woke at 7:00 a.m., still dark. It would be for a while, too. I got dressed and went and put on the coffee. I started the water to boil for tea, just in case.

I got a yellow pad and pencil and started to make a list. Then I stopped with a jolt, and I went to Svetlana's purse. A thought had just struck me.

I emptied her purse and went through the contents; wallet, lipstick, compact, eyeliner, mascara, girl stuff. But here, in the bottom of the pocketbook, was a small cylinder. I looked at it, and said 'SHIT!'

I unscrewed the top and shook out two small batteries, hearing aid size. Then I reassembled the cylinder.

I went and got the diaper bag and dumped it. There were three spare diapers, some butt wipes, a couple of onesies- and a cylinder. I unscrewed it and dumped out its batteries, reassembling it.

I turned just as Svetlana came out of the bedroom, yawning and carrying Mikhail.

"Do you know what these are?" I asked.

Svetlana said they were good luck charms from Dmitri.

"Nope. They're tracking devices. Thank god they have a limited range."

"OH, NO!" she said.

"I don't think they know where you are. Otherwise, your 'friends' would be here already. But we're going to take care of this anyway.

"Start to make a list of what you and Mikhail need. Then we will have breakfast, and then I want you to get dressed in the clothes you had on yesterday. We're going to take a picture. Come on, hurry up."

She started the list-diapers, wipes, jeans, boots, sneakers, shirts, and underwear. Sizes for everything.

Meanwhile, I made breakfast- pancakes, bacon, and English muffins.

I started doing dishes while she got dressed. I went outside and got some dirt. Then I got a tarp from the garage.

I spread the tarp in the living room. Svetlana came out dressed as she had been last night, right down to her stockings and heels. She looked at me and shivered.

"Lay down on the tarp," I told her.

She did so. I smeared some dirt on her face, chest, and arms.

"I'm sorry for this." I pulled her skirt up to her waist and her undies down to her ankles. Then I got some ketchup and made a thin line around her neck and a small circle on her forehead.

"Lay down and spread your arms-that's it. Now keep your eyes open. Stare straight ahead, and don't move."

I put the battery back in Yuri's cellphone and turned it on. I turned on the camera function, focused, and took three pictures from different angles. I checked them, saved them, and then shut off the camera and removed the battery.

I put them back in the bag and sealed them.

"Alright go get cleaned up." She jumped up and ran into the bathroom and shut and locked the door. I heard the shower running.

I picked up the tarp and threw it in the backyard.

I gathered up the plastic bag and the list. I waited for Svetlana to come out of the bathroom.

She returned and looked slightly shaken. I went up to her and hugged her and told her it was all over. "I'm sorry about what we did; it was necessary. It's all over now. We can get past this."

I explained to her what I was going to do. I also explained how to handle being home alone while I was gone.

"I want you to stay in the house and stay away from the windows. Let Joe have the run of the house, and if anyone shows up, go in the back room I showed you and lock the door."

"Why can't I come with you?"

"It's not safe downtown yet. Let me take care of this, and we can talk when I get home. Please!"

She frowned but finally agreed.

I hugged her again, and turned to Joe, and said, "Protect them, buddy. Don't let anything bad happen to them, O.K.?"

He woofed three times and slobbered. I figure they were in good hands.

Then I went up to little Mikhail and took one of his tiny hands. "You watch out for your mommy, O.K.??? Take good care of her." Svetlana started to giggle and cry at the same time.

I went out to the truck and fired it up. I put the plastic bag on the passenger seat and the list in my pocket. As it warmed up, I hit the remote and, as the door opened, I backed out.

I closed the door and put it in drive, and started down the mountain.

When I got to the pathway, I stopped and got out. I had a sign that hung across the drive that said, "PRIVATE PROPERTY NO TRESPASSING."

I strung it across the drive and got back in the truck. Shifting to drive, I started to Anchorage.

Svetlana was still apprehensive. She had not been alone with the big dog before, and he made her nervous. She went over to the couch and sat down. Joe looked at her, and it appeared that his face sagged into a frown. She stared at him and then patted the cushion. "Here, umnitsa."

He bounced over to her and jumped up to her lap, lapping at her face. She laughed and cradled his massive head in her hands. She stared into his eyes and said, "You really will protect us, won't you piroshki?"

He seemed to go nuts with the unfamiliar Russian terms, and he barked and snuggled her belly. Mikhail started to whimper, and she picked him up and cradled him. The three of them wound up in a pile on the couch and slipped off to dreamland with a contented smile on Svetlana's face.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Charlie pulled into Anchorage and made his way to the Walmart, and parked. He grabbed his list and went and got one of the big shopping carts, and soon he was on his way to his truck with everything on the list (and more) and a wallet lighter by about $700. Chuck loaded up his goodies, and got into the cab, and started the engine, hitting the heater to high. He backed out and drove around to the back of the building, to the dumpsters.

He took Yuri's cellphone and loaded the battery. Then he brought up Dmitri's number and accessed the message function. He loaded the three photos and sent them to him. He waited till he got a confirmation, then shut it off and tossed it in the dumpster. He pulled around to the front, by the garden center, which gave him a view of the dumpster, and waited. Twenty minutes later, a black Tahoe(sound familiar?) slowly pulled into the parking lot and went around to the back. It drove past the dumpster, about fifty feet. It stopped and backed up. Two thug-looking guys got out and started looking around. A brief conversation and one of them climbed into the dumpster.

He'd seen enough.

He shifted into drive and slowly pulled away. He started down the Seward Highway and stopped at a gas station. He dumped the other phone and Svetlana's purse in the trashcan, topped up the dual tanks, and checked the two five-gallon jerry cans on the tailgate rack. Then he went in and picked up two burner phones and a charger, paid for everything, and left for home.

'Home,' he thought.

What a concept.

Thirty nine miles and thirty minutes later, he turned left off the highway and started up the hill.

He got to the top of the hill and stopped, checking his back trail. He waited five minutes. No one was approaching or going away.

He shifted into drive and proceeded up to his driveway. He stopped and got out, dropped the chain, and got in, pulling into the driveway. He hooked up the chain again and then hooked up the spike strip.

He drove up to the house, hit the garage door opener, and pulled into the garage. He hit the closer and shut off the engine as the door closed. He opened the truck door and, as he got out, he heard something crash.

He pulled his gun and crashed the door. A woman screamed, and he scanned the room. A large dog dropped to his belly and started whining. Svetlana yelled, "No, stop."

Chuck lowered his pistol and saw- Joe in contrition mode, Svetlana with a look of embarrassment on her face, and a broken lamp on the floor.

All the adrenaline left his blood, and he deflated a little.

"And that was my grandma's favorite lamp," I mused aloud. I looked at Svetlana and grinned.

She burst out laughing and then started to cry. Joe jumped up and ran to her, slobbering all over her face.

"We were playing fetch, and kroshka jumped for the ball, and knocked over the lamp, and I shrieked, and......."

"Kroshka??" I asked.

She blushed - "It's Russian for 'baby.' "

I looked at the big softy and said, "Well, I guess I know who your favorite is now, don't I??"

I holstered my..45 and picked up the broken $3.00 lamp, throwing it in the trash. Svetlana walked around embarrassed, straightening things up. I was chuckling and grinning like an idiot.

Finally, I said, "Let's go and get the groceries." We went out to the garage and started hauling things into the house. The six huge boxes of diapers floored her.

"I'm pretty sure he's on his last one," I said.

She giggled.

"Yes, you just made it."

Then her clothes and a high chair.

"Can't have him sitting on the floor, now can we?"

She was over the moon about her clothes. She swirled around, holding the jeans and shirts. Finally, she stopped and raced over and hugged me.

"Thank you so much. How can I ever repay you?"

She looked up at me with those big blue eyes and a sexy grin on her lips. I ALMOST lost it.

"You being here is thanks enough."

"Are you sure you are not gay??"

I turned her around and smacked her little bottom. Joe jumped up and barked twice.

I looked at him and said, "She was bad. When you're bad, you get smacked, don't you??"

She was rubbing her bottom and looked at me with a questioning look on her face.

"No one has ever turned me down before." She hesitated. "Twice."

I sighed. I led Svetlana to the couch. Mikhail was gurgling like he was hungry.

"Go ahead and feed him. I'll tell you MY story."

She pulled up the sweatshirt and out popped those perky, cute boobs. Mikey latched onto the right one, and all was right in his world.

I grinned and wished my world was that simple.

"I joined the Air Force right out of high school. Special Ops. I spent eight years in the service. I killed more men than I care to remember. I got out and went to work for my grandfather.

"He wanted to retire and leave me the company. That's what I was looking at when I met Selena Chavez at a convention.

"She swept me off my feet, and I was madly in love with her. No one else thought she was on the up and up. They didn't like her.

"So my stubbornness and the little head took over all decisions, and we got married. Wrong.

"She was screwing her fuck buddy non-stop for all the time we were married, and I don't know how long before. I caught her, divorced her, and moved up here. Then I saved this cute little Russian girl and her son from two bad guys, and my life changed."

"Who was that, that you saved??"

Good thing she's cute.

I leveled a stare at her. Then after a minute, I looked at Mikhail, then back to her.

"OHH!!" she said. She blushed.

"Look, you are cute and attractive. But I don't have those kind of feelings for you. Not that I wouldn't like to, but you're just not my type. I look at you more like a little sister."

She tilted her head, looked at me, and said, "I think I understand."

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Svetlana's mind was racing. She liked this guy, saw how he was with Mikhail and with Joe. He respected her and did not try to take advantage of her. Most of all, she saw that he had been hurt badly by his first wife.

He did not appear to trust women.

'But I know who he needs. Anna. And I have to get him to get her out so that he sees this. I need a plan.' She started to think of how to get him to go and get Anna.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

But Charles had already decided to get Anna out because it was the right thing to do. He went over what he knew about the circumstances and thought he could do it.

So the next day, after breakfast, they sat down at the kitchen table.

I opened with my idea.

"Svetlana, I would like to help with your sister. To do this, I need all the info I can get about how things work."

With that, Svetlana jumped up and ran to me and threw her arms around me, kissing and hugging me. Joe immediately perked up and came over, wagging his tail.

"OH, thank you, thank you. I have been trying to think about how I could get you to help."

"O.K., here's what I need to know. Where do you meet with the women? How much does it cost? How do you get them to go to a hotel with you? Do the women have a schedule, days when they won't be at 'work'? (in air quotes)."

"When do you think your sister will be there?"

Svetlana thought for a while and finally started to speak.

"The good time would be about 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., on a Thursday. That is before the evening crowd shows up. Thursday is just the beginning of the weekend push. She will be there and will command a high price for the entire night. They will want payment upfront, either credit card or cash. With a credit card, they will try to steal your credit card information also, too.

"They will also want your driver's license and follow you to your hotel or your house."

I thought for a moment.

"O. K., it's Monday. I will try to do it this Thursday. I will get a hotel room and use my old driver's license. It shows my address where I lived when I first moved here. It doesn't refer to this place.

"I'll go there and leave the truck there. I'll get a rental car and go to the club.

"I'll check-in and set up the room. Then I'll go to the club and try to convince your sister to come with me. I'll do the best I can; maybe I'll have to go back again if she's not available.

"It's entirely possible that she thinks you're dead. We'll jump off that bridge when get to it". I've always loved that line.

"I'll need you to stay here; the same drill as yesterday. Don't let me down. We'll be back late if we are coming back Thursday night."

I loaded the burner phones numbers on each other, then put them both on charge. It started to get cold and, the weather turned cloudy.

We lazed around till Thursday morning. I made preparations.

I got the.22LR caliber Colt out and switched it to the.45's holster. I put a small duffel bag in the truck and a couple of water bottles in the center console. I checked all the truck's fluids and looked her over. We were ready to go.

My guests were settling in and starting to feel at home. She was good for my soul, and the baby was pure joy. Joe was beside himself.

He forgot about me and concentrated on Svetlana and Mikhail. I slipped a couple of times and called him 'Mikey.'

His mother corrected me. "Mikhail!! His name is Mikhail!' she informed me. Ooops!

I had firmed up my plans and was pretty confident I could pull it off.

We sat down and had a last talk about what I was contemplating. I explained to Svetlana that Anna might have thought she was dead.

"If she saw those pictures, she might fear the worst. It could make it hard to convince her to trust me."

She got an agonized look on her face. I took her hands and told her I would do my best.

She hesitated for a minute and finally told me, "Tell her Daisy said to trust you."

I looked at her. "Daisy??"

"It was her pet name for me, kukalka. She only used it when we were alone and happy. My name for her was Violet. She always called Mikhail Misc-ha.

"She will know you are special to me."

She started to cry. I held her. I was going to fix this or die trying.

Thursday morning, I showered and dressed. I met Svetlana in the kitchen, with Mikhail on her hip. She plopped him in the high chair, and we had breakfast. I grabbed the one burner cell and told her to monitor the other one, but NOT to use it. Then she hugged me and wished me good luck.

I fired up the big Ford, opened the garage door, and backed out. Closing the garage door, I drove down the hill and stopped at the chain. I moved the spike strip and unhooked the chain. I went down onto the pathway, and got out, and hooked everything back up. I was ready.

I drove down to the Seward Highway and turned onto the northbound lanes, headed for Anchorage.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Thirty minutes later, I was in Anchorage.

I tooled down to the Best Western motel and checked in. I got room 417. I took the elevator up to the 4th floor and went down the hall to the room.

I went into the room and looked around. I checked my watch. Noon. Lunch time. I used the facilities (took a leak) and grabbed the 'Do Not Disturb' card for the electronic door lock. I grabbed my duffel bag, looked around, and left for the Budget Rent-a-Car, going out the side door. I got in the Excursion and drove towards the airport. I found Budget and arranged for a Ford Taurus. I could pick it up at the motel at 5:00 p.m. I went to my bank and withdrew $2000 in hundred dollar bills.

Then I went to get some lunch. I splurged- McDonald's. Two Big Macs, medium fries, and a frozen coke later, I was sated. I decided to check out the Leningrad Club.

I tooled to the seamier side of town, and found the Club. I drove past it giving it a quick once over. Large parking lot out front, alley ways, and no back lot to speak of.

Satisfied, I returned to the motel and parked along the side. I left the duffel bag in the Excursion. I walked up to the side door and, sure enough, the little sign said 'Closed for entrance, from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.' I tried the door, and it swung wide open. I went down to the elevators and went up to my room. I went in and looked at my watch again. 2:20 p.m. and I had time to kill. I sacked out on the bed and made a mental note to wake up at 4:30.