Sydney Moya

(c) 2018

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Synopsis

Interpol working with a multinational taskforce of Anti-Organised crime agencies is closing in on Mario Di Michele and his ‘Ndrangheta crime family, His father, uncles and his three brothers and two sisters have been arrested or killed. He is a wanted man in North America, Europe and Latin America. There seems to be only one way to evade capture or certain death and it is by being true to his nature.

Chapter 9

London

Her mind swirled, a kaleidoscope of thoughts and memories, a reflection of the state of her heart, which was a cauldron of emotion. She was confused and incapable of coherent thought.

In short, Ava had no idea what to make of what had happened the previous day.

Mama was alive, which was wonderful and she had done what she could not do, by giving their family a proper burial. Her inability to do so had been eating at her every day. The guilt remained though, why had she survived? The only one in the family. It was a bitter irony that she had lived to see what had to be her fondest wish come true, the return of her mother only to be unable to meet her when she most wanted to.

Ava ached to see her, to hug and comfort her. She wanted to catch up and just bare her heart. She hated that she couldn’t catch the next flight out though she was sorely tempted if only for a moment. It was only the cold analytical part of her that kept thinking up different scenarios.

All those scenarios had negative outcomes as far as she was concerned. Her first priority was to secure her own safety as well that of Luciano and his family. No matter how much she wanted it a reunion wasn’t feasible. She was sure prison was no place for a woman like her. And not because she was trans and risked being placed in a maen's jail. Her father had crossed many people who would relish the chance to get back at him.

She shook her head and made a sign of the cross to chase away the demons bedevilling her. Now that she knew what no to do, she had to figure out what to do and this where her heart won out. She was dying to find out about her mother.

Ava reread the article and confirmed her mother was married to a Russian oligarch.

‘Okay,’ she thought feeling a bit uncertain about this.

Saying her father was a difficult man was an understatement and she was happy her mother had found someone to love her. Still the pain of abandonment rankled. It refused to subside and she hated the emotion and herself for feeling it. Her mother had left her and her siblings at the mercy of their father. She had missed her so much, wondering if she was alive. What had caused her to leave? Deep down she suspected it was her fault for dressing up but she refused to think about it.

‘Especially not today,’ thought Ava.

Ava sighed loudly as she opened Antonin Shevchenko’s wiki page. He looked to be in his fifties, not particularly good looking but not bad and he wasn't in bad shape.

“My stepfather,” she mused out loud.

It contained the standard spiel of your Russian billionaire. He’d made his fortune in the wake of the Soviet collapse in the mining industry. Bought low and sold high suspected to be in bed with the Putin administration, a web of properties across Europe. He had a 19 year old daughter.

Ava’s heart rate climbed as she wondered if she had a little sister. She quickly searched for Yulia Shevchenko. The image that appeared bore no resemblance to the rest of her family. She was beautiful though Ava admitted with those well defined cheek bones and doe eyes.

Her hopes were dashed when she opened her Instagram page and saw that Anna was described as her stepmother. Still it seems they were close judging from how many posts her mother appeared in. Yulia clearly had a lavish lifestyle it seemed she noted.

''You look great Mama," Ava heard herself murmur.

Ava cursed the fact that she had never thought to look for her mother on social media.

‘I couldn’t have known where to look anyway,’ she consoled.

After stalking Yulia and downloading some images of her mother who didn’t have a profile Ava lay down in bed and started wondering what to do. Her mother was alive and had buried her siblings and father. As she was still alive this meant she would be looking for her either as a traitor or her missing son. Assuming Shevchenko had pull and links with the Kremlin there was a high chance he could get operatives or ex operatives looking for her. She knew those guys didn’t mess about and had links in the underworld, connections she had avoided using with the exception of the Albanian’s which had turned out to be a dogs breakfast.

Would her mother clue them in on her gender dysphoria? Ava thought she was being paranoid but if she did and Antonin had KGB types looking for her they would have an edge and any smart cop would follow them to her. This was before factoring in what could happen if her mother reached out to her father’s ‘Ndrangheta clansman as there was a blood debt. If that happened and she was the target all bets were off. She would be better handing herself in.

‘What a mess’ Ava thought.

Reggio Calabria

Even as her grief threatened to overwhelm her Anna’s resolve was strong. Two of her children were missing, their bodies unaccounted for even though the police had tried to fool her and the public into believing otherwise.

She had demanded information from the authorities on what happened two days after the funeral. Thanks to her old friend Isabella, she knew Mario had not been at the house the day of the shootings and that the police had made inquiries had his disappearance that bordered on a manhunt though they had since become discreet. They had captured his bodyguard who had since escaped from police custody thanks to a brazen operation led by person’s unknown.

Isabella had told her Mario was some sort of financial whiz kid, the whole community knew of his academic achievements in the UK and US and were justifiably proud of him especially since he helped a lot of the old people with their money matters for free and never threatened anyone unlike his father.

“Everyone liked him,” Isabella, “he was quiet and minded his own business.”

Naturally Anna wanted to hear more about her kids, especially her baby who’d been so young when she’d left.

“How did he grow up?”

Isabella shook her head not wanting to burden her old friend with more guilt than she already had.

“Please I need to know,” Anna begged.

Her friend told her about the bullying from his siblings in the first few years after her disappearance.

“From what I saw he had it rough from the rest of them but Marta usually stopped the worst of it. It was better as they all grew older and it turned out Mario was far smarter than the rest of them. Carlo only cared that he didn’t disgrace him but after a while even he could see the kid was gifted at school which he liked for some reason. He sent Mario to the best schools and he excelled. His siblings respected that and Carlo saw a future for him in his business.”

“What did he do for Carlo?” Anna asked frowning.

“I don’t know exactly. Franco says Mario knew how to hide and wash money like no one else. Carlo loved that no one could track what Mario did. He says the boy was a genius. And he never forgot us. All the widows from the shooting still get payments from accounts he set up for them. That’s why they want him and why no one will help them find him.”

Anna and Isabella talked for ages about her kids. Isabella had become a surrogate mother in her absence and she was grateful her friend had done what she could. It could never make up for not being there for them but it was a small consolation.

Meanwhile back in London Ava had decided to get back to dealing with the immediate threat of Enver and his goons. She needed to get him arrested and hoped to do so by exposing his sex trafficking ring to the police however this was proving harder to do than she had anticipated.

Ava knew that even if she had Enver arrested she would have to get his men off the board as well, as she was aware people like him could still direct operations from their prison cells. It wouldn’t do for her to be taken after thinking she had beat the man.

Luciano was of the belief that they stage a hit and take out the guy once and for all. Ava would not entertain the notion. Murder wasn’t something she could countenance. It just was not who she was. Yes, Enver might be a threat to her life but killing him was beyond the pale and she knew enough about Britain to know if it happened, the police would find her. Being a financial criminal was one thing, a murderer on the run was another.

However, what was clear was the need to deal with Enver while keeping her identity secret. If he was canvassing her workplace and had broken into her house, it meant he was too close for comfort.

She did not want to work at Tesco indefinitely but she liked Jess and didn’t want to up sticks without saying goodbye though it was obvious she would have to leave for her own safety.

Ava sighed and returned to her research into one of the Albanian’s firms. She bit her lip and pinched her nose. There was hardly any useful information she could use to tempt the police. That meant she would have to manufacture evidence.

She smiled, her grin widening as she realised Enver had done half her work for her by sending his men to her workplace with a picture of a young woman. All she needed was to get the identity of those men and work her way into their bank accounts and the rest would sort itself out.

Geneva

Rossi sat by the window of the cafe and watched as the clouds rolled in from Lec Leman obliterating the pale sun in the sky. He thought it matched the mood of his case, depressing.

He had flown to Geneva to meet his witness and let her know that the complexion of the case had changed drastically.

He watched her walk into the cafe and waved to get her attention. She saw his gesture and made a beeline in his direction.

Marta looked lovely. Her olive skin glowed despite the lack of sunshine. Her coat and jeans couldn’t hide her lovely figure and he couldn’t help eyeing her up and down. Her red lips parted and she gave him a coquettish smile. Mauro noted the smile didn’t reach her eyes which was a bit unsettling.

He stood and pulled out a chair for her.

“Thank you,” Marta said, still smiling as she took her seat.

“You look gorgeous as usual,” he said, sitting down as well.

“Liar,” Marta replied, cocking her head slightly.

“You wound me madam,” Rossi replied with a chuckle.

Marta smiled then looked around, “A non smoking cafe too?”

“I’m trying to quit,” Rossi replied.

“My father always said never quit anything you’re good at,” Marta remarked.

“Words to live by,” Mauro said with a sigh born of his craving a smoke now that the subject had been brought up.

“Okay what’s so important that you had to bring me all the way to Geneva? I thought we only talked over the phone?” Marta enquired.

Rossi handed her a file with her mother’s pictures. They were surveillance photos of the Shevchenko’s from their arrival in Rome all through to the funeral the day before.

“It’s your mother, she’s alive,” Mauro explained.

Needless to say Marta was shocked. She looked at Mauro, her eyes narrowing.

“She’s alive?” Marta remarked, “How? Everyone assumed my father killed her years ago.”

“Yes it’s an unexpected development.” Mauro said, eyeing her. Marta’s face remained an inscrutable mask.

“She claimed the bodies and arranged burial,” Mauro explained.

The mask slipped and anger and perhaps worry flashed across her face.

“She knows you’re not dead,” Rossi explained.

“Son of a gun,” Marta said banging her palms on the table.

Some of the diners glanced at them.

“Shh, calm down, do you want the whole world to see us?” Rossi retorted, his eyes darting about the café.

“You promised me I wouldn’t be compromised,” said Marta in harsh whisper.

Mauro nodded, “Yes but she’s your mother. She knew it wasn’t your body as soon as she looked at it.”

Marta’s features softened, “How,” she whispered.

Mauro shrugged, “A mother’s instincts?”

“Goodness, she hasn’t seen me since I was 12,” murmured Marta, “where’s she been?”

Rossi updated her on what they knew. The local police had yet to conduct a thorough interview with Anna what with her heavyweight political connections and the fact that she was grieving the killings of her children. It hadn’t been considered appropriate to interview her right away though Mauro was dying to do so. They surmised Anna had fled from Carlo and somehow ended up in Moscow and married to an oligarch. Marta listened without interruption as he gave her the little he knew.

“She has another child?” Marta asked.

“I think that’s a stepdaughter,” Rossi replied.

Marta nodded, “How is she holding up?”

Rossi noted her concern and thought back to the scene at the coroners.

“She is devastated but she has resolve. She is a strong woman. I’m pretty sure she will grieve and do whatever she can to find out what happened.”

“What’s her angle?” Marta asked.

Rossi looked her at her astounded she could ask such a question.

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know her from Adam so I can’t anticipate what she’d do. Revenge or closure?” Marta explained.

“There is a request for the incident report on the shootings and why we misidentified your body. I heard her say she wants to locate you and Mario.”

“She has resources at her disposal no?” Marta replied.

Rossi nodded.

“Am I safe?”

“Yes,” Rossi replied without hesitation.

“How can I trust you when you say she has pull in Rome? What’s going to stop someone from blabbing to avoid demotion or if their hands are greased by this billionaire husband of hers. Can you rule out my mother having access to KGB types as well?”

“Well I’m the only one who knows of your involvement and I work in a tightly knit group. Trust me when I say my people are solid. As for Shevchenko’s reach, I can’t say how long it is but we’ll have to take precautions,”

“What precautions?” Marta screeched, “I have two problems now. Mario has my father’s money and Luciano at his side. We don’t know where the fuck they are and it’s obvious they’ll figure out I am involved somehow,”

“Mario is harmless. You said it yourself.”

“Well maybe I don’t know her as well as I thought I did. I certainly didn’t see him breaking Luciano out,”

A thought flashed across Mauro’s mind and he grew cold at the idea. How had he not considered the notion?

“What?” Marta asked on seeing his solemn expression.

“Could your mother have been behind that? A lot of the oligarchs are in bed with the Russian mafia and security apparatus. Maybe she knows more than she’s letting on.”

Marta shook her head, “That’s another possibility. Have they allied or is my mother going to reach out to our kin for revenge?”

Mauro paled. The last thing they needed was a ‘Ndrangheta war with law enforcement which would be the likely scenario if Anna decided to use that option.

He had to admit anything was possible.

“I have managed to get her under surveillance and I’m certain your clansmen don’t trust her as an outsider,” remarked Mauro.

Marta scoffed, “My father’s family lives by the old ways Rossi. All she has to do is ask and there will be blood. I would suggest transferring any officers who participated in that raid out of Calabria. I would watch my back if I was you. How you will able to watch mine is what worries me.”

To be continued