After he finished changing her clothes he tucked her under the warm covers and walked to the living room. As he lit a cigarette then called his friend at the Kazan police station, "Did the Mayor come?"
"Not yet. I think he is sweating the woman out so he can get a bigger bribe."
"Did you put her in a cell yet?"
"No. I have her in the interrogation room."
"Put her in a cell with the worst criminals you have in the jail."
Mikael laughed, "The bitch must have really pissed you off."
"She touched someone she shouldn't have. I will make sure the Mayor doesn't show up at all."
"Hey man. I don't mind doing this favor for you. Particularly, since she was actually in possession of a rare stolen artifact."
Leaning forward in his chair he scratched his short beard. "But the Mayor, I can't afford to offend."
"I wouldn't put you in a comprimising position. I am only going to make a call to dissuade the fat fuck from interferring. In a few days the scheming bitch's only recourse will be to call her husband and that won't end well."
"As long at it ends there. I am up for promotion."
Nikolai inhaled then blew out a thin stream of smoke, "Well, wouldn't arresting a smuggler caught with a millions of dollars worth of stolen shit speed that along?"
Mikael tapped the pen on the desk,"We didn't find anything at the art gallery besides the jade dragon statue..are you saying there is more?"
"Do as I ask, and you can rest assured you will get that promotion. LingLing Sun is a criminal and should pay for her crimes." Pay with her life for fucking with me and my woman.
"Should we search the art gallery again?"
Nikolai doesn't want him to know about the secret room at the art gallery, he has his own plans. He is sure Sydney has no idea about LingLing's relationship with his enemy, Mo Peng. Nikolai only by chance saw them meeting. He was going to ignore her indiscretion because it had nothing to do with him but she crossed his bottom line. "No.The art gallery is clean, I can't tell you more right now but you can trust me."
"I believe you, you have never lied to me."
"I will contact you tommorrow."
"Okay."
After he hung up he finished the cigarette and crushed it in the ashtray. He walked to the kitchen and got a bottle of water then called the Mayor.
The Mayor was still laying in bed thinking it had been a few hours already since LingLing was taken to the police station. He had a greedy gleam in his eyes. The arrogant woman should be frazzled by now...but if I wait until the morning she will be at her wit's end and willing to pay anything. I really don't like that bitch either...she always had a disgusted look on her face when talking to me like she was smelling shit.
The phone on the nightstand rang and he grinned, the fucking haughty bitch is probably going crazy..haha
Nikolai restricted his phone and disguised his voice to call the Mayor. After he spoke a mere two sentences the Mayor was stupefied. His watery eyes bulged out of his head and he was gasping for air. "YOU...YOU!"
The terrified man fumbled with a bottle of pills for his heart condition and the small white pills spilled onto the floor. He scrambled to pick two up but the carpet was thick and white. FUCK!
His hands were shaking and his heart was pounding squinting to find them in the dimly lit room.
Nikolai heard the Mayor wheezing and breathless, frightened like a cornered rat..
Satisfied with the man's reaction he grinned. Seems it was worth the money I paid for this intel.
After frantically running his fingers through the dense carpet, the Mayor finally found two. He quickly swallowed the life saving pills then screamed into the phone. The obese man's face was bright red and his nostrils flared. "Who the fuck are you?
"Who I am... is the person who can send you to prison for the rest of your sorry life. No one will find out about your hand in the murder of the former Mayor and his young family." He paused, " If you do as I say."
After ingesting the pills the fat man calmed down and stood up, "It's not hard to trace your phone. I could have you arrested for making false allegations."
Nikolai sneered knowing the phone was high tech and untraceable. He curled up his thin lips in a wicked smile as he sent the Mayor two gruesome pictures and an audio recording.
The Mayor grasped the side of the nightstand and felt lightheaded. His hands were clammy and he was sweating like a pig. "Wha..what do you want? How do I know you will destroy the evidence."
"You don't know. But... if you don't do as I say I won't send it to the police...I will send the damning evidence directly to several independent news sources. I'm sure the local police are under your control."
"What do you want from me?"
"Simple, stay home for three days. Don't make any phone calls or have contact with anyone, not even your wife visiting her sister in Moscow. "
The Mayor sat on the bed and breathed a sigh of relief, "That's it? Nothing else?"
"Nothing else. But, if you disobey my order you certainly will rot in prison. Don't even answer the door...you got it?"
"En."
Nikolai hung up, LingLing your greedy savior won't be coming.
Satisfied that he will be able to control the situation with LingLing, Nikolai believed this was the opportunity he needed. He stretched out on the comfortable couch with his hands behind his head, Sydney will kill LingLing for betraying him or leave the venomous bitch wishing she was dead. I won't need to get involved.
I can steal the statue Sydney desperately wants to possess from Luc Zaranski. Then I will deliver the majority of the stolen artifacts to him... the rest the police can have so Mikael will be promoted. I will gain Sydney's help in making Alexi give up on Merri. Until that happens, I can justify the fact I brought the little angel to my home because of LingLing's arrest.
Meanwhile, sitting on the floor in a damp crowded cell LingLing was disheveled cursing the Mayor. A moment ago she was sitting on the only wooden bench in the smelly cell until three large women came in and pushed her down.
It was obvious she was no match for them and she was glad the policemen took her jewelry otherwise they definitely would rob her.
Sitting with her head between her knees she was shivering. I don't know why the fucking Mayor is taking so long to get here! And why did the policeman suddenly throw me in this disgusting cell. Something is definitely amiss...Maybe Nikolai can get me out of here! Dammit! He is probably still unconscious! Nothing is going right...but at least the police didn't discover the secret room.
She suddenly had a thought and squinted her eyes, did Mo Peng set me up? No...he wouldn't... I need to get out of here! But... if Mo Peng gets me out Sydney surely will find out. AHHHH!
The door opened and a policeman pushed in a gaunt looking woman wearing a blue sequined dress that was torn and bloodstained.
The woman fell by LingLing and shook her fist while screaming, "Asshole! I didn't do anything, my old man was drunk! I just wanted him to shut up while I got my fix."
Recalling the bloody scene the policeman snickered, "So you stabbed him seventy times?"
The naked man was lying in a pool of blood with his face slashed to pieces and there were stab wounds all over his naked body.
LingLing eyes widened in horror, staring at the emaciated woman's sunken eyes and ripped bloody clothes.
The pencil thin woman sat up and was clawing at her face. LingLing tried to slide away and the woman grabbed her arm, "Honey, do you see the bugs crawling on my face? That damn cop put them on me!"
LingLing shook off her hand and noticed her arm was riddled with infected track marks oozing pus. LingLing felt like she was going to vomit and scrambled to her feet. With a rush of adrenaline she pushed a fat woman out of her way who was talking to a woman on the wooden bench."I have to get out of here! I'm going to be sick!"
The masculine looking woman's eyes had a murderous gleam as she grabbed LingLing by her hair, "Fuckin bitch!" She punched LingLing in the face and dragged her to the back of the cell while LingLing screamed, "HELP! HELP!"
The guard could see what was going on in the cell on the monitor and put down the cup of coffee he was drinking, "Dammit!"
Nikolai fell asleep feeling more relaxed than he had in a month.