Free Ganglands: Russia: Russia by Ross Kemp

mesh, reached over to the other side and flipped his body over the top feet-first.He dropped down to the ground on the other side, landing heavily on a patch of wasteland.Without pausing, he sprang upright and dashed away through the straggly grass.Alexei didn’t dare to look behind him – he didn’t need to.He could hear thepoliceman cursing as he tackled the wire fence.Alexei prayed fervently that he wouldn’t pull out his gun and start firing.
    He zigzagged across the uneven ground, heading for the shelter of a line of birches at the edge of the wasteland.Alexei exploded through the trees, only to hurriedly skid to a halt on the other side.Just in time.He was teetering on the edge of a steep embankment, overlooking a busy highway that sloped down towards a tunnel. Cars were weaving in and out of the lanes at high speed.
    Glancing back through the trees, Alexei saw that the policeman was catching him up, the man’s cheeks reddening with exertion.There was nowhere else to go: Alexei grabbed hold of the embankment’s edge and lowered himself over the side, his legs scraping against the concrete wall.When he had dangled down as far as he could, he let go, landing in a heap by the side of the highway.
    As he picked himself up, Alexei was overwhelmed by petrol fumes and roaring engines.There was no room to run either left or right, and the policeman had reached the edge of the embankment above Alexei’s head.The only way out was across six lanes of busy traffic.
    ‘Stop or I’ll shoot!’ the policeman shouted.
    Alexei took a deep breath, and stepped out into the traffic.
    He danced across the first lane, feeling a whoosh of air as a car hurtled behind his back.Waiting for a gap in the second lane, Alexei’s eyes met those of the female driver, and for a split second the world came to a halt as she stared at him open-mouthed.Then a horn blared athim, her car passed by, and Alexei was on the move again.As he hared across the third lane, he heard someone slamming on the brakes – Alexei didn’t bother looking to see who.
    At the central reservation, he hurdled over the barrier and rushed out into the second bank of traffic before he could change his mind.The air was choked with a furious chorus of horns.Alexei jockeyed back and forth, only just managing to scramble out of the way of a Mercedes as it changed lanes.He dashed into the final lane – straight into the path of a blue van.
    No time to get out of the way.Alexei threw up his hands, his ears filled with loud screeching.He tensed, waiting for the end.
    One second passed, then another.Cautiously opening his eyes, Alexei saw that the van’s bumper had halted inches from his knees.The smell of burnt tyre rubber singed his nostrils.Placing his hands against the vehicle for support, Alexei walked shakily off the tarmac and up the gentle slope on that side of the highway.The driver in the blue van rolled down his window.
    ‘You bloody idiot!’ he bellowed after him.‘Have you got a death wish, you crazy little shit?’
    Dazed, Alexei held up an apologetic hand and hurried away.On the other side of the highway, the policeman remained marooned on top of the embankment, his angry shouts drowned out by the traffic.
    Alexei took the long way back to the gym, following a nervy, tortuous route through Moscow’s backstreets.Unable to stop his hands trembling, he jammed them into the pockets of his sweatshirt, and pulled the hood over his head.Every time he heard a siren wailing in the distance, he flinched.
    As he neared Komsomolskaya Square, Alexei began to calm down, his mind thinking clearly once more.He may have been able to spare the Uzbek, but he still had to look like he had been in a fight.Ducking into a doorway, Alexei gritted his teeth and punched the wall.Pain flared across his knuckles – trying to block it out, he punched the wall again.Suddenly, he felt all the anger and frustration that had been building up within him – the attack on Lena, Trojan’s