Free Close Protection by Riley Morgan Page B

Lena beseech her step-father. She could not remember the last time he’d yielded to her wishes on any matter of any importance.
                  And so she said goodnight to Ramon and they parted in sour moods. After he left, she stayed up thinking about why her Zeus would not be bringing him along, why none of them would have guests.
    It was certainly strange, but Lena figured that her step-father must have his reasons.
     

Ramon             
    The next morning, Ramon climbed into the huge SUV that the Buldovas kept for hauling large cargo. As far as the truck was concerned, carrying the necessary materials to reinforce the stronghold of a drug lord was one of the less insidious things that it had been party to over the years. Ramon was unaware of this, although he was suspicious of it. Presently, the cargo that concerned him most was the pair of borderline psychotic men in the back.
    Andris and Basil were just about the worst kind of person that Ramon could imagine. They’d grown up every bit as spoiled as Lena had, but with buckets more privilege. Everywhere they went, scared peons worshipped the ground that they walked on simply because they were their father’s son. The same people who would not recognize Lena would lavish the boys with gifts and praise. All of this, naturally, disabused the boys of any sense of decency or good nature, and so they went around committing heinous acts with absolute impunity. Why wouldn’t they? Rules and morality were concepts that existed to rule the wills of lesser mortals. They did not apply to the only given sons of Zeus Buldova.
    Of course, Ramon didn’t know all of this, but it was an educated guess on his part and one that was closer to the truth than he imagined.
    Now, they chattered ceaselessly behind him as he drove the tired old truck up the road to the nearest hardware store.
    It was hard to make out their words as the road rumbled beneath them. Every once in a while, one of them would shout an order to the front of the van. Turn up the radio. Change the station. Stop so we can get food. Both stepbrothers were older than Lena. Andris was 22 and Basil was 24. But they both seemed to Ramon like petulant children, hardly out of school.
    Begrudgingly, Ramon honored each request.
    More than ever, Ramon realized how important it was to keep on Zeus and his awful spawn’s good side. If he was going to figure out what was going on, he needed them to be convinced of his loyalty. It pained him to play along with them. He couldn’t stand their abusive and predatory nature. But it was a ruse he was willing to live in order to protect Lena.
    After three stops, once to use the bathroom, once for cigarettes, and once to get fried chicken from a gas station, they finally arrived at the hardware store that Ramon had planned on going to to get the first bunch of things he’d need to make the house safer. Safer, that is, if the threat to Lena’s health was outside their walls, and not on the inside.
    “This place is a dump,” Andris said, climbing out of the van.
    “Yea, a real shithole,” Basil added.
    Ramon ignored them. It was the only hardware store around. The next closest one was in Miami almost two hours away. It had the added benefit of being next to an old outlet upholstery store. Zeus wasn’t exactly going to love the decorations Ramon picked out for him, but he didn’t have time to wait for custom curtains from Venice to arrive, not when Lena’s safety was in question.
    The old man could choose between eyesores in his living room or a happy, healthy step-daughter. Ramon was beginning to wonder if he knew how Zeus would pick, given the option.
    They went into the upholstery store first and Ramon found the only matching curtains that would fit the windows. They were, even to his unrefined eye, fuck ugly. Maroon with shades of deep brown and faded gold. It was though they’d been made by two people. one who wanted an earthy floral pattern, and one