Free Danger Woman by Frederick Ramsay Page B

such a thing possible. He’d told Leo he looked like Hollywood’s idea of a mobster. Leo said that was the whole idea. His appearance should attract attention, which was the point. It would make it easy for his new playmates to find him and for Modise to keep track. Yuri groused a bit and said something that sounded obscene or it may have been Russian, probably both. The sun seemed particularly unrelenting and the reek of kerosene made him queasy. He exhaled, pulled out a handkerchief and mopped his face. He felt the presence of others, like himself, who were not there to greet passengers, but to watch. Lenka would have his people in the small crowd of greeters. So would Modise. The presence of the latter was supposed to make him feel safe. It didn’t.
    The Bratva boss had not taken it well when Greshenko told him the police had questioned him. He already knew that, of course, but wanted to know what they were after and what, if anything, they already knew. Yuri had told him they were aware of Lenka’s plans to muscle in on the Chobe hotels, but didn’t know the details. But then, anybody who had been paying attention to what had been going on for the last month or so could have figured that much out. He’d added that the police did not know about his own plans, either. Yuri felt sure that remark had thrown Lenka off stride. So, he had plowed on and added, almost as an afterthought, he would not be interested in anything Lenka had to say as he had business of his own to attend to. There’d been a short silence and the line went dead. Lenka would wonder about the reasons why Yuri Greshenko, whom he thought to be his to do with as he pleased, had become so independent. How did that happen? Yuri was sure he would not take the snub lightly but, if he knew anything, he knew how a Bratva mind worked and he knew Lenka would wait and see what it was that had emboldened the person he’d believed was under his thumb to defy him before he moved against him.
    Yuri pulled out a dry handkerchief (not black) and mopped his brow again. It wasn’t as much a matter of nerves as leaving his back unguarded. He might have missed something about Lenka and if he had, he could expect to hear the pop of a silenced pistol and feel the shock of a bullet at any moment. It would not be a new experience and certainly one he did not wish to repeat. He put that thought aside and turned his attention to the passengers alighting from the plane.
    A mixture of a few business types and many tourists dressed in what they must have assumed to be proper safari wear stepped onto the tarmac and made their way to the vans marked with hotel names on their doors. Six men, all in their late thirties or early forties, peeled off from the crowd and walked toward Yuri. They waved and smiled as if they were meeting an old friend, a colleague. In truth, none of them had ever laid eyes on Yuri except for the photographs Leo had sent them by e-mail with instructions about how they were to behave when they arrived. As they drew nearer, they greeted Yuri in Russian and piled into the van while making as much noise within the bounds of normal as they could. Yuri drove them to the casino.
    The game was on.
    ***
    Sanderson had to stop at the airport. A package delivery had arrived and one which required her urgent attention, Charles Tlalelo had said. She knew Charles always exaggerated, but she didn’t want to take a chance and miss something important. He also told her that her policeman had called and would try to reach her later. She was sorry she’d missed that call. She started to call Modise and then changed her mind. That must be for another time. She was on duty and had to adhere to stricter standards than the others. It was the price she paid for being a woman in a man’s job. That is how it was put to her. Progress was slow coming to the Chobe, for sure. The package turned out to be new patches for the Game Park Guides