A searing pain flowed through his brain. He tried to move his hands, but couldn’t. It was then he realized he was hanging by his arms above his head held up by a set of chains.
“Hello Oleg,” said the voice.
The second Oleg heard that English accent, he knew instantly who his captor was.
“LITCHFELD,” he said using the Russian form of Thomas’s name.
“DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE FUCK YOU ARE YOU DOING?” he demanded as his blurry eyes began to focus on Thomas’s face as a pair of black soulless eyes stared back him.
“Spare me the tantrums, Oleg,” Thomas answered calmly.
“THE PRESIDENTS WON’T STAND FOR THIS,” Oleg said desperately.
Thomas looked at the man. He chose not to respond to the statement.
“Oleg, you are my prisoner because I am claiming the right of qan dashar on behalf of my daughter’s grandfather.”
“Qan dashar?”
He appeared confused before it suddenly dawned on him. Oleg’s venom returned in full force.
“FUCKING JELEPS CANNOT CLAIM THAT RIGHT, YOU PRIZA!” Oleg said referring to Nara’s previous position. “Poshel na knuy,“ he said, meaning “fuck you.”
Still Thomas said nothing.
Because Oleg knew that he was only moments from death, he decided to go out with pride. He started laughing.
“I always knew that bitch gave the best blowjobs! I just never expected just how good!” he said continuing with an evil laugh that echoed around the room.
Thomas’s eyes narrowed. The demon in his soul surfaced.
“I bet the bitch didn’t tell you the words you’re supposed to say when honor is claimed,” he taunted Thomas. Still Thomas said nothing.
“Before you kill me, Englishman, you should know that your bitch and her mother had screamed like little piglets when I took them,” he said as he spat on the floor.
“Seniň mertebe bolmak meniň mertebe,” meaning “Your fate is my honor,” Thomas whispered as he lifted Oleg’s famous gold pistol and pointed it at him and fired, taking his head off his spinal cord as he riddled with it all the bullets of the magazine in the process.
It wasn’t long after that Nara had told him that day in their bedroom of what had happened that it transpired by a strange coincidence Oleg’s own bodyguard had killed him with his own pistol before disappearing in Ashgabat.
It was even stranger, when it was reported that the bodyguard also had turned up dead in Dubai with his throat cut and an ear missing less than a week later.
Although the news only made Sky News and The Times of London as a minor item, in Turkmenistan it was about as significant as news got for he was considered a powerful man with connections to the Government.
The police and the government both promised to investigate, but despite reported intense efforts being made throughout the country nobody so far, had been caught for the murders.
Nara came breathlessly running into his study upon The Libertine that were moored of the coast of the sky blue waters of the Aeolian Islands with her hair loose, wearing a sarong around her waist. She wore an orange sexy bikini top to tell him of the gift that had been granted from Allah to her and mama. He knew instantly why.
“Thomas!” she said, not stopping to draw breath, her breasts moving up and down seductively. “Mama says the pig is dead!” she announced excitedly.
Without a word, Thomas smiled at her, pulled out a walnut polished box from his desk drawer then got up and walked around the desk until he came to stand in front of her. Pausing for a moment, he looked into her seductive brown eyes.
“Open it, Darling,” he ordered softly, giving it to her whilst stroking her hair away from her face gently with his other hand.
Thinking it was just another one of his gifts of guilt that he had bought her as a way of an apology since that terrible afternoon of few weeks ago, Nara’s face immediately showed intense disappointment.
“He doesn’t understand!” she thought.
Nevertheless she did as he told her.
Upon setting eyes on the box’s contents that lay on green velvet, she quickly stared straight back up him in shock and awe.
“It’s the p-i-g’s pistol!” she exclaimed, recognizing it straight away.
“Is this his animal’s ear?” she asked referring to the piece of shrived up anatomy that was lying next to a knife that she had instantly recognized as belonging to Yuri.
“Seniň mertebe bolmak meniň mertebe,” Thomas said quietly in Turkmen, which meant, “Your fate is my honor.” He kissed her forehead beneath him ignoring her question.
Immediately, tears arrived in Nara’s eyes as she began to comprehend the enormity what her love had done in her name.
6
Africa, Two Weeks Ago
The meetings in Borama, a city that for some unknown reason is twinned with Henley-on-Thames in England, but more importantly is the capital of a new country born out of the ashes of Somalia, and known as Adwalland, had been both trying and complicated for Thomas over the last few days.
Much more difficult to that of a typical natural resources deal with a host country he usually experienced because of the additional intricacies of the wider issues of superpower politics and global dominance were brought into play.
Adwalland, the world’s newest country was situated right in the middle of a plan that would see Russia’s re-emergence on the world stage as a military power with Thomas acting as the point of the sword as the country’s lead proxy investor.
As to why Thomas had been drawn into this position was complicated. Due initially, to TLH’s (Thomas’s Holding Company) strong ties with Russia through its present control of one of Siberia’s major Oil and Gas fields but primarily it was due to the close personal relationship Thomas had with the young President of the country. A former mailroom employee whom Thomas had befriended five years ago when he had contacted TLH offering exploration rights in Awdalland in an attempt to try to raise funds for a permanent diplomatic mission in London so they could build the momentum of their country’s right to exist as a legitimate State.
A buccaneer at heart, Thomas knew that the only way to get TLH into point position for the area’s rich natural resources was to ensure his young friend got a seat at the negotiating table, especially as Somalia had already previously granted the same rights to the U.S. Oil exploration companies main competitors of TLH in the business of exploration rights. Although skeptical at first, it wasn’t until he had visited the little self-governing area when he was impressed by the shared determination of all the tribal leaders to bring the rule of law to this small desperate area of Africa, did he take the initiative to set the ball in motion.
Thomas provided the struggling little organization with the five million U.S. dollars they needed for their Missions in London and New York and then placed TLH Public Relations teams at their disposal so they could build the necessary momentum to ensure this dream they held came to fruition.
Although it was incredibly difficult with the United States of America opposing the break-up of Somalia all the way, seeing it as a threat to their national security objectives related to the defeat of Al-Qaeda and because of their determination to protect their leading oil companies existing rights in the area, the end result was eventually achieved.
The little country now included at the negotiating table, with the support of Russia and China and much to the disgust of the US Oil explorers, who had lost their exploration rights in the process, became Africa’s newest state.
Unfortunately, like all young states born out of years of struggle and pain, not all of the Adwallians shared the elders’ vision for a respectful, peaceful country.