Thick As Blood - Nestor Oceteva

24. Pessimist

Cole: 100k/m 50 confirmed.
Me: Transferred. Meet at Brown Field Municiple Airport tomorrow 0800.

"We will head out tomorrow morning." I said to Miguel as I sat in my office.

"Is there anything I can assist with?" He asked as he typed on his phone.

"No." I chuckled, he didn't have as much resources as he thought he did. "Can I take Nestor?"

"I assumed that was a given. Of course, for as long as you need. Now I do have to leave for a meeting. Bring my nephew home Lily." He stood and buttoned his suit up before kissing my cheek and heading to his car.

It was strange that our relationship had changed so much in a few short months. Emily was still standoffish but we were getting there. It certainly wasn't as silent and cold as it started off as. I think it started off as supervision when I would play with Cristobal but eventually she actually talked to me and things got civil. I felt my phone vibrate and smiled as Nestor's contact came up. Answering quickly I put the phone to my ear.

"I was just thinking about you mi amor. Cole has another 50 men for us."

"Good, I've got Francis and the Doc sorted for tomorrow. Are you sure you don't want to reach out to the Club?"

"They have done enough for me already. I can't ask anymore of them. Plus, it's going to be difficult enough getting almost 80 people into Russia undetected without adding anyone else."

"It'll be a fucking miracle." He exasperated.

"Have some faith in me Nestor." I laughed, "now hurry up and get home so we can pack."

I stayed up most of the night going over the itinerary and contacting everyone who needed to be in the know. Not even Nestor knew every part of the plan, not because I didn't trust him but rather to keep the third parties anonymous. I knew that I was running on fumes but it would be a long flight and I could sleep on the plane.

We pulled up to the Lockheed Super Hercules that was waiting on the runway at the airport just before 8am. There was already seven canvas military trucks parked beside the plane and a lorry truck being unloaded. The extra men Cole had hired were helping unload the weapons crates onto the plane when another vehicle approached. The van drove straight onto the plane and parked inside before Dr Chino and Francis hopped out. Francis had a folder full of papers with him that he tucked under his armpit as he made his way to the seats at the front.

"Remind me why Francis is here?" Nestor asked he stood beside me.

The mortician certainly looked out of place in the plane full of camouflaged men.

"He can sign off exhumations and check dental records." I swallowed deeply. "In case there are remains in their tombs."

He draped his arm over my shoulder and together we walked up the ramp onto the plane. It didn't take long for all the weapons to be loaded and the ramp was about to go up when someone yelled 'hold the door.' I unclipped the belt and made my way to the back of the plane as Bishop and his boys walked up the ramp without their kuttes on.

"This isn't something you should be involved with gentlemen." I said over the noise of the engines.

"We took a vote. So what can we do?" Bishop replied.

"There's seats at the front. We will have a briefing at cruising altitude." I nodded my head to the few rows of seats available and the men made their way over. I grabbed Bishop's shoulder as he went past. "Thank you for this. You didn't have to."

"You saves Ricardo, that makes you family." He smiled and continued on his way.

It was costing me $100,000 per man of Cole's so it only seemed fair to pay the Mayan's too. They were putting their assess on the line here too. Some of them must have stayed behind to look after the clubhouse in Bishops absence, Angel being one of them. Good, I don't need Ricardo being left without a parent if this goes wrong. I counted 8 Mayans so I transferred the $800,000 to the same account I used before. Bishop looked up from his phone and opened his mouth but I stopped him.

"Don't argue Bishop." I said and he nodded, putting his phone away.

When we took off we were at maximum weight capacity so we used the whole runway up and it was pretty gnarly for a moment but then we were up and off. The plane was not made for comfort so it a fair bit bumpy and Cole's men were in standing room as there weren't enough seats. Eventually we were above the clouds and the turbulence stopped. I unclipped my belt and grabbed my tablet, plugging it into the widescreen TVs on the wall.

I had spent the evening going over the schematics of the Sokolov mansion that I had spent so much time. I knew the layout of the land, the number of employees, the exits and vantage points, everything. The plan was to take over the mansion upon arrival and set up a base there. It had high walls and was on a hill side so it was easily defended should the Bratva realise what had happened. I brought up aerial footage of the property.

"This is where we will be staying during our hopefully short trip. First we need to rid it of its current occupants. There is 11 staff members who are all trained in defence weaponry, they should be killed on sight. Ivanka and Kirill Sokolov should be disarmed and detained. We need them for the biometric systems in the house. Any questions?"

"How do we get in? Ram the gate and knock on the door?"

"We don't want to damage the gate or the wall. It will trigger alarms and alert them. We haven't just been picking off Bratva members for fun. They were targeted for their closeness to the inner circle. Their caskets are being repatriated as we speak, unfortunately they will not make it there. We will be in the hearses and they will let us drive right through theirs gates."

Everyone separated and chatted to their colleagues while I sat back with Nestor and Bishop.

"This must be costing you a small fortune." Bishop said.

"I would spend every cent of it for my Alex." I said honestly.

Money was a means to an end. I would always have more come in from my businesses so I wasn't worried about spending what I had not that this was draining it.

"What's the deal with the hearses and morticians?" He asked.

"Drugs bring in a lot of money and the gyms not too bad too but do you know what my most profitable business is?" I paused and he shook his head. "Embalming fluid. Worldwide, millions of gallons are used every single day by morticians and I supply almost 80% of the market. I created a network within the  supply chain and can travel almost invisibly. If anyone saw the log book for this flight, it is for the repatriation of soldiers bodies. No one would risk searching it for the political and social backlash that would cause."

"Fucking hell." He said taking it all in.

"She's a fucking genius ain't she." Nestor said proudly as I settled into his side really to catch up on some much needed sleep.