The Devil's Handshake by Michael Reagan

convinced himself as he took a bite of a piece of
California sushi roll.
    On arriving back at his hotel an hour later
having left Oleg to play with the remaining whores, Thomas was
informed by Mikhail with a disapproving eye that his “purchase” was
now in his suite. He looked at his friend but chose not to say
anything.
    Mikhail had become a changed man ever since
he had married his young pretty redheaded wife Hanna, telling him
at every opportunity to settle down and find a nice girl almost as
if he was afraid that Thomas would burn himself out.
    “ Bit expensive though for a
Jelep, Boss!” Mikhail joked despite his eyes saying otherwise using
the Turkmen word for a whore within his English
sentence.
    “ I know, Mikail,” Thomas
answered with a smile at Mikhail’s attempt at humor before
continuing, “But when in Turkmenistan, one has to buy a horse!”
making reference to the passion of the Turkmen people as they
entered the lift together and rode it to his suite.
    “ By the way, that prick Yuri
wanted to make sure I gave you this,” Mikhail said passing him an
envelope.
    Opening it, Thomas found it contained the
girl’s “Permission to Travel” documents from the Government and a
pristine Turkman passport. Taking her passport out and flicking
through it, he saw it only had a recently issued visa for the
United Arab Emirates in it. Turning to the end page, he found her
full name.
    “ That’s a bit of a mouthful
Boss!” Mikhail exclaimed, looked over his shoulder indicating his
understanding of British humor for double entendre having been with
him for so long.
    “ Indeed!” Thomas replied
even though he hadn’t been listening as he had been taking in the
fact that even in a passport photo the girl was stunningly
beautiful, a feat in itself.
    “ Christ, she’s only
nineteen!” he thought as her date of birth sunk in as he promptly
closed the passport and placed it back in the envelope. He resealed
it before passing it back to Mikhail.
    “ You keep this but give a
copy to the Captain,” he said, referring to the skipper of his
Gulfstream G-4 as he was going to need it for the paperwork for
their return to Moscow in the morning.
    “ I don’t want my wild horse
running off and getting herself killed!” he joked. “Oh and when we
get to Moscow can you sort out her visas at the British Embassy as
well, please.”
    “ Sure, Boss,” answered
Mikhail without question although nonetheless somewhat surprised
that Thomas actually intended to take the young girl with them. Up
until that moment Mikhail had thought Thomas had saved the girl’s
life because he was a ‘white knight’ but by the statement he had
just given him it now appeared he was actually going to keep her.
It disappointed him, but he decided against making comment. After
all, despite their close relationship, he was the Boss.
    “ Hopefully he will do the
right thing,” Mikhail thought before asking, “What should I tell
the Embassy in Moscow for her multiple re-entry visa?” knowing that
an entry visa for the UK wouldn’t be easy.
    “ Tell them she is the going
to be the new Executive Director of The Libertine and as its parent
company is English, that should be enough to get her an annual
one.”
    “ Will do, Boss,” answered
Mikhail. “I will get Rubin to get the paperwork sorted,” he then
said referring to the member of the team who was the bag carrier as
filling in paperwork was never Mikhail’s strong point. It reminded
him too much of his days in the Shakbat.
    Arriving at their floor they walked out of
the lift then down the corridor that had the remaining members of
his personal security team posted along it, to the suite.
    “ Night, Boss,” said Mikhail
once they reached the door giving yet another disapproving look
before making a mental note to have some clothes sent up for
her.
    “ Goodnight, Mikhail,”
replied Thomas, unaware of what was waiting for him in his
suite.
    Closing the door behind him, Thomas