Trouble on the Heath: A Comedy of Russian Gangsters, Town Planners and a Dog Called Nigel

Chapter Thirteen

When Grigori Koslov read the note his first reaction was cold, white fury. His second reaction was panic.

Eva watched her husband read the note with interest. She had handed it to him, having already read it herself. She smiled as she saw the waves of emotion passing through him.

She thought: I can read him like a book! No! Like a barometer!

She watched the storms of panic give way to fairer weather, as a glint of resolve entered his eyes.

The note had read: ‘We have your man, Anton Molotov. We will only release him, when we hear that you have withdrawn the planning application for numbers 26 and 27 Highgrove Park.’

And there was a photo of Anton tied up and looking very unhappy.

They had Anton! Boris Zolkin had kidnapped his son! Well Anton was virtually his son, wasn’t he? At that moment, it was as if a vast floodlight had suddenly been switched on. Grigori saw the world and himself clearly for the first time, and he knew, in that moment, that Anton Molotov was the only person in the whole world that he really cared about.

His wife read all this in his face, and she turned away.

If she, Eva, had been kidnapped, Grigori would have shrugged and gone on as usual. It hurt her to the quick to know that she was not as important to her husband as that… that oaf, Anton.

“Who do they think they are dealing with?” muttered Grigori. “Has Boris taken leave of his senses?”

“Perhaps it’s not Boris?” said his wife.

“Of course it is! Who else would try to stop my plans?”

Eva knew there was no point in arguing. Grigori had marked his enemy. No force on earth could stop him. Only death itself.