Bratva Mother

Hitman & Fun

All the issues his throne was experiencing made the thought of the feisty, gorgeous woman he briefly met, out of his head for some time. His days were busy with making sure his people knew he was still in charge, his shipments were not to be messed with, finding the person wanting to take the hit job on his sister and continue his expansion work in the states.

Mikhail isn’t used to a woman being able to surprise him with stealth, handling a weapon like a pro and being smart enough to make a person run in circles with words alone. Then there is the fact she fell off the face of the earth. He is certain that she went to Alaska, but looking at maps, it is vast, mostly empty and through some chats with people who have been in Alaska, most places aren’t on maps. He will have to wait until she resurfaces to see her again.

Maybe it is better that she went on her little retreat when she did. Kira Volkov was proving to be an adversary who knows how to play shadows. But there was a small fact that was bothering him about this whole situation. If Boris had two children, one of each, why is the daughter the only one stepping forward? Where was Valdimir hiding and why was HE not the one trying to steal the Bratva throne?

Something about it all felt off… Wrong even. If Boris taught his kids the mafia way, why didn’t he tell them the rules? If he raised them how Mikhail and his siblings were raised, why wasn’t the son coming after him and his sister living a comfortable life pretending ignorance? Yes the Bratva way was very misogynistic in how they dealt with the lifestyle. However, there were women who followed the men's way of doing things and still worked for the family. It was a choice for them, not so much for the high ranking men. The men who got caught were still loyal to the family and did work on the inside.

The bratva way is recognized worldwide, it is an unspoken rule that men rule the family and the women get a choice in joining or ignoring it all. There are wars between local families and even other nationals. However, women and children are innocent and are to be left alone. There are risks being a child of the mafia, k********g, extortion, exposure too early will be traumatizing but too late and it will be devastating to the child and the rest of the family.

What is getting him thinking while he travels to take care of his sister's hitman is, where are the Ivanof siblings? Their mother left Moscow after Boris’s funeral. Much like Carol did. She went back to her home in Suzdal. Vladimir, according to records, stayed in Moscow, but hasn’t drawn money from his account, rented/bought a home or even attended higher education. It is like after his fathers funeral, he fell off the face of the earth. They could follow Kira a little longer, she also stayed in Moscow attending university. After getting her degree in psychology, she too fell off the radar.

He puzzled over the mystery and the thoughts swirling in his mind. The car stopped in a cummy part of the city, the poor and desperate lived in these parts. His trusted people he vetted himself, also got out of their vehicle. They surveyed the area and building. Making a mental plan on getting in, getting the hitman and leaving quietly. Mikhail didn’t listen, he looked at the building. His thoughts were on the Ivanof offspring, the woman he is slowly becoming obsessed with and making his family safe.

They split going into the building, three on each side of the building, two going with Mikhail and one soldier for each car to protect. You never leave your transportation alone, always leave one person with the vehicle. Mikhail slowly made his way up the stairs. He was in no hurry to get to the guy and his people were covering all exits of the building. This hitman will die for accepting a hit on a Sokolov woman. He accepted his own death warrant taking the job.

When they got to the apartment that was listed for the man, they didn’t bother knocking. They broke the door down, looked around and noticed he was a professional. His area was clean, little personal items and little furniture. However, they were the masters in assassination. Mikhail stepped aside so his people could look for the normal signs of an assassin's tools. Even if this was a dummy apartment, he would have hidden his tools well in case the politsiya came knocking.

He surveyed the apartment and noticed a single bookcase instead of a tv, he walked over to it and started scanning book spines. Most of the books were useless fillers, but the bottom two rows were binders with ‘school yearbook’ on them. Even if he attended university, he wouldn’t have two rows on a shelf of just yearbooks he attended. He pointed this out to his team. They came over, one picked up a book and started flipping through them. Two were looking to see if the shelf was bolted to the wall.

“Boss, it's his research into mysterious or natural deaths. Looks like he was making sure he got away with his kills. Goes back every year or so to make sure the politsiya or other government officials didn’t find anything new.” The guy scanning the binders said, still looking through the books.

Mikhail was half listening and walking around the apartment. There was a bed, couch, table and an island. The space wasn’t big and given the location, he didn’t think the building had islands in their kitchens. He walked around it looking at the design. This is where the guy f****d up, he needs to know what to look for in crummy parts of the city. An island in the kitchen is a luxury most people don’t get. If this was a better neighborhood and better apartment complex, he wouldn’t have batted an eye about it. He told his guys to investigate it. Then stood back and watched.

The guy looking through the ‘yearbooks’ showed one to Mikhail. He looked at it and it was a file on his sister. He took it and started reading.

Name: Elana Sokolov

Age: 23 years old

Details: Daughter/sister to ‘bratva’ family. Siblings Demitri and Mikhail (current head of family) Sokolov. Attends university of Moscow for literature, and intends to be a writer. No known allergies or health restrictions. (Won’t be able to fake a natural death.) Was living in an apartment just off campus, now back at the family home. Researching other methods to accomplish mission. Must wait until the family lowers their guard or if a long range rifle might get the job done. What measures did the family put on the family home to keep them safe? Is the windows bullet resistant? I will have to monitor Elana to see her daily routine while home; while also researching construction about the family home and remodels.

Reading the file made him furious. He just finished reading and was working on controlling his temper when his men examining the island found a hidden compartment. The top wasn’t secured and it was hollow. This is where he hid his tools of the trade. Guns, knives, syringes, and different bullets were lined up neatly in the hidden space. Mikhail nodded to one of the guys. They put canisters throughout the apartment that their lab rats made themselves. Instead of pulling a pin and a deadly gas immediately coming out, it was rigged and wired to be pulled when signaled. Like pinged from a phone or set up to be a tripwire thing. If a certain movement will open it up. The gas in these canisters aren’t deadly however. No, it's a powerful sleeping gas, they want their fun with him before he dies.

Then they left, didn’t put the door back or anything. Let the guy sweat about his place being searched. Let him wonder if it was politsiya, them (Sokolov’s) or a target's living relative. For putting a hit on Elana, let him sweat and over think before the canisters go off and make him sleep. He will wake up in a coffin room.

For them, a coffin room is a small box-like room in the floor with a vent over the head for air. There is a hose that feeds into the room as well. Anything could go down this hose… Fire ants, black widows, dirty water, you name it, they probably tried to stuff down the hose to their victim. Only when he is ready to talk, desperate and frantic to get out; will they get him out and put him in a chair bolted to the floor. There, the real fun will begin.

Mikhail and his crew went to a different location, he left one person to see progress on their soon to be victim. Then they started doing research into the Ivanof siblings. He told his hacker and brother about his questions and ideas. Which made both people frown in concentration while thinking. While they thought and pondered the situation, he called the security people he left on his sister and updated them to keep her safe. There was a mocking bird watching the house and making fun of Elana. Being mafia, they had to choose words while warning each other. He however, told them to keep their mouths shut about this to Elana. She didn’t need to stress about people watching her.

Once his warning was received loud and clean, he hung up and looked back at the two men. The hacker, an odd man. He liked to do new things and was always trying something new, either in programming or outside in general. He was not scrawny or all elbows. He actually went to the gym and worked out. He insisted that he will not be the weak leak in the chain bringing down the family. If he gets caught, he has safeguards and traps to keep his work safe and hidden. He grew up in the slums and was scamming people to put food on the table for his sick single mom and his younger two siblings. At the time he was a teenager at 15, just trying to get by and provide for his siblings. He hacked into Mikhail’s bank and started shopping with Mikhail’s money.

At the time he didn’t know who he just robbed. Until coming out of the store with groceries for his family and Mikhail’s team surrounded him. He was getting ready to fight when Mikhail stepped out of the car and offered him housing, medicine and work. Maksim agreed on the spot and never looked back. His mom is now healthy, it was pneumonia that could have gotten really bad if left untreated. His siblings are respectable people who work honest jobs supporting themselves. Mak told them all that he impressed Mr. Sokolov with his computer skills and wanted him to do security monitoring for the family. It would give him good pay and get them out of the slums.

Now he did what he did best for the Bratva boss. He never spilled secrets and made sure the family was safe from harm with motion sensors and cameras wherever the family would be present. While he waited for his motion sensors to go off in the apartment, he started to research the Ivanof siblings. Could it be possible instead of inheriting just the family name, one or both inherited the crazy mindset their father was put away for? Is it why Kira studied psychology in university? Is it because he hasn't been in public since the funeral of their father? Did he have a mental breakdown and was hidden away?