Page 42 of Broken Empire
“I don’t know anything else. I swear.”
“Bullshit.” I crouched down and clamped the pliers over Davina’s index finger again. “Leah, cover her mouth so the neighbors don’t hear her screaming.”
“Wait, no! I’m sorry! I’ll tell you!”
I narrowed my eyes, removed the pliers, and waved them in her face. “If you waste our time again, I’ll pull out a tooth instead. No more chances.”
“Okay, okay! I’m sorry,” she said, recoiling from the pliers. “PyotrTwoDelta is just a username. His real name is Nikolai.”
“Nikolaiwho?”
Davina swallowed hard. “Nikolai Vinogradov.”
“Who is he?”
“He’s a Russian businessman. An oligarch, really. He… he made most of his money from the West Siberian oil and petroleum basin. Very rich man.”
“What do you do for him apart from the financial stuff?”
She went silent and cast her eyes downward. I took the knife from Leah and pressed it against the side of her neck, hard enough to make blood bead on her skin. “Answer the question, Davina.”
She swallowed again. “He doesn’t like to travel much because of a leg injury he sustained several years ago, so I attend events on his behalf,” she replied, cheeks flushing bright pink.
“What sort of events?”
“Auctions,” she said, voice barely above a whisper. “I buy women for him.”
“He buys the women for snuff films, right?”
“Yes. Other things too.”
“Red rooms?”
She nodded. “Yes. He calls the women his dolls and shows them off to paying viewers in the red rooms. Then, after they’re gone, he sells their black tapes on his website to recoup some of the costs of buying them in the first place,” she said. “A black tape is just another name for—”
“We know what it means.” I leaned closer. “What can you tell us about the tapes?”
“They’re filmed by the same organization that runs the auctions. It’s called the Schöneberg Group.”
“I know all about the Schöneberg Group. I want more details about the tapes. Filming locations, and so on.”
Davina coughed and cleared her throat. “Nikolai never attends any of the shoots. He just sends me specifications to pass on to my contacts in the Schöneberg Group.”
“What sort of specifications?”
“Hair color and style. Makeup. Outfit selection. He’s very, very picky.” She paused for a beat before continuing. “He chooses the manner of death as well. It’s different each time.”
“Where are his girls kept before the tapes are made? And where are they filmed?”
“Right here in New York.”
“Try again,” I said, pressing the knife into her skin again. “I know for a fact that one of the girls was recently taken to DC.”
Davina’s eyes widened. “I don’t know anything about that.”
I sighed and clicked my fingers at Leah. She passed me the bigger pair of pliers. Davina shook her head wildly. “Please! I’m not lying!” she cried out. “I really don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“You’re a slow learner, aren’t you?”
