“Here are your keys madam”, said a short Chinese man standing behind a rather large ornate counter. The tall pale-skinned woman thanked him in a thick Russian accent. As she walked past the counter she was followed by a big burly man who was surrounded by several security guards. The woman opened the door of the penthouse suite and let the man in.
“Thank you, Nina” said the man.
“Always a pleasure, Vasily”, said Nina as she closed the door behind them, leaving the security team outside.
The room was large and spacious, high walls with tall glass windows from floor to ceiling. You could see the farthest reaches of Beijing from up here. A bar on the left and a king size bed on the right. Everything was made of marble or glass.
There was a knock on the door. Nina opened the door and started talking to someone. A few moments later she escorted two men in. Vasily and the men stood across from each other with Nina in the middle.
“Twenty men, and two pieces of anti-tank ordnance early next week”, one of the men said as the other man pushed a bag towards the middle.