Chapter 15

His fingers moved swiftly, but the distance between the three of us didn't favor him. He came and left in the blink of an eye. I didn't leave in time. His hands dropped to his pocket groping for his wallet and phone which weren't there of course. He yelled 'vor', which means thief in Russian and pointed a bejeweled finger at me. The whole place froze, everyone staring in our direction. Unfortunately, that included the very people I was trying to avoid. David was the first person to turn realize, his eyes widening in shock, followed by Khelanie who looked as confused as a human being could get. Ivanka, who was in the middle of a conversation, took some time to turn around giving me time to tun for it. Guests began to scream as several security agents materialized and began pushing their way through the crowd, drawing various weapons as they drew nearer. Several shots rang out, but not from the security team. Whatever plans the agency had were in play.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Diesel slipping through the kitchen door. I changed my direction and began my pursuit. I barged into the kitchen just in time to see him slipping through another door. I raced to the door, but came to a halt just in front of it. I sensed a trap. I kicked the door open. I was right. A crowbar swung at where my head would have been if I had gone through the door. I lunged forward and tackled him to the ground, punching his face. He pushed me off and reached into his waistband for his pistol, but I was quicker. I fired at his hand. He shouted and rolled further away from me, cradling his bloody hand in his good hand. He pushed himself to his feet and faced me with a look of utter disgust. I lunged again, but he was quicker this time and managed to slide out of the way, allowing my own momentum to throw me out of balance, sending me sprawling face first onto the cold floor.

I was up in less than a second, expecting him to be running away, but he was still standing there pointing my own gun at me with ruthless cold eyes that stared into my soul. I dropped onto the floor and rolled straight into his legs, toppling him over like a stack of jenga blocks. I got to my feet and pressed my fight foot onto his throat, crushing his windpipe. Mistake on my part. The hooked behind my knee with his good arm and dropped me onto the floor once again, now it was his turn to pummel my face. I managed to get out of the way but he didn't spare me time to recover. He had gotten onto his feet and kicked me in the ribs. I heard a high pitched scream which could only have been mine. I grabbed hold of his ankle and pulled myself up quickly before he struck. I dug my thumb into his eye, forcing him back. I managed to land a heavy blow to his diaphragm, knocking the air out of him.

I landed a knee to the bridge of his nose, only allowing him to fall to the floor. I grabbed my handcuffs from my pocket and secured his good wrist. Before I could secure the other, the bottom of an expensive shoe smashed flat into my face. My head hit the floor with a heavy thud. There was an explosion of pain and dizziness followed. David towered above me, staring down. He shook his head. "Oh dear little brother. You never learned to watch your own back. He brought his shoe down once more and everything went black.

My eyes fluttered open. I was dizzy as hell and didn't know where I was. I raised my hand and ran it through my hair. That was a good sign. It meant I wasn't in captivity. I fought the dizziness and stood up. I sighed a sigh of relief. I was still in the parking lot. David, or whoever had propped me up against a white car. There was nobody around me. I made my way out of the parking lot and onto the street where I hailed a cab back to the hotel. I ran myself a hot bath and lay in it, letting the therapeutic bath salts do their work, supposedly relaxing my muscles. I had to admit that when I was done, my muscles felt relaxed. I even went for a massage. I was lying on by bed, once more trying to forget recent events, when Khelanie called me. My heart hammered in my chest. I picked up the phone slowly and waited for the last ring before answering it.

There was a moment of silence before she spoke. " I saw the weirdest thing last night." I tried my best to act surprised and unsuspecting. " Yeah, what?" She paused again. "where are you right now?" I started to say at home, but she flared up and released a torrent of angry Russian. I had been defeated. She knew something was up. I sighed. " Meet me in front of the Mariott." Apparently, she was staying in the same hotel as me. I sighed a sigh of relief. It was a good thing I found out earlier instead of later. I wore sweats and a hoodie and went to the lobby to wait for Khelanie. Unsurprisingly, she was already there and sipping a glass of complimentary champagne. She was wearing jean shorts and a crop-top with white sneakers and even then, she looked amazing and elegant. I took my time before approaching her, not sure how she would react, but when I finally did, I wished I hadn't. The moment I began speaking, she shushed me and beckoned for me to follow her. I did so, all the way to the spa.

We went through a few procedures and finally had our alone time in the sauna. I was finally allowed to talk. I explained everything to her, the fact that I was a C.I.A agent and all, but I did not not disclose the fact that it was her mother whom I was supposed to investigate and kill, but she sussed it out anyway. She was quiet by the time I had finished, staring at me. She nodded her head slowly. " I always knew she was a no good crook. A liar, a thief, a criminal..." Her voice was gradually becoming louder. She stood up and began pacing up and down. I grabbed her shoulders and looked straight into her eyes. There was an unspoken mutual understanding between us and she calmed down, melting into my arms. I held her tight as she sobbed onto my chest. She vented out her feelings for a while in Russian, then raised her head to face me. " And you..." I There was an overly dramatic moment of silence before she continued her sentence. " You have to make it up to me." I blinked stupidly and asked how. That was the best thing I said in my life.

She pushed me back onto the wooden floor and stood over me. For a split second I thought she was going to beat me up, but my curiosity was satisfied when she got down and sat on me. She leaned over, pressing her body against mine. I cracked a grin as she began kissing my neck and licking my chest. Just when I was getting into it, she got up. My mouth fell open. I stood up to face her, confused as hell. She looked at me for a while then kissed me again. she locked the door and turned to face me. In a second, her towel came off and so did mine. She lunged at me, knocking me flat on the floor with seductive, but playful laughter. She got down onto the floor and began licking me. From the base of my neck, all the way down my chest. After a while of playfulness, we finally got to it. Once again, the sound of Khelanie's moans filled my ears and I felt the familiar feeling of her nails digging into my flesh. I couldn't believe she wasn't angry at me and I couldn't believe that I had sex in a sauna.

We got dressed and went our separate ways. I lay on my bed smiling, reminiscing. I lounged about, but I woke up when I got a message, asking me to meet someone in the restaurant and give him the recorded conversation to deliver back to HQ. I was glad I finally got to wear the suit I had picked out the previous night. I started getting ready at seven ans was ready by seven thirty. I admired myself in the mirror. What a handsome devil. I had slicked my hair back, to blend in better. It looked good on me, but it wasn't a look I would want to keep. I was ready. The flash drive was in my sleeve. I knew what I was looking out for. The only thing that could go wrong would be if David interfered, which reminded me of a conversation between Khelanie and I that had be happen, even though I wasn't all for it. I made up my mind to deal with it after the mission.

I left my room for the restaurant at eight and sat at a table near the back, waiting for a signal. I ordered my food and ate it all, still wondering who I was supposed to give the drive to. I had been sitting there for almost two hours and I had gone through three desert platters. I was running out of patience slowly despite my tremendous efforts to control myself. It was the waiter who cleared my last dessert platter. I noticed the Connors Cure lapel pin on his blazer. I opened out the napkin and dropped the flash drive in in a way that only he would notice. He took away the plate and the napkin. He spoke briefly in a low tone, telling me to await further instructions. I sighed and got up. At least one part of the mission was done.

I was leaving the restaurant when I heard a scream. I turned around to see blood and chunks of something splattered all over a lady. Whoever was sitting beside her had his head shot and sprayed all over her. She was screaming and removing bits and pieces of the man's brain and skull of her white dress. My eyes instinctively went to the emergency exit, just in time to see Diesel slip through. I don't know why, but I followed him through. The sound of a silenced gunshot met my ears the moment I went through the door and I was met with the shocking sight of David standing above Diesel's dead body with a gun.