Saved
Sheila's Pov
The car stopped, and Ricky got out of the car and then walked around and opened my door.
"Sheila, we have to get on the plane. Now!" Ricky mumbled, reached over me, unlocked my seat belt, and pulled me out of the car. He carried me onto the plane and then put me down for one of the seats. I could not move nor talk. My body had gone into shock.
"Sheila?" I heard Ricky trying to get my attention as I stared at the spot on the floor in front of me. I felt the plane start to move, and soon we left the ground below us.
"Sheila, talk to me!" Ricky shook my arm gently before he pulled me up to his lap. He wrapped his arms around my body, and I felt my eyes burning with tears. I buried my face in Ricky's neck before I let tears fall down my face. I entangled my arms around his body, and he caressed his hand above my head in a comforting manner. He let me break down into his embrace as I sobbed uncontrollably. Feeling his genuine care for me was the only thing that could reach me.
"We have a rat amongst us. The rat has been trying to get to your brother these past months. We needed to fake his death to see if the rat tries to claim his place. I needed your genuine reaction so that the men would buy it. Your brother is alive, Sheila." He whispers into my ear, and I started to cry my heart out in relief, and I felt his arms tighten around me while he rocked me back and forth like a baby. I don't know for how long I cried, but I got composure over myself after a while and then straighten out my back in Ricky's lap before I turned to face him.
"Ricky, how are you still alive?"
I whispered and locked my eyes with his and waited for his response. He sighed before he answered me.
"I was wearing a bulletproof vest when Zion's man shot me in the back. I chose to play dead, so we would have a better chance in saving you since we were outnumbered. "
He wrinkled his forehead before he leaned in and continued speaking with a lower voice.
"I need you to still act like your brother is dead, Sheila. The men behind us need to believe it is true. It's just you, me, Dima, Maxim, and Vladi, who knows about our plan."
He leaned back and gave me a meaningful look. I nodded and leaned my head against his shoulder. "You need to eat something," Ricky mumbled, but I just shook my head as I replied. "I am not hungry, Ricky." I closed my eyes and focused on listening to Ricky's soothing heartbeat.
"Sheila. Wake up. You have slept for eight hours. We are landing at any moment now." I opened my eyes and groaned when I felt an intense headache taking over. How are my mornings always starting with these damn headaches?
"What's wrong?" Ricky gave me a worried look while asking.
"I have a fucking headache from hell, and my brother is fucking dead, Ricky. That is what's fucking wrong." I growled and then quickly stood up. "Sheila, sit down. We are about to land." Ricky uttered with a worried tone and pulled me in my arm. I smacked away his hand and starred at the men sitting behind us.
There were five of them. I glanced down and saw Ricky's gun poking out from his jacket. Please don't ask me why, but I caught the gun quickly with my left hand and then pointed the gun at the men.
"Who the hell is responsible for my brother's death?" I screamed when I felt the rage in me. All the emotions that I had suppressed in recent months were boiling within me. I felt my heart rate increase, and my hands started sweating. The men looked at me with surprised faces, and then they began to twist and turn around on their seats.
"Tell me now, before I start to shoot you all, one by one. You all are just a pair of useless cunts anyway. You all had one job, and you all have failed." I roared angrily and took a step closer while I pulled off the safety lock on the gun.
"Sheila, give me the gun and sit down. Now!" Ricky spoke calmly, and I saw how he stood up behind me out of the corner of my eye. "You can't give me a fucking order Ricky," I mutter back at him over my shoulder while my eyes were still hovering over the men in front of me. "So, how's it going to be? Are you all just going to sit there and be useless and make me kill you all, or are you going to come forward as a man would do?" I said provocatively and sneered at them mockingly.
"All passengers back to their seats. We are about to land in Moscow." I heard the pilot speak through the microphone, and I gave the men the last glare before I uttered the last words. "We will finish this as soon as we have landed. Mark my words." I turned around and sat down beside Ricky, who smirked at me. "Crazy woman." He mumbled while he carefully took back his gun from my hands.
We landed on Russian ground, and Ricky handed me a pair of shoes and a jacket that he had lain in a bag beneath the seat. "I came prepared." He said and smirked silently.
I put on the shoes and jacket and then took back the gun from Ricky before getting up and ordering all the men to put their weapons in the bag while aiming at them.
One of them muttered furiously and wriggled his nose with a disgusting face. I immediately felt that he was a rotten fish in the sea. He was the only one that hesitated to give his gun to me.
"You will give me the gun willingly, or I will make you hand it over," I said demanding, and I saw his body tense while he stared angrily at me. "Okay, you're asking for it now," I grunted, annoyed, and aimed and shot him in the arm. I am an excellent shooter, so the bullet just touched him lightly. "What the fuck, Sheila." Ricky roared next to me. "Oh, come on, it barely touched him," I replied and then narrowed down my eyes and glared at the man that looked pissed now.
"I will place the next bullet between your eyes," I utter, annoyed, irritated at how his slow brain function was to follow the order I gave him.
"Just give the woman the gun, Igor." Said one of the men with an annoyed tone standing behind me, and I could hear him stomping with his feet impatiently. Igor sighed loudly and then handed over the gun before hitting me with his shoulder as he pushed past me in the narrow aisle.
I was outraged at his disrespectful manner and was about to call him out when I felt Ricky's hand on my arm while he was pulling me against him.
"Let him be, for now, Sheila." He mumbled, and I nodded.
"Care to explain why you took their guns?" Ricky asked me as we started to walk towards the flight stair, "Just to show them that I am no one to mess with."
I replied, and then we walked out of the plane. Two black cars, model SUV, stood parked near the plane, and the five men stood smoking with two other men. I guess those two new men were our drivers. They all turn into silence as soon as Ricky and I came closer towards them and then continued to glare at us disapprovingly. I rolled my eyes at them and how stupid they looked and waited for Ricky to talk. "We will have a meeting tomorrow about current events and then decide how we will go from there. I will see you all at the base at nine tomorrow night." Ricky insinuated and then nodded towards the men.
We headed to the cars and then hopped in. Ricky drove out of the airport, and soon we were out on the highway, and Dima turned on the radio. The snow was glistening out in the fields that we passed. I rested my head against the window and listened to the murmur from the radio. It felt unreal to be back in Russia. I have not been here since I left the country seven years ago, and I did not think I would come back here either. So many emotions swirled around inside me, and then I felt panic creeping up on me. Memories that I had tried to suppress were flashing before me. I grabbed the seat and tried to focus my breathing on preventing the panic attack from coming over me.
"What's up, Sheila?" Ricky asked in a worried tone. I took a deep breath and felt the burning vomit begin to erode my throat. "Stop the car," I shouted and tried to keep the vomit down. We slowed down and stopped next to the roadside. I barely manage to open the door before the vomit flew out of my mouth and down over the ground below me. I sobbed a couple of times and heard Ricky open his door and walk around the car and step into the back seat next to me. He stroked my back with gentle movements and spoke in a soft tone. "Are you feeling better?" He asked, continuing to stroke my back. "Yes, I'm fine now. You can continue driving." I sat up on the seat and closed the door. Ricky told Dima to take over and keep on driving, and then he handed me a napkin. I took it and wiped my face clean before I knuckled it together and put it in the side compartment of the door. Ricky's eyes follow every movement I made as he studied me with a watchful eye. "It's okay, Ricky. I'm fine." I mumbled and felt the headache thump behind my eyelids, and my stomach growled anxiously, hungry for food.
"Take the next drive-through, Dima. We all need to eat something."
Ricky said and grabbed my hand and leans my head against his shoulder. I closed my eyes and continued to focus on my breathing. And I tried to think of anything other than my headache. All the pain I felt pulsating through my body at the moment. Physical pain was something I could handle, okay; it was a biggie for me.
But I had, during an extended period, avoided the mental pain.
I always pushed it away and then buried it deep within me.
A good strategy for the moment, but it harms life in the long run.
For sooner or later, it will bubble up to the surface, whether you like it or not.
"Talk to me. Let me in." Ricky mumbled into my ear and stroke his finger over my hand. I felt tears burning up in the corner of my eyes. I wanted to trust him, to let him in. But I was exhausted. I was trying to hold myself together, and that was all I could manage to do at the moment. "Not now, Rick," I whispered back, and I squeezed his hand, reassuring him that I was okay. Even though I knew I had a living hell coming my way.
"Oh, I almost forgot… Merry Christmas," Ricky whisper, "I forgot it was December," I mumble back.