So I was on the run, again. I laughed at my foolish belief that maybe, just maybe, I could have finally settled into some sort of normalcy under Reese’s wing, as I ran with all I had towards the back door of the hotel; trying to evade Snow and company. A small part of me asked myself, what was the point of running? I had no reasonable escape route planned; and I could only bank on not being shot down in front of a crowd of people for so long before Mark lost patience and threw caution and appearances to the wind. But the deeper, more instinctual being inside me shoved that thought aside with all the vehemence it could muster; wanting, no, demanding that I get the hell out of there now.
As I ran past the hallway leading to the swimming pool, a sudden thought popped into my head. Acting on the impulse, and praying that it actually worked; I turned tail quickly, dashing down the hallway towards the pool area instead of continuing along my original path towards the back door. I quickly allowed a family of four to maneuver around me through the door from the pool back into the hotel; and smiled to myself as I continued running to the door that led outside onto a deck area as I heard the frustrated grunts of Mark and the other agent as they attempted to squeeze through the door against the flow of the other family’s movement.
Taking advantage of my momentary head start, I burst through the door and into the cool morning air; making a quick left to run towards the gate on the opposite side of the veranda. Seeing that it was locked, likely to keep guests from meandering into the alley behind it, I took a few steps back, simultaneously gauging exactly how I would have to run and jump to clear it. I began to run at it, preparing myself for the jump that, if done incorrectly, would very likely end in injury and of course, capture. As I ran up closer to the gate, I leapt out, placing a foot on the bottom and using my arms and the movement of my other leg up and over to propel myself into the alley.
As I dropped to the ground, rolling lightly and landing back on my feet, I heard Mark shout something to the other agent; before I heard the thud signifying that he too was in the alley with me. Pushing myself faster, I took the first right turn into yet another back alley behind a seafood restaurant and a Laundromat; and soon took a left turn onto the main street, hoping that I could lose him somehow in the crowd.
I continued running as fast as I could through the crowded street, all the while wondering how on earth Snow had found me so quickly. Had he really been lucky enough to happen upon that hotel by chance? Or had someone tipped him off? I fought back the brief thought flashing through my head that Reese could have done such a thing. It was impossible. I didn’t know him that well, obviously, but I doubted he had any motive for turning me in. And even if he had given Snow information as to my whereabouts, he could never have done so without the other agent also learning his own location; which is something that I knew without a doubt he would never risk.
As I kept running, I risked a glance back to see if I was still being followed; realizing with a curse that Snow was still running after me a few feet away. Pushing aside my growing fatigue, and ignoring the protest of my feet and legs; I ducked into another alley to my left, hoping that if this were to devolve into a shootout that I could at least avert harm coming to anyone else besides myself. I kept running, although I slowed slightly once I realized that I had ducked into an alley that was a dead-end.
Coming to a stop, I turned slowly, preparing myself to face Snow and whatever misery he had planned. I could have seen the predatory gleam in his eyes from a mile away; and I edged backwards towards the brick wall at the end of the alley, putting my hands up in front of me instinctively.
I expected him to shoot me. Or to back me into the wall and take advantage of our seclusion. I expected all number of things to happen to me in this alley as my luck ran out in front of my eyes. What I did not expect was the motorcycle to come shooting towards me from the previously unseen road on my left that led back out to the main street; skidding to a halt in front of me as the man riding it shot out a hand to grab me and yank me over to him. I had no choice but to clamber onto the bike, and hold on for dear life as he made a jackknife turn and shot back out of the alley and onto the street.
It only took me a minute to realize who it was that had saved me: Reese. I could tell that it was him from the hard set of his jaw and the patch of silver-grey hair just barely visible under the helmet. I wanted to say “thank you”, “hello”… anything that would give him the impression that I knew who he was and appreciated what he had done; but I found myself so overwhelmed with delayed fear at having almost been caught by Mark that I was only able to tighten my arms around his waist as I continued to ride in silence, my face buried in between his shoulder blades, and my nose squished against his leather jacket.
We came to a stop a few minutes later, and I peeked out from behind Reese’s shoulders to see that we were parked in front of a building that was obviously abandoned. Registering that he was waiting for me to get off the bike, I did so, stumbling backwards as my legs attempted to get used to standing still once more.
“Where exactly are we?” I managed to ask him, looking up at the building in front of me and wondering why exactly he had brought me here.
I was shocked when I turned around to face him, my curiosity at his lack of response turning to a twinge of fear as I saw the look of cold menace etched into his normally cool and expressionless features. I shrank back from him as he spoke in a tone that could have frightened the daylights out of even the most dangerous serial killer, saying:
“What, exactly, were you thinking when you practically offered yourself up to Snow on a silver platter, Natalya?”
I backed further away from him, hurriedly trying to organize my thoughts into some sort of logical explanation. Eyeing him cautiously as he continued pacing towards me like some sort of jungle cat, I began to speak.
“Look, I know your letter said to stay put. I figured that meant stay within the hotel; not necessarily just within the room.” As I saw his expression darken even more, if that were possible, I hurriedly continued
“I wanted to see if my things had been brought up from the other hotel, so I asked at the desk. In retrospect, I know I shouldn’t have mentioned my name; because that’s what tipped the receptionist to call Snow. But I have no idea how he happened to zone in on our hotel when there are so many others in this city.”
I paused in my explanation to gauge Reese’s reception of my answer. Seeing that he looked a little less like he wanted to throttle me, I inched a bit closer to him and risked laying a hand on his arm as I said
“I’m sorry you had to risk your own life to save mine. But I really had no way of knowing that Snow could find me that easily, did I?”
“That’s why I wanted you to stay put, Natalya. You have no way of knowing exactly how capable anyone in the CIA is of tracking people. How could you? You were recruited basically on a whim; and I’m assuming you weren’t even fully trained before Snow started having you work for him.”
He paused to look at me, obviously waiting for me to confirm my lack of official training. Despite the fact that what he said was true, I couldn’t help but bristle a bit at the insinuation that I didn’t know what I was doing. Fighting back the impulse to tell him that, despite my lack of official training, I had still managed to track him down; I instead gave him a curt nod and turned to move past him and back out on the street. I needed to go somewhere, preferably as far away from him as possible; so I could lick my metaphorical wounds after having disappointed him yet again. It bothered me that I was so sensitive to his opinion; and I had no logical explanation for why this was the case. I had barely made it past him, however, before he swooped into action once again; grabbing my arm and asking:
“What are you doing, Natalya?”
“Leaving, what does it look like?” I bit back, with a bit more venom than originally intended. I made a half-hearted attempt to shrug off his grip as I continued
“It’s obvious that my association with you can only lead you back into the hands of the CIA; which is the furthest thing from what I want. I think it would be easiest for the both of us if I just left now and we forget we ever met. That way you don’t have to keep running after me to save me; and I don’t have to keep worrying that I’m putting you in danger.”
His grip on my arm tightened to the point where it was bordering on actually being painful as he pulled me closer to him, saying:
“You aren’t going anywhere. I’ve been where you are right now, Natalya; and I know what you’re feeling.”
I made an attempt to cut him off and dispute his claim, but he continued on; preventing me from getting a word in.
“You don’t just come back from what the CIA can do to you on your own. I tried; and it didn’t work that well. You can’t expect me to just sit back and watch you become a wreck like I was; not when I can help you. And I will help you, Natalya. You just have to give me a chance.”
I gaped up at him for a moment, before asking him in a whisper:
“Why on earth are you so hell-bent on protecting me? You owe me nothing.”
He looked at me, his expression a mystery, before replying
“Do you know of a Maria Denchova?”
I made sure to give him my best “you’re a crazy person” look, before responding:
“Um…no. Why?”
He paused for a moment, something haunting flitting across his face before he answered me.
“Because you look exactly like her. You have her hair, her facial structure…it’s…scary” he concluded, looking at me as though this explanation should make everything about his actions suddenly crystal clear to me.
“And let me guess” I said, rolling my eyes before continuing “You wanted to save her but couldn’t, so now I’m her substitute?”
He chuckled softly before he replied
“Not exactly. We were…close friends. I cared about her a lot. You just…remind me of her. So I guess you could say, I do feel a need to protect you because of that. But not specifically to make up for not being able to protect her.”
“You realize you don’t make any sense at all sometimes?” I asked him, smiling slightly to let him know I was joking.
“I’m not paid to make sense, Natalya” he replied with a slight grin before he grabbed my arm, more gently this time, and began leading me towards the door of the building we were standing in front of.
“And speaking of getting paid, I have to go talk to my boss before going back to work. Why don’t we go inside, and you can meet the man behind the scenes?”
Nodding, I allowed him to guide me into the building, unsure of what lay inside. Smiling to myself, I figured that I could be fairly certain whatever or whoever waited for us on the other side of the door was safer than Snow and his cronies.
Little did I know that I had just underestimated one of the most misleading, and mysterious individuals I would ever come across.
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