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“That is exactly what I told them, but you know these men.” King and Stryker glare over in Alexie’s direction as he stands from his chair. “Always so worried about the poor damsel in distress. Damsel? Maybe. In distress? Never. I even tried to tell them that when that dead fellow over there,” he points to the last person I killed, “knocked you down, they don’t need to worry. My deadlyMalyshkaknows how to kill a man…or three.”
“Three?” I ask. “This looks like a few more thanthree.How many didyouall get?”
“Seven, so I’m definitely not the winner,” King declares as he glances at the surrounding bodies.
“I only got five, but I was working more on getting people out of here,” Stryker says, trying to reason away his lower number.
We all turn our attention back to Alexie. “Looks like you have won,Malyshka, but I got eight, so I still beat your other men,” he says.
King and Stryker both groan in unison. I can only laugh because it does not surprise me. With those numbers, I glance around the room again and notice a lot more bodies on the ground. One man is cut almost entirely in half, and I smile to myself, knowing that is Alexie’s handiwork.
“Katia?” I question as my mind settles.
“Conrad said she’s on her way to the medical facility,” Stryker answers me. He must notice the desperation shining in my eyes.I need to get to her.“The Vegas team is here to clean up. Let’s head over there.”
We pull up to a medical center, and the place is heavily guarded.More so than Cooter’s Clubhouse, that’s for sure.They are here to make sure all the victims are being taken care of and get back to their families safely. The guards are also here to make sure anyone that was there for nefarious reasons is sent to the right place to be detained and questioned during their medical treatment.
When we walk up to the entrance, Conrad is there, waiting outside for us. His mouth drops open when he takes in the sight of me. “Are you okay?” he asks.
“Perfectly fine,” I respond. “Where is she?”
Without saying a word, he nods his head, indicating we should follow him. We walk inside the facility, and everyone we pass has the same expression. A look of horror, but to their credit, I probably look like I came off the set ofCarrie.
Conrad walks up to a closed door, turning to us. “She’s fine physically. The doctor checked her out, and I made sure she was seen right away. I told her you were here, but she hasn’t said anything,” Conrad says as he looks at me.
He still doesn’t open the door.What is he trying to keep me from?I will move him myself if I have to.“We also found Athen Wisinski,” he says, and an immense sense of relief washes over me. He was the reason we were on this trail, to begin with. A teenager that was taken right before he was to be reunited with his mom. “I called his mom personally and got her a plane ticket out here. She’ll arrive tonight.” I lunge forward, wrapping my arms around Conrad. He does the same and pulls me into a tight embrace.
“That’s amazing, Conrad,” I say as I pull away. “I need to get into that room. I need to see her.” He only nods his head and opens the door for me. I walk in and see someone curled up under the covers in bed, their body facing away from the door.
“Katia?”
Katia
Icanhearhervoice outside, but my body refuses to move.Natalia. I need to go to her.My body refuses. There is a heaviness holding me down as my eyes struggle to stay open.What is she saying? Is it evenreallyher?I’ve heard her voice many times over the last year, but she never showed.
My back is to the door as I watch the sunlight playing with shadows on the wall in front of me.Maybe the nurse is coming to check on me.Then I hear, “Katia?” Her voice sounds so real, but my body still doesn’t move.This could be a cruel trick. When I turn around, Ivan will be there.
The shadow of the person behind me grows larger on the wall, and I brace myself for what is to come.Will he punish me for running away? I shouldn’t have done that.When I don’t acknowledge the person behind me, I see the shadow shrink and grow again as the person comes around the side of the bed. Standing before me is a woman covered in blood. “Natalia?” I ask, my voice no more than a desperate crack of noise.Please, be real. Please, be real.
She crouches down, and through the dark stains on her face, those emerald eyes shine bright, meaning it could only be one person. “Are you real?” I question.
A hand lands on the bed in front of me but does not touch me. Her eyes soften. “Of course, it’s me,” she hiccups, and tears stream down her cheeks. “Katia, I am so sorry. Andrei told me you were dead. I don’t know why I believed him. If I would have known…”
“Shhh,” I shush her before she can continue. “You are not to blame. This all falls on the shoulders of Andrei and Ivan.” Saying his name,Ivan,floods me with memories of what I just escaped.Wait? Did I escape?My heart pounds, and my brain feels scrambled with bursts of visions of what he did.
A hand presses on my hip. “Katia, are you okay?” Natalia asks, her voice sounding worried. I was definitely lost in my thoughts of Ivan. My eyes shoot to hers because I need her to tell me that he is gone.
“Ivan?” I ask her, but my voice sounds more like it’s pleading with her to give me the answer I want. Her hefty sigh and eyes shifting to look at the ground tell me all I need to know. I want to burst. The damn behind my eyes wants to break, but I can’t remember the last time I cried. Crying only made Ivan’s smile crueler.He likes it when you cry.I want to scream and destroy something.How can this be happening? He was there, right?
Natalia’s eyes return to mine, and her grip on my side becomes tighter. “Katia, we didn’t find him. We never saw him on any of the cameras. He must have escaped with Andrei from an area with no surveillance.” I’m struggling to wrap my mind around what she is saying becauseAndrei escaped too?
“What do you mean they escaped? They were there. Both of them!” I’m aware my tone is coming out harsh, but I can’t control it. I can tell by her face that she is riddled with guilt, and I need to remind her it’s not her fault. Ivan and Andrei seem to be untouchable.
“I’m so sorry,” she apologizes again and again. “I promise we will find them, and we will destroy them.Together,” she emphasizes as her hand moves to grip mine. I look down at her bloody hand covering mine. When she notices me looking, she pulls her hand away.
“Sorry, I’m covered in blood,” she states as if I hadn’t noticed.
“Good to see some things never change,” I reply, and for the first time in what feels like forever, I can feel the corners of my mouth turn up.
