Han Lue stared at the view of Rio from across the bay at the secluded Itacoatiara beach. He had come to Gisele Yashar's beachfront home located in Niterói, aka "The Smile City." Just across the Rio-Niteroi bridge where Dom and Brian had their showdown with Reyes, the city was a welcome alternative to Rio, more laid back and less crime ridden. The beach itself was surrounded on two sides by large rocky bluffs and lush rainforest behind it. The clear blue water, white sand, palm trees and perfect breeze relaxed him. The place had a small town feel, significantly less crowded than Rio's beaches. Her low rise house was built on a hillside and contained a lush tropical garden. He sat in a wicker chair on the veranda .

The tall beauty joined him and handed him a drink, fresh coconut juice in the actual shell.

Her long tresses were in a lazy ponytail and she wore a turquoise bikini top and matching sarong. After the Rio heist, it hadn't taken much convincing on her part to get him to join her. Their plan was to lay low here for a week or so then head to Buenos Aires to catch a flight to Bern.

"Let's go surfing," she suggested. "You're from California, no?"

"Yeah," he chuckled. "But that really wasn't my scene there. I was a gang member."

"Well, let's still do it. The waves here are fast and hollow," Gisele urged.

The beach looked as close to paradise as he could imagine. He and Gisele opted for the middle beach where most body boarders preferred. Han noted the unbelievable amount of gorgeous women, but he only had eyes for his Israeli companion. She set down a large blanket and went to rent two boogie boards from one of the locals.

Han took his shirt off and felt a little self conscious. He wasn't out of shape with any fat, but compared to some of the other chiseled athletic Adonises on the beach, he was outclassed. Clearly Gisele was attracted to his sense of humor and other qualities, but he chose not to dwell too much on it.

While she went about renting two boogie boards, Gisele had the strange sensation of being watched. She had always been hyper alert from superior training as a Mossad operative. Out of the corner of her eye she made out two young men with nice tans watching her from several yards away. Of course, she was used to men of all ages ogling her, but somehow she could sense menace in their body language. The bad thing was, out here in the open, she didn't know how many allies the men had. Right away she knew they weren't law enforcement from Rio, but rather potential assassins and that meant anyone she had crossed in her past. It didn't matter how they had found her, the situation now called for her to neutralize the threat. She had to get to her Ducati Streetfighter and bug the hell out of there. But that meant leaving Han and if they were being watched, that meant he was now a target and if she abandoned him, it meant having his death on her conscience.

Gisele muttered a few curses in Hebrew. There were no public restrooms on the beach. She had to alert him but being new to each other, they had not established potential disaster scenarios. She knew the two enemies would probably not outright try and murder them on a public beach. Sighing, she returned nonchalantly back to Han with the two body boards.

"Babe," she smiled sweetly. "How bout we go into the water right away."

"Sure thing," Han replied.

Once they reached the surf and she was sure no one could hear her over the waves, she stared out over the water. "We're in trouble."

She was glad he made no overt signs of distress. "Reyes?"

"No, someone after me not you," she replied.

"It's not about our loot then?" he asked.

"No," she said. "Listen, I am a magnet for trouble. I was naïve in thinking my past would not catch up to me. If you want, once we escape them, we can go our separate ways."

"I'm not going anywhere. If you're in trouble I will help you," he insisted.

"You don't need to risk your life for me," she told him. "You have millions of dollars now."

"Gisele," Han spoke resolute. "I am not about to walk away just because the going got tough."

"Okay, we need to get back to the house and make a stand," she told him.

They spent the next half hour boogieboarding and acting like a couple on their honeymoon. After riding their boards in, Gisele pulled him down on the sand and kissed him passionately. Han wondered if this was part of the act or something real.

"This is to make them think we're going back to my place to make love," she smiled.

Han grinned at the thought, and even though they had yet to consummate their relationship, they had even slept in separate rooms, he was willing to take things slow.

"Let's go, my love," he beckoned. "How do you say it in Hebrew?"

"Ahuvi sheli," she responded with a smirk in her sexy accent.

They took a brisk walk back up the hill to her house and she unlocked the security gate.

She pulled him into another embrace and positioned herself so she could see if they were being followed. Amateurs, she thought as the two Latino looking males had indeed left the beach and trailed behind them as they pretended to be headed back to their own beach house

"Is that a gun in your sarong or are you just happy to see me?" Han deadpanned.

"Shh," she whispered. "Just kiss me."

"Hey chica," the taller enemy approached them as they leaned against her gate.

Han and Gisele broke their kiss.

"Nice place you got here," the other smiled as if he didn't have a care in the world "You renting or did you buy it?"

"What's it to you?" Han asked.

"Nothing really," the first answered. "But did you think you could get away with what you did?"

"Apparently not," the Israeli woman replied calmly. Before the two could get the upper hand she had a Jericho 941 Polymer compact drawn and trained on both.

The two would be assassins raised their hands in surrender and Han quickly frisked them and relieved them of two FN-five sevens.

They were marched inside the house and she ordered them to sit on the couch with their hands behind their heads.

"Babe," she told Han. "There's a another gun in my room under the pillow. Go get it."

Han made a beeline for her room.

"Alright boys," she addressed the two captives. "You will answer my questions truthfully and if I don't like what I hear, you will be shot in the balls."

The two young men exchanged fearful glances.

"Did Braga send you?"

"I think you know," the taller one said snidely.

She glared at him. "How many of you?"

Before either of the two could answer another voice spoke. "Just three."

A man in a tropical shirt and white chinos emerged from Gisele's bedroom holding her gun against Han's head. Gisele could not take her aim off the two captives without compromising her own safety. She did a double take at the man. He had blonde hair and chiseled features. His accent gave him away as Russian and she figured him to be in his mid thirties and Spetsnaz.

"I think," smiled the interloper. "This is a true Mexican standoff."

The two Latinos laughed despite Gisele having a bead on them.

"Now let me make myself clear," he told her. "Drop your damn gun or I blow your gook boyfriend's brains out."

"Don't do it," Han warned.

Gisele ascertained the situation. She didn't know if she could shoot the Russian before he killed Han. She wasn't about to take the risk. Beaten, she dropped her gun.

Immediately the two Latinos sprang up and knocked her to the floor. One put flexicuffs on her.

"You bastards!" Han shouted, enraged.

Gisele was placed on the couch.

""Not bad for the Mossad," said the Russian. He shoved Han towards the two who then flexicuffed him as well. "Julio and Ramon here are because of Braga. You betrayed him and sold him down the river. As for me, my name is Yuri, callsign Vunderlag, I work for Braga's boss."

"Bad move, chica," Ramon taunted. "The 2 million dollars in drug money you stole from Braga belonged to someone bigger."

"Who?" Gisele scowled.

"We're not going to demand you return the money either," Julio told her. "That's chump change to him."

"It's just the principle," concluded Vunderlaag. "You could have moved up the ladder, Ms Harabo. Instead you just get made an example of."

"Any last words?" Julio snickered.

"Not bad for the Mossad?" Gisele's lips formed into a wry smile.

Before Vunderlaag could figure out what she meant, a Mars red dot sight appeared on his forehead and an instant later, a 5.56 NATO round sliced through his skull dropping him instantly.

From the other room, a figure emerged holding a MTAR-21 at the high ready. Julio and Ramon were simultaneously blasted into oblivion as well.

Han gaped at the carnage, it had all ended rather abruptly. He then saw their savior, a lithe, lean ponytailed young woman with a no nonsense look in her frightening hazel eyes. To Han, she resembled a bad ass version of Natalie Portman.

"At beseder?" the bdu and tank top clad female asked Gisele.

"Never better," Gisele grinned at her. "Babe, this is my sister, Shamira."

"I'm Han," he offered his hand.

She shook it warily. "I know."

"Mossad?" Han asked.

Shamira didn't want to answer so Gisele did. "Yes. Shamira is Israel's best sniper."

He noted she didn't say female sniper, just sniper. Han had read something awhile back about some renowned decorated woman sniper in the IDF who had saved her entire squad from terrorists. She must have been recruited for the Mossad once she got out of her mandatory stint in the army. He guessed her age to be about 20 or 21.

"Were you in the house the whole time?" he asked incredulous.

"She's been here since the whole Reyes job," Gisele replied. "I had her on standby in case things got bleak."

"Damn and you made these dead fools think they were in control the whole time," he observed.

"This is what we do," she stated matter of factly.

Han was glad he hadn't tried to put any moves on Gisele since they had arrived. For all he knew, she would have killed him in his sleep if he had tried.

"I think it's time to make tracks," he suggested.

"I have credentials from the Israeli Embassy," Shamira told them. "We'll safely get you on a plane to Europe."

They quickly packed up their things and reconvened in waiting van down a residential street. Gisele sat in the back seat with Han who was still in shock over their lives being threatened.

"So who did the Russian work for?" Han asked the two.

"I got his cell phone. We'll run intel on the numbers and let you know," the sniper glanced in the rearview. She scowled when she saw Gisele leaning so close against the Asian guy.

Soon the van crossed the long bridge back into Rio and they would head from there to Sao Paulo which was about 220 miles away. Gisele and her sister spoke in Hebrew most of the time and Han took a nap. She took them to Guarulhos and got them a flight on TAM to Paris.

Gisele kissed her sister goodbye and the latter said she would deal with the bodies and the property she had to leave behind. Han lingered at the gate and waited for his flame to depart. He called Shamira back over.

"Thank you for your help," he told her and handed her a small satchel.

"What's this?" the younger Yashar sister demanded.

"A million dollars," he replied. "Put it aside for a rainy day once you leave the Mossad."

"Take care of her," Shamira's intense gaze softened.

"Shalom," Han gave her a lopsided grin. "Visit us when we end up in Tokyo."

Several minutes later, he joined Gisele in first class. "So what does Shamira mean in Hebrew?"

"Guard, protector," she replied.

"Did she pick Paris for a reason?"

"Maybe. But that's the place where she killed the last guy who broke my heart," Gisele told him with a straight face.

Han swallowed but had the wherewithal to quip, "Well. you're lucky I'm 80% angel and 20% silver tongued devil."

She smiled and punched him in the arm.