Author's Note: Inspired by the film Hitman. One-shot, possibly more will follow. Please read, review, and most of all, enjoy.
47 sat just beside her on the bed for several long minutes, watching her sleep and going over the plans he'd made earlier in the night. Plans that would end it, plans that would wrap up the loose ends so that he would live to be available for another assignment, and she...
Well, what about her?
Nika.
Dramatic, pushy Nika.
She had been afraid of him when he'd taken her into that dingy hotel room on the first night; both frightened and defiant. The girl had pleaded with him in one breath and insulted him in the next, promising his death once her boyfriend, Belicoff, learned of her abduction.
Men like Belicoff do not have girlfriends. They have toys.
47 had thought her interesting in the hotel room; he could understand why a man would think her beautiful, why a man would want her. However, it had not been her beauty that had kept her alive, only her usefulness to him.
With Nika in her wisp of crimson silk, who would notice the man she was with?
Yes, she had been very useful in taking the attention he didn't want.
47 watched her as she slept.
It was habit to watch people intently even when not on the job, though he was certain that he'd never watched a woman sleep before just for the hell of it. 47 assessed any and all possible threats, wherever he was, at all times.
Nika was no threat to him. Not anymore, at least.
How was she able to sleep so easily? It couldn't be the drugs. He'd injected her hours ago, the dose wouldn't have lasted so long. He assumed that she slept easily because she thought she was safe.
47 shrugged to himself.
She had spent the past few days with a killer and she was still safer with him than she'd probably been in years.
He had seen the scars on her backside earlier in the day, when she'd gone to the balcony, completely open in her nudity. Another first for 47; not that he'd never seen a naked woman, but never had he been so confronted before.
Nika wanted him- or, she was as close to desire as she was capable. That was a thought. Could she feel genuine desire or was she too far gone, too damaged by Belicoff and the others to know the difference between truly wanting a man for herself or just fucking to please?
47 had never thought of such things before.
He had also never kissed a woman before tonight.
There had been some who'd tried. Women so desperate that they would offer their bodies, but his bullets were faster than their attempts at seduction and far more effective.
"Do you always watch over the whores you kidnap?"
Nika stared at him in the dark, the only light in the room coming from across the water, through the balcony doors. He did not start, as she'd hoped he would. It might have been fun to catch him off guard for once.
47 had known she'd sensed him and woken up though she'd done a decent job at feigning sleep. Maybe she had practiced that as a way to avoid Belicoff's advances.
47 shook his head and moved to lay down on top of the covers beside her. It had been a trying day. His targets weren't usually such a great amount of trouble; he took out his mark and disappeared. Everything surrounding this assignment had been more trouble than he cared to deal with.
Well, maybe not everything...
"I may have kidnapped you, but I don't think you're a whore."
She moved to lean up on one elbow and looked down at him. His eyes were closed.
"No?"
"I killed several men tonight. Arms dealers. There were girls there. Slaves, not whores."
Nika felt a craving for a cigarette but resisted the urge to take one from the pack on the nightstand. He had complimented her, in his way. "Thank you. May I ask who you killed?"
"Udre."
She paused, both surprised and impressed. "Then I will thank you again. It was his men that found me, and it was Udre who gave me to Mikhail. He said I was the perfect gift for his brother's birthday. I was only 15." Her voice was quiet, angry.
"It's over now. He's dead. Soon, Belicoff will join him."
Nika hesitated. "What happens after Belicoff is dead?"
47 opened his eyes but did not look at her. His gaze was trained straight above, to the ceiling. "I'll give you some money, enough to start a new life. Then I'll go."
"But where will you go?" Nika pressed, leaning in closer.
47 reached out to hold her shoulders, to keep her from kissing him again. It wasn't that he hadn't liked it, he simply didn't want to be kissed or touched- it would distract him from his purpose, the one thing he could never allow.
"You know I can't tell you that."
"But you can kidnap me and keep me with you for days?" She challenged.
47 frowned. "This is different. You're a part of my cover, Nika. You know that."
"Yes, I know."
"When this is over, I'll give you some money." He repeated. "Enough for you to start a new life. Beyond that, I can't promise you anything. Only that Belicoff won't come for you again. You'll be safe."
He felt the muscles of her narrow shoulders relax beneath his hands, and so he released her from his hold. He watched as she raised herself up and went into the bathroom, crossing the room naked again, fearless in her immodesty. He did not go after her.
From the bed 47 heard the faucets turn and imagined her splashing water over her face; trying to calm herself and regain composure. He didn't understand why she was upset; did she want something more from him? More than money? More than protection?
He couldn't give her anything else.
Eventually Nika returned to the bed, reclaiming her spot beneath the thick covers as 47 laid atop them on the other side. He could hear her deep breathing as she willed herself back to sleep.
He reasoned with himself for a few moments. Nika was interesting, amusing. Pleasant to look at, surely, and it had been a nice change to share a meal with someone rather than eating room service alone as he had countless times in the past.
Sleep was pulling at his mind. He would decide what to do with Nika later.
As far as the world knew, Belicoff was still alive. Belicoff, the man he had been hired to kill.
47 still had a job to do.