Nightmare

Chapter One: Reunion from Hell

I felt a sharp pain in my head as I regain consciousness, and slowly opened my eyes. It was dark all around me. I tried to move my hands and found they had been cuffed behind my back. I surmised that I was in the back of a van, and that it was moving. How long had I been out? There was no way to tell.
"Turn here." I heard Yelena's curt voice instruct in Russian. The fact that it was her voice still sent a shiver of shock down my spine. What had happened after she "died?" I should have known. Me, Sydney, Irina ... the women in this family have a way of coming back from the grave. To haunt those who have left them for dead. Is there any way I can get through to her?
I felt the car jerk to a sudden stop, and I heard my little sister cursing vehemently in both Russian and English "What the – "
Then I heard gunshots, muffled voices, and shouts. I heard Yelena gasp and cry out in pain. She had been hit. Desperately, I tried to free my hands, employing a "wrist trick" I had learned from a professional criminal in Brazil. It worked, though it left my wrists looking as though they were the product of an unsuccessful suicide attempt. I worked on freeing my feet, and had managed it by the time the back of the van flew open, and I had a gun pointed at me for the second time in 24 hours.
I froze as I heard his cool, distinctly British voice. "All right, whoever you are, you're coming with me now, so ..." The rest of his words died on his lips when he saw who I was. The gun shook slightly in his hand, as his jaw dropped and his eyes widened in shock. I stared into the face of my son.
"You!" He spat, looking furious. "You ... you're the one I've been ..." I heard a shout from outside, another gunshot, and we both turned our heads in the direction of the sound. He swore, grabbing me roughly by the arm and dragging me out of the van. There was no time for him to vent his rage now; we both knew that. "Get in the car," he snapped, pushing me in the direction of his dark blue convertible. He shot a man, presumably an SVR agent. I saw Yelena stumble out of the passenger side of the vehicle. There was a bullet wound in her right shoulder, but she was still holding her gun, and even as she grimaced in pain she tried to hold it steady as she trained it on Julian ...
"NO!" I screamed, forcing her to look at me. I grabbed a gun off of one of the dead men and charged forward. Frantically pushing Julian aside, I felt a bullet graze my hip, but paid it no heed. I kicked the gun out of her hand, and she immediately reached for mine. She clawed her other hand onto my shoulder, and with a snarl on her face, she used her knee to deliver a blow to my stomach, so powerful it nearly made me throw up. Before I knocked her out, I noted wearily that she had a good technique.
I heard Julian cock his gun behind me, and stiffened, wondering exactly who he intended to shoot. I turned to see he had pointed his weapon at her. Mentally fortifying myself, I turned to face him impassively, placing myself between him and my sister.
"No."
He looked at me with the same unreadable expression I was trying to project. My heart thudded painfully as I saw myself in the features of his face. "She'll alert others," he pointed out coolly.
"Not if we take her with us."
"This is not your decision to make ... Katya." The pointed way he used my name made me flinch. "Need I remind you that –"
"Julian, this woman is your aunt. She is my youngest sister."
He gaped at me again. His bewildered expression brought to mind his face as a child. He was so good at masking his emotions, but like me, he found them more difficult to disguise when he received a shock.
"You're lying."
"I wish I were." I swallowed, tasting my own blood in my mouth. This is one f***ed family reunion. "Irina and I both thought she was dead."
Julian's lips quirked in an ironic twist as he contemplated the woman on the ground. "You should have known better. No one really dies in this family."
God, he had just said the same thing I was thinking a few minutes ago. It was almost eerie, how much of myself I saw in him. Or was I only seeing it there because I wanted to?
No time to contemplate that now. "We take her with us." I said. It wasn't a question, and Julian rankled at my tone.
He pointed the gun at me again. "You aren't exactly in a position to dictate what we will and will not do."
I walked closer up to him, until the barrel of the gun was almost touching my chest. He swallowed hard, his jaw clenching, as his eyes grew bright.
"Don't think I won't do it. You ... you've caused me enough trouble already."
I raised an eyebrow at him. Otherwise, I kept my features frozen, like a sheet of ice. "If you're going to do it, you should do it quickly. You haven't much time."
Again, his hand shook. I held my breath, letting it out only when he sighed and lowered his weapon, defeated. "Damn it!" He shouted, slamming his gun angrily down on the hood of his own car, and cursing when he realized he'd ruined the paint job. "Irina would probably kill me anyway. Fine! You put her in the trunk."
"But – "
"The trunk." He said adamantly. "And bind her, too. He tossed me some cuffs. I winced as I moved; knowing his pride would prevent him from helping me, I worked as quickly as I could, despite my pain. He opened his trunk, and together we tossed her unceremoniously in.
"Get in the car," he said brusquely. I limped to the passenger side as he started the engine. Just before he put his foot to the metal, I blurted out one word:
"Seatbelts."
He turned to glare at me. He opened his mouth as if to argue, and then the ridiculousness of my statement seemed to hit him. He shook his head, and he laughed. He actually laughed! My son looked at me for a moment, without contempt. I felt my heart soar. Everything I had been through this night was made worthwhile in that single split second.
I leaned over and fastened his seatbelt, feeling him stiffen again as he remembered that he hated me. I buckled myself in as we sped away. We drove for a good fifteen minutes in silence, the tension between us stretched out in the miles. I was afraid to speak, but I felt I had to say something. I took a breath.
"Julian – " Before I could get out another word out, a car slammed into us from the side, send us spinning across the street. Julian righted the card as best he could until someone shot out our tires. Undeterred, he skidded into a side street, only to have us get rammed again and backed into the corner of a dead end.
"Stop the car." A gruff voice commanded as it approached us, gun in hand. Julian shut off the engine. He looked scared. God, how I wanted to reach out and hold him then. He glanced at me out of the corner of his eyes.
"I'll give you one thing," he muttered, "you were right about the seatbelts."
At another time, I might have laughed. Now, all I could do was reach for his hand, and hope he wouldn't pull away.
"Well hello Julian, nice to see you again. Still got the buzz cut? Looks good. Really." The face of McKenas Cole leered in the driver's side window. His gaze shifted towards me, and he frowned. "Too bad I can't say the same for you. Pretty lady like yourself ... you really should let you hair grow out."
Julian looked nervous as he replied. "Sir, I can explain – "
I saw what I had to do. "Wait a minute!" I screeched, hoping I sounded appropriately hysterical. "When did you get a British accent? You said the CIA would keep me safe if I told you what you needed to know!"
Julian just looked at me. I went in as if to assault him. McKenas Cole was laughing as he came around to my side of the car and had his guards pull me out. I put my hands on my son's face as I whispered, "Get Yelena out of here if you can. Keep your mouth shut, and you'll be ok. I love you."
His shock was even stronger than when he had first seen me. Tonight, surprise seemed to be his expression of choice, appropriately enough. I felt him tear his gaze away from me as they began the beating. I was probably going to be tortured, interrogated, and then killed. I stored the secrets that I could not tell away in the darkest corner of my heart, and slipped almost serenely into unconsciousness once again, knowing I would be able to keep my son safe.