They drove for the next twenty four hours, straight since Raizo permitted her to drive. She was forced to mention her skill behind the wheel had saved his life before he relinquished the keys. They sped through the night only stopping at a motel just before dawn.
Wiping condensation from the bathroom mirror, Mika couldn't help but wonder who was staring back at her. It looked like her on the outside, anway. She knew she wasn't the same person she'd been a few weeks ago. If someone would have told her then that not only would she be toting two guns around like Lara Croft but also spending her free time with a retired assassin, she would have told them to lay off the drugs and alcohol.
Mika wrung her hair out as best she could and braided into two long plaits that were bound to unravel within the hour. After Raizo informed her that her suitcase and most of its contents were now on a city bus, she made a list of things she needed as asked. Mika refused to add blow dryer to their survival shopping list. Now, she thought of look on Raizo's face if she had included it and caught herself giggling.
She could see his finely sculpted face, his intense smoldering eyes, and those lips. Those full lips pulled into a sexy smirk. She caught herself touching her own lips remembering the kiss she'd given Raizo. She had wanted to feel his lips on hers but a stolen kiss followed a betrayal was too much. His forgiveness for the act was like a tourniquet removed from her chest.
Gun in hand, she cracked the bathroom door. "Raizo," she whispered knowing it was all the sound he needed. A lamp was turned on bathing him in amber light. He came to the door with a cigarette in one hand and a backpack in the other.
"You will have to travel light. Change quickly. We're getting back on the road," he said handing her the pack. He stopped abruptly. Mika instinctively looked down at herself a little panicked, "What?"
"Did you change your bandage" he asked with the same deadly serious expression he wore when securing their hotel room. Mika cringed. She hadn't had to change it herself yet. So far every time she'd attempted to look at the wound on her chest, she felt light headed and sick to her stomach.
"Since you're turning green that would be a 'no'." Mika looked up only to meet that same sexy smirk. He pulled out a chair, "Sit." Ducking to hide her mortified expression, she complied.
Dropping his bag on the table, Raizo withdrew gauze packets, antiseptic, and tape. He turned back to Mika in time to watch the white cotton robe slipping from her shoulder exposing her back as she pulled her left arm free. She leaned forward against the back of the chair with her head down. The only blemish to the creamy cocoa skin of her back was a square of gauze below her shoulder blade. With gentle fingers, he removed the tape followed by the bandage. He felt her shaky sigh through his fingertips as she tried to relax.
"So, do we have a plan or are we just touring Eastern Europe?"
"Now, we're heading south to Prague and yes, touring also. It helps confuse the scent trail. I've got a contact who has arranged travel for us to Athens. We will need a secure location to hold up and observe the Clans' activities before making a move," Raizo said allowing his fingers to linger while smoothing the tape in place.
"A contact, someone from the Clans?" She asked looking over her shoulder at him.
"Done," he announced as he stood. "No, not from the Clans but experienced with them. I trust him. He has aided me in the past." Mika shifted in the chair causing the robe to drop low on her spine revealing the rise of her hips for just a instant then the tempting flesh was obscured by cotton as it was repositioned. Turning to face him, he saw she had pulled the neck of the robe wide to reveal the swell of both breasts. Her eyes were closed as if she were before a firing squad and didn't want to see it coming.
"Are you squeamish now, Mika?" he teased trying to mask the deep breath he took to calm himself as he set to work. It was taking more concentration than necessary to change a simple dressing.
Eyes still clenched tight, Mika said, "No, hanging out with you has definitely cured me of that. Closest I got to the action before I was marked for death were crime scene photos in a case file. I know I'm being idiotic. It's just that…looking at it. It freaks me out a bit when I think about it."
"Me too," Raizo offered quietly applying the antiseptic ointment to the cut before replacing the bandage. Finished, his eyes lingered over her, the rise of her breasts to her delicate collarbones up the long line of her neck. Their eyes connected for a long moment the quickened thrumming of her heart filling the silence. Suddenly, a low rumble emitted from Mika's empty stomach dissolving the strange tension in the air.
Raizo stood quickly and began repacking the bag. "Hungry? We will eat on the way out of town. Hurry, Mika." He felt her fervent gaze slide over him then heard her retreat to the bathroom. Raizo's movements stilled hearing the robe slip over her skin as it fell to the bathroom floor. Mika was becoming a distraction, one he could not be without but a distraction none the less. When she returned, his normal calm façade was back in place. Raizo did not meet her eyes while trailing a lit cigarette around her like purifying incense. Dropping it into the ashtray, he said "let's go."
Mika's eyes snapped open to the sound of a car door slamming. Still a little groggy it took her a minute to take in where they were. The night was choked with fog, but she quickly saw that they were in an industrial, no, a shipping area. Cranes loomed high above like shadows in the thick fog. Raizo stood some fifty feet from the car, a lone figure in the mist. Three figures appeared in the distance walking towards him, yet he advanced to met them. She barely heard their garbled exchange. Abruptly, there was something about the change of his stance, a tensing like a large cat prepping to strike, that had her drawing the gun from her bag and checking the clip.
During the long trek to Melnik, Raizo had finally filled her in on the plan. They were going to buy travel documents and ID's under several different names to keep off the grid. 'Mika, stay in the car'. He didn't trust this particular seller having never done business with him. Yet their time constraints forced his hand allowing his contact to arrange the sale. 'And Mika, stay in the car'. That time she had rolled her eyes. The third time, she glared with her own daggers of death but he just gave her that sexy smirk.
A tap on the glass had Mika jumping in her seat and thanking god she had not released the safety yet. Following the sound, she looked up at the sunroof. A giant of a man with a shaved head and a nasty scar down his left eye leered down at her. A tongue that resembled a slug slithered from between his vile lips. He made a revolting gesture that had bile churning in her gut. Her eyes skittered to the locks confirming Raizo had locked the doors. Mika exhaled a slow breath as the giant stepped away from the car followed by three other men. They disappeared from view as they descended to the pier approaching Raizo from the rear.
Several things happened simultaneously. Mika heard a single gun shot accompanied with angry shouting. She saw one of the men topple to the ground body still twitching despite his missing head. The rat-at-tat of a machine guns roared as the remaining men started firing randomly into the surrounding night seeming to echo off the dense fog. She had seen Raizo in his element, in battle, before but from this angle it was all the more terrifying. Again and again, he emerged from a shadow that was impossible to disguise him. Yet it did. Only the flash of steel in the gloom and death wails left in his wake were evidence of his passing.
Mika sat mesmerized by this deadly dance oblivious to the giant's approach. A crash resounded through the car and she was showered in glass. A thick hand grabbed her by her neck hauling her from the car like a kid picking up their favorite doll. She managed two shots, one going wide and other punching a hole through the giant's foot before the gun was wrenched from her grip. Both hands free, she scratched at the enormous hand slowly cutting off her air supply. She climbed him bracing both feet against his abdomen while trying to get a little slack but his grip only tightened. As a black void began to creep into her vision, Mika saw Raizo drop to one knee as a bullet tore into his shoulder before he faded into the shadows.
"Where the fuck is he? Do you see him?"
"What the hell was that? Petriv said this would be an easy score. What do we do, now?"
"Kill the bastard. I have an idea. Vlad, bring the bitch here."
Mika kicked desperately but to no avail as the giant dragged her over to the others. He transferred his grip from her neck to her wrists. The man who'd referred to her as the 'bitch' coiled a rope around her wrists effectively shackling them together.
" You're boyfriend wants to play hide and seek. We'll teach him a new game."
Mika spat in the man's face. He shoved her hard sending her bouncing into the human wall who lifted her only to dangle her over the edge of the pier. Fighting back the urge to scream, Mika looked down unable to see the water below but she felt the icy spray right through her jeans.
"Now, Chinaman. We would hate to drown the b…" The clink of a metal cut off his words as a hook pierced the man's throat splashing his companions with a torrent of arterial gout.
"Fuck you. You want the bitch. Take her then," the giant bellowed. Mika plummeted through air hitting the freezing water. Her breath left her lungs in a whoosh from the impact. She tumbled not sure which way was up. Until finally, her head broke the surface only to slam into one of the pier supports. Her burning lungs and struggling numb limbs became unimportant as Mika sank into the void.
"Mika," Raizo roared as she dropped from sight. With a flick of his wrist, the chain unwound from the dead man's neck as he watched the last man. The tall man was weighing his options. He stared down at the rope in his hands trying to make a point. Raizo didn't wait to hear his bargaining. He kicked him square in the chest sending him flying. Catching the rope, he wrapped it around the struggling man's neck and looped a length of rope around the railling before hurling him off the pier. With the man's enormous size as a weight, it took seconds for Mika's hands to appear. He grasped the rope long enough to unwind it from her chafed wrists.
He pushed back her mass of raven curls noting the bleeding cut on her forehead. She wasn't breathing. He took a deep breath for calm before he could remember what he knew of CPR.
"Mika, please, please Mika," he chanted. He felt her spring to life before she began spitting up sea water. Relief swept over him so fiercely, Raizo had to place his ear to her chest before he could steady himself enough to walk back to the car.
