Chapter 7 – Spiderman Band-Aids and China
~~~~Back at the Hotel~~~~
Javor Dragoslav, as discovered, hated receiving medical attention.
"Do you even know what you're doing?" he cried trying to move away from her.
"My mother has taught me to do this since I was old enough to hold a scalpel, I could do a tracheotomy with a pair of pliers and a paperclip."
"Why am I not comforted?" he scooted away even more.
"Why are you such a baby?" she put her ands on her hips.
"You haven't even sterilized your hands yet!" he whined.
"Just let me help you, you've been shot, not to mention you almost had your eyebrows burnt off, most normal people would be sent to the hospital by now," she grabbed him firmly by the chin and rubbed alcohol on the cut above his eyebrow.
He flailed wildly, which made the whole process feel like she was riding a mechanical bull.
She got up and went to grab a bandage to cover the now cleaned wound.
He pouted as she did so.
"I don't like hospitals, underpaid, under-staffed, poor bedside manners, and the smell of vinegar could drive anybody crazy, besides they can't help me," he sighed and felt the cut, wincing as he did so."
"Don't touch!" Ashley slapped his hand.
"I am perfectly capable of fixing myself, thank you," he huffed.
"You're just pouting because of you're ruined pride," she put a Spiderman bandaid on the cut and chuckled because it didn't suit him at all.
"My ruined pride? How do you figure that?" he looked at her inquisitively.
"You were soo confident that the pick up would go well and when it didn't it happened in front of me," she grinned smugly.
"That is completely untrue, you didn't do what I told you, so it's technically your fault," he pointed at her accusingly.
"Like going to get the car would've made any difference, you fell for the decoy truck because you had a faulty source, I'd say the biggest blunder today was you," she grinned even wider.
"Oh like your mother's never had a bad job before," he glared defensively.
"My mother never messed up a pick up," she glared back. Javor was effectively silenced. "Take off your shirt," she said victoriously.
He eyed her weirdly.
"I'm afraid you're not my type," he said and she hit him on his shoulder.
"So I can check the bullet wound, cheeky," she growled at him and he pouted, but he obliged her and removed the blood-soaked shirt.
"I will give you one thing, you have a high tolerance for pain than I've seen in most guys, especially after being shot," she said looking at the bullet wound.
"It's not the first time I've been shot, and it definitely won't be the last," he grinned.
"Well aren't we just Captain Pessimism," she teased.
"Never said it was going to kill me, I have a talent of escaping near-death experiences," he said with a wink.
"What are you? Some type of teleporting abnormal?" she joked but his smile instantly dropped.
"No, no I'm not," he said looking away, Ashely felt she had pinched a tender nerve, but decided to drop it and fix up his arm in silence.
"There, done," she said standing up from the sofa and packing up the emergency med kit.
"Thank you," he said quietly, standing up and taking his bloody shirt off the coffee table.
"You're welcome, it was the least I could do for-" she stopped and looked away, "It was the least I could do."
He nods in understanding.
"I'll see you later, 7:30 sharp, don't be late," he said walking out of her hotel room.
Ashley sighed, running a hand through her blonde hair.
This guy was more complicated than a Rubik's cube.
It's not like she's ever dreamed of finding her father, but she's always been curious, and some how her mother's brief explanation that he died before she was born never seemed to cut it, and for some reason this Javor Dragoslav makes her wonder all the more.
When she was little she used to make up stories about her father and mother, that they were like Romeo and Juliet, completely and totally in love but then he got kidnapped by a band of pirates and became one of them, but her mother was told he had been murdered by them.
She may have gotten inspiration from the Princess Bride.
Never the less, she always wondered the possibility of whoever her father was, was still alive.
She's human; it's only natural to wonder about these things.
Not like her mother has kept photo albums or picture frames, or anything to satisfy her curiosity.
Maybe she was hoping too much from this Javor Dragoslav; false hopes, false dreams.
~~~~Elsewhere~~~~
Javor Dragoslav snuck out of the hotel, not even rustling a branch on his way.
He got into his rental car and drove away from the hotel.
He had changed into a fresh shirt, leaving the other one in the trash, he had no use for a stained and ripped shirt. The band-aid that Ashley had placed in his forehead was gone, along with the wound.
He drove to the other side of town, dodging pedestrians, taxis, and fruit stands, almost expertly.
As the car slowed he had reached the slum, the poorer side of town, he felt the impulse to wipe his hands just by looking at it.
Javor got out of the car, straightening his clothes, before walking down the alleyway.
A young man, native to the city, walked out of one of the buildings into the alleyway.
The man's eyes fell upon Javor and he squeaked before booking it down the alley.
"Fillipe!" growled Javor.
He ran up fast and caught the man by the throat, slamming him against the wall.
"Oh mister Dragoslav! I didn't realize it was you, I thought you were, someone else, what can I do for you?" the guy lied profusely; he was already sweating.
"You really are a horrible liar Fillipe, even worse than that you are an even more horrible inside man, squealer, now you have 10 seconds to defend yourself before I remove your larynx," Javor said easily.
"Is not my fault, I swear!" he cried.
"8…7…6…" Javor counted.
"Wait, wait! I can explain, I promise all I told you was true, but they found me out man! Van Hagen was going to send a manhunt after me unless I squealed, but I told him only about the pick up, he doesn't know that you have the location of his villa, please man, I got a family!" cried Fillipe, he started praying in his native language.
"Don't lie again to me Fillipe, it will take less than a manhunt from me to track you down and send pieces of you back to your family in the form of meatloaf," he growled.
"I swear, they don't know!" Fillipe sobs.
"And how do I know that when I arrive at that villa that I won't be ambushed?" snarled Javor, he lifted the guy further of the ground.
"Van Hagen's getting ready for his wedding to the woman you're after, she's going to be the crown jewel of his trophy wives, three days to prepare her, then he's going to marry her, and when that happens she's going to be moved deeper into Van Hagen's network, the marriage is set in 4 days, it's a big ceremony at the villa! Van Hagen won't waste any resources on an ambush, especially because they think they had you fooled with the stunt at the safehouse, I promise that's all I told them about, they twisted my arm for over an hour!" he lifted up his arm that had been set in a very crude cast. "They would've done worse if I hadn't given them something!"
Javor lowered the man to the ground and released his neck.
"Well, at least now I don't have to do it, but if I find out that you are lying to me again, it will take more than a cast to heal you up," said Javor handing Fillipe a wad of cash. "Don't spend it all in one place."
The man nodded and stuffed the money into his pocket and nodded wildly.
"Now, have a nice day, my friend, don't do drugs," Javor smirked and walked back down the alleyway.
~~~~7:30 Sharp~~~~
Javor sat at his usual table on the balcony.
He checked his watch once again, and double-checked the band-aid on his forehead was in the right place before taking another sip of his wine.
"Well, you're as punctual as ever," a voice disrupted his thoughts and he looked up to see Ashley. At least he thought it was Ashley, she was glammed up, and stunning. He could've mistaken her for a twenty-something, she definitely had the Magnus skill for looking good when needed, though why she had chosen to dress herself up for this occasion was beyond him.
"Don't you look grown up," he said casually, standing up as she took her seat.
"You like it?" she said, almost suggestively.
"It's better than the tank top and jeans number," he said nonchalantly, picking up his menu. He was understating it of course. She looked wonderful, but he wasn't sure where she was going with this, so he wasn't going to treat her any differently.
"You really know how to make a girl feel special," she said with a laugh.
"You're welcome," he said flatly.
"I'm starting to realize why my mom didn't like you," she teased.
"What makes you say she didn't?" he looked up from the menu.
"Well, you guys have stopped talking to each other, I don't call you Uncle Javor, and she has never mentioned you, obviously you did something dislikable," she grinned and he scowled back.
"We had a bit of a blow up, but your mother did very much like me beforehand," he smirked cheekily.
"That's your perspective, Mom is an expert at keeping her true feelings hidden, she's shaken hands with some of the most outright detestable people in history and she did it with a smile," Ashley said confidently,
"You don't know the half of it," he chuckled and went back to the menu.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Ashley crossed her arms defiantly.
"When I say I was your mother's friend for a long time, I don't mean it in your teenage terms of a week or so, or as bff's, we knew each other probably longer than you've been alive, I know very well the hands she's shaken," he drank some wine. "What does my relationship with your mother have anything to do with the way you dress?"
"Just curious," she said back, lifting up her own menu.
"Yes, well, your mother was always impeccably dressed, and punctual, traits any decent human being should have," Ashley smirked.
"Is that all?" she grinned, almost seductively, what was this girl up to?
"It's in the top three," he didn't look up from his menu and Ashley took this as her opportunity. She gingerly uncrossed her leg and ran her foot up his inseam to his inner thigh; resulting in a sharp intake of breath from him.
He grabbed her foot before it went any further and placed it on the ground.
"I don't know what you're getting at Miss Magnus, but whatever it is you won't be getting it from me," he looked at her.
"Why not? Am I not pretty enough?" she scooted her chair close to him.
"I am probably old enough to be your grandfather."
"That hasn't stopped older men before."
"You are a child."
"I am 16, I am technically a woman," Ashley placed a hand gently on his thigh and he looked at her unimpressed.
"You are a young girl, have you even had a boyfriend yet?" he said looking at her.
"Of course I have, but isn't that part of the excitement, taking something before somebody else does?"
"I don't know what article of the cosmopolitan you've been reading, but I have no interest in taking anything from you," he took her hand off his thigh and put it in her lap. "You've been through a lot in the last few days, it's understandable to feel like you need to regain control, or prove yourself, but this is something you'd regret for the rest of your life, that, and your mother would kill me seven different ways."
"I don't get you, I mean you're not my father, and your not a creep, but you flirt like it's second nature, but behind it you're as moralistic as a monk from Budapest. What are you trying to get at? It's not me, so it must be my mom, but you don't want my mom to know you're helping me, and it's not for money because you haven't asked for anything, if anything you have spent more money on this operation than I could give you. And on top of that you can't do anything unless it's in threes, you don't drink anything but wine, and all you wear are crisp clean white button down shirts that never get a speck of dirt on them!"
"Your point?"
"My point is why? Why, if you get no reward out of it, are you helping me?" she glared at him.
"Personal redemption, if not in the eyes of your mother than in my own, I should've done more for her, this is the least I could do for all she has done for me," he said sincerely.
"You don't just care for her, do you? You love her?" she looked into his blue-grey eyes.
"Very much so," his eyes looked into hers sadly.
"Wow, I feel like a joke," she looked away.
"Nah, you look great, any man would be honored to have dinner with such a beauty," he smirked, his flirty demeanor returning.
"I just put out for a man whose in love with my mother," she ran hand over her face.
"Hey, I have to compete with every other man who's in love with your mother, get used to it," he chuckled.
"Just order and don't talk to me," she huffed and he chuckled.
"It's understandable, I am a sweet talker with devilishly handsome good looks," he gives her a cheesy grin.
"With an ego the size of china," she shifted in her seat so she wouldn't have to look at him for the rest of the evening.
Though the sound of his taunting chuckle never left her ears.
