Chapter 8 – Through the Rain

~~~~Villa off the Coast, Van Hagen Head Quarters~~~~

"The package from downtown arrived safely, sir, it has been placed in the good hands of Aphrodite and the girls."

"Excellent, I want an update on her condition every two hours, tell Dita that," Richter Van Hagen said through the thick cigar smoke around his head.

He smiled contently as he watched the slowly sinking sunset off the horizon; he always loved beautiful things, from architecture, to priceless works of art, to women. Women especially.

The rich Dutchman had made a point to constantly surround himself with beautiful things, and have 6 wives was no exception, one for everyday of the week if all goes well.

His seventh was to be a prize, a timeless beauty, literally, he had his eye on her for quite some time. Not only was she concerned with his other passion, she was graceful and seductive, and had deep beautiful eyes. Every time he thought about her, he knew he had to have her as his own, such a trophy must be obtained.

Now he had her, the great Helen Magnus.

"Anything else, sir?" said his henchman.

"Any news on our little squealer?"

"A very interesting development, seems like the little arm twisting wasn't enough to keep his mouth shut, we don't know who he was talking to, the guy was very good at keeping his face from our screens, but he paid the mouse money for his information."

"How unfortunate, I guess we'll have to have another little talk with our good Fillipe."

"Right away, sir."

The goon bowed and left the balcony.

~~~~Elsewhere~~~~

"Helen, you could…you could come with me."

"Nikola, I can't just pack up and leave on a whim, I have responsibilities, duties; promises I intend to keep, unlike you who can just disappear."

"It's just a dumb war, we've already lived through the first one, I gave you the autotype what more do you want from me?"

"Is this just all a big joke to you?"

"Of course not, but I tried and this is where it got me, and now I have to die and leave everything behind, why is it a crime for me to hold on to something?"

"I'm going to have a baby Nikola."

"What?"

"I don't know when, but it's something I have chosen to do, it's something I want, I saved the embryo for years with James' help, and when this war is done, when ever it is over, I'm going to have it."

"It's John's isn't it?"

"Yes…Don't look at me like that."

"I'm not asking for anything, just come with me, I'll look after you, the both of you, you know I can, please."

"You have every major agency from every allied government after you, I'm having a body planted in your apartment in New York, arranging funeral plans, plans to make sure your work doesn't fall in the wrong hands."

"So what? You know where I'm going, meet me there."

"It's no life for a child Nikola, and you know that."

"So that's it then, I'm out of your life forever now."

"Don't be like that, Nikola, years will pass, people will forget, and as long as neither of us will die we'll see each other again."

"What if you forget?"

Javor Dragoslav blinked.

Rain always caused him to drift off; so many moments of his life took place when it rained.

It was the first time it rained since he had arrived in Puerto Rico, and he had stopped reading and came out to look at it.

Windless rain. It always looked warm to him, just soft droplets of water cleaning the earth, and the lightning and thunder a reminder of the power beneath his feet.

But as his mind focused on the droplets it wandered, as if the rain held his precious and painful memories for him to see.

He heard a knock at the door looked at it, deciding if he should ignore it or not.

The knock came again and he sighed, walking over to the door.

He opened the door to see Ashley wrapped up in a blanket.

"You make that helpless puppy face all you want, I won't sleep with you," he teased.

"That was over an hour ago, get over it, let me in," she said with a huff.

"Why should I if you're going to be like that?"

"I accidentally left my balcony door open and the rain got in and soaked everything, I was in the shower at the time, the manager says they'll get a carpet cleaner in the morning, can I just stay here before I suffer any more embarrassment tonight."

"Come in," he said with a grin.

"You can take the bed, I don't sleep on it anyway," he said casually as he sat back down on the sofa and read.

"Don't tell me you sleep upside down because you're part bat," she teased.

"I take offense to that!" he scowled.

"Do you sleep in the tub with one leg up?" she joked some more.

"I sleep on the couch, hence why I'm sitting here," he huffed.

"Have you figured out a plan B to save my mom?" she asked sitting on the bed.

"I think so, by my calculations we have about 3 days to get her out before Van Hagen moves her deeper into his network, I plan to hit them in two, tomorrow we scout the location of the villa, look for access points, the next day we get in, get your mother, get out, and say "Hasta luego!" to our little dutch friends."

"Is this from the same contact who told you about the safe house?" Ashley joked.

"That's besides the point," he said defensively.

Ashley laughed but decided to drop the matter and crawl on to the bed and under the covers.

"I remember when I was little and it was the middle of the night during a fierce thunderstorm, I snuck to my mother's room, she always had the fireplace going, and she closed the curtains and said everything was going to be okay," Ashley muttered, more to herself than anything.

"Is there a reason you bring up this memory, or are you just lamenting?" said Javor.

"I think about it every time it rains, it turned into a tradition of ours, we'd always drink cocoa and sit by the fire when it rained," Ashley propped her head up on her arm and looked out the window. "One thing that I never understood was how sad my mom looked when it rained, not during a thunderstorm, but just when it would rain, she'd always stare out the window as if she missed the sun."

"When you've lived as long as your mother has you associate certain memories with certain things, like weather patterns, pieces of jewelry, books," he mumbled.

"What does that book remind you of?" she asked.

"It was a gift, giving to me during a phase of my life when I really enjoyed poetry, it reminds me of a more carefree time of my life, the poetry is rather tame compared to most but I like it, I remember reading it in the park near the university I attended, I was so young back then," he sighed.

"Was it from my mom?" she asked.

"Yes," he flipped to the first page of the book. "To my good friend on his birthday, a little gift to soothe the savage beast, from Helen,' circa 1879, humorous because then she thought the only thing that I could calm me down at the time was poetry."

"And she was wrong?" she looked at him.

"Not entirely," he muttered.

Ashley chuckled.

"So tomorrow we're scouting, huh?" she sighed staring back out the window.

"Yes, that's the plan," he went back to the page he was reading.

"Even if it's raining?" she asked.

"Even if it's raining, but I doubt it, the rain should cease during the middle of the night."

~~~~Next Day~~~~

"It's still raining," Ashley glared at Javor.

"I am very aware of that."