"S-Slow down!" Ema cried as he was pushing the car to it's limits. "W-what's happening!?"
"It's a trap!" He suddenly swerved the car off the road. "Look." He handed her the paper. "They were planning on killing me, and you."
"What?" She looked at the name on the paper, Alex Cooper – Apollo said that was Cheetah's real name.
The Fraulien will be going to the Gatewater hotel. She thinks I'm meeting her there, she'll be easy to get rid off. Then get after Justice. He's the one I need to get rid of. If he leaked that stuff we did…I'd be ruined.
"No! No!" Ema cried. "That can't be true!"
"Will you let me kill that bastard now?" Apollo growled. Sabre made a sudden movement on the back seat.
"Why? Why would he?"
"It's about time you saw the dark side of human nature." He revved the car. "Unfortunately, the original file also contained some information about where he's staying. Fancy a trip to the Big Apple?"
"N-New York?"
"It's quite a ways. Sure you can put up with me for that long?"
"I'm meant to be your hostage aren't I? Why the hell are you asking!?"
"Yeah I guess." Apollo shrugged.
-x-x-
She remembered that the only time they stopped over the next 36 hours was for food and drinks.
"Here boy." He threw a chunk of meat from the cooler crate in the back of the car, to Sabre. Sabre ran out and snapped the joint into his huge jaws. Apollo was perched on the hood of the black sports car, Ema sat on a blanket beside the car. She lifted the wrap to her mouth, taking a bite of the snack. "That's a good puppy." He took another chunk of meat and tossed it out into the grass. "That's all now."
He tossed the crate into the back of the car before joining Ema.
"I'm surprised you don't try to run away anymore." Apollo commented as he took a bite from his burger.
"I'm surprised you haven't tried to kill me." Ema said it in a way that suggested she was being light-hearted but Apollo could tell she was still afraid.
"You run, I will shoot. You stay, I'll behave." Apollo filled his mouth with fries.
"Can I ask you something? What did Klavier mean by 'if he leaked that stuff we did'?"
"It means nothing." Apollo replied coolly.
"Clearly it does." Ema demanded.
"I tell you what, I'll tell you that if you tell me why you were in that hotel, in some very sexy clothes may I add."
"I-I guess."
"Come on then, I think we need to stop at a hotel, I'll crash the car if I don't get sleep." She nodded, gathering the blanket into her hands and throwing it into the back of the car.
"Look sweetie, I'm a little ashamed of that night." Apollo took a seat on the bed beside Ema. "I'm a…curious…guy."
"What?" Ema asked confused.
"I wanted to try it with a guy. So, I tried it with Klavier."
"How far did you go?" Ema's eyes twinkled.
"Bit personal aren't you?"
"Well…"
"We kissed, we hugged, I let him touch me. It didn't feel right so I stopped him." Apollo whispered. "He…well…we got naked and he tried to violate me straight away, I got angry and pushed him away."
"Sounds painful…" Ema sympathised. "I'll take it nobody other than me and you two know what happened?"
"Indeed."
"Well…I'll be honest with you. I thought if I had sex with Klavier he might ease off on me at work."
"How so?"
"Well, I thought he'd quit making comments about me and…and all that stuff…"
"How naïve are you?" Apollo chuckled.
"Excuse me?"
"If you had sex with him do you honestly believe he'd stop teasing you?"
"Why wouldn't he?"
"He'd have seen you naked, you'd have shown him everything. He'd have even more to tease you with."
"O-Oh." She winced.
"You didn't think about that did you?"
"No."
-x-x-
Her face was bright red from the chilli prawns.
"Too hot for you?" Apollo smiled as he lifted another forkful of the same food into his mouth. The heat and spice didn't affect him.
"A little." He clicked his fingers and a waitress came to his side.
"Hey pal, a glass of water for the lady if you could." She nodded and came back with a small glass of water. "Drink up Em."
"Well aren't you mister tall, dark and handsome?" A new waitress came to take the plates away.
"Thank you my dear." Apollo purred.
"You're just like Klavier in this sense." Ema mumbled.
"Ha Ha." Apollo teased. "So can we order desert?"
"That depends, what's in it for me?"
"Not that sort of stuff sunshine." Apollo winked.
"Not even a quickie?"
"No way." Apollo teased.
"Alright, so what's your order?"
Again he whispered in the waitress' ear. She came out with every desert on the menu.
"Oh and a couple more things…" He whispered in her ear again.
"What?" She asked, surprised.
"For my dog. The other one first though please."
"Wow!" Ema looked at the variety of deserts on the table. "What are some of these things?"
"This is the restaurant's specialty, something Bear told me about – its main ingredient is cookie dough." She took the spoon into her hand and watched Apollo as he carefully cut the doughy substance and lifted it to his mouth.
"Have you been here before?" Ema asked as he explained another desert and showed her how to eat it.
"No. I tend not to travel this far very often, Bear and his daughter have been here before."
"You know…I really don't understand you…" Ema and him were on the final desert.
"I told you that you wouldn't." Apollo took a sip of the champagne he asked the waitress to get for them both. "What is it you don't understand about me?"
"Your image." Ema began. "I mean, how different you are to how I would picture an…"
"An assassin?" Apollo noticed she was still shy to say it. "Well, describe how you'd picture one."
"Let's see, you match the clothes – black outfit in a leather trench coat. A cold attitude, like's to use…cheap women for sex, doesn't like talking much…"
"Hm? And which one am I not?"
"The using cheap women for sex part."
"Things have happened in the past, like you probably already know and that calmed me down my dear."
"When we find Klavier, what will happen?" Ema asked as she walked with her hand linked in his.
"I kill him. I kill him and Cheetah."
"Then what?"
"You can go. I go back to being plain old Apollo until I get a new job."
"So…so that's it?"
"Did you expect something more?"
"No…I guess not…"
-x-x-
That night, he felt someone gently pressing his left arm.
"…Apollo…wake up please."
"What?" He mumbled sleepily.
"It's cold, can I sleep with you and Sabre?" Apollo grumbled then shifted along so she could climb in.
"Thanks." She got as close as she could to his warm body. He waited until he heard the rhythmic sounds of her breathing.
"So this is what you want?" Apollo sighed.
"What?" She whispered.
"It doesn't matter." He held out his arm and she snuggled against him. "Hugging a killer, tsk tsk."
That night was the first decent night's sleep since Apollo had kidnapped her.
