Malik and Kadar had gone shopping for some breakfast things and grudgingly agreed to pick up something "casual" for Maria to change into. Her reasoning bested their grumbling protests in the end, "I have blood all over the back of my clothes I might attract some attention even in a run down area."
Altaïr was on the laptop this time looking for somewhere less "stomach churning" to stay and Maria was wandering from the bed to the window doing her best not to engage him in conversation. She saw a young woman walking down the street pushing a buggy with another toddler desperately clinging onto the frame because his mother needed her free hand to hold her phone to her ear. She wondered if she would ever forgo her child's hand for the sake of chatting to someone and came to the conclusion that she would not.
The idea of being a mother was never one she had given any serious thought to but now she knew there was a little something inside her she felt oddly attached to it. 'One day,' she glanced at her watch, 'Less than 24 hours ago I never knew it existed and now I feel like its most important little something in the world.'
Her eyes darted to the man half responsible for that gift, his fingers were bent over his mouth and his thumbs pressed into his cheeks as he scoured the To Let pages. He moved a hand to scratch his nose and she smiled before returning her attention to the street outside.
Altaïr had been sneaking sideways looks at her since they had been alone spending most of his time wondering why she was being so standoffish with him. Even in Syria when she had a bleeding Malik on her lap she hadn't been this cold. About to question her he stopped when he heard footsteps coming towards the room.
The door swung open and the brothers strolled in with Kadar bringing up the rear, "I hope you like pancakes Maria we bought loads of them."
Malik handed her a couple of plastic bags, "Clean clothes and toiletries."
"Thank you, I'll go get cleaned up before I eat you men under the table."
Her initial surprise that the communal shower was free was short lived; she couldn't imagine any two people in the world would ever want to use it. The curtain was hanging by its last few rings and if there was one single tile on the inside that wasn't cracked or coated in mildew then it would be a miracle. She lifted her dress over her head and angled her head to check her back in the soap stained mirror. There was no blood on her body only her coat and a small amount of her dress. Soaking part of the dress she had just removed she used it to roughly wash and then dry herself off.
She smiled when she opened the bag; they had bought her clean underwear as well as the basics for washing up. The bra was the wrong size but the knickers were fine. The dress was a cheap supermarket sun dress; they had tried to buy something similar to what she had been wearing. "I wonder if I should tell them I almost never wear dresses." Chuckling she left the bathroom and made her way back to their room.
"How long have you known the man you have been spending so much time with?"
She reached for a pancake and considered whether or not to have syrup, best not too... "I met him a couple of weeks ago he works at the same bank as my father why?"
"We know his name and his history but we can't find any information linking him to the Templars but that doesn't mean he isn't it just means he haven't learned of him yet."
"Come on Malik not you as well!" She dropped the pancake she had just bitten into not liking how much it felt like chewing cardboard. "This is ridiculous. James works in a bank he is not linked to any clandestine group or anything else sordid you can think of. The guy is a total sweet heart."
Malik's chuckle might not have been the smuggest thing she had heard in a long while but his look was unquestionably the most patronising. "Maria you were almost kidnapped don't tell me you are going to make us go through the whole routine of convincing the silly city girl she is in real danger."
"Danger yes from some government agency but come on thousand year old knights with a plan to take over the world with some fantasy relics. They don't need that shit, just a good burger and half way decent TV show and they would have more followers than the Moonies."
"Good you are familiar with the group although it's the battle which is over a thousand years old the knights themselves died Maria."
She was beginning to doubt their sanity; either that or they were taking piss. Her cheeks reddened and her eyes narrowed, "Yeah yeah I saw the tombs Malik I was being sarcastic but my point is valid."
He raised a questioning eyebrow amused by her sudden burst of temper, "Which point would that be Maria?"
Her hand flew to her mouth and her eyes became two perfect circles of panic as she bolted for the door. She made it a few steps into the hallway before her bodies need to eject the offending pancakes defeated her ego's desire for privacy... she covered the floor and the wall with disgusting vomit.
She knew he was behind her without having to see him there and continued toward the toilet slamming the door behind her. She came out a few minutes later and saw the mess was still there but the men's luggage was in front of it.
"You look like crap Maria." Kadar smiled sympathetically as he took her arm, "Let's go we are moving to a better place."
"Shouldn't I clean that up?"
"And deprive the local insects of a good meal! Leave it Maria they got paid for a week they can take that as compensation."
"I want to go home."
His sympathetic smile became a hug, "For now you can't but hopefully soon."
On the way to their new digs she had them stop outside a row of shops, "If I can't go home there are things I need to buy."
She wandered around a woman's clothes shop picking up bits and pieces and after a few moments went to the checkout to pay. Altaïr stepped forward from God knows where and offered the cashier his card and Maria a smile, "I'll get this darling."
The one time she actually wanted to vomit her body betrayed her; the cashier looked from her to Altaïr and back again although her appreciative look only extended to the man by her side. 'Silly cow is jealous, well let her have him and she can have all the fucking misery that comes with him.'
While he keyed in the pin number Maria looked around at the dingy little shop, she shouldn't complain really they had the basics but my God would it kill them to turn the AC on? By the time she turned back round the assistant had not only fixed her hair but was taking her sweet time handing the card over, commenting on what a beautiful accent her "husband" had. Maria actually laughed out loud at the boldness of the bitch.
"I'm sorry to interrupt darling but we've left Malik and Kadar alone the car far too long already, heaven knows what mischief they'll have gotten into. I can finish here you go see to your sons." She kissed his cheek and patted his arse when he walked away smiling sweetly at the look he tossed back at her before turning her attention back to the sales girl, "Arabs honestly... I seem to spend all my time either looking after our sons or fending off his efforts to make more."
She got back into the car and slumped into the back seat beside Kadar, "What the hell was that I can pay for my own things you trumped up tin pot general!"
Malik turned to her looking for the first time like he was running out of patience, "If you used your own card you would have left a trail for them to follow therefore it's wiser to use one we have acquired wouldn't you agree?"
A grudging "I suppose..." were the only words Maria spoke until she was shown into her new room. She spent the remainder of the journey watching the people on the pavements as they passed them by.
"I'm sorry for snapping at you in the car."
She dropped her bags onto the bed and turned to the young man standing in the doorway. "No, don't be Malik I was stupidly reacting to him being a wanker and not thinking about the circumstances but in my defence I've never been on the run before so I'm going to make mistakes." She moved closer to him and saw how pale his skin was, "Hey you go get some sleep I'll stay here and watch TV all night, scouts honour."
She had a shower and changed into the clean nightdress she had bought before switching on the TV and settling back on her comfortable and clean bed. This room was generic and a bit purple for her personal taste but right now it felt like she was in the lap of luxury. She began watching some old movie that was already playing but fell asleep within minutes.
Shouting... She sprang up from the pillows and looked around to get her bearings. What the hell was that? She moved to window and was surprised to see it getting dark outside. Then more shouting and this time she heard enough to know where it came from and who it was.
"Kadar what the fuck is going on! What are they fighting about?"
She had ran into their room to find Kadar calmly sitting on the sofa while Altaïr and Malik stood toe to toe looking ready to rip each other's head off.
The young man smirked and sat upright, "They fight all the time one of them will win and it will end best to stay out of it. Oh they are fighting about you, Altaïr wants to stay and help make London safe for you Malik thinks that is impossible and our only option is to take you to Syria."
"They are fighting about me, my future?" She glanced at him and decided to ignore his twinkling eyes turning her fury instead to the cock fight in the middle of the room. She marched up to them and spoke calmly but they talked over her. She tried again a little louder but still no response, "Fuck you both I'm not staying here to listen to this crap I'd be better off alone!"
That did it. Both men turned their angry gazes to her, Maria flinched from their scrutiny but only a fraction... "You were alone Maria and on the verge of being dragged into a waiting van."
"So that's how it is. You save me from God knows what and now you have the right to decide what happens to me in my life? Well let me remind you both I saved your arses first! If not for me you would have been found in Damascus and then well who knows what would have happened..."
Altaïr stared at her and as his eyes dragged down the length of her body she saw heat in his gaze, without looking down she realised what he was seeing, her almost identical to how she had been that night he had come to her room in Masyaf even down to the damp hair! He brought his blazing eyes back to hers and her insides folded like paper; she swallowed hard and forced herself to take a step closer to them.
"What exactly is the issue?" Both men went to speak so she held up a hand and gestured to Malik, "Keep it short please and in English."
Malik spoke softly to her, "Maria you would be safe in Syria but Altaïr doesn't think you would want to go there for any length of time. Staying in London would be a grievous error there is no way the three of us can wipe out any threat to you here, we can't even pinpoint where those threats are coming from."
Maria nodded her understanding, Altaïr didn't want her in Syria for reasons his men would be unaware of but she wanted to be with him even less. "Fine I can't stay in London for the time being that much is clear so why not think of somewhere safe I can go instead of standing here yelling at each other with your fists clenched like a couple of bad tempered seven year olds?"
Altaïr grunted and moved to the table in the corner keeping his back to them. Maria had to fight hard not to run over and crack him across the head with something heavy, "If you can think of somewhere safe let me know and I'll consider it if not I'll sort something out myself. She moved to the door and looked back at them, "If you get us thrown out of here tonight you are going alone, I'm not leaving my nice clean bed."
"We are going to get some food delivered what would you like?"
"I've lost my appetite Altaïr good night."
Back in her room the news was on and she was watching footage from the quadruple murder that had happened the previous night in her street. She chuckled as she thought of her neighbours sweating bullets over what this bad coverage would be doing to their equity. 'God you really have become a soulless bitch Maria, four men are dead and you are laughing about it.' But her reply to her own thinking was solid, 'Fuck them they would have done the same to me.'
When a knock came at her door she decided not to reply, it would likely be Altaïr looking to ease his conscience or worse sate his lust and while the latter wasn't wholly unappealing to her she had to stick to her guns and being alone with him would only make that more difficult.
The knock became more incessant, "Maria will you open the door!"
It wasn't locked but if he was too stupid to figure that out so be it. Turns out he wasn't too stupid but he was definitely angry that she had left her door unlocked, "Anyone could have walked in here what were you thinking?" He stood in her doorway giving her what she imagined was his "You try my patience look."
She tossed the remote onto the bed and threw him a reply without looking at him. "Anyone did walk in and I guess I wasn't. What is it you want?"
His fingers clamped around her upper arm as he yanked her off the bed and onto her feet, "What possible reason could you have for being such a bitch to me!"
His scent invaded her nostrils and her memory floated back to another time he was this close to her, a happier time...
"Go away Altaïr we don't need to have this conversation." She tugged her arm free of him and tried to move past but he moved with her.
"Tell me what I did that was so wrong? It can't be getting you into this mess because you would treat Malik with the same disdain if that were the case. If it's about the time we spent together you were just as willing as I was."
She closed her eyes for a second and got her place in the conversation straight in her head, mention his wife fine but nothing else don't let him get you that angry. "When Malik was in hospital he kept calling me Adha."
"And you are angry with me for that?"
Scowling she countered, "I'm angry because you have a wife and you spent the night with me."
"Why didn't you mention this last night?"
"Why didn't you mention it before you screwed me?" She snarled and thrust her finger into his chest, "Maybe you thought..." She stopped talking and turned away from him.
"I thought what Maria? That you would be there for a day or so and we could have some fun while my wife wasn't around. Is that what you think of me?"
"I don't know you so it would unfair of me to assume anything but the fact remains you have a wife and you slept with me."
"Adha and I were married three years ago and she has lived in New York for most of that time."
She skirted around the bottom of the bed keeping as much of the room between them as she could, "I don't care where she is, you're a nasty cheating bastard and I regret ever having laid eyes on you."
"She lived in a traditional Muslim family; she wanted to go to New York to study but they would never let her leave. I married her to help her get away there has never been a physical relationship between us; she is my wife on paper only."
She stopped in front of the door she had just pulled open, "Malik only said she was your wife."
She could feel him behind her, he wasn't touching her but she knew he was close. "Abbas shot you when you tried to warn me about his signal to attack but this must have happened after you had learned of Adha but you still warned me."
Slowly she turned her face to his and nodded.
His eyes darted from the door back to her as his hand pushed it closed, "No wonder you hate me; you must have thought me a faithless bastard."
Licking her lips she breathed deeply, "Only when I found out you were alive until then I was more understanding."
"Waking up with you beside me was a rare treat Maria one I would happily repeat but I was unwilling to bring you back into my dangerous life, I'm not that selfish."
Inside she felt an almost demented urge to laugh or cry she was still unsure what form this mania would take if she unleashed it. "Yeah its fine no harm done."
'No harm done! Pregnant and on the run still... no harm done good one Maria.'
"Will you come with us to Syria when matters here have been settled?"
"I don't know you know, no offence intended but you guys are beginning to look like a group of weirdo's and the more you say the worse that gets."
"Malik and I have to go out Kadar is going to stay here with you, spend some time talking with him and learn all you can. We are neither liars or deluded Maria the life we were born into exists it is our reality but I understand why you find it so hard to believe."
"Where are you going?"
"There are a couple of leads we need to follow up on and one of our contacts wants to meet us to show us a few things." She looked away from him as his hand stroked her cheek, "I'm sorry your helping us has cost you so much." He let his hand fall from her face.
"Will I be able to go home before I leave there are things there that I would like to keep with me?"
"I'll make sure of it, we will have to wait until the police have finished their investigations but I'm sure we can get home again to collect your belongings."
He was here in front of her alive and unattached – the very things she had prayed for - yet she couldn't meet his eyes. Noticing a burn on the ring finger of his left hand she reached for it, "What is this it looks deliberate?"
He closed his eyes when her fingers touched his, savouring her cool flesh against his, "It's the mark we make when we devote ourselves fully to the assassins in days gone by the whole finger had to be severed."
She grinned and forgot not to look at him. The joke she was going to make about him missing a finger died in her throat when she saw how he was looking at her. She stepped closer to him and let her arms find his neck, let her body find his warmth as he drew her closer still and for the first time in months she felt like she was exactly where she was meant to be.
Whoever the anon was who left the lovely review thank you so much that made my day :)