Chapter 3- Honesty

A minute later, Murray took a seat on the couch opposite from Alexei. "Have you ever helped anyone defect before?" he asked quietly, staring at the sleeping Alexei. Laurie stared at his jean shorts, still unnerved. Nobody looked good in cutoff jean shorts.

"A few Russians. A few Germans. A Cuban once."

"And Alexei?"

Laurie looked over at the kid. "He's one of the better cases I've come across. The others…the Russians certainly, it was obvious they did it because they had no other choice. Alexei…I don't know, I know Jim thinks Alexei didn't have a choice, but he's smart. He could have come up with something to convince the General that he hadn't talked. I guess it depends on what this General is like. But regardless, he seems sincere."

"Yeah, you know me, I have no love for the Soviets," Murray stated.

She gazed back at the balding man. "But this kid…"

He nodded, smiling softly. "Like you said, he seems sincere." Murray suddenly narrowed his eyes as he turned to look at her. "So how do you know Jim?" he asked.

"He was married to my sister," she told him. "Haven't seen him in years."

Murray seemed to put two and two together. "His daughter was your niece?"

Laurie nodded sadly. "Yeah. So…" she trailed off, rubbing her hands together. It was never easy to talk about Sara. Diane never even mentioned her anymore, not that Laurie blamed her sister. She was kind of surprised to find that Murray knew. How long had he known Jim?

Joyce popped up behind Murray. "Let's go!" she said loudly, her nerves on edge so much that it was obvious Joyce was about to burst. She obviously was really worried about her kids and the situation in general.

Laurie nodded, waving her hands at Joyce. "I'll get the kid," she said. "Murray," she said tossing her car keys at the man as she stood up, "get my bag from my trunk, will you? Bring it here."

The man almost glared at her, but chose not to fight it. Instead grumpily pushing himself up from the couch and heading for the front door. Laurie looked around and saw that Joyce and Jim had left the room as well. She cautiously moved around the table. Waking up men, in her experience, was hit or miss. Some men would wake up like any normal human being, while others were violent. Laurie had dated a guy briefly, who was a fellow FBI Agent, that if he was startled awake would wake up swinging. She had gotten a few "accidental" black eyes from him and she was now forever nervous about waking men up.

Taking a deep breath, and reminding herself that she's a fucking FBI Agent, Laurie leaned over and gently touched Alexei's shoulder.

"Alyosha?" she said in a quiet, but firm voice.

He immediately awoke, his head whipping around and his hands flying up to his chest as if to protect himself. "What's going on?"

"Time to go," Laurie said, pointing as the watch on her wrist and then miming leaving the house. She smiled, nodding encouragingly, wishing she could tell him in Russian.

He seemed to understand, pushing himself up on the couch as Laurie moved away.

"This bag?" Murray questioned, walking back into the makeshift living room. She looked over at him and nodded.

"Indeed."

"What's in the bag?" Alexei asked, putting his glasses on.

Murray repeated the question in English, holding the bag out to Laurie. She walked around the table and took it, setting on the other couch and unzipping it. "Safety precautions," she answered as she pulled out two bullet proof vests. She held them up, looking between Murray and Alexei. "If we want Alexei to defect, then we gotta keep him alive, no? Since there's some psycho terminator Russian after him, he'll wear this horribly uncomfortable thing and if we're lucky, the Russian won't go for the head."

"She says you'll wear this and that way she can keep you alive. She wants to keep you safe so you can defect," Murray translated, leaving out the part about Alexei getting shot in the head.

Laurie smiled widely at Alexei, nodding. He slowly nodded in return, not looking thrilled. "Once we get to Hawkins, you'll put it on," she added. Murray translated and this seemed to make Alexei a little happier. She didn't blame him. They were awfully uncomfortable to wear, but a vest had saved her life on three different occasions. She hoped it wouldn't come to it, but if it did, she wanted to keep Alexei alive. "Great! Let's go!" Laurie packed her bag back up, putting the vests on top of her extra sets of clothes and the two other handguns and boxes of ammo in the bottom of the bag. She also pulled her holster off her waist, preferring not to be sitting in a car for hours with a gun attached to her hip. It went on top of the vests, sitting where she could easily grab it if necessary.

Alexei was the first to leave and Laurie stopped packing her bag to watch him go, fear creeping in her mind about what the night might bring. It wasn't going to be an easy feat to break into a secret Russian lair. What if somebody died? What if Alexei died after helping them save the town, and possibly the world?

"You okay?" Murray asked, having collected all of Alexei's drawings and notes.

Laurie nodded, zipping the bag shut. "I just always get worried before a mission," she said, looking at him. She noticed the fear that slowly crept over his face and Laurie found herself feeling about mentioning it. "But I've survived so far, haven't I?" she added, forcing a smile.

Murray didn't look convinced. The pair left the house, Murray locking his bunker home behind them. Laurie stopped, watching Alexei climb into the backseat of the convertible. She hadn't thought about what car they would be taking.

She was about to spend hours sitting next to the Russian kid. Laurie grimaced. Her emotions had been all over the place so far with him today and it had only been a couple of hours. What would a long car ride do to her feelings?

Sighing, Laurie walked over to the car. Alexei grinned up at her as she tossed her bag on the floor of the backseat and gracefully climbed over the side of the car, doing her best to not kick Alexei. Murray climbed in on the other side, Joyce having generously left the door open and the seat up so he could get in. Laurie glared at the back of Jim's head as she sat in the seat.

"Everyone ready?" Jim asked as Joyce climbed in her seat and shut the door.

"Ready," Laurie said, her voice monotone. She pressed herself close to the side of the car to avoid touching Alexei. She didn't need anything to egg her on.

"Let's go save the world."