Losing Chris
Nutty stayed on the plane and made it to Canada safely. There was no doubt that that would happen. Now the problem was what was happening to Chris.
She was so worried about him. She had to catch the next plane back to Japan. She was nearly panicking. What if he wasn't in Japan? What if they took him back to Russia? What if they took him to some other country.
With what little money she had left, she purchased a one-way ticket to Japan. Even if he wasn't there, it was the best place to start looking. She arrived in Japan early the next morning, around one.
To her surprise, Bulma was asleep in the main lobby, a book in her lap. Nutty paced quickly over to her, as tired as she was. Throwing the sachel and purse down, she shook Bulma lightly. Bulma woke up immediately.
"Nutty! You're back. I'm so glad.", she grabbed Nutty by the shoulders.
"Chris was taken. Did you see where they all went? Please tell me you did...", there were dark ring under her scared eyes.
"Yes, yes I did, good heavens child... They were heading to the Russian National Airbase. I knew you'd come back, so I bought you a ticket to the nearest airport. From there, there's a twenty mile trip to the airbase. I've packed you a few extra things, and some money. Your plane leaves in two hours.", Bulma touched Nutty's face.
"Two hours? Is there anyway to push the flight forward?", Nutty slumped down into one of the chairs, next to her bags.
"No. It's the soonest flight, hun. I'm doing my best.", Bulma shifted the book in her lap.
Nutty sighed. She would have to wait, even if it meant being too late. There was no other way.
An hour and a half later, Bulma woke Nutty up. She had fallen asleep waiting.
"Time for you to go. Good luck.", Bulma said after shaking Nutty awake.
"Rubbing her eyes, Nutty grabbed the bags, nodded thankfully to Bulma, and ran toward her loading exit.
She got on the plane and fell asleep once more, not to be awakened until they landed.
Nutty was woken up by another passanger when the plane began to land. She looked out the window. It was around eleven in the morning and the almost- noon lighting gave the white-specked landscape a sureal look.
She was anxious now. Bulma had overheard the Russians talking about going to the Russian National Airbase. Nutty began wondering how both Bulma and Chris knew Russian. She didn't understand a word of it. On her way out of the airport, she stole a Russo/English dictionary and studied it.
On her way out of the airport, she looked around, got her bearings and found the direction in which the airbase was. Twenty miles was a long way by foot. She found a straw truck heading the same direction and jumped on the back, hiding Chris's sachel, her own purse, and the bag Bulma gave her, under her shirt, tied around her waist. That way, if she was found out, she wouldn't lose sight of the important items. Then, she pushed herself down in it, making sure she didn't lose her baggage. She pulled out the dictionary, and continued her studdies, leaving a little room for her head and book. If anyone looked her way, they would have mistaken her for a piece of clothing someone left sitting in the straw.
She was lucky to overhear the driver. He was a Russian spy disguised as a farmer. That was a little nerve-racking, for Nutty. He was delivering a message to the airbase. She wouldn't have to get off and walk the rest of the way. He was taking her right where she wanted to go, and after looking over the dictionary, she was beginning to understand a lot of what he was saying. She was good at picking up things like languages quickly.
Finally, after a half hour, they were at the main entrance to the fort. Before she knew what happened, the Russians were tossing the straw out of the truck, checking it for any unwanted stowaways. She didn't even have time to pull out her gun, before one of the Russians had a gun to her neck.
Atleast now she could understand their conversation.
"Where did you pick this one up?", one of them said from the side.
"Just shoot her and get it over with.", another one who was watching spat out.
"Must of been at the airport. It's the only place I've stopped.", the driver shrugged.
"Wait, I think I've seen her before...", another man pushed in front of a few who were gathered around, "Yes... she was on the plane. Take her to Nicholas. He may find some use for her. She knows the American boy."
"Are you sure?", the man with the gun pressed it harder into her neck.
"Yeah. Go ahead.", one of the men in back called, "I'm sure Nicohlas will find SOME use for her.", they all laughed.
The two closest to her grabbed her by the arms, and dragged her into the compound.
She was taken to a far building and up a flight of stairs inside. They entered a room on one of the upper floors, though Nutty lost count of how many flights they traveled.
There was a man, accross the room, next to another door.
The man to her left, who grasped her arm more tightly, called to the man near the door, "We need to talk to Nicohlas. It's important. We have a _____", she didn't understand the last word he used, and that was probably a good thing.
"I don't think he's finished, but...", the man near the door was already opening it and going in.
A moment later, the man came back, followed by a shorter man with a thick mustache and dark eyes that seemed to be lost in the folds of wrinkly skin around them.
"This girl, does she know him?", the man said in his thick, salty voice.
"Yes, sir.", the man on her right stood erect.
In fact, he was so busy trying to impress his better, that she could have easily taken him out. In fact...
It only took a minute for the other guard to get both her hands behind her back, but by the time he had, his mate was laying on the ground with a broken neck. It might not have been the smart thing to do, she now realized, as a gun was placed to the base of her neck.
"Yes, I know Chris.", she growled lowly in somewhat okay Russian.
"Its a little late for that, don't you agree?", the short, important- looking man sighed, as if seeing one of his soldiers die was just another part of the scenery.
"I wouldn't shoot me if I were you.", she stuttered.
"Oh, no need to worry over that. We're going to use you as bate.",the man smiled, "Keep her out here until I ask for her."
"Like hell!!", she tried to shake herself free, but it didn't work.
"Now, Mr. Miller, you've made it quite clear to us that you know exactly what you're doing.", the man with the mustache, as Chris knew him, Nicholas, paced in front of him.
Chris was bound to the chair he sat in, quite uncomfortably, "I told you, I don't know nothing."
"And I don't believe you one bit. You'll talk.", Nicholas smiled, "If I have to kill you, you'll talk."
"Go ahead and kill me. You'll kill me if I do tell you anyway.", he shot through his teeth.
"True... true. Maybe this will persuade you...", Nicholas snapped.
The remaining, burly Russian dragged Nutty into the room and held her at arms length.
Chris gasped, "No.."
"Ah, we seem to have guessed right.", Nicholas lifted Nutty's chin, "We found this little treat hiding in one of our disguised wagons."
Chris grew angry and jerked at his bonds, "Nutty, I told you to get away!"
"I couldn't just leave you...", she mumbled.
"You couldn't have just did what I asked, could you?", he growled.
"No, I just happened to not be able to.", her eyebrows knit together.
"Jeez, Nutty, I told you, I'd be fine!", he couldn't help but yell.
"You told me! Ha! And here you are, about to be shot for who knows what. I'll be fine he says... Don't worry about me he says...", she mocked angrily.
Nicholas laughed and the two stopped bickering.
In broken English, Nicholas went on, "Why Mr. Miller, you fight with her as if you were married. Should I assume anything?"
"Assume whatever you want to... she's nothing to me.", he looked her over, "But I must admit, she's a nice piece of ass."
Nutty grew red, a defiant look on her face.
Nicholas laughed once more, "And if we killed her?"
A spark of worry covered his face, but was quickly covered, "She's nothing to me. Remember, I'm used to killing people, kind of like you are. In fact...", he paused, stuttering, "I was hired to kill her."
That spark was enough and Nicholas didn't miss anything, "I think you're lying, boy. I think she means a lot to you. You may be a trained assassin, but old habbits die hard. Feelings, to you, are one of those habbits, as is clear with this young lady."
Nutty jerked and kicked, but she had lost the element of surprise, as she had in her fight with Sherman.
"Tell me.", Nicholas looked straight into Chris' eyes, "Tell me or I'll have her shot."
"No...", he let a spare glance drift over toward Nutty.
"You have one last chance. Dolkohov...", Nicholas waited for the man to put his gun to the back of Nutty's head.
"Er.... Okay, okay... I'll do it...", Chris's head dropped in defeat.
"We'll have a station set up for you immediately, sir.", Nicholas said it with such disdain.
As soon as Nicholas exited the room, Dolkohov, the man holding Nutty, shoved her hard, and left before she could pick herself up.
"Why'd you let them get you...", Chris made more of a statement than a question.
"I really didn't mean to. I didn't know what was going on... I'm sorry.", her voice dropped on the last part.
He leaned his head back, "Jeez..."
"Let me get you out of there...", she reached under her shirt.
"What are you going to do, flash me? Like that's going to get rid of these ropes!"
She gave him a sarcastic look, "It just happens I managed to smuggle our bags here...", she pulled out the purse, sachel, and bag.
Opening the purse, she pulled out a knife.
"Okay, so we're back to Mrs. I'm-prepared-for-a-nuclear-war", he growled.
"Do you want out or not? I could just leave you here, you know.", she started cutting the ropes.
"I'm sure you would, too.", he was quiet afterward.
She cut at the ropes until he was free. He rubbed his raw wrists, ankles, and sore ribs.
"Boy that feels good...", he stretched.
"Better not feel too good. We've got to figure a way out of here.", she looked around thoughtfully.
"Nutty, Nutty, Nutty dear... The chances of us making it out of this base alive are a thousand to one.", he wrapped his arms around her protectively.
"And I'm sure you know this from experience...", she mumbled, shutting her eyes for a moment to enjoy his arms.
"But of course..."
Nutty opened her eyes thoughtfully, "Is this room bugged? Do you know? Camera, or just audio?"
He laughed, "I'm sure it is bugged, but when have I been up checking?", he rubbed his raw wrists to enphasize the point.
"Geez... Quick...", she pulled away from him and started searching the walls.
Chris checked around the sparse furnishings. Together, they found three microphones and one heat sensor. Disabling them, they could finally talk freely.
"Oh, I hope they didn't see or hear anything about our packs...", Nutty looked around carefully.
"I'm pretty sure they must've. Don't worry about it. I figure they would have found them on you by now and taken them had they wanted to really check. They found you, didn't they?", Chris sat in the uncomfortable chair he had been tied to.
"Still...", she went on, "We've got to do something!"
"And what can we do? You tell me, since obviously you know so much about escaping.", he was so calm about it.
"Now Chris, dearest...", she cooed at him.
"No... I'm serious. You think I'd sound this hopeless if it weren't so?", he looked up at her.
"So, they know about the packs. That's okay. I'll deal with that. We don't have to lose everything. Chris, you've been here before, right? How well do you know it here?", she sat down on the floor in front of him, his eyes following her.
"Inside and out...", his voice was trembling.
"Then you can find an escape route and--", she was cut off.
"Damnit, there aren't any. The only way out is right through the front doors!", she'd never seen him break down like that.
She put her hand on his knee in a comforting way, "Calm down... They're going to kill us anyway, right? Why not make it at their own expense. If we make a run for it, however small the chance, we may make it out, and if not, we'll be the thorn up their asses."
He looked into her eyes on the last comment. She held his gaze with one of her own experience.
Before he could think of something to say, she went on, "Why don't we get some sleep on it.", his expression turned to one of distress, "They're not going to kill you, and most likely not even me, before they get the information, whatever it is, they want."
He shook his head and let her take his hand, pull him up, and manuever him to a corner. She left him there for a moment, and went to rummage in her purse. She took considerable time, but came back with inflatable pillows, a sheet, and a light blanket (the type that is easily rolled and stored).
"What's all this?", asked he.
"I keep it in--", she started.
"In your purse...", he completed her sentence.
She knodded as the blankets fell from her arms. After a bit, she had it all set up. It was a fairly small space, but large enough for two people if they weren't four feet away from each other.
"There... you lay down and I'll go check something.", he watched her go to the other side of the room before turning his back and taking off his shirt.
It was a little warm in the artificially heated room. He stretched and crawled beneath the light sheet. The plastic pillow felt strange, but not unwelcome under his heavy head.
Nutty came back over, and knelt near Chris. He had fallen asleep. He must have been exhausted after all he'd been through. She crawled in next to him under both the sheet and blanket and ran her fingers down his arm. Then, in the low light, she too, fell asleep.
Nutty awoke to fingers brushing against her back. She would have attacked if she hadn't realized it was Chris. She hadn't moved yet. She decided to pretend she was still asleep.
He whispered, at first a mumble, which soon turned into phrases, before sentences, "Oh... Nutty... Why did you have to get involved... I wanted you to be safe... I could have escaped and met you in Canada... You're in enough trouble... you don't need mine... Now there's no way out... None... Its my fault. I knew you'd want to help. You always want to help... I love you too much to see you hurt like this... I wish you'd just understand... You're not that strong... You'll just get into more trouble... You can't handle it like I can. I have to get you out of here... God, I love you...", he mumbled the last part into her hair.
She felt like flinching, or crying, or something. She suddenly felt like she had a stone in her chest. She just wanted to tell him the truth... but that would be too awkward.
Right with timing Nicholas and several of his men walked into the bare room. He ordered two men to pick up the disgarded purse and belongings and take them out of the room. Meanwhile, he stepped closer to the pair on the floor.
"Dolkohov, Boris, take miss Nutty to a seperate room. That way we can be sure nothing will happen to her while Mr. Miller here is telling us his tale.", Nicholas watched calmly as the two stepped forward and reached for Nutty.
Grabbing her by the arms, they lifted. Her eyes bulged opened, as her arms were being jerked from their sockets. Chris grabbed her by the waist and jerked back, pulling her into his lap. In the same motion, he slipped a knife out of his pocket and held it to both Nutty and his own neck at the same time.
"Don't touch her!", Chris roared.
"Chris, Chris, Chris.", Nicholas tsked, "We're moving your darling dear to another room. That way you can't threaten us."
"If you do that, how am I supposed to know if you've killed her or not?", Chris growled, holding Nutty overly tightly.
"You don't know, Christopher.", Nicholas smiled.
"One of you bastards lays one finger on her, and I shred both our throats. Then how ya gonna get your information? Tell me that!", Chris brought the knife directly to his own throat.
Nicholas looked thoughtful for a moment, then snapped, letting his few men leave the room, "Chris, I promise you, our next encounter will not be this short.", Nicholas left.
"Leaning back, Chris sighed exhaustedly", said the narrator, who isn't in this story at all.
He kept his arms wound tightly around her. She squirmed slightly, awakening him to the fact that she wasn't quite so asleep as he thought. Even though she had been awake, how could anyone sleep through being jerked up like that? He released her.
She sat up sharply, "Chris, we've got to get out of here."
"You say it, but its not quite so easy. For one, they've got your cute little purse o' magic...", he sat forward stiffly, his hand on his face.
"No they don't. Well, they do have my purse... I emptied it...", she pulled out the hidden bag into which all the items that were previously in her purse were now piled.
Chris perked slightly, "You didn't..."
"Well, you don't expect me to give up my stuff, do you?", she mumbled, "Anyway, the blankets have an interesting setup. Woven into it are over a hundered water-proof matches, twenty or so small explosives, and a water gun."
"A water gun?", Chris looked confused then motioned that he didn't really want to know.
She shook her head, a slight smile gripping her face, "We've got to get you to Canada... When we're safe, I'll have the ask you what you did to piss Russia off"
"When?", he questioned, "Since when are we so optimistic?"
"We'll get out... We're going to charge right out the front door, like we talked about doing earlier.", she pulled the pistol out of what was now her carrying case.
"With a pistol and a blanket lined with... a watergun?", Chris asked sarcastically.
"What, don't you trust me?", she pulled out a small canister of sleeping gas.
"No."
Nutty stayed on the plane and made it to Canada safely. There was no doubt that that would happen. Now the problem was what was happening to Chris.
She was so worried about him. She had to catch the next plane back to Japan. She was nearly panicking. What if he wasn't in Japan? What if they took him back to Russia? What if they took him to some other country.
With what little money she had left, she purchased a one-way ticket to Japan. Even if he wasn't there, it was the best place to start looking. She arrived in Japan early the next morning, around one.
To her surprise, Bulma was asleep in the main lobby, a book in her lap. Nutty paced quickly over to her, as tired as she was. Throwing the sachel and purse down, she shook Bulma lightly. Bulma woke up immediately.
"Nutty! You're back. I'm so glad.", she grabbed Nutty by the shoulders.
"Chris was taken. Did you see where they all went? Please tell me you did...", there were dark ring under her scared eyes.
"Yes, yes I did, good heavens child... They were heading to the Russian National Airbase. I knew you'd come back, so I bought you a ticket to the nearest airport. From there, there's a twenty mile trip to the airbase. I've packed you a few extra things, and some money. Your plane leaves in two hours.", Bulma touched Nutty's face.
"Two hours? Is there anyway to push the flight forward?", Nutty slumped down into one of the chairs, next to her bags.
"No. It's the soonest flight, hun. I'm doing my best.", Bulma shifted the book in her lap.
Nutty sighed. She would have to wait, even if it meant being too late. There was no other way.
An hour and a half later, Bulma woke Nutty up. She had fallen asleep waiting.
"Time for you to go. Good luck.", Bulma said after shaking Nutty awake.
"Rubbing her eyes, Nutty grabbed the bags, nodded thankfully to Bulma, and ran toward her loading exit.
She got on the plane and fell asleep once more, not to be awakened until they landed.
Nutty was woken up by another passanger when the plane began to land. She looked out the window. It was around eleven in the morning and the almost- noon lighting gave the white-specked landscape a sureal look.
She was anxious now. Bulma had overheard the Russians talking about going to the Russian National Airbase. Nutty began wondering how both Bulma and Chris knew Russian. She didn't understand a word of it. On her way out of the airport, she stole a Russo/English dictionary and studied it.
On her way out of the airport, she looked around, got her bearings and found the direction in which the airbase was. Twenty miles was a long way by foot. She found a straw truck heading the same direction and jumped on the back, hiding Chris's sachel, her own purse, and the bag Bulma gave her, under her shirt, tied around her waist. That way, if she was found out, she wouldn't lose sight of the important items. Then, she pushed herself down in it, making sure she didn't lose her baggage. She pulled out the dictionary, and continued her studdies, leaving a little room for her head and book. If anyone looked her way, they would have mistaken her for a piece of clothing someone left sitting in the straw.
She was lucky to overhear the driver. He was a Russian spy disguised as a farmer. That was a little nerve-racking, for Nutty. He was delivering a message to the airbase. She wouldn't have to get off and walk the rest of the way. He was taking her right where she wanted to go, and after looking over the dictionary, she was beginning to understand a lot of what he was saying. She was good at picking up things like languages quickly.
Finally, after a half hour, they were at the main entrance to the fort. Before she knew what happened, the Russians were tossing the straw out of the truck, checking it for any unwanted stowaways. She didn't even have time to pull out her gun, before one of the Russians had a gun to her neck.
Atleast now she could understand their conversation.
"Where did you pick this one up?", one of them said from the side.
"Just shoot her and get it over with.", another one who was watching spat out.
"Must of been at the airport. It's the only place I've stopped.", the driver shrugged.
"Wait, I think I've seen her before...", another man pushed in front of a few who were gathered around, "Yes... she was on the plane. Take her to Nicholas. He may find some use for her. She knows the American boy."
"Are you sure?", the man with the gun pressed it harder into her neck.
"Yeah. Go ahead.", one of the men in back called, "I'm sure Nicohlas will find SOME use for her.", they all laughed.
The two closest to her grabbed her by the arms, and dragged her into the compound.
She was taken to a far building and up a flight of stairs inside. They entered a room on one of the upper floors, though Nutty lost count of how many flights they traveled.
There was a man, accross the room, next to another door.
The man to her left, who grasped her arm more tightly, called to the man near the door, "We need to talk to Nicohlas. It's important. We have a _____", she didn't understand the last word he used, and that was probably a good thing.
"I don't think he's finished, but...", the man near the door was already opening it and going in.
A moment later, the man came back, followed by a shorter man with a thick mustache and dark eyes that seemed to be lost in the folds of wrinkly skin around them.
"This girl, does she know him?", the man said in his thick, salty voice.
"Yes, sir.", the man on her right stood erect.
In fact, he was so busy trying to impress his better, that she could have easily taken him out. In fact...
It only took a minute for the other guard to get both her hands behind her back, but by the time he had, his mate was laying on the ground with a broken neck. It might not have been the smart thing to do, she now realized, as a gun was placed to the base of her neck.
"Yes, I know Chris.", she growled lowly in somewhat okay Russian.
"Its a little late for that, don't you agree?", the short, important- looking man sighed, as if seeing one of his soldiers die was just another part of the scenery.
"I wouldn't shoot me if I were you.", she stuttered.
"Oh, no need to worry over that. We're going to use you as bate.",the man smiled, "Keep her out here until I ask for her."
"Like hell!!", she tried to shake herself free, but it didn't work.
"Now, Mr. Miller, you've made it quite clear to us that you know exactly what you're doing.", the man with the mustache, as Chris knew him, Nicholas, paced in front of him.
Chris was bound to the chair he sat in, quite uncomfortably, "I told you, I don't know nothing."
"And I don't believe you one bit. You'll talk.", Nicholas smiled, "If I have to kill you, you'll talk."
"Go ahead and kill me. You'll kill me if I do tell you anyway.", he shot through his teeth.
"True... true. Maybe this will persuade you...", Nicholas snapped.
The remaining, burly Russian dragged Nutty into the room and held her at arms length.
Chris gasped, "No.."
"Ah, we seem to have guessed right.", Nicholas lifted Nutty's chin, "We found this little treat hiding in one of our disguised wagons."
Chris grew angry and jerked at his bonds, "Nutty, I told you to get away!"
"I couldn't just leave you...", she mumbled.
"You couldn't have just did what I asked, could you?", he growled.
"No, I just happened to not be able to.", her eyebrows knit together.
"Jeez, Nutty, I told you, I'd be fine!", he couldn't help but yell.
"You told me! Ha! And here you are, about to be shot for who knows what. I'll be fine he says... Don't worry about me he says...", she mocked angrily.
Nicholas laughed and the two stopped bickering.
In broken English, Nicholas went on, "Why Mr. Miller, you fight with her as if you were married. Should I assume anything?"
"Assume whatever you want to... she's nothing to me.", he looked her over, "But I must admit, she's a nice piece of ass."
Nutty grew red, a defiant look on her face.
Nicholas laughed once more, "And if we killed her?"
A spark of worry covered his face, but was quickly covered, "She's nothing to me. Remember, I'm used to killing people, kind of like you are. In fact...", he paused, stuttering, "I was hired to kill her."
That spark was enough and Nicholas didn't miss anything, "I think you're lying, boy. I think she means a lot to you. You may be a trained assassin, but old habbits die hard. Feelings, to you, are one of those habbits, as is clear with this young lady."
Nutty jerked and kicked, but she had lost the element of surprise, as she had in her fight with Sherman.
"Tell me.", Nicholas looked straight into Chris' eyes, "Tell me or I'll have her shot."
"No...", he let a spare glance drift over toward Nutty.
"You have one last chance. Dolkohov...", Nicholas waited for the man to put his gun to the back of Nutty's head.
"Er.... Okay, okay... I'll do it...", Chris's head dropped in defeat.
"We'll have a station set up for you immediately, sir.", Nicholas said it with such disdain.
As soon as Nicholas exited the room, Dolkohov, the man holding Nutty, shoved her hard, and left before she could pick herself up.
"Why'd you let them get you...", Chris made more of a statement than a question.
"I really didn't mean to. I didn't know what was going on... I'm sorry.", her voice dropped on the last part.
He leaned his head back, "Jeez..."
"Let me get you out of there...", she reached under her shirt.
"What are you going to do, flash me? Like that's going to get rid of these ropes!"
She gave him a sarcastic look, "It just happens I managed to smuggle our bags here...", she pulled out the purse, sachel, and bag.
Opening the purse, she pulled out a knife.
"Okay, so we're back to Mrs. I'm-prepared-for-a-nuclear-war", he growled.
"Do you want out or not? I could just leave you here, you know.", she started cutting the ropes.
"I'm sure you would, too.", he was quiet afterward.
She cut at the ropes until he was free. He rubbed his raw wrists, ankles, and sore ribs.
"Boy that feels good...", he stretched.
"Better not feel too good. We've got to figure a way out of here.", she looked around thoughtfully.
"Nutty, Nutty, Nutty dear... The chances of us making it out of this base alive are a thousand to one.", he wrapped his arms around her protectively.
"And I'm sure you know this from experience...", she mumbled, shutting her eyes for a moment to enjoy his arms.
"But of course..."
Nutty opened her eyes thoughtfully, "Is this room bugged? Do you know? Camera, or just audio?"
He laughed, "I'm sure it is bugged, but when have I been up checking?", he rubbed his raw wrists to enphasize the point.
"Geez... Quick...", she pulled away from him and started searching the walls.
Chris checked around the sparse furnishings. Together, they found three microphones and one heat sensor. Disabling them, they could finally talk freely.
"Oh, I hope they didn't see or hear anything about our packs...", Nutty looked around carefully.
"I'm pretty sure they must've. Don't worry about it. I figure they would have found them on you by now and taken them had they wanted to really check. They found you, didn't they?", Chris sat in the uncomfortable chair he had been tied to.
"Still...", she went on, "We've got to do something!"
"And what can we do? You tell me, since obviously you know so much about escaping.", he was so calm about it.
"Now Chris, dearest...", she cooed at him.
"No... I'm serious. You think I'd sound this hopeless if it weren't so?", he looked up at her.
"So, they know about the packs. That's okay. I'll deal with that. We don't have to lose everything. Chris, you've been here before, right? How well do you know it here?", she sat down on the floor in front of him, his eyes following her.
"Inside and out...", his voice was trembling.
"Then you can find an escape route and--", she was cut off.
"Damnit, there aren't any. The only way out is right through the front doors!", she'd never seen him break down like that.
She put her hand on his knee in a comforting way, "Calm down... They're going to kill us anyway, right? Why not make it at their own expense. If we make a run for it, however small the chance, we may make it out, and if not, we'll be the thorn up their asses."
He looked into her eyes on the last comment. She held his gaze with one of her own experience.
Before he could think of something to say, she went on, "Why don't we get some sleep on it.", his expression turned to one of distress, "They're not going to kill you, and most likely not even me, before they get the information, whatever it is, they want."
He shook his head and let her take his hand, pull him up, and manuever him to a corner. She left him there for a moment, and went to rummage in her purse. She took considerable time, but came back with inflatable pillows, a sheet, and a light blanket (the type that is easily rolled and stored).
"What's all this?", asked he.
"I keep it in--", she started.
"In your purse...", he completed her sentence.
She knodded as the blankets fell from her arms. After a bit, she had it all set up. It was a fairly small space, but large enough for two people if they weren't four feet away from each other.
"There... you lay down and I'll go check something.", he watched her go to the other side of the room before turning his back and taking off his shirt.
It was a little warm in the artificially heated room. He stretched and crawled beneath the light sheet. The plastic pillow felt strange, but not unwelcome under his heavy head.
Nutty came back over, and knelt near Chris. He had fallen asleep. He must have been exhausted after all he'd been through. She crawled in next to him under both the sheet and blanket and ran her fingers down his arm. Then, in the low light, she too, fell asleep.
Nutty awoke to fingers brushing against her back. She would have attacked if she hadn't realized it was Chris. She hadn't moved yet. She decided to pretend she was still asleep.
He whispered, at first a mumble, which soon turned into phrases, before sentences, "Oh... Nutty... Why did you have to get involved... I wanted you to be safe... I could have escaped and met you in Canada... You're in enough trouble... you don't need mine... Now there's no way out... None... Its my fault. I knew you'd want to help. You always want to help... I love you too much to see you hurt like this... I wish you'd just understand... You're not that strong... You'll just get into more trouble... You can't handle it like I can. I have to get you out of here... God, I love you...", he mumbled the last part into her hair.
She felt like flinching, or crying, or something. She suddenly felt like she had a stone in her chest. She just wanted to tell him the truth... but that would be too awkward.
Right with timing Nicholas and several of his men walked into the bare room. He ordered two men to pick up the disgarded purse and belongings and take them out of the room. Meanwhile, he stepped closer to the pair on the floor.
"Dolkohov, Boris, take miss Nutty to a seperate room. That way we can be sure nothing will happen to her while Mr. Miller here is telling us his tale.", Nicholas watched calmly as the two stepped forward and reached for Nutty.
Grabbing her by the arms, they lifted. Her eyes bulged opened, as her arms were being jerked from their sockets. Chris grabbed her by the waist and jerked back, pulling her into his lap. In the same motion, he slipped a knife out of his pocket and held it to both Nutty and his own neck at the same time.
"Don't touch her!", Chris roared.
"Chris, Chris, Chris.", Nicholas tsked, "We're moving your darling dear to another room. That way you can't threaten us."
"If you do that, how am I supposed to know if you've killed her or not?", Chris growled, holding Nutty overly tightly.
"You don't know, Christopher.", Nicholas smiled.
"One of you bastards lays one finger on her, and I shred both our throats. Then how ya gonna get your information? Tell me that!", Chris brought the knife directly to his own throat.
Nicholas looked thoughtful for a moment, then snapped, letting his few men leave the room, "Chris, I promise you, our next encounter will not be this short.", Nicholas left.
"Leaning back, Chris sighed exhaustedly", said the narrator, who isn't in this story at all.
He kept his arms wound tightly around her. She squirmed slightly, awakening him to the fact that she wasn't quite so asleep as he thought. Even though she had been awake, how could anyone sleep through being jerked up like that? He released her.
She sat up sharply, "Chris, we've got to get out of here."
"You say it, but its not quite so easy. For one, they've got your cute little purse o' magic...", he sat forward stiffly, his hand on his face.
"No they don't. Well, they do have my purse... I emptied it...", she pulled out the hidden bag into which all the items that were previously in her purse were now piled.
Chris perked slightly, "You didn't..."
"Well, you don't expect me to give up my stuff, do you?", she mumbled, "Anyway, the blankets have an interesting setup. Woven into it are over a hundered water-proof matches, twenty or so small explosives, and a water gun."
"A water gun?", Chris looked confused then motioned that he didn't really want to know.
She shook her head, a slight smile gripping her face, "We've got to get you to Canada... When we're safe, I'll have the ask you what you did to piss Russia off"
"When?", he questioned, "Since when are we so optimistic?"
"We'll get out... We're going to charge right out the front door, like we talked about doing earlier.", she pulled the pistol out of what was now her carrying case.
"With a pistol and a blanket lined with... a watergun?", Chris asked sarcastically.
"What, don't you trust me?", she pulled out a small canister of sleeping gas.
"No."
