Killing Him Softly: Escape
by tarskeewee08
Evangeline
My head hurts and I'm sure that I'm bleeding. Opening my eyes I see a man driving and I try to sit up to get a better look at his face. He sees me move and grabs the gun in his lap. Oh god he has a gun. Oh god where am I? Breathing hard I squeeze my eyes again and try to stop the pounding in my head. What is going on? Who is this man?
"Just be still and we will get there soon. Don't make me hurt you!" he says and I recognize the voice. It's the guard at the gate, the one that snickered and told me to be safe on the road.
"Where are you taking me?" I ask still unable to
open my eyes because of the pain in my head.
"Shut up!" he
hisses and it's the last thing I remember before blacking
out.
Opening my eyes again its dark, really dark. Slowly I sit up and the pain shoots through my head. It hurts so bad I cry out and put my hand to my head. Immediately I feel something sticky and wet on my fingers and I know it must be blood. My blood? Why am I bleeding? Looking around the dark cool room I try to think of where I am. I remember the prison and leaving….then….I remember the truck ramming into my car. Oh no! I hit a deer! No! I ran off the road.
Standing I sway and almost vomit from nausea. My eyes finally focus and I can see the room. It's like a bunker or containment room. I see a sky light at the top and its giving some light into this dark space. Walking and standing directly under the opening I realize its not a skylight. I'm down underneath something. Some kind of holding cell. I can see feet walk over it make the room go dark temporarily ass they pass.
Hearing men speaking in a different language above me my heart starts to beat. Some of them are laughing now. What the hell is going on? Where am I? Who are these men? They continue to walk above me and I contemplate calling out to them. One stops and peers into the gated window down at me smiling evilly.
His smile makes my blood run cold, instinctively I back away terrified. My foot hits something and I fall backward surprised at my loss of balance. Landing on my butt I scream out as another flash of pain shoots through my temple. I kick at the dark object that was behind me with my foot and it rolls over into the light. Sweet Jesus it's a man! I see the face of the guard that brought me here. He's dead with a bullet hole between his eyes.
Screaming I crawl away…."Noooo! John, oh god somebody…somebody save me. John please help me!" I scream and scream…
John tossed and turned on the floor and after an hour he found he couldn't sleep. Sitting up he stretched his left arm out and rotated the soreness out of his muscle. Rising he went to the bed and saw his sleeping princess. She moaned in her sleep and he wondered what she was dreaming about. Her head started to sway from side to side and he heard her begin to whimper. Sitting down next to her she began to shake her head violently and started screaming his name.
"Noooo! John, oh god somebody…somebody save me. John please help me!"
He grabbed her quickly and she held onto him crying out in her sleep. "Wake up Evangeline…..it's a nightmare sweetie."
She kept whimpering with her eyes closed and he knew she was locked in some nightmare. The tranquilizer may have a hold on her still. He rubbed her back and cursed Wess for drugging her.
Looking over her shoulder he saw the window with the blinds closed. The moon shone in the background giving the shadow of the tree against the blinds. Just then he saw the shadow of two men run past the window. He sat up and saw two more men run past the window. "Oh shit."
Shaking Evangeline lightly she slowly became awake and looked at him confused. Touching her face seeing the tears she became frightened. "Listen to me. I need you to put on some clothes we have to go now!" he said.
"What?" she responded her head spinning from the anxiety of another nightmare. She can't recall what it was but her heart is beating so fast in her chest she swallows several times to keep from screaming again.
John let go of her and
went to his bag. He grabbed a pair of his jeans and cotton shirt. She
sat on the bed stunned watching him in the dark. John looked back up
at the window and saw another man go around the side of the cottage.
"Shit!" he murmured.
Evangeline looked at the window and saw
nothing.
Coming to the bed he looked at her desperate. "Please Christina, trust me. I mean you no harm, but those people outside will kill us both. Please…"
She looked at him and saw the desperation on his face. She heard men speaking in Greek outside of the cottage now. It must be her cousin. She considered screaming but something deep inside of her told her not too. She didn't want this John person hurt. Nodding she stood up and pulled her torn dress over her head. She saw him looking at her body but didn't feel embarrassed by his stare.
Slipping on the jeans quickly he put a belt inside of the loop and tied it tightly around her waist to keep the jeans on. She put on the cotton shirt, some thick socks and his too large tennis shoes. He got clips for his gun and put an extra gun under his pants leg.
Turning to look at her he put his finger to his lips and went to the window. Slowly he raised the blinds and looked out of the window. He assumed men were position on all four corners of the cottage but he hoped by the amount that passed this area they were on side of the perimeter. Having very limited view he lifted the latch and slowly pushed the window up. He heard men voices in Greek. He looked back at Evangeline and told her to come here.
She came over looking at him with her wide doe eyes. He saw that she was processing it all and could turn on him any minute. He didn't have her trust yet. "Tell me what they're saying."
She nodded and moved to the window listening. "They are sending men to the front the door and the back. These are not cousin's men." she said frightened. John froze and looked out the window confused still unable to hear the source of the voices.
"Who are they?"
"They are the
rebels! They want me. You were right they want to kill us all!"
Evangeline said holding herself. John looked at her and pulled her
forehead to his lovingly. "No one will harm you baby."
Letting her go he went back to his bag and got his silencer. Screwing the silencer onto the top of the gun He went to the window and hoisted himself up on the window seal. As soon as he leaned out he saw three men to his left. They looked up surprised and John dropped all three with lethal silent shots from his gun. He looked back and saw no one. Pulling himself out the window he reached back for her.
She stood there silent at first unsure of what to do.
"Baby please we don't have much time. Come with me."
She looked at him and heard a pounding at the door to the front of the house. That made her legs move. She hoisted herself to the window and felt him pull her through. John told her to crouch down and they ran straight ahead to the forested area on the side of the house for cover. Hearing gunfire behind him he figured that the men came crashing inside. Holding her hand he pulled her deeper in the forest and ran blindly in no direction at all.
Inside the Cottage
Wess heard loud pounding at the door. He rolled off of his bed immediately and grabbed his Uzi under his bed. Reaching he got his desert eagle .45 caliber and placed it in his pants behind his back. "Bro where are you!" he yelled out.
Not hearing a response He quickly rose and put his back against the wall opening the door to the hallway. Hearing the door fling open and men shouting in Greek Wess threw himself in the hallway and unloaded into the men rushing in dropping them like dominoes.
Shell casings from his rapid gun fire rained out of his Uzi and he kept coming down the hallway squeezing the trigger. The men shooting at him tried to take cover and flee the way they came in but the limited furniture and relentless way Wess came down upon them offered little escape.
Outside Laois and his remaining men pulled back. They got word that Jake and his men were on their way. Driving off into the night they let Wess deal with their fallen comrades. Wess unloading his gun stepped over the carnage he created in the small cottage into the night. He saw Laois driving off with his troops, smirking he went back inside.
"John! Are you here?"
Hearing nothing he walked back down the hall and kicked in John's door. Frowning he immediately noticed the opened window in the room. "Shit!"
Tossing the empty Uzi to the floor he ran his hands through his hair. "That son of a bitch!" he muttered.
Hearing the click of a gun Wess froze. Turning around slowly he saw a man in a dark suit with a gun aimed at him. The man told in not to move in Greek and Wess nodded that he understood. Then to his surprise Christian/Jake stepped through the doorway of the tiny room glaring at him. His curly locks away from his face Wess saw the malevolent stare of the trained assassin and became alarmed.
He had to think quickly. Addressing Jake in English he tried to sound confident. "Jake, I'm glad to see you. We were hoping you'd come."
Jake looked him up and down and smirked "Why is that?"
"I'm sure you seen what's left of the raid by the rebels…It took everything in my power to keep her safe." Wess said putting his hand casually on his hip to bring it closer to the gun behind his back.
Jake laughed and then sneered at Wess "Where is she?"
"She fled into the night, during the gunfight." He said sliding his hand slowly from his hip.
Jake looked at him and noticed the maneuver. "Move your hand one more inch and I will put what's left of tiny brain of yours on the wall behind you."
Wess heart started to beat fast. He couldn't believe that he would die like this. He couldn't believe that John would take her and leave him to fend for himself. Feeling himself perspire with nervousness he tried to settle his nerves. Slowly he raised both hands to in the air.
Jake nodded. "Let me tell you how I see it. You and…..John, kidnapped my Christina…."
Wess frowned at Jake knowing John's name. But figured since Laredo kept tabs on John and briefed him.
"What I don't understand is why? Why do you want Christina….if you are federal agents?"
Wess
swallowed "We came here to rescue her and you."
Jake stopped
his approach and froze. "What?"
The men in the room could not understand the nature of the exchange none of them spoke English but Jake threw his hand up and signaled for them to all leave. The man with the gun to Wess lowered it and followed the other six men out. Wess breathed a sigh of relief; to him the odds had increased to 50/50 that he would make it out of there alive.
"Rescue us? What does that mean?"
"Your name is Christian Vega and her name is Evangeline Williamson. You two were kidnapped and tortured on a boat for a year to be reprogrammed. The government has been trying to reach you two and save you and this is the closet we've gotten."
Jake looked at him expressionless and Wess had no idea if what he was saying was getting through.
"A boat?"
"A ship off the Mediterranean sea called the Contessa."
Jake thought about the dreams and the name Contessa. He heard the men that stuck needles in his head say it at times. He looked at Wess and pulled out his gun. "Part of your story makes no sense. If you wanted to save us then why take Christina and leave me behind?"
Wess bit his lip and saw the gun in Christian's hand. He saw how tightly he gripped it and tried to think of something to say quickly. "Look Christian I'm not lying. Think about it. You have to have some memory of who you were. Or at least of the boat you spent so much time on."
Jake smiled "I have memories alright…let's call them nightmares. In my nightmares as they stick needles in my head and pump acid into my veins I remember that it is all because of John. He is the reason that I am dying a slow painful death. And you are the motherfucker that brought him to this island!"
Before Wess could respond Jake/Christian unloads his gun into him. Feeling his chest rip apart from the gunfire he fell backwards thinking. Damn I'm going to die here. Then it all went black.
Forest in Patheni
Hearing Evangeline wheeze as he drags her along John stops, he has to remember that he is trained for this and she isn't. She's gasping for air and kneeling with her hands on her knees. He walks over to her and rubs her back. "I am so sorry babe…."
She looks up with her hair in her face and smiles lightly. "Thank….you…" she says weakly.
John can see part of her face in the moonlight. "For what?"
"For
saving my life….those rebels would have killed me or worse." she
said still huffing.
John pulled her up into his arms. She
stiffened in his grip but he couldn't help himself. He had her back
and dammit she had to know how much he loved her.
"I love you Evangeline"
Christina frowned at him. "What?" she said trying to push free.
"I had to tell you that. When the memories of your life come flooding back and you are overwhelmed with all the emotions of our past. Remember this moment and these words. I love you and only you yesterday, today and tomorrow!"
She didn't know what that meant and blinked at him confused. His sea blue eyes sparkled and she saw his sincerity. She still didn't understand this man that had a hold of her but she allowed him to hold her longer. He kissed her forehead and released her. Looking at his watch he frowned.
"We have an hour before sunrise and we need to find cover. We can only move in the night." He said worriedly
"Please John, lets go to the Palace. Laredo would
listen to me. He can explain this."
John looked back at her and
shook his head. "We aren't going back to the Palace don't ask
me that again!" he said clearly irritated.
She bit her lip. If he was right she was a fool to still hold onto hope that he husband was not the monster that he said he was. Following him deeper into the forest she thought about the dream. She could remember pieces of it slowly. Jake was right to think that something happened to them on that ship. What and who was responsible she still didn't know. God help her. She followed this strange man into the unknown and slowly she became more and more comfortable with him. He could be a liar and many other things but inside she knew he would protect her. Until she found out from who she would stay close to him and try to survive. She would fight back.
