I like the fight they have in this chapter. It's a good one. I also skip around in this chapter. Not in time, but in people. This bothers some people. If it bothers you, I won't do it very often in this story, and you can deal with it, I'm sure

Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the things I own. The things I own are the things not owned by Colfer. Colfer owns everything except the things I own. The things Colfer owns are the things I do not own. :) Try that one, all you people who think you're the next Artemis Fowl.


Zane looked at her coolly for an instant. "You're soft, I take it? But you do like to murder children. I find that odd."

Her gun was out in an instant, and against his chest, safety off. "You say one more word, Zane, and you will die, right now!" Valerie felt everything surge inside her. Everything she'd locked up since three years ago one night. Quickly, she forced it back down.

He just looked at her. Just looked. That was all.

"You don't understand," whispered Valerie. "You don't understand! You fool! You should have shot him when you had the chance…" She stood there staring into space, barely noticing as Zane moved to the side and took the gun from her. "You fool."

Slowly, Zane reached out, and touched her shoulder. "We'd better not stop. Come on, Madam."

Valerie started slightly, meeting his eyes for an instant, and then looking down. She'd let down her guard and almost gone to pieces in front of this man. What was happening to her?

"Come on."

Valerie turned and trudged after him through the mud, lost in that night from the past.

On, and on they went. Valerie hardly noticed. Lift one foot. Set it down. Lift the other foot. Set it down. Over and over again. If only… She would not be a fool! Her father had let down his guard once! He had trusted someone once! And once had been enough…

Valerie Ko would never make that mistake.

"Madam?"

She didn't answer.

"Madam!"

Her head shot up, and she half reached for her gun. "What's the matter? What—"

"Nothing. Are you alright?" Zane stopped and leaned against a tree, brushing back his hair from his eyes, and peering at her through the drizzle of rain. "We're just about to the town."

"Oh." Valerie nodded, ignoring his question, and stepped around in front of him to lead the way. "There will probably be— at best, one or two cars. There might not be any at all. If not, we'll need to let a boat loose to go down river, and swim up. They'll think we jumped when we saw them coming. They wouldn't dream that we swam upstream and started walking."

Zane muttered something under his breath and jogged after her until he caught up. "I really think this is ridiculous, Madam. All they need to do is let a few dogs loose, and—"

"That far up river? Besides, why would we walk? Why not ride the boat until we got to a town with a car, and then steal one? No one would be stupid enough to walk across Russia, Zane!"

"Then why are we?" Zane shook his head impatiently, and tried in vain to twist his hair out of the way. It insisted in hanging down in his eyes.

Valerie stopped, and reached up, smoothing his hair to the side with her good hand. "Because if no one would do it, then we wouldn't, and that'll be the only thing they don't consider. It's ridiculous!"

Zane waited an instant for his hair to fall back into his eyes. It didn't. Feeling stupid for some reason, he began to follow her again.

A few minutes later, they were at the edge of the trees. Valerie took one look at the village, and shook her head. There were about eight houses. She doubted anyone in the region had a car. "We're going to have to steal a boat. Let's go around."

Muttering at how ridiculous the whole thing was, Zane followed her around the village to the river.

"It's moving too fast." He motioned down to the murky water, that had risen because of the rain. The small boats strained against the ropes holding them to shore like impatient puppies on a leash.

"Are you afraid?"

Knowing it was the oldest trick there was, and feeling angry that he was falling for it anyway, he shook his head. "No. But I'm not stupid, Madam. How're we going to swim up river?"

"Not swim. Wade." She turned and looked around carefully before stepping onto a small boat. "Come on. Make it look like we were on it, idiot!"

Zane watched her tracking mud back and forth across it for a few minutes, and then got in with her, and tangled a few ropes, and made a general mess of the boat.

"Good." She took some spare rope from a small locker, along with some fishing material, wrapped the rope around her waist, and stuck the tackle in a jacket pocket for later. "Come on now. Get out of the boat into the water. Not too far out though."

Zane swung himself overboard, and nearly went under the flow was so strong. "Are you sure we can—"

Valerie jumped over, drenching him in spray. "I'm sure." After a moment of sawing at the rope with her knife, the rope snapped the rest of the way, and was instantly swept along by the current.

She edged as close as she dared to the bank, and began to slog her way through the water, Zane close behind her. Too close in fact. Every time he set his foot down, the back of her pants got wetter. She decided not to say anything however. It was no use wasting energy, since he probably couldn't help it, and sooner or later, the current was going to knock her over, and she was going to get soaked.

It took them almost an hour to get out of sight of the little village. It was ridiculously slow going— which she supposed was in there favor in one way. She'd already been knocked off her feet four times, and Zane had fallen over so many times she'd stopped counting. It took her a while to realize why, however. He'd been in The Fortress a few days. Naturally that had taken it's toll on him. He'd lost a lot of blood, not gotten much sleep, and hadn't been fed adequately. Her? She only had a crushed hand.

Three more hours passed. The blackness of night turned to a dark grey of day, and it continued to rain, and be cold, and windy. Zane fell once again, and this time Valerie decided they should stop. She crawled up the bank, and lay there a minute before helping Zane to his feet and moving towards the thick pines a few feet away. "Come on. Let's get some sleep."

Zane followed her, eyes half shut through the trees until they came to a larger tree down among the rocks. Valerie clamored down them to a fairly dry little area, just big enough for both of them. "Come on! Get down here, and you can go to sleep."

Zane slid down after her obediently, tugged off the scraps of his shirt still clinging to his body, stretched out, and went to sleep.


Rivers frowned at the computer screen. His contact in Russia said that the Mafia had suddenly gone crazy. Mafia members in town left. Hordes of them would suddenly appear at odd hours of the day and night, on their way through to somewhere else. Rumor had it that something terrible had happened. Something at The Fortress.

Anyway, it was clear that The Tyrant had called upon almost every Mafia member in Russia. They were organizing themselves into patrols of sorts, and people had been told to look for two foreigners that were badly injured. A reward if you turned them in, and death if you didn't.

So Valerie and her target had gotten out. He wondered why she hadn't killed him yet. Maybe she hadn't had the chance.

His phone rang. Slowly, he picked it up. "Yes? How may I help you?"

"Rivers. It seems this girl was even more than I took her to be. My apologizes for underestimating both yourself and her."

"What?" asked Rivers blankly.

"I have pictures. Very interesting pictures. Perhaps you'd like some for your trophy case?"

Ah. The Russian who had hired her. "Pictures of what?"

"Pictures of what's left of The Fortress. It looks like she dropped a few bombs on it. Anyway, I heard she got Zane and herself out, and took off, and they can't find them."

Rivers twiddled his fingers nervously. "You don't think they're actually going after— after the diamond, do you? They wouldn't be that stupid! They must be waiting until the border patrol lessens, and then slip through, and fly home from somewhere else."

"No doubt. No doubt. If she brings back Zane alive though, there will be a generous tip. Zane's a good man, and I'll appreciate having him back, as will his family."

"Of course— Well, I just hope that she's still alive, and will be able to keep working. If she got injured and won't be able to do much else the rest of her life, there'll be a fee. I provide all my members with insurance for life, if anything happens to them on a job, and she's awfully young."

"I understand. Just how young is she?"

"Eighteen."

"Well, I'd hate to ruin things for her. She could probably make quite a bit touring though."

"Right. If you could send me those pictures—"

"They'll be there in a few days. Goodbye." He hung up with a click.

Rivers grinned. He was the top in the world! Soon, he'd be handling every major criminal. He ought to up his benefits. Perhaps he should employ a few jail breakers for his extended staff. Just in case things got out of control, and someone got in trouble.


Zane woke up hours later, feeling more exhausted than before, if possible, and cold. And wet. And deadish. Valerie was sitting a few feet away, still wide awake on watch. Feeling ashamed of himself sleeping so long and making her wait, he sat up. "Madam?"

She started, turned quickly, dropping her bad hand, that she'd been cradling. It bounced off her knee, and hit the ground, drawing a startled cry of pain from her.

"Sorry." He winced, and reached out, picking her hand up carefully to examine it. "This is bad. I doubt a hospital could fix it. Not even the best in the world."

Valerie glared at him in exasperation, and pulled away. "I don't care so much about fixing it, as I care about making it stop hurting! Now if you've gotten enough sleep already, I would like to get a few hours as well. It's almost night, and then we'll have to start moving again."

Zane squirmed at the accusation in her voice, and moved aside so she could lie down. "Sorry."

Valerie curled up in a little ball, her hand sticking out crookedly where she wouldn't bump it. "If you see anyone who sees you, shoot them. If you hear anything at all, wake me up. Try to be quiet and still."

"Right. How long until you want to be waken up?"

"About an hour. We can't waste anymore time than that."

Again, Zane squirmed, but he nodded, and checked his watch as he drew his gun.

Valerie was asleep in an instant, exhausted by going so many nights without sleep. When they got home, she was going to sleep for several days, and then lie in bed for a few more.

Zane sat still, listening to the dull patter of rain against the pine needles scattered across the ground, and the soft swish of the wind through the trees all around. It was still, and grey, and very alone in a not lonely way.

Then he heard a motor. It was coming from the south, and sounded like a low flying copter. He turned to wake Valerie up, but she was already sitting up, hand on her gun.

"Is it a copter?"

"Yes. It might be looking for us, but it's more likely flying north, to where they think we are."

"Is that good or bad?"

"It's good if they keep going north and don't see us. It's bad if they see us, or are looking for us here. If they're looking for us here, it means they haven't found the boat like we wanted them to."

"I'd think—"

Valerie nodded. "I know. They must have found it. Why are we worrying? Wait until it's passed, and then let's move on."

Zane nodded, and leaned back against the rock.

Silence.

"Madam?"

"What?"

"I just noticed something."

"What's that?"

"It hasn't gone away. I think it's hovering."


It's this lovely and suspenseful and— And later on, I think I might add, the Mafia will not be their only enemies. Remember the end of chapter two? There are people who want Valerie dead.

You who do not review: Your evils will condemn you on the day of judgment. :)

P.S. I noticed more people are visiting my story than reviewing. I'm assuming some of them aren't fanfiction users. If you didn't know it, and want to review, I do accept anoymous reviews.