Second chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own any Alex Rider characters, blah, blah, blah.
Chapter 2- Friend or Foe?
John's safe house is a lot better than mine; it's actually a house. The outside is a dark grey color; it has two stories and it's in a residential area. When we walk inside, I'm a little surprised it looks so…normal.
We're in the middle of breakfast the next morning when the doorbell rings. I go for my gun, but John places a hand on my arm to stop me.
"Yassen, calm down. It's probably just someone trying to sell us something," he says. I get up and go answer the door; I still place my hand on my gun, just in case.
When I open the door, a man with curly black hair is standing there. He has shades on, but I recognize him instantly. I shut the door until it's only a crack while at the same time pulling out my gun. He takes off his shades and smiles.
"You got me," he says. His hazel eyes sparkle mysteriously. His Russian accent is thick; though I'm sure he hasn't been there in a long time. He's wearing a white polo shirt and blue jeans.
"Have you come to shoot me? How did you find me?" I ask.
"Tracking device on your car. And no, I'm not here to kill you. I come in peace. I just want to talk. Maybe I can take you out to lunch or something?" he asks. For a second, I don't see him as someone who's trying to kill me. I see a glimmer of someone else I knew. Someone from my past, before my parents were killed.
Nikolei and I grew up together. We were best friends and neighbors since I was a little kid. When my parents got killed and I ran away, I dropped off the grid and didn't hear from him. Then I killed his father, and everything changed. He found out I was the killer; he felt like I'd personally betrayed him. In a way, I had. From that moment on, he's been hunting me down, trying to avenge his father's death.
"You're not going to kill me?" I ask.
"I still want to kill you, but I want to ask you some questions first. Maybe you can change my mind," he says, though I can tell I'm going to have to try very hard to do that.
"Fine. Somewhere public though, with lots of witnesses in case you decide to try something," I say.
"Of course," he hands me an address. "Be here by noon. If you're even a minute late, I'll leave. Things will go back to me trying to kill you. No second chances. Come alone, or I leave. Unarmed or I—" I cut him off.
"Leave, yeah I got it. All right, I'll be there," I say. I close the door. I watch through the window as he climbs into a silver Rolls Royce and drives off.
"Yassen? Are you all right?" John says from behind me. I turn around.
"Yeah, I'm fine. He found us. He wants a meeting. He just wants to talk," I tell him. Alex comes into the room as I say this, Jeremy is right behind him.
"You're not going to meet him, are you?" Alex says with a mixture of incredulousness and fear.
"Yeah," I sigh. I guess it's time to tell them the whole truth. "We use to be neighbors; best friends actually. That was before my parents died. After…I ran away and he didn't hear from me in a couple years. After I killed his father, he found me again. He vowed he would kill me. I still remember how he called me when he found out I was the one who killed his father. He said, 'I thought we were friends, but I was wrong. You killed my father; we're not friends anymore Yassen, we're enemies until the day I kill you.' So now he's been hunting me since then," I explain. John is watching me with concern on his face.
"So you've known this guy for a really long time. That's good though, right? Cuz that way you also know how he thinks, right?" Alex says hopefully.
"Alex, he's changed a lot since we were kids. I barely know him anymore," I tell him.
"So you're going to go meet him this afternoon…why?" Alex says, looking at the slip of paper Nikolei handed me.
"He said he just wants to talk Alex. I don't trust him anymore than you do, but I have to do this. Maybe I can get him to stop coming after me," I say. Alex huffs and gives me a look that says, "Yeah, right."
"Look, maybe we could compromise or something," I say.
"Oh yeah. Compromise. Like he only partly kills you and then everything between you is OK," Alex says sarcastically. Jeremy gives him a light punch on the arm and mutters, "Not helpful."
"Can I come?" John says, looking at me.
"No. He said no weapons, no friends, no being late or he leaves," I say. John nods; he understands.
"Well, then. I guess you're going out in the cold." John says.
"I guess so," I sigh. "There's not really any choice though. This is the best chance we have at stopping him,"
"Can't you take a knife or something?" Alex asks.
"No, Alex. He specifically said no weapons," I reply.
"You could bring a pen or something and use that as a weapon." Alex points out.
"I'm sure if I need to I'll improvise something," I reassure him.
"I don't like this but I can tell you're going to do it anyway. There's no point arguing with you I don't think," Alex says.
"I'll make sure Jeremy and Alex stay here," John says, giving Alex a meaningful glance.
"How many times do I have to remind you I saved your life?" Alex exclaims, sounding exasperated.
"I know Alex. It was a good thing you were there, but you took a big risk, doing that," I say, patting him on the back. I expect him to look pleased with himself, but instead he looks at me and I see worry in his eyes.
"I'll be fine, Alex." I say. I hope I'm right.
At around noon, I leave the house in John's car and head to the address Nikolei gave me. The restaurant is a small place; it's more of a bar than a restaurant, but there are lots of people there and that's all that matters. I go inside and I glance around, looking for Nikolei. I see him waving at me from across the bar and I head over. I sit down across from him.
"I ordered for you, I hope that's all right. I got you fish sticks and ranch," he says, not bothering to greet me.
"That's fine," I reply, although I'm not so sure. I don't like eating food if I don't know what's on it. I suppose I have to trust him.
He apparently sees my hesitation because he rolls his eyes. "Oh for God's sake, I'm not gonna try and kill you here. Not when you might give me answers to my questions," he says.
"What are your questions?" I ask.
"I have a few. First, why did you kill my father, exactly?" he says, leaning forward slightly.
I'm about to say my usual response, "I was paid," but then I realize he might not take that so well. What else can I say, though?
"I…well; Scorpia paid me to do it. He was a warlord; do you even know what kind of stuff he was doing? He was killing people…innocent people. He was blowing up oil rigs and nuclear power plants. He was a bad person," I realize this probably isn't the best thing to say either.
It appears I'm right when he says, "He was my father! It doesn't matter what he did or how many people he killed! He was my dad and I loved him! You of all people should understand that, what with you losing your parents when you did!" he exclaims.
"But you see I don't. I wasn't very close to either of my parents. Of course it was hard, but I survived," I say. I realize this conversation isn't going as well as I'd hoped.
"Well, you should know how close my father and I were! You were my best friend," he exclaims.
"I'm sorry I killed you're father. If I could go back in time, knowing that this would happen, I wouldn't do it. That hardly changes anything though. Scorpia would have killed me and then sent someone else to kill him. He would have been dead anyway, and so would I," I explain.
He thinks about this for a few minutes. I wait patiently. Our food came, but I haven't touched my fish sticks. Finally, he speaks again.
"If we could go back in time, and you not doing your job would mean you getting killed…I don't know what I would want. They would kill you for turning down a job?" he says, looking at me questioningly.
"Well, maybe. Depending on how I turned it down. If I said flat out no, then of course they'd kill me. They would think I was going soft. If I recommended someone else doing it though…they probably wouldn't," I reply.
"So you're saying no matter what, my father would die, even if you had turned down the job," he says. It's not a question, but I nod anyway.
"Did you know he was my father?" he asks.
"Yes,"
"Then why did you kill him?" he seems angry at this.
"I…when I got the job, it didn't register until I'd already accepted," I reply. I realize that no matter what, this part of our conversation is not going to go very well.
"And you still did it. You could have given someone else the job, or not done it. You could have faked it even!" he exclaims, even more agitated.
"How do you think I would be able to do that? He would have to live in hiding for the rest of his life. How do you think he would have liked that? He wouldn't have been able to continue with his work,"
"That was you're goal, wasn't it? Getting rid of him so he wouldn't continue with his work?" Nikolei seems confused by this.
"Well…it wasn't just that he was a warlord. He had found out about our operation and was threatening to tell the intelligence agencies about us. We didn't want that happening. That was another reason he had to go,"
"You could have paid him to keep his mouth shut," Nikolei points out.
"It wasn't that easy. He was already making money with his work. He wouldn't take a bribe. We tried that, but he wouldn't accept it,"
"So you killed him," his eyes darken with fury and I know he's not going to listen to anything else I say. "I'm not going to argue with you anymore on this. You made your choice, and you're going to suffer. I have another question though," his eyes loose the fury that entered them a moment ago. "After your parents died…you left. Why?"
"It was that or go off and live in an orphanage for God knows how long. Which one would you have chosen?" I ask, raising my eyebrows.
"Fair enough," he says, smiling slightly. Again, I see a flicker of his old self. It disappears quickly, though, as he becomes serious agian. "What did you do, after that though? I didn't hear from you for months. Years, in fact," he seems slightly sad because of this.
"I went to Moscow. I worked with the mafia for a while, and then I found my way to Scorpia," I reply.
"The mafia?! Yassen…" he seems shocked.
"How else was I supposed to support myself? I didn't have any other choice. They kept me out of police computers; they gave me a place to stay, food, shelter…they promised not to send me to an orphanage as long as I did what I was told. I ran errands for them…it wasn't like I was one of their top guys or anything. They taught me how to take care of myself. Then one I heard about a company called Scorpia. A guy I knew said he'd worked with them before. He said if I wanted a place I could really call home, I should go there. I wasn't so sure I should, but eventually I changed my mind and I ran off," I tell him.
"What made you change your mind?" he seems genuinely curious. He's known me for a long time; he knows how stubborn I am. It takes a lot to change my mind.
"I…I was on a mission for them. I was with a group of their people; they were raiding a village. They were killing everyone there. Women, men, children, everyone. There was a 17 year old boy; he was only a year older than I was at the time. They…they tortured him to death right in front of me. It was sickening. It was the most horrible thing I'd ever seen in my whole life; I still remember it. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget. That was the reason I left. I didn't want to be with them anymore; I didn't want to turn into the kind of person who would do that," I explain. I remember telling Alex the same story.
"You kill people for a living. What's the difference?" he says flatly.
"I killed for a living. I don't work with Scorpia anymore. I'm not a killer anymore. I'm a father. I have a family…people I care about and people who care about me. I didn't torture people like they did,"
"Fine, fair enough." he thinks for a moment. "You have a son?" he says. I realize that this is my chance; this is where I could be able to change his mind.
"Yes. I just recently found out I did. I thought he was dead but apparently…he survived. And then there's my old mentor's son. I've been taking care of him for about two years now. My mentor, who I thought was dead until several months ago, is back as well. While I was at Scorpia, he and I grew very close. He's like a father to me," I say.
"That's all great, but that doesn't change the fact that you killed my father and I'm going to kill you to avenge his death," Nikolei says, not showing any emotion whatsoever.
"Nikolei…I have a family. People who would be lost if something happened to me. Surely you understand that," I say.
"I was lost after my father died! I didn't know what to do! I was alone! I didn't have anywhere to go! That's part of the reason I joined the military, so I could feel like I was part of a group. You took my family away from me," he's almost yelling now.
I have no idea how to respond to him. There doesn't seem to be a proper response.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say. We've both lost someone important to us. I can tell that I'm not going to stop you from trying to kill me. I'm also not just going to sit here and wait for you to do so. Alex wanted me to kill you in the first place. If it comes to that, I'm afraid I'll have no choice. That's a last resort, though. I don't want to kill you, Nikolei, but if you keep hunting me…I'm afraid I'll have to. I have to admit, if I were in your situation, I would do the same thing you're doing. I wouldn't even hesitate about doing it either. I understand why you're doing this. But I have friends who can and will go to great lengths to protect me," this is the last thing I can think of to try and make him see reason. It's my last chance at stopping him right now.
"Thanks for warning me, but frankly, I don't care right now," he says.
I sigh and nod, I'm not really all that surprised about his decision.
"There's nothing I can do to stop you, is there," I say. He shakes his head no.
"We're done here. I'm sorry it has to be this way, but there's nothing you can do now. I'm going to kill you, or die trying," he gets up and leaves. I sit there, wishing things were different. Finally, I get up and leave as well. When I get home, John, Alex, and Jeremy are waiting for me on the couch.
"Well, you survived," John says. I sit down in between Alex and Jeremy.
"Yeah, but it didn't go as well as I hoped it would. He's still convinced he has to kill me," I reply.
"Well, that's not good. You all right?" John asks.
"Yeah, it's just that he's made it apparent nothing will stop him. I think killing him is the only option now," I say.
"So, are you gonna do it?" Alex says. Jeremy elbows him in the stomach. "What?!" Alex seems confused, but Jeremy just glares at him and he falls silent.
"Alex, I don't want to do this. I've known Nikolei since we were kids; he was my best friend. He was always there for me, even when everyone else wasn't. I don't want to be the one to kill him. I don't want him to die, either," I say.
"Couldn't you blackmail him or something?" Alex says which results in Jeremy elbowing him even harder. "Ow! Hey, dude, watch it! I'm gonna get a bruise if you do that anymore,"
"Not cool, man," Jeremy mutters to Alex, ignoring his comment.
"I could blackmail him, but with what, exactly? There's nothing left. He's out in the cold. There's nothing we have to use against him," I tell him.
"So what are we supposed to do?" Alex exclaims.
"MI6 has already agreed to help. Hopefully they'll be able to fix this before Nikolei does anything else," I say.
"He knows where we are now. Do you think he'll try and come here to kill you?" Jeremy asks, sounding worried.
"I don't really think so. He knows we're well protected here. No, he'll want to attack somewhere else," I reply.
"So that means you can't leave the house until MI6 takes care of him," Alex says. "Which will take…how long exactly?"
"Who knows? With MI6 it could take anywhere between a week and a month. You of all people should know that," I reply.
"Yeah, unfortunalty, I do," he huffs.
I hope they do something about Nikolei soon, though, because I don't want to have to kill him in order to make him stop hunting me. He was my best friend since my childhood, and I honestly can't help but still think of him as being my best friend.
John takes Alex and Jeremy out for a while the day after I meet with Nikolei. When they return, Alex comes in acting very…happy.
"Hey, ginger, what's up?!" he says when he come in and sees me moping on the couch. I don't like being stuck here at home.
"Ginger? Really Alex?" I say, raising my eyebrows in disbelief. He did not just call me a ginger, did he?
"Yeah, cuz you are one," Alex says, smiling.
"John, has he been on crack or something?" I ask, looking at John seriously. Alex and Jeremy both burst into laughter. I then see Jeremy pass Alex $20.
"Wait, you bet him to do that?" I say, feeling like a moron. Jeremy nods, and now even John can't keep the grin off his face.
"How old are we again?" I ask.
"Five. And I'm twenty dollars richer," Alex snickers, waving the twenty dollar bill in the air. Jeremy and he start laughing all over again.
"John, did you put them up to this?" I ask.
"What? Me? Why would I do that?" he says innocently, but I can tell he's trying not to smile.
"John," I start, but he interrupts.
"We thought it would cheer you up," he says.
"Cheer me up. Right. Sure you did," I say sarcastically.
"Well, you've been sulking around the house all day. It was the least we could do," Jeremy says.
"The least you could do?" I ask. If that's the least they can do, I'm doomed.
"Sure, why not?" Alex exclaims. I'm about to make a smart retort, but just ten the doorbell rings. We all look at each other, frozen. What now? Was I wrong about Nikolei? Is he going to come try and kill me right now? I start to stand to go answer, but Alex leaps forward and grabs my arm.
"No," he says. I pull away quickly.
"It's all right, Alex." I reassure him, although even I'm not sure if it is.
I get up and go to the door. I open it a crack, half-expecting to see Nikolei standing there with a gun. It's not him, though. It looks like a younger version of him; a young man with curly dark brown hair and green eyes. He has a smooth face, with sparkling, intelligent eyes.
"Are you Yassen?" he asks.
"Has Nikolei sent his son to kill me?" I ask, assuming this man is in fact Nikolei's son.
"Um, no. I…I want to help you," he says hesitantly.
"What do you mean?" I ask, confused.
"My grandfather, I mean, the man you shot, he was a very powerful man, but I also understand why you killed him. The things he was doing, some of it wasn't good. My father doesn't forgive and forget very easily, and neither do I. But I also understand you. you have people you care about that need you; that is why I am willing to help you. My father is not afraid to die, but I do not think he realizes that could happen," he explains.
I think, examining him. This could be an attempt to help us, or it could be Nikolei trying to get close to us so he can kill me. I sense Alex appear next to me, and I glance over to see John and Jeremy standing there. I look at John, wondering what to do. he comes to stand next to me, looking at the young man.
"What's your name, kid?" he asks.
"Anton," he replies.
"Well, I think we should trust him, Yassen. If you double-cross us, though…" John lets the sentence hang.
"Understood." Anton replies, nodding.
"I'll try and help you as much as possible. You have my word," he says solemnly.
"Do we? Really?" Alex challenges.
"If you don't believe me, you can shoot me," he replies.
Alex is glaring at him; I tap him on the shoulder lightly.
"Alex, it's all right," I tell him.
"If you think I'm going to double-cross you—" he starts, but I cut him off.
"No, I trust you. I don't want to shoot you, but if you do double-cross us, I won't hesitate," I say.
"I won't," he says. He sounds sincere, but I can't help but wonder if he's just like his father; not afraid to die. I realize that him showing up here shows that he isn't; I could have shot him without asking any questions, but he risked it anyway. Still, I wonder if he's lying to us. I push the thought away for now; I don't want to think of what that might mean. I'll just have to watch him carefully, until I know for sure that we can trust him.
That's the end of chapter 2! I'm sorry it's taken so long to post this, I've been busy and school just started for me, so I might not be able to post these very often.