AN: In this chapter I tried to retain some of Raizo's badass antics that have made him the popular badass ninja guy. Expect a certain heart to heart insightful talk between two characters.
Maslow knocked the door of the dingy looking apartment while Raizo blended in the shadows invisible. They had flown to Ukraine where their handler had told them one of the men in the trafficking ring lived. According to their handler he was the one who supervised the auctioning of the children once they arrived. Maslow looked like a regular, he had tried his best to disguise the agent look, and he was puffing a cigar much to Raizo's disdain. The door opened slowly and a sallow looking man with ash blonde hair stood before Maslow.
"Vladimir Udinov?" Maslow asked using a Ukrainian accent.
"What do you want?" the man asked arrogantly. His tight eyes roamed around like a ferret. Before they could engage into any further conversation, Vladimir was caught in a vice grip and dragged inside his house by the neck.
"Hey—what the f—"
"Shut up" Raizo commanded with a growl. He pulled out a chair and shoved Vladimir down on it.
"Rule number one, you don't open the door to strangers tut tut" Maslow said in a sing song tone.
"Hey, hey, what is going on here, who are you?" Vladimir protested looking around. He leapt and tried to make a run for it. Before he could even gain his balance Raizo had caught him with his quick reflexes and pushed him forcefully back in the chair.
"Uh Vladimir, I wouldn't try anything funny with him around" Maslow cautioned. Vladimir fearfully glanced at an unsmiling Raizo who stood with ease and confidence yet everything about him spelled trouble.
"W—who are you? What do you want?" Vladimir asked his arrogance fading.
"We just need you to answer a few questions, we promise not to harm you if you co-operate" Maslow blew smoke from his cigar.
"What questions?"
"About the children you put in containers and ship them here and bid them" there was unmistakable disgust in Raizo's voice.
"What children, you have the wrong man, I don't know any children"
"Let's try that again" Raizo looked down at him.
"Go screw yourselves" Vladimir hissed
"Wrong answer" Raizo applied pressure on his wrist vein, Vladimir screamed crumbling.
"It could really get worse for you Vladimir, I would start talking if I were you" Maslow whispered in his face.
"Okay I'll see you soon" Raizo finished speaking on the phone then he hung up and pocketed it.
"Mika?" Maslow asked joining him. They had returned to their hotel after turning in Vladimir to the Ukrainian authorities, he had co-operated.
"No, that was Henri" Raizo said with affection in his voice.
"Henri?" Maslow inquired.
"My landlady's grandson, we uh—are good friends" Maslow noted the way Raizo said the word 'friends' with so much conviction in it.
"He's how old?"
"Five years old" Raizo chuckled.
Maslow never understood Raizo, just when he thought he had understood the man, he then threw a curveball.
"The way you handled Vladimir, that was—disciplined" Maslow changed the subject.
"You expected me to be very violent, break every bone of his" Raizo said with a hint of sarcasm voicing Maslow's very thoughts.
"I just didn't expect it to be so easy"
"You want to conquer a man, conquer his mind first, once you conquer the mind, everything else is yours"
"Hmm so, is that what you do with women too?" Maslow had a mischievous grin. Raizo smiled a little shyly.
"Come on man, just a few tips here to a partner"
"With a woman it's supposed to be all about energy, if she is the woman the fates have given to you, you should be able to respond naturally to her energy" Raizo explained.
"Energy" Maslow raised an eyebrow.
"We all have natural energies, they influence a lot of things, our actions, and our interactions with people" he said coolly.
"Sounds like gibberish to me man, I think I'll stick to the old way or die lonely. Did the dead creep allow you women?" Maslow poured himself a whisky.
"Sometimes before a mission, they used to hire women to entertain us, me and my bro—them" Raizo said with a slight flinch.
"At your disposal" Maslow grinned.
"But none of them was the one the fates had given me; it did not feel like I think it's supposed to feel like"
"Uh strange happenings indeed, you know, I used to have a crush on Mika" Maslow said in a matter of fact tone. He didn't miss the slight tensing of Raizo's body and the quick flash of his eyes even though he tried to appear expressionless.
"She's very beautiful she's attractive, kind, compassionate, warm, which man wouldn't fall for that?"
"And brave and stubborn too" Raizo added as if to remind him.
Maslow laughed lightly.
"The feelings were not mutual, she sees me as a friend and a mentor" Maslow noticed Raizo's tight expression loosen up and smiled then went on
"I realized it was wrong, besides being way older than her, it would ruin our friendship. Now I see her as just a friend"
"Her heart is special" Raizo echoed the same words he had used three months ago to describe Mika.
"No one would want to lose a woman like that, she's a keeper"
"Does she—have, any other man in her life?" Raizo asked hesitantly, the thought of her with any other man upsetting him.
"No, she's married to her work, I always tell her to loosen up. She'll miss out on life"
"You know, my life began when I met her" Raizo confided. Never the one to usually talk about his feelings to anyone opening up to Maslow proved to be a relief to him.