Chapter 12

"Freedom isn't free"

Contract number one

Niko's training regimine got expedentially harder as the days drew closer to his contract agreement. The poor thing had to wake up at 4 am, be ready to work out by 5 am, which consisted of heavy pushups with either Karen sitting on his back or putting weights on him that she got from her department, having Niko do pushups with alternating arms one at a time. By 7 am it was time to climb his staircase of doom fifty times. By 9 am, it was time for a jog around the block with a minimum of thirty times. By noon, it was time for his combat training, which consisted of defensive and offensive techniques. The poor thing had bruises all over his body. By 3 pm it was time for his meditation, which she didn't allow him to think of anything else but his goal. One stray thought earned him fourty pushups. How she was able to tell if his thoughts strayed is beyond me. Sometimes she'd just make him do fourty pushups because she had suspicions. 5 pm was "our time", and for an hour, Niko got to sit with me and have diner. By 6 pm, he was using the weighted training equipment. He was to do pull ups over fifty times to build up arm muscle incase he was in a hand to hand fight. To my suprise, he did this for three weeks without wavering once. He has an amazing willpower to see things through. You gotta give him that.

"Today is the day, Niko. Are you ready for your first contract?" Karen asked.

How can you be ready to kill people? I silently wondered.

"I guess I am."

"You better be. One screw up, and it's done with you. Your life is on the line here, and I won't be held responsible if you die."

What a terrible thing to say!

"Then I am ready." He said more determined.

He was handed the first file. It was pretty thick with papers, photos, and information about who he was after. I guessed he was to do these contracts one at a time. I preferred him do it that way.

He gathered what he needed, including another blue duffel bag which was filled with new weapons Karen's contacts got for him. I inwardly frowned knowing he was going through with this. He must have picked up on my thoughts. He was by my side once he threw the bag over his shoulder. His hand lifted my head to look him in the eye. It's the price he had to pay to be free.

His mouth was on mine in a passionate kiss. It lasted shorter than I'd liked. My hands found his chest. I gotta say, in the short training session he had with Karen, he was even more ripped.

"Thank you for having amazing patience during these last few weeks. It was hard for you, but we will be rewarded in the end."

"Please come back to me safely, Niko. I want to be with you after all this."

"Believe me. I want you as bad as you want me."

With that, he left.

I turned to the bitch, Karen and scowled at her.

"Are you going with him?!"

"Nope. This is what he needs to do on his own. He wants his freedom? This is all him."

"How can you say that! Go help him! I sure as shit don't want you here!"

"I need to keep an eye on your brother. He's a wanted man as long as the police want him. Until Niko fulfills his end of the bargain, he will be watched. You don't need to worry about Niko either. He is a trained killer."

"He is not a killer!"

"Has he not told you anything?"

"He told me all about himself. I know what he's done."

"Then you're a fool. A fool who was tricked into his game. He made it out that he had no other alternatives, I bet."

"No. He didn't. He didn't pretend that what he's done wasn't wrong. And he didn't sugar coat anything. The reason why I stayed with him is because I know he can change. He still has humility. He still has honor and integrity. He fights for what he believes in even if his way is wrong. Atleast he has a mind of his own and not a pawn for the government who doesn't have what he has!"

"He's still a killer, and if you don't watch, he'll kill you. Don't say I never warned you."

I sealed my mouth shut. I was afraid of what I would say next. Niko told me to have patience for him, and I was trying my absolute best not to strangle her with my bare hands. Before I could say one more thing, she turned on her heel and went into the bedroom. I sat on the couch and prayed that Niko would return after all this.

"She's a total cunt." My brother said.

He remained quiet throughout the weeks of Niko's training to not get in the way. He knew that Niko's success also had a significance to his freedom as well.

"She is the definition of cunt. It's no wonder Niko dumped her ass. She's hateful! I don't think she has one nice thing to say about anyone."

"Well, with her here, it seems she's in control. We better do as she says, so this plan doesn't backfire on us."

"As repulsive as it may seem, you have a point. We need to keep together during this, so Niko doesn't have to worry about us either."

"It's pretty creepy to know that right now your boyfriend is killing someone." He shivered.

"But he has to do this. And it's not like he's killing innocent people. These people were destined for death. These guys murdered people as well. Before I really got to know Niko, he told me he was responsible for the death of a guy. Do you remember? There were no witnesses, no suspects. Nothing. The guy Niko killed was responsible for killing a bunch of people and went into hiding. Niko is the guy they send in to fish out these guys, so they don't have to send in officers and risk their lives. Niko is their bait man basically."

"That's pretty fucked up."

"It really is, but the agents who assign people like him are willing to let Niko go if he gets three of the most wanted criminals. It seems pretty noble to me. If you think about it, he's risking his life to bring justice to those who lost their loved ones." A huge swell of a very powerful emotion came over me, and I realized that Niko is really a hero. He risks his life to ensure the safety of the officers and community from the worst kinds of people. Even though his employers are complete assholes to him, he still goes after the targets he is assigned. This makes my eyes well up, realizing that he could also die, and he could simply be replaced by another hired gun.

"If he dies, I can't replace him." I cry wildly.

My brother is there in seconds to keep me comforted.

"I'm sure Niko has a way of doing things like this, and I'm sure he's a pro. Otherwise, these guys never would have hired his services."

"I guess you're right. Still, I can't help it worry. I really think he is the one I want to spend the rest of my life with, and I can't if he dies."

"Give me a break!" Karen called out from the other room.

I really wanted to go in there and smother her with her pillow until she stopped breathing, but my brother looked at me. I remained seated instead.

The day drug on from that moment on. My brother tried to keep my mind preoccupied by playing card games, games on my phone, watching God awful movies and then making fun of the horrible acting, plot, and cheesy one liners. We cooked diner and ate together, excluding on purpose Karen. We laughed and talked about the days when we were younger with our wild imaginations. I called the family letting everyone know I was okay, and I found my missing brother. I informed my family that I found love, and their immediate response was to bring him over. Not telling them he was currently killing someone was obviously not the right thing to say, so I tell them that I will bring him by sometime soon when work wasn't being a total ass to him. The phone call was enough to satisfy my family and in letting them know my brother was doing well.

Roman called hours later around 10 pm in a drunken stupor looking for Niko. He wanted to see if he and I wanted to go bowling and wanted to know if we can pick him up. I politely decline his offer of nighttime fun and games at the alleys and tell him we should go soon. Roman made a begging protest, saying we need to get out more as he completely forgot Niko's mission. I tell Roman he's too drunk and urge him to go to sleep. He must have dropped his phone or something because he hung up. I thought nothing of it, and I came up with the completely rational reason that Roman must be an angry drunk. I was sure he'd apologize tomorrow if he remembers what happened.

Karen passed out around midnight, my brother was fading fast, but I was wide awake with worry. Niko has been gone all day and not one text or phone call yet on how he was doing. It might be too much to ask from him, sure but if he had a minute...

My phone jungles my notification tune. Speak of the devil! It's Niko!

Hey, how are you holding up? I'm on my way back to the apartment. Is everyone asleep?

My fingers fly across my phone keyboard. Typos and horrible grammar everywhere.

Kiko! Omg! Irs you! Ate yoy okat? Ivw beeb sp worrief avour you! Whetr are yoy?!

Niko, I'm sure read the message as best as he could as he decoded the new foreign language.

I am okay. I thought you'd be asleep, but I am glad you aren't. Who's Kiko?

I silently laugh as I read how horrible my message looked. This time, knowing he is okay, I make sure my message was more readable

Sorry, I was just such a nervous wreck all day. My fingers don't even know what they are typing. Where are you? Are you okay?

As Niko replied, I forraged up something for him to eat and drink to show him support for his hard work, and to show him I still care.

I will be home in 5 minutes. I snatched a car from the hood. Don't be scared if you see a big truck pull up. It's me. I'll try to be quite to not wake up everyone.

My simple reply of "K" let him know that I was waiting for him with barely any patience left. My patience ran out when he came through the door as I ran to him and jumped into his arms. He caught me in mid air, and I wrapped my arms and legs around him. He easily supported me from his workout. I guess I should thank Karen..

"I was so worried about you." I say in-between smothering him in kisses.

"I was fine. You shouldn't worry about me."

"But I do!" I say quietly.

I look at him to see if he needed any binding. Thankfully, he has no wounds.

"I'm okay. I'm okay." He chuckled as I searched him head to toe for injuries.

"I whipped you up something to eat." I tell him bashfully.

"Thank you. I am a little hungry." He mentioned and sat himself at the kitchenette.

I brought him the left overs I had for diner. I didn't have much of an appetite when he was gone. He started eating and I brought him some water. He thanked me, and I sat and watched him eat.

"So." I trailed.

"So?"

"So, what happened? Did you get the guy? Who was he? Tell me everything."

"I'd rather not talk about it to you. Besides, I am trying to eat."

"Oh, I know. Will you tell me another time?"

"I don't think so. I just want this to be a distant memory of mine. Not yours. I think you're too innocent to hear."

"Too innocent? Хајде, Niko. Tell me what happened."

"Радије бих да не знате кога сам убио, јер ако сте знали, неко би могао да вас пронађе. Желим да ово буде само моје бреме."

"What?"

He smiled at me. He thought I was doing something productive like learn more Serbian.

"I would rather you not know the face of the man who I killed. I don't want you to become hunted. It's for your saftey."

"You don't think someone will come after the girlfriend of the assassin? Реци ми шта се десило, Niko."

He sighed heavily. He knew I was right. He put his glass of water down and stared into my eyes.

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yes."

"His name was Justin Staller. He was in the drug cartel business selling dope across the country. His organized crime spree ended when I used my sniper rifle from above, putting a bullet between his eyes. It wasn't easy getting somewhere where I could get a clean shot. I had to fly in. Luckily, the police let me use a helicopter and I was able to get the shot from on a roof top. I got away using the chopper and no injuries from me."

"So, if it was so easy, why couldn't the police take him out? Why did they have you get involved?"

"I just said it wasn't easy."

"Sounded easy to me."

"That's because it sounded easy. I didn't mention how many men I had to take out to get close enough to get the shot. And landing a helicopter on a roof top making sure I didn't alarm anyone in the process and get shot down wasn't easy. I also had to scope out the area for who was around, I had to wait for him to be visable by the rifle, and I had to make sure I got away before I was shot. Does that sound easy to you?"

Oops. I pissed him off again.

"Um, no. It doesn't. But that still doesn't answer my question as to why they even needed you."

"The police officers need me because these contracts are extremely high risk. People like me are sent in with nothing to lose, and only care about money."

"So, you had nothing to lose. But now you do."

"That's why I am extra careful not to fuck up. There are only two more to do, and I am sure I am going on the next one tomorrow. I better get to sleep." He stood up and put his food back in the refrigerator and chugged the rest of his water.

"It looks like we have the couch this time."

"Karen took the bed." I resented.

He dismissed the potential fight for it and proposed we go to sleep.

"I'm sure I have to get up early again, and it's almost midnight. I need plenty of sleep to stay sharp."

"So, sex is out the window tonight?"

He laughed an obvious answer and laid on his back. I couldn't resist my Niko bed.

"I hope I am as comfortable as my bed back at home." He said as I crawled on him.

It didn't take too long to get comfortable. His shallow breathing made it easy for me to drift off into a deep sleep. The last thing I remember was him rubbing my back and constantly repeatedly in a featherlight whisper:

"Лепо спавај, љубави. Ускоро ћемо бити заувек."