Published: 25th December 2023

Chapter Twenty Nine

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Several armed men flood the scene, shooting here and there and extracting screams from people. Nina whips her head around to search for Jin first. She just catches sight of his bangs and charges for him, effortlessly pushing people out of her way and keep her own panic at bay.

Without a word, she slips her hand in Jin's and takes him to the nearest exist she memorised. It was part of her training. Jin didn't resist at all and before she knew it, they are already in a quiet corner.

"I need to go look for Izumi." He says to her.

Fuck Izumi, Nina thinks. "I just pulled you out of there, you can't go back in."

He is about to step back into the chaos but she grabs his wrist.

"I'll look for her."

It was a promise she didn't want to make.

"Nina, I'm stronger than you. If you got shot, you'd die." He argues, concern in his eyes. "You stay here and I'll go find her."

Thanks for showing off Jin.

"I need to find a friend of mine too."

Jin's phone vibrates and he picks it up. It was Izumi by the sounds of it and the conversation is brief. Izumi was in the ladies bathroom when the attack happened. A lady smashed the window and Izumi was still inside, debating whether to go in the main area for him. Jin told her to save herself first and drive off without him as he couldn't leave his bike behind no matter what. He was already safe. When he says that, he looks Nina in the eyes.

She had the decency to wait till his call ended before heading back into the chaos. Jin follows her and uses himself as her shield. She is annoyed that he was putting himself in harms way for her sake.

Unlike Nina, Jin wore a dark shirt and pants and was able to not draw attention to himself. That pink would definitely turn heads.

There were no bodies lying around which she was thankful for. Of course, Nina didn't waste an opportunity to surprise an armed guy from behind, kicking his calf, grabbing his weapon and squeezing his neck in one swift blur. Jin is shocked on how easy she made it look. The man passes out and Nina seizes his gun. Now the exit was no longer blocked.

They moved near the main area, hiding behind a pillar.

"Can you see your friend?"

Eun-Seo is nowhere to be seen either. The attackers began robbing money from the place and there were hostages on the ground. The part of her training from Eun mentioned fleeing the scene if they couldn't see their friend anywhere. It was possible that Eun-Seo fled. She could play hero and fire bullets at the thieves but that would draw attention to her and Jin.

"Come with me." Jin says and takes her hand. He rushes them away from the scene and they are outside. He led her to his bike.

Jin mounts his bike. Nina places the weapon on the floor, there was no use for it now.

"Are you just going to stand there?" He asks, starting the engine.

Nina sits on the bike and wraps her arms around him. "Why does this feel like I'm your getaway bride?"

"You are." Jin coyly says before driving off.

Funny outfit for a bride, he thinks when the pink jumpsuit came to mind.

She wraps her arms tighter around him, her chest presses against him and Jin almost reacted. He fights to keep control of his bike . Nina is behind him, pressing up against him and he couldn't lay a finger on her.

Such torture.

As for Nina, just being this close to him again after so long feels like a reward she's wished for. It was a reward she's wished for. Slyly, she caresses his back with her cheek, forgetting about the casino attack while embracing him.

He has no idea where she lived now so he just drives and stops at some taxi stand.

"Thanks."

"Don't blow me another kiss because I'll run it over." Jin responds, he still hadn't forgotten.

Nina leans over and presses a kiss on his cheek. "You can't throw this one away."

That sharp inhale from him makes her smirk. He's not prepared for that one.

"Adios, darling. Till next time." She playfully salutes him.

He takes another longing look at her before composing himself and driving off in the night.

Nina phones up Eun-Seo who answers almost immediately. She is on the rooftop of the building and was just waiting for the cops to arrive and arrest the bastards because she was the one who snitched on them. Nina shares her location and asks Eun to drive up here so they could go back to the apartment together. Or Nina would just make her way back to the danger zone to get her friend away from there.

She couldn't wait to brag about-

There is a gun to the back of her head.

"I have your friend Julia with me. If you want her to live, you come with me." An American voice warns.

Detective Coke.

The so called Detective Coke leads her to an abandoned warehouse. Nina just needed a secluded place to beat this woman up and on the off chance Julia was captured, she went with her. On the way here, Nina was shown a video of Julia tied up and disorientated. Some man kept touching her face, stroking her cheek.

The location tracker in her phone was on and she had that Alisa watch on. If things went south, she had a backup plan. On the sly, Nina presses the distress button on her watch. Alisa would be here any minute.

"You should have died when I threw you in that grave. I don't know how the fuck you got out."

I know exactly how, Nina thinks coyly. Courtesy of Alisa B.

"I want all your electronics with me now." The woman points the gun at her. "Hand it over."

"I don't suppose you had something to do with the Casino raid, Detective Coke?"

She doesn't even let the woman answer before grabbing her wrist and forced it up. Once it's pointed at the ceiling, a bullet is fired.

Nina bitch slaps her which forces the gun out of her hands.

"On your knees. Hands up." Nina says coldly.

The woman mutters under her breath and obeys.

"How do you know me?" Nina asks. There was no Julia here and she could only look properly if this woman was under her thumb. With Alisa help of course.

"We first met in the States. North Dakota. Against my orders, I went to protect a mentally ill woman in her own home from threats. No one cared about her. One day, you broke in to kill her."

Nina didn't remember this at all. So she let the woman fire away as she held her gun towards the Detective.

"Her name was Minnie. She loved Minnie Mouse a lot. Timid and creative. She was in her early thirties but her mind didn't match her age. She was the second heir of her family fortune. I went undercover to protect her because I knew her own sister wanted her dead. You don't remember her? Hair was was dyed grey, done up in twin buns. Red polka dot dress. You tied her up on a chair and did the same to me. You sat us apart. Made me watch as you broke her down. She was crying. I was begging for her life..," Detective Coke hisses with anger just as fresh as the time this occurred.

"Sounds like a made up story." Nina comments.

"Because you don't remember?!" Detective Coke snorts. "You treated her like she was a bug. You…" The African American woman lifts a finger at her. "You said to me you'd be doing her a favor by putting her out of misery."

It sounds like this Detective Coke is describing a cold hearted assassin.

"Where's Julia? I don't see her anywhere."

"You won't ever find her here." The American woman laughs.

"I will find her. You can bet on that."

"I want to talk about Minnie. You didn't like her." The woman continues. "Said she was a nuisance. She told you that you could be so much better, that you have a heart under that ice. She may not have known you for long but in that five minutes, she idealized you. It only disgusted you because you knew she was wrong. So you pulled back the trigger, aimed at her and fired. I saw her die. You then left me tied up to my chair, you left me to die as you are nothing but a cold hearted sick bitch. It's in your nature."

"You don't know what's my nature." Nina retorts. "That story must have took many years to craft. Sounds like you should have written a book."

"I didn't know who you were until I was approached by another enemy of yours. He told me your name. I would have never found out. He gave me the chance to avenge this poor woman's death."

Another enemy? Damn. Her list is getting bigger and bigger by day. She sees Alisa from the corner of her eye.

"Who is he?"

"Who are you?" The woman shot back. "Are you worthy of anyone's love? Anyone's friendship and compassion? Because from where I'm standing, the answer is a big fat no. You deserve hate and suffering."

"So your story points out to my previous self-killing a target because it was my job." Nina said, forcing herself not to show any emotion.

The way the woman narrates this tale did paint her as someone she could never fathom.

"You MOCKED this woman when she was telling you a bit about herself. You said she was pathetic, a cry-baby and that she was wasting her time breathing!"

Nina sighs and remembers what Eun said about potential enemies. They'd say anything to throw her off course and to mess with their minds. Nina couldn't let this story, true or not affect her emotionally. Then she realizes, if this was true than perhaps she said those cold things to the target because she felt emotionally threatened? She didn't like when people tried to get into her head. It always brought the worst out in her.

Whatever it was, it shouldn't matter anymore because it was so far back in the past.

"I became a laughing stock in my department because I couldn't stop you." The detective sneers. "You took so much from me."

"I've not taken your life yet." Nina replies, playing the big bad assassin. "You've waited for this moment for so long. How could I deny you?"

She lowers the gun. Alisa approaches.

"You said to me before you killed Minnie, you said, 'Look at that cry baby. What a sad little cow. This is what's in our society? Dead weight? This is what someone wasted money on for them to be put out of their misery?' That's what you fucking said to me. Not much different to what you are saying to me now!"

The woman jumps up and charges for Nina. Alisa is faster and kicks the woman so hard in the stomach, she must have cracked a rib or two.

She falls to her knees and clutches at her stomach, wincing.

"Who the hell is this bitch?!"

She could kill Detective Coke now but she couldn't do it because that story made her feel guilt. The woman is justified in her hate towards her so Nina backs away from her. Alisa is watching too.

"I've had a change of heart." Nina says. "We can forget this even happened. Just don't come after me again."

She turns around and hears the sound of a gun clicking. In a flurry of seconds, she spun out of harm's way as bullets ripped through the air and hit the wall behind Nina. Alisa flies into action and drags Nina out of harms way.

The American woman is shocked at the robotic spectacle. It slows down her world.

The blonde turns and fires straight at the detective.

She knew that was going to happen. The dead detective lays on the ground.

A tragic end to Minnie's hero.

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