A Debt Owed

Chapter 2

His back was to the road as he locked the vehicle. Big mistake to be that exposed considering his high risk occupation. A major slip up. This was my chance. No sooner had I thought that I was already out of my car and half way across the street. He looked up and started to turn towards me as my foot collided with the front tire. I wasn’t sure if he heard me approach since I was a hell of a lot shorter than his natural line of sight or if he was glancing in the general direction of the restaurant but I couldn’t afford to hesitate. Not this close to him. He would have taken me out for sure. I couldn’t allow him time to think of a counteraction.

“Where the Hell is my money!” I heard the distinct sound of metal making contact with flesh and his body slam into the side of the car. I had to get him first before he got me. Basic rule of survival in this game.

He loudly swore in a language that wasn’t my own then turned to me. I clearly saw the damage as blood began trickling down one side of his face. I didn’t see confusion there only rage. I held my gun steady and kept a safe distance, his reach was long, ignoring the pain rushing along my arm; I had swung at him with everything I had to even make a dent.

“Madison.” He said my name with a deep husky Russian ascent and straightened to his full height idly wiping some of his blood away with his coat sleeve. “You’re the last person I expected to see here.”

I wouldn’t flinch. I couldn’t allow any sign of weakness not when he was already thinking of ways to over power me and regain control. Either my eyes left his for a second or he was just faster than the wind, but I suddenly found myself flat on my back starring into burning green eyes. He had wrenched the gun from my hand, lifted me up and slammed me onto the hood of the car. His hand tightly clamped against my throat squeezing my next breath from me while the rest of his body held me motionless there. Major stuff up on my part. Now all of me hurt.

“It wouldn’t be too difficult for me to kill you right now Madison. Not difficult at all.” He growled the words out. His hand was rough as he searched the rest of my body and found the other hidden weapons; the back up gun strapped to my ankle and the knife sheathed to my wrist. He tossed them into the pocket of his black overcoat.

No point in being discreet now. We were definitely attracting attention. I could feel more than hear his harsh breathing against my skin along with the sounds of feet shuffling and people gasping in horror around us. It was a certainty someone had already phoned for the police, they would be here soon. My time to finish this was running out fast. He could snap my neck within a blink of an eye.

“Why don’t you just go ahead and do it Kirill. Save the police the trouble when they get here.” I hissed back. The sound of distant sirens flooded through the stand off.

Kirill’s unexpected reaction to my words threw me off guard. His weight shifted of off me and his grip loosened even though his hand stayed at my neck. He stared at me for perhaps longer than he intended to. Then realising his hesitation he removed his hand, running his fingers down the cord of my neck before letting them rest for a moment at the base pulse point. Feeling my every frantic beat.

“Get in the car.” He held the gun I originally had, against me in one hand and grabbed the front of my jacket with the other, pulling me off the car and shoving me towards the driver’s side. “If you want your money you will get in this car and drive. I’ll tell you where.”

He had the gun trained on me with every movement as he strode around to get in the passenger side. Once in the car he retrieved the keys, I felt the gun barrel dig into my side and the warmth of him as he leaned closer to slam them into the ignition starting the motor before he wrenched the automatic gear into drive. “Now go.”

I silently complied. Only once did my eyes settle on him finding he had turned in the seat to better face me, all the while the gun was still squarely aimed at me and well shielded by his coat. “Do not doubt for one minute Madison that I won’t kill you.”

Great this wasn’t how I planned things to go.

Every now and then he would glance back to make sure the police weren’t following us. I kept checking in the rear-view mirror myself. They weren’t but we couldn’t take any chances.

“Maybe no one noticed the number plate.” I didn’t bother to verify it but I knew his eyes had fallen back on to me.

“Someone always notices.” He straightened in the seat. “Take a left at the next corner. We have to ditch the car.”

Gone were the attractive streets and modern architectural marvels, in there place were broken down factories, derelict warehouses and more dirt. Strip clubs, blinding neon signs, backstreet gambling dens dotted the landscape, the industrial red light district. We had crossed over to the less affluent side of town. The alley way was dark and deserted. A luxury car like the Mercedes coupè wouldn’t last five minutes in this environment, its parts alone worth more on the black market than the whole car. No doubt he was counting on it being well and truly stripped by the criminal element leaving nothing left to be traced if the police actually got lucky and found it.

With gun still in hand Kirill jumped out indicating that I was climb over to the passenger side and leave to the same way. He then grabbed my hand, tight enough that it was going numb. “Don’t forget it’ll only take a second for me shoot you.”

His rhetoric and threats were beginning to get on my nerves, plus I was more fed up with myself for letting this thing go haywire. “So you keep mentioning.”

We almost made it to the other side of the street when he stopped and swung me around forcing me to look up at him, clasping my jaw between his thumb and forefinger. “Don’t push me Madison. It would be just as easy for me to kill you than it is to pay you. Which is it going to be?”

Those green eyes burned with a cold darkness as his hands squeezed around my neck once again. I fought to breathe. Everything was going dark. He eased the pressure to let me answer.

“The money.” He just has to stop touching me.

The sound of screeching tires diverted his attention form me and towards to the farthest end of the alley, which was still bathed in shadows. Two cars lingered there engines still running lights off. He forced us up against the stone wall. Five men got out of the cars, he quietly backed us away. “Are they here for me or you?”

I strained to see who they were, no luck in this darkness. “Not sure. Either way we lose. If they’re here for you give me a weapon and I can help you.”

He glanced down at me debating the validity of my statement.

I continued. “If they’re here for me well … you chose.”

There was no time for an answer as the unmistakeable sound of the safeties being clicked off of semi-automatic guns along with hastened footsteps was heard. Whoever they were they meant business and bought severe fire power to make sure the job got done.

“No need to worry, I’ve got something better.” He nudged me hard in the back to get me moving, still keeping us in the shadows of the wall.

The men behind us reached the abandoned Mercedes as we were steps from the brightly lit street. Two pursuers moved to have a closer look at the vehicle. Once again Kirill shoved me into the wall only this time I was sandwiched between his shoulder and the bricks. I was about to swear at him when I heard the explosion and before I could ask what the hell was going on we were running again. I managed to get one look back as the Mercedes was a ball of fire and the men scattered, a couple staggering all over the road. Guess they got too close.

We rounded the corner and the barrage of blinding lights slapped me across the face disorientating me, I stumbled, his death grip on my hand stopped me from falling. We must have ran four city blocks and by the last ten metres my legs threatened to collapse from under me. My legs ached and my heart threatened to burst out of my chest. Disorientated from the car blast two stragglers remained and retreated to the safety of their cars as sirens approached only to be cornered and apprehended by the police. Any explosion in the city now was treated like a bomb threat. Sign of the times. All the same still an effective diversion.

Kirill still held my hand in a firm grip pulling me up the flight of stairs as he so easily took them two at a time, to the train platform above. I had to double my steps to his one to stop myself tripping. The train came to a screeching stop and the doors few open to the steady stream of late night commuters entering and existing. Quickly glancing over his shoulder and clearly over my head he saw the pursuers pause at the top of the stairs searching for us in the melee of bodies. They were definitely too close for comfort. Our pace quickened as he navigated through the crowd leaving me to stumble behind him crashing into every third body or so. After a while I gave up on apologising as the next collisions occurred before I could get the words out.

I tried to steady my footing to avoid crashing into the approaching woman with child in tow. Mother and daughter also in a hurry probably returning to the warmth and security of their home. HOME. That seemed a very tempting offer. I wished I was home right now instead of being dragged around the cold streets of this damn city by a man I only knew to be a proficient assassin and former Russian secret police. To lessen the chance of me aimlessly slapping into anyone I pressed myself further into his back, on any other day and with any other man that would have been quite enjoyable. The young mother I was attempting to avoid just scraped past me with a breath to spare. The little girl, who couldn’t be any more than eight, strands of dark hair peeking out from under her beanie cap and large blue eyes gazing around tightly clutched the teddy bear she too had in tow. As her mother did her. I smiled and she did the same back both of us seeing our similarity. Both being steered through this mayhem by much bigger, stronger people. Luckily we were going to pass each other unscathed.

Too late. Kirill suddenly stepped across me and it was inevitable, I ploughed straight into the poor child. I instantly stopped and apologised, turning to retrieve the toy she had dropped as my other hand tugged at the tall Russian to stop moving. As if in slow motion I handed her the bear and my eyes widened as I caught sight of our pursuers closing in fast. They had found us and instantaneously raised their guns aiming into the mass of people. I guess it didn’t matter who they hit just as long as we were one of them. The first shot rang out followed by the panicked screams and people scattered like the parting of the red sea leaving us in the direct line of fire. I was yelling at the little girl and her mother to stay down when I felt a large hand grab me around my waist, lifting me us to shove me into the train away from the chaos on the platform. The doors hissed closed as the train lurched forward rapidly accelerating leaving our assailants scrambling to get on board.

We remained standing in the aisle; every now and then he would search the train confirming that no surprises followed us. We never spoke.