Locked, Loaded, Loved ✔️ COMPLETE | UNDER EDITS

Chapter 13.2--Natasha

Emery and I got back to headquarters to finish our interrogations with Alexei and Kristina. We needed to get through to them that we were done playing games. I was especially worried about Kristina. Katya had said she'd stop at nothing to recruit me for whatever wicked game she was playing. That's what worried me. I may've been a former assassin, but those instincts were still deeply engraved into me. I shuddered at the thought of what might happen if I let my guard down even for a second. She knew my weaknesses.

"Nat, are you ok?" Emery asked, interrupting my thoughts.

"Yeah. Let's do this." I scanned into Interrogation room B where one of the guards had already brought Alexei in.

"Ah, Natalia. I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever come back to see me," Alexei said, his voice like ice.

"You never learn." I slowly walked around the table. "I. am. not. Natalia."

Alexei smirked. "Whatever you say."

"Before you abducted me, you said you were taking me to Kristina. Why her? The Alexei I knew in Russia worked alone."

"You are as foolish as you are blind, Natasha."

"That seems unlikely. Seeing how I've literally always been one step ahead of you." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Not always. How do you think I knew where to find Sergeant Barnes that day he was captured?"

I froze, trying not to let any emotions show through that would alert Alexei to anything out of the ordinary.

Alexei smiled smugly. "Ah. You didn't know. That was part of my plan with Kristina. She has wanted to recruit you since you and Sergeant Barnes tried to run away together from our base."

"We didn't try to run away together. We had...a momentary lapse in judgement."

"You call fooling around with Sergeant Barnes behind my back with plans to infiltrate my operation and attempt to defeat me and my associates a 'momentary lapse in judgement'? Really, Natasha. I thought you were better than that."

I flared my nostrils. He was just trying to get under my skin. It was a tactic. It always had been. But now it was time for me to get us back on track, even if it meant taking drastic measures.

I unsheathed a syringe I'd hidden in my pocket and jammed it into the side of Alexei's neck.

"Ah! What was that for?"

"You are on my turf now, Alexei. And you're going to do as I say if you want to live," I told him.

Alexei coughed. "What is in this?"

I studied the empty syringe. "Veritaserum."

"You gave me truth serum? Really, darling, you're gonna have to do better than that."

I smirked. "I know. But in high doses it is lethal."

Alexei coughed again and began to sweat visibly. "You're gonna kill me?"

"No. You're going to tell me what I need to know...or the poison will slowly kill you until you are completely paralyzed, and all you can hear is your heart beating so loud you drive yourself insane."

Alexei grimaced. "What do you want to know?"

"Tell me about the weapon you fired on me at McKinsley's."

"It contains trace amounts of aconitum flower—better known as wolfsbane—"

"I know what aconitum flower is. What does the weapon do besides contain poison meant to kill?"