The Long Nights of Winter - An Alternative Bucky Barnes Story

Chapter 5. Betrayal

A knocking on the room door roused Natalie to look out the security peephole on the door. It was the clerk. Swearing, Natalie cleaned up the room as best she could and pulled Bucky further into the bathroom. She turned the shower on, brought the first aid kit out, and closed the bathroom door. Then she answered the room door.

"Everything okay in here?" asked the clerk, suspiciously. "You seem a bit jittery."

"Yeah, we're good," said Natalie. "My boyfriend is in the shower. You can have the first aid kit back and I'll even give you $50 to restock it."

"I thought you were taking him to the hospital?" he said.

"I overreacted," replied Natalie. "He said he was fine. Just needed to clean it up a bit. He's in the shower but I can get him if you want."

"Would you?" he asked. "I want to hear it from the guy himself."

Natalie gulped and went towards the bathroom door. Just before she opened it Bucky opened it from the inside, wearing only a towel, keeping his injured arm out of view.

"Honey, do you have that nice shampoo with you?" he asked cheerfully, then saw the clerk. "Oh hey, sorry about the panic. She gets like that but I'm fine. Really, I'm fine."

"You look a little pale," said the clerk. "You sure you don't want an ambulance?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," said Bucky with a big smile. "Thanks man."

The clerk took the kit and the $50, then left, shaking his head. As soon as he shut the room door Bucky's knees buckled and he sank to the floor, a pale sheen of sweat on his face. Natalie rushed to his side.

"Sorry," he gasped, as he grasped her arms. "A guy attacked me outside on the street. They have a bounty out on us. $5000 for me, $10,000 for you. He's dead, hit his head on the pavement after I kicked him. I dragged his body behind the dumpsters. The knife he attacked me with is in the rolled up newspaper. We have to leave now and dump the car."

She helped him up, the towel falling on the floor, and half walked, half carried him to the bed sitting him on the edge. Opening his bag she took out clean underwear and jeans and helped him put them on then slipped a clean T-shirt over his head.

"Your jacket is covered in blood," she said, "as well as the rest of your clothes. We'll have to get to a laundromat to clean them."

He nodded. "There's money in an envelope," he said, his voice still weak. "Take $1000 and get a cab to the airport. Take a flight to where ever that will take you. I'll drive the car, dump it and try to lead them away from you."

"No, I'm not leaving you," she said tearfully. "You're not fit to drive."

"I can't protect you," he exclaimed, looking in her eyes earnestly. "I'm hurt and I'm a liability. You're better off without me."

"No, I'm not," she implored him. "We stick together, okay? Can't we just switch license plates with another car? That should buy us some time before we have to ditch the car.

He smiled at her and impulsively kissed her on the forehead. She surprised him by kissing him back on the lips. Pulling back he looked at her, unsure.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I shouldn't have done that. It was unprofessional. You're my client."

"Who just gave you twenty stitches in your arm," she said. "I think I'm more than a client now. Plus I just saw you naked."

He smirked and shook his head. "Fine," he said. "I'll go out and change the licence plates, while you pack everything up. There should be a plastic laundry bag in the closet. We can put my bloody clothes in there. The knife we take with us and throw it into a river in the next county or further."