The Sakharovsky Ruby

Xi-wang

"This place has a way of taking all hope out of you. It's what it does. You'll see." Her tone was of utter defeat.

"They haven't met me yet," Svetlana said with confidence. "There's always hope."

"They captured you, didn't they? Face it, you can't help us. Nobody can help us." she started to cry.

"What's your name?"

"Jing."

"Jing, that's a pretty name. They may have captured me but that's only because I wasn't prepared. It may not look like it, but I'm prepared now."

"What's your name?" Jing asked.

"You can call me Xi-wang."

"Ha ha," Jing chuckled. "Where did you learn to speak Mandarin so well?"

"On-the-job training," she replied. Svetlana thought about telling Jing her real name. It's not as if it could put her in any more danger than she was already in. However, Xi-wang meant hope in Mandarin. It seemed to be a much more appropriate name right now.

Svetlana didn't have very long nails,  rather she had very sharp nails. Her index finger's nail on each hand had been replaced with stainless steel tips that were as sharp as razor blades. She carefully manicured them weekly and had them painted with red nail polish so that nobody could tell her index fingernails apart from the others. It was her secret weapon for close-range fighting. She never dreamt she would one day use them to cut through duct tape while being held hostage.

Svetlana freed her arms but kept them behind her back against the pole. She had no idea if there was anybody else in the back of the truck. Even so, Svetlana knew that what was coming was her type of fight; horrible people and no rules.

The truck came to a stop. She heard the back door lift up. "Hopefully we'll see each other again Xi-wang," Jing told her as she was yanked off the truck.

"Count on it!" Svetlana replied.

An armed Chinese man wearing a 1950s Mao-era uniform looked at Svetlana. "Xi-wang...very funny, he said in Mandarin. I can't wait to have my turn with you. Russian women!"

The sound of his voice disgusted Svetlana. In the time it took him to threaten her, she'd already thought of six ways she could kill him instantly.

"There are two more men behind me aiming guns at your head. It would be a shame to kill such a pretty woman like yourself. Doesn't matter though, dead or alive you'll be just as tasty." The fake army man reached around Svetlana to cut her duct tape to take her off the truck.

"Don't die and have fun," Svetlana reminded herself.

* * * * *

"Stop right there!" Peter heard a man tell him from behind.

Peter didn't listen as he kickstarted the motor. A bullet blew out his back tire. Peter was upset that he hadn't grabbed his gun out of the bag first. Damn, I've been out of the field for too long. I'm forgetting all of my training, Peter thought to himself in disgust.

"I don't want to hurt you," the man told Peter. "Just give me the ruby and you can go on your way."

Peter got off the bike and turned around to face the man. He was a young Russian, in his early twenties, holding a gun about eight feet from him.

"I didn't kill him," Peter told the young man. Peter knew he could find a way out of this but he had no intention to kill anyone, let alone a fellow Russian whose life was just beginning. A jewel wasn't worth it. Screw his boss, he thought to himself.

"I know you didn't kill Sergei because I did! I also killed the guard and switched the glasses. Sergei always drinks from the glass on the right. You were never in any danger. I was also the one flying the helicopter, so you see, I saved your life twice, and for payment I expect you to hand over the stone."

"So Sergei did intend to kill me."

"Of course. I don't think he's ever done one honest deal in his life."

"How did you know?"

"I guess my intel was better than yours," he replied.

"Who is the ruby going to?"

"I may be young but I'm not stupid. But good on you for asking the question. However, I was told to not allow anything to happen to you if it was at all possible."

So someone else knew I coming here. That's disturbing. So much for secrecy. Again his boss did like to talk a lot, especially over a couple of bottles of vodka. So in reality he shouldn't even be so surprised.

"Okay, thanks for the chat but it's time for me to leave. Now toss me the ruby."

Peter reluctantly threw it to him.