VAL-(A Valerina Barkov Thriller)

Davies for D.A

We had always known The Civic Centre for two things: pretty tall buildings and a crowd so it was not much surprise that Ms. Davies had chosen this part of town to flag off her campaign to run for District Attorney and of course, what's a campaign without its sponsor, Mr. Dmitri Udinov. People claim it's only a hear-say but a keen look at their body language definitely proved that these two people had an affair going; I suppose that also added to their long list of secrets that had to remain out of public view-or maybe not for long.

My sniper rifle was in place already as the gentle breeze blasted my face. 8 stories below, there was a valley full of people, most of them lifting banners and flags of which most read: 'Davies for D.A', if only they saw the other side to things. News persons filled the area with all the press vans dispersed about and the cops too loitered around. I reached into my pocket and pulled out Jian Li's phone, at first it looked absurd considering all the Chinese that was being displayed and I was quite unsure why he'd set his phone's language to Chinese. Alexia Davies' name was only a few clicks away because just as I had anticipated, it hovered somewhere on the Frequently Called list.

"Hello Mr. Li" her voice made memories of that fateful day at the interrogation room flood into my head, it hadn't changed one bit and I guess it was same with her attitude.

"Mr. Li should probably be at a morgue by now" I said into the earphone as I walked towards the edge of the roof where the sniper rifle was positioned.

"Excuse me!! Who's this?" She replied, I noticed her tone had changed from calm to shocked.

"Oh, and I must say, you look better than the last time we met" I peered through the sniper's camera, getting a view of her startled look as she turned around in search of whoever was at the other end of the phone call. "Now don't panic, or at least don't make it obvious just like I did 11 years ago."

"Who are you?" She replied, signaling at a security to come over. Dmitri gave a quick concerned look at her before turning his look back to the crowd.

"Another victim of yours" I answered, moving the rifle's target to her forehead, "another victim from years ago." She was silent for a while as she gave signs to the security to cross check the area again and "get the car ready" I heard her whisper to him over the loud chants of the people and the noise from the speaker.

"Did you ever ask why you were being paid to jail me?" I asked as I watched the security leave her, taking along two other guys and saying something into his earphone. "It was really smart how you guys pulled that one, using my supposed lawyer to be my very own prosecutor. I should have known, even my granny would've defended better than you did at trials."

"What are you talking about?" She retorted, loosing off a button from her neck.

"And then out of the blues, you get pulled out of the case after I'm convicted." Flashes of the trial came back to me: The jury, the 'evidences', the pictures of Morgan's cold body, Ms. Davies weak defense, my pleading of innocence, it all poured in like a raging sea. I moved the target to her chest "Valerina Barkov. I'm sure you remember your clients." There was a moment of silence but the look on her face showed that she probably had a clue of who it was.

"Now let's welcome... our very own person, a servant of the people, an epitome of Justice, Alexia Davies!!"

A loud cheer from the crowd followed the announcement, she seemed limp for a second there with the phone still clenched to her ear. I could see the terror in her eyes as she hesitated standing up, Dmitri Udinov jostled her with his elbow gesturing for her to move forward but I could only see her lips move in response. My hands slid into position as my finger felt the trigger; I wanted the press to get a full view of this. The security guy returned whispering something into her ear which made her stand up almost immediately and follow him, the security guard acting as cover for her. I fired into the guard's thigh which made him fall to the ground creating a clear view at Ms. Davies whose blood spattered as another bullet was buried into her forehead. There was chaos as the crowd jumbled, the cops forcing their way towards the scene and the paramedics which had been on standby swung into action. I moved my sniper to face Dmitri Udinov who jerked in shock as his 'lover's' body dropped to the floor. He rushed towards her and grabbed her phone which she now held loosely before being dragged out of the scene by his guards.

I grabbed the rifle and flung it back into the case, using the staircase didn't seem appropriate now- at least not at this point when I could see my next target getting out of sight- so I raced towards the side of the roof, getting over the sill and heading on to the fire escape. The weird gazes and terrified looks from the tenants as I hurried down the fire escape were absolutely inevitable. I got off into the alley and raced towards the main road only to see a wild crowd of people behind yellow tapes but no sign of Dmitri or his car. Dammit, I could hear myself whisper as I rushed over to the other end of the alley where the car was parked. The car tweaked, its door opening slightly and me rushing in, flinging the briefcase to the seat behind. No sooner had I ignited the car than Li's phone rang. I paused for a moment at the sight of Ms. Davies name.

"You're going to pay for this" a grumpy voice started from the other end of the call, "I promise you one thing, I'll find you and make you suffer."

"You already tried once, didn't work" I replied, reaching for the file to see if there were any useful information as to where he was heading since I knew it couldn't possibly be his house.

"Then you must be pretty lucky" he replied, I could feel the rage in his voice. I still couldn't find anything useful and I couldn't possibly ask about his whereabouts.

"No, you were just too weak, and you still are." The phone beeped as he ended the call and needless to say, I had just made my way to #1 on his Most Hated list. The engines revved and 'that' voice came up again except of course this time, it just might prove its worth now.