WANTED

дачу (Dacha)

Chapter 15

Ugh. Why does it feel like an elephant is sitting on my chest. I tried to move to get the pressure off.

"Stop moving." The commanding voice sounded worried and I  instantly stopped moving." Phoenix, can you hear me? Shit, doc give her something, she's in pain."

"Vik?" My eyes flutter open latching onto a welcome image. My voice sounded horrible and I felt like shit. Viktor was sitting on the edge of the bed his face etched with worry. I caught movement on my other side and turn and watched an unfamiliar man with a syringe put something in the IV that was hooked up to my right arm. The rush and slight burning of medication enter my vein and my hand tightened around Viktor.

"Hey sis, you scared me to death." Vik swallowed me up in a hug gently and kissed me on my forehead. He distracted me from the person I assumed he called doc. He knew I had a fear of needles.  It wasn't so much the act of getting punctured, but the irrational fear of what medication was being pumped into me. The condition of my health prevented me to put up a fight against the injection. Viktor's slightly red eyes suggested that I was not doing so good. This time I will let it slide.

"You've been crying?" I wanted to hear him confirm my suspicion.

"You almost died." He brought my hands up to the side of his face and close his eyes. "Don't ever do that again. I don't know what I would do, if you were taken from me."

I hated seeing him this vulnerable.  Viktor was a hard man and it was rare to see him scared or much less crying over anything. "I'm sorry, I messed up."

"Nene you are not indestructible. You can't beat every opponent. I have drone that in your head." Oh, hear we go. Knew the lecture was going to start.

"I could've taken him, if it weren't for Petrov."

"Ivan told me that he was the size of the hulk. You were trained better than that. You shouldn't have taken him on in a hand to hand combat." His face hardened and I could tell he was getting angry. Now this I can cope with.

"Wow, Vik I never thought I would hear that male chauvinistic crap from you too." I pulled my hand away from him. The medicine had started to kick in and the pain was alleviated from my chest. I pulled myself up on my elbows trying to sit up. Vik helped me and propped me up with pillows behind me.

"This is not about you being a woman. It is about knowing when you are outmatched and using other tactics to take down your opponent. Are you comfortable?" I nodded my head yes.

"You sound like dad." I grumbled. I scanned around the small room. It was a small office with a desk and file cabinet on the other side of the room. I was in a twin sized bed near the door with a chair at the foot of the bed leaning against the wall.

"He's right. This is one of the reason he is worried about you. If Ivan hadn't gotten to you when he did. We wouldn't be having this conversation. I would be arranging your funeral." My eyes snapped back at Viktor and I felt bad. He must have went through hell when Ivan brought ne in. I would have felt the same, if the roles were reversed. I needed to change the subject.

"I know you are right. How is Barsotti?"

"Surprisingly doing better than you. He has some infection, and doc removed a bullet and stitched him back together again. He'll be back on his feet in a day or two. You however will not be able to move for a few days."

"What? No! We have to leave, Petrov.." I threw the blanket off me and attempted to get out of bed. Viktor growled at me and tuck the blanket around ne. He glared at me, daring me to move.

"You have a hole in your chest with a tube sticking out so that you can breathe! You are not going anywhere!" For the first time I glanced down at my bandaged chest. Huh, sure enough there was a small tube sticking out. Damn.