The Bodyguard

9

"Andrea. You're not safe here." Benjamin warns.

"This is my house, Benji. I've got nowhere else to go to, besides, this is the one chance I have to finally meet Volkov. If we plan our steps precisely and move accordingly, we could have that man in our custody in the next 72 hours." I was agitated, but not scared. I was so close to the very thing I'd been pursuing for the longest time.

"You're not even armed and now, you're just a civilian, Drea. You cannot go anywhere near that man unarmed, hell, you don't even know if he's luring you out to torture you and get information of you and probably kill you afterwards!"

"So, give me your gun. I'll go armed. I can do it, Benjamin,"  I run my hand through my hair, frustrated. "I could go to jail for a crime I didn't even commit. If we don't catch Volkov, I'll become a murderer."

Benjamin bends, scanning the bodies of the men. "No, you won't. They're probably sicario's and I'm ninety nine percent sure that they're here illegally and most likely affiliated with Volkov."

"It'll be like they never existed. There was never a missing person."

"Unless, their bodies are found here." Benji states. I look at him carefully, trying to understand what he was getting at. I freeze. "Did you hear that?" I ask. Benjamin runs to the window. The sound of the sirens become louder.

"This is a dead end, he tipped off the cops!" I scream, frustrated. I couldn't believe it. Volkov had set me up in the worst possible way.

"Andrea!" Benjamin yells, bringing me out of my thoughts. I am at the brink of tears. Now, more than ever, I despised Leonid Volkov.

"Knock me out. Forehead pressure."

"What?" I ask, confused. He goes into the kitchen, scattering the entire place. He takes out a knife. "Give me your hand!" I give him my hand and I scream as cute my palm.

"What the hell!" I yell, a number of emotions clouding my head.

"They'll be here in any minute, take the other window and get out! Knock me out!" He yells. He takes my hand and rubs the blood over his body. He gives me the knife. "Quickly cut my arm. Do it now, Andrea."

I want to cry. In less than a few hours, my entire life had changed. From being a Secret Service agent to a broke and helpless woman and now, a criminal on the run. I slit his arm and without looking at him, I knock him out. He falls on the ground, unconscious. I drop the knife and as fast as I can, I rush out of the window, taking the fire exit out of my condo.

I begin to run as fast as my legs can take me. I have no destination in mind but all I know to do is to run.

*****

It's around 4 am in the morning. I've just booked a motel to lodge in temporarily. Thankfully, I'd kept the money I'd received from Benji in my pocket. Financially, I could hold out for the next few days.

I go to the bathroom and wash the dry blood off my hand. I wash my face. I take off my shirt and head to the room. I lay on the bed, exhausted. The last few hours had been like a dream, although I knew better. It was not a dream. I was living a nightmare.

*****
Leonid's POV

"Is the job done?" I ask Sacha.

"Da, brat. It is. I wonder. . . What do you want to do with that cop? You might be playing with fire, trust me."

I drop my cigar on the plain white ashtray. "She's bold. Never, in years, has anyone been bold enough to walk into my building, looking for me, even after placing a bounty on my head."

"Hold on, she works for the CIA?" Sacha asks me, stunned. He continues, "This could as well be a set up! They could be playing into our trap on purpose!"

I walk to my piano and sit. "She works for the Secret Service but I have reason to believe that she's been relieved of her duties." I say, as I begin to play Stanchinsky's sonata.

"Leonid, she works for the Secret Service? Do you understand that you're putting the business at risk?"

I stop playing. "I appreciate your concern, Sacha, but you know I'd never put the business at risk, more so, for a woman who happens to be a law enforcement agent."

"I trust your decisions. Always have. What do you intend on doing with her? I thought you had a rule of not killing women?"

"I don't plan on killing her. If she's going to die, it won't be by my hands but by hers."

"Has she seen your face? What if they have a sketch of you? You'll be exposed."

I get up and go out to the balcony, my mind flashing back to the altercation, her eyes, filled with anger towards me. "Yes, she's seen me, but she has no idea who she's seen." I chuckle. "She thinks I'm gay." Sacha laughs. I look at him. He composes himself, trying not to laugh.

"So she's probably locked up or on the run, as you said she would." Sacha says.

"Call the chief. Find out if she was caught. If she wasn't, I'll have to find another way to get her."

"Get her for what exactly, Leo?"

"She put a bounty on my head, Sacha. That makes me very angry. I'll turn her into the very thing she hates. I'll make her become a criminal. A criminal just like myself."