Five days left.
O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, USA.
"Black suits you," Elizaveta said nonchalantly as she tossed a black mountaineering jacket towards me. The thing itself was probably half my weight.
"Black suits everyone," I told her. At least we had similar tastes and she hadn't tried to stab me for...I checked my watch...the last five minutes.
"You're an idiot," she said.
"I'm sorry?"
"I said you're an idiot."
"I'm not the one who halves the average IQ of the room everytime I step in so..." I drawled.
"I may not be a science nerd like you, but I didn't go and indebt my life to an assassin who works for the biggest criminal organisation in the world," she said.
"I know you're a prone to illogical statements, but do you really think the rest of the world was trained by Vladimir Putin?" I asked.
"The rest of the world is pathetic," she said. "We don't follow those morals. We lead a different life."
"Then what did you do? Expect me to go super Saiyan and take down five mercenaries on my own?" I demanded.
"No, I suppose not. You're naïve though. Innocent. You should have made sure trusting Kai was the right choice. He's extremely manipulative and I should know that better than anyone."
I beg to disagree.
"His moral compass is a bit..."
"Differently wired?"
"Fucked up. Reminds me of Jack Sparrow's. Points to whatever he wants and its not always north."
Elizaveta laughed. What a strange sound! "Yeah. That's an accurate comparison."
She didn't seem to hate him as much as I assumed she did...
Hmm...
"Did he kill your mother?" I blurted.
Shit. Shit. Shit. Why did I say that?!
Elizaveta fell silent and I took a subtle step away from her.
"No. It was Dragomirov," she said quietly.
"So...black or brown?" I asked hastily, holding up two jackets, none of which were my size.
"He was abusive," she said. "My father."
Evidently, Elizaveta wasn't as easy to distract as I was.
"Eliza..."
"Anything for power, Kestrel. All of them are the same. Dragomirov, Nakamura, Nozava, Shah and even Kai," she said.
I didn't know how to reply to that. So I didn't.
"In this world, you'll always find some male bigot with world domination plans who thinks he's God or something," she said.
I laughed nervously. "Yeah, I'm noticing a trend there."
"Dragomirov was outright abusive. He used to lose his temper very fast. I was a different sort of girl growing up. I could recognize the difference between right and wrong. Even as a kid."
"Dragomirov didn't like that, because you're an heiress."
"Exactly. I refused to kill. I didn't know how. He killed my mother in a fit of temper. My mom was the only one who loved me, she was kind, despite everything she's been through. She loved me. He thought I would be the reason for the Dragomirov's decline because I was too soft."
"He was right probably not in the way he expected," I said with a bitterly.
Elizaveta matched my smile. "After she died, he tried to sell me to one of his associates. I ran. I had nothing left anymore. Rumors were Kaito did it, killed mom," she said.
Sell her?! He killed her mother and then sold her?!
"Maybe he spread the rumors to lure you out?" I said.
"He did actually. I seduced him into sleeping with me," she continued. "Seemed like a nice idea at the time."
I coughed.
"You're sure you want me to spare the details? It was pretty awesome-"
I coughed louder, she smirked.
"Anyways. I tried to kill him. It was pretty humiliating and needless to say, an epic fail," she laughed. "He was actually laughing when I tried to stab him."
"I can imagine him doing that," I said.
I remember him doing that. He was laughing before the knife to my throat.
"Yeah? He made me sit down and told me everything about Dragomirov. How he killed my mom in a fit of temper and blamed it on the Circle. Then he extended his help," she said.
"What did he help with?"
"He taught me how to fight and kill. He taught me how the Circle works and how to handle the affairs of my empire," she said. "I had nothing, before I met him.. now, maybe I can give Dragomirov what he deserves." She picked up a hideous purple jacket and made a face at it.
"I can't imagine him doing that out of the good of his apparent heart. What did he take in return?"
"My loyalty. He said he needed me to be on his side soon," she said.
To support his claim to the Nozava throne?
"And you know the rest," she said.
"Do you...?"
"Love him? Not in the way you think. I mean, we've thought about it... he's sexy, and it was tempting, but after a while it evolved more into a student teacher relationship."
"Sounds like a reverse of a student teacher romance," I scoffed.
"Don't worry, he's all yours."
"Don't want him."
"Trust me, you do. I have a good sense of emotions. You want him, not just for his looks but because he protects you, he makes you think you're safe. You're a little less tense around him."
"You're scary," I said, eying her carefully.
She shrugged.
"Out of sheer curiosity, what does he think of me?"
"I'm good at reading emotions. I'm not sure Kai has any."
"You still don't trust him?"
"No," she said. "It's a gut feeling more than anything else. It wasn't kindness on his part, Kestrel, he was making a weapon."
Elizaveta held another jacket towards me. I shook my head.
"So you didn't go to Koga-Ryu?"
"No, there are two schools actually, Koga-Ryu and Iga-Ryu. Iga-Ryu was for the spies and hackers, Koga-Ryu was for the fighters and leaders," she said. "And my bodyguards helped, when I was staying with Viktor."
"Bodyguards?"
"I was a Circle princess. And they were ex-KGB."
"Ah. Okay, so you're like an expert in espionage now," I smiled.
"I'm the boss of espionage now," she smiled. "I might not be like Kai, but I notice things he doesn't."
"That's what makes you such a good spy?"
She nodded. "That, and my boobs. Speaking of boobs, how does this look?" She asked and held a top to her chest. If you looked close enough, you could see the threads that actually covered skin.
"We're going to the Himalayas," I said.
"Right," she said and dumped the top away.
"We need heavier jackets to survive the cold. The annual temperature there is about four degree aggregate..."
"Kestrel, I'm Russian. The only thing you need to survive the cold is a bottle of vodka and some company," she said and flashed me a smile.
"You're not helping the Russian stereotypes either," I said.
"Did I tell you about the time I went bear hunting with Vladimir Putin in a tank with AK-47s while drinking vodka and borscht? We were figuring out a plan to destroy the capitalist suka!" She said in a Russian accent.
I burst out laughing.
"I'm the badass, Kestrel, suka blyat!"
"Oh please, Eliza sweetheart," I said in an Israeli accent.
"What?"
"I messed with the Zohan!"
She burst out laughing. "I love that movie!"
"I also eat hummus. It's actually pretty yum," I laughed.
"Oh god," she wheezed. "You're nuts!"
"Gotta love stereotypes!"
We laughed until our stomachs hurt.
"Whats taking you two so long?" Julian poo-pooed.
Let's offend him!
"Hey, Eliza?" I nudged her. "Do the dumb blonde thing," I said.
"Hey, Moreno?" She called in her best snotty voice. "How many zeroes are there in a Brazillion?"
Woah!
"What—?"
"Should I translate that into HTML?" I interrupted, sending Elizaveta laughing again.
"How are you so bad with numbers? Don't you count money for your drug cartel?" Elizaveta asked.
"No—"
"No, you count the alpacas on your ranch!"
"Didn't Kai eat them already?" I asked.
Oh crap, I'm probably going to die. I clutched my stomach. Julian looked less than amused.
"Where's....Sushi boy....any...way?" Elizaveta asked between laughs.
"He's asleep, I came to find you guys," he said.
"Asleep? That's racist, I think his eyes are beautiful," I laughed.
"You do, don't you?" Kai asked from behind me.
Well, shit.
"I thought you said he was asleep!" I accused Julian.
"Hard to tell with the eyes," he shrugged, a small smile playing on his lips.
"Ooooh burn!" Elizaveta gasped.
"Burn?" I asked enthusiastically.
"Shut up, WiFi password," Kai said.
"No, Kestrel. No burn," Julian said.
"Stay out of this Esteban Julian Ricardo Montoya de la Rosa Ramirez!" I giggled.
"What are you laughing at, Seran?" Kai asked with an amused smile. "Didn't you learn how to ride camels in Israel?"
I scowled at him. "We all didn't have Ninja class."
"The best argument against conscription is you," he added.
All three of them burst out laughing at the thought of that and I shuddered.
"You're proof that the military stereotype is just a stereotype," Julian laughed. "Kestrel in the army..."
After five more minutes of shameless stereotype jokes and uncivil language, somebody finally said 'Hezbollah', which apparently is not a name to be mentioned at an airport, and we ran for it after the saleswoman and passengers shot us weird and slightly panicked looks.
I'd never actually had a group of friends like that before, but here...I blended in perfectly, was that weird?
I was going to have to betray them.
Was is strange that I didn't want to? I never had friends before...this, laughing with them and cracking potentially inappropriate jokes, I liked it. It felt so good to let loose, even with the FBI hanging over my head like an anvil.
But I wasn't here to make friends, I was here to save Arianna.
"You're okay?" Julian asked. "One second you were laughing, now you're all serious and shit."
"Nothing," I smiled looking into Julian's pale green eyes. Kai was asleep next to me, his silken black hair soaking in the light. Elizaveta was picking off the stray sequins of her pink dress.
Arianna. I have to save my sister.
I shook my head again. "Nothing, I'm just sleepy," I lied.
"S'okay. Sleep in the flight," he smiled. Jake Evans phone felt heavier in my pocket. I didn't know what to do, but I knew that I would win.
My above average intelligence hadn't failed me till now, I was sure I could find a way out.
And then, I'll go back to kick Dean Cavilleri's ass.
Maybe I shouldn't have posted this, eh, whatever. Personally, I just wrote this for fun (I'm a little shit, I know). This was a filler, I wanted to show them bonding, the next chapter has an important plot point, like the previous ones, promise.
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