Sins of our Father

I saw him yesterday in my sleep. We were walking on the streets of Moscow. I really wanted to show him ever part of my city, my home, the school where I have graduated from, cafes where I was going for drinking nearly every weekend while hanging with my friends and of course Red Square, the place where all people around the world are coming to Moscow for visiting. While I was thinking about these places, he was asking me lots of questions like how far was the place where we were going, at which o'clock was the palace closed for entering, where should we eat our dinner that day... Most of them were silly questions, but I liked his questions and the way he was. His curios and talkative character that always asked questions.

As we continued our walking, suddenly we saw someone just in front of us. He was holding a pistol in his right hand. I couldn't believe that he met us in this god damn big city. The person in front of me was my ex-boyfriend. I thought I wouldn't see his terrible face again in my life, but the life is like Kinder Surprise. You cannot know what surprises you will face. He started to talk in nonsense. 'How could you hang with this god damn boy? Do you believe that he gives more care about you than I do? He will leave you and you will never know when he left you.'

My ex-boyfriend was totally wrong. First of all, he left me by leaving a simple message from his telephone. I tried to call him but he had to change his number because it was not available any more. I gave some time to think about what could have I done wrong to him. He has never turned back to me or explained his reason about the problem between us. I couldn't believe that he just leave me after spending three years together. But now, he was saying that like everything was my fault about our relationship. He pointed his pistol at me, thinking that he would never shot me. He didn't have that courage and I knew that he just still loves me, but it didn't happen as I thought. My ex-boyfriend shot him, from his heart. There was a loud cry. It was the last thing that I heard, because my dream had ended.

After I wake up, I think about this dream for a long time. How many years have passed since we didn't see each other? I don't want to count the days. I know that he still wants to see me, but why didn't he answer my messages for months? Every day I look to my mails to see if he texted to me back or not, but still there is no answer. Am I getting stupid to think that we will see each other again? No, I have faith on him. He has got some serious problems; otherwise he would have definitely texted me back.

I look at the clock and see that I am getting late for my job. I get dressed and go to the kitchen. There is still some time to drink tea at least. I pour hot water in a cup and then put tea in it. I really like its smell. It makes me feel better, but I don't know the reason behind it. While I am drinking my tea, I eat some fruits for breakfast. I have to leave my home now. I don't want my boss to get mad at me. I like my job, working in a company as sales manager's assistant. It is a big company that sells different type of medicines for every big hospital around Russia. Many of our customers are happy to cooperate with us. That's why, I am earning good amount of money and I hope I will earn more.

I use metro in order to go work as I always do. When I get there, I enter into the building and use the elevator to go up to the sixth floor. When the elevator reaches the sixth floor, I walk into my office and see my manager, sitting on my table. I really wonder why he is in my office. 'Good morning boss, I didn't expect to see you in here. Is there any problem?'

'Of course there isn't any problem. I am just passing from here and I want to look at your office. I like the pictures you have on your table.'

He is holding a very old photo of mine. Actually the photo was sent me after I turned back to Moscow from Germany. We were holding each other's hand and getting enjoyed on our last day that we have been together.

'You are looking very happy in here with your boyfriend I see. Who is he?'

I took the photo from his hand and leave it on my table again. 'It doesn't matter. Just an old friend.' I looked into my boss face. He has combed his blond hair before he left his house I suppose. He has got blue eyes, small nose and a deep scar on his forehead. I always wonder about how that scar had happened. Did he fall and crush his head strictly or did he get into a fight? Actually if you don't think about that scar, he looks more handsome than so many other Russian guys.

He looks like he doesn't care about what I have said to him. Actually, I lie to him. Of course that photo is a precious one which I really care about.

Once he said me that that photo was the best photo he has ever taken and still, I believe his words. That's why, I cannot forget that picture all my life. It reminds me of him every time when I see it on my desk.

'Why are you really here Andrew? You haven't come to visit my office before. I know this isn't your style. You always like to call people whom you want to have a talk with.'

He starts to smile. 'You are right about that. Okay, I have to talk to you, so I paid a visit to your office. Next week we will have a big business trade with some people from Turkey. They need some medicines and we are giving the medicines that they want in good price. I want you to make double check everything about the arrangement. I will text you the details from PC. Let me know if you see any mistake on prices that I could miss. This business is very important for us, you get me?'

'Of course, I will check everything and if I see a problem in numbers, I will let you know.'

He thanks me and leaves the office. So, we are going to make big trades with Turkey. That will be the first time as I know. I wonder if he still lives in Turkey or not. Maybe he has gone to a different place and started a new life in there. Why does it take so long for him to make a plan for us? Did he really abandon me?

After about half an hour, I look at my mails and see that my boss has already sent the documents. I open the mail and start to read it. It is a long list which includes many medicine names that I haven't heard it before. Everything in the arrangement looks normal. There aren't any problems in numbers, but wait a minute. When I come to the last page of the document, the numbers which show the total price of the products are extremely big. There must be a mistake. I don't believe that any corporation can effort that price in Turkey, maybe even in Europe.

I spend my all day looking into pages and try to see where a mistake is. It is a fraudulent trading. I wonder the medicines which I haven't heard before and decide to search about their usage. When I write their names on Google, it doesn't give any results. I am sure that I write their names correctly but it looks like they don't exist in Internet, so our company has changed the names of the products. I print some of the pages and go to my boss' office. There must be wrong somewhere and I have to show it.

Andrew's office is on tenth floor, the floor that is completely different from the others. When I step into the corridor, I can easily see the different color on the walls. Other than that, the entire floor is covered with a red carpet. It is so smooth that I feel myself walking on my bed. It looks like an expensive hotel's floor. There are some flowers inside vases and all of them are red roses. I think Andrew has an interest on red roses. Actually, they look beautiful and they make the floor more colorful.

After passing some of the other rooms, I reach to the office. I knock the door and Andrew says me to come in. I show the problem on the pages to my boss. 'As I made double checked everything, the total price of this trade can't be acceptable. Did Turkish people really read all the details of the trade and accept to cooperate?'

Andrew looks at the numbers and tosses the papers into the bin. 'Everything is okay. These medicines are extremely expensive and there are very few places around the world that you can find them. Thank you for spending all your time on it. I believe this trade will be very advantageous for both of two countries.'

'But there is one more thing that I have to say. When I was looking the names of the medicine, there were many strange names and I tried to search about them, but there weren't any explanation on Internet. What are we selling exactly?'

'You shouldn't be thinking very deeply about it. Believe me; I know what I am doing. I am doing this job for many years and I had so many problems in trading. Every time, I learnt my lessons and right now we are one of the biggest company in Russia. You are lucky to be a member of us. There isn't any better place that you can earn more money for now.'

Maybe he is right about what he is saying, but this money still isn't enough for me to go for a long holiday to Turkey or Germany. I wish, I could be a very rich person that I could have seen him by visiting Turkey long time ago. Is his condition better than me? Then, why doesn't he buy a flight ticket to Moscow and stay with me for a few weeks? He can stay with me now; he doesn't even need too much money with him. I know he can arrange something about money, but that isn't the problem for him. I know that there is another problem.

'As you said, maybe I am guessing wrong, but still you wanted me to check everything carefully, so did I. Anyway, I should turn back to my office.'

Before I leave his office, he says: 'Thank you Katja, see you soon.'

He said my name after a long time. I started to think that he forgot my name. I always see him while he is talking to people inside the building without mentioning their names. What a strange day it is. He has to keep something from me that he doesn't want to talk about. There is something behind this trade and I get to know about it.

At 5 o'clock I leave my office and call one of my friends. She is a friend from my childhood. She is married with someone that she always wanted to be since she was 17 years old. She picks up the phone after a few seconds.

'Hello Katja, how are you? Are we meeting tonight as we have planned? Where are you?'

'I am fine Vika. I just left my office and start to walk toward metro. I will be in there about 7 o'clock.'

'Well then, see you at 7 o'clock.'

We made a plan for the dinner from last weekend. I haven't seen her for a long time and I don't have work for tomorrow. So, I thought that it was a good day to spend some time outside with someone. I start to get bored by watching TV series every night. I realize that I should spend more time with my friends, because I don't want to feel myself lonely. At this moment, I remember a message that he sent me long time ago. 'Sometimes I feel myself very lonely, because it is like nobody wants to spend time with me.' Is he still thinking the same way? Maybe he has a very good social life with his friends, but what about our relationship?

I get really hungry while I'm waiting for Vika in the restaurant. I cannot wait longer and order a salad as a starting. It is 7.15 and she doesn't come to the dinner. I look at other people, sitting around my table and try to see if there is a familiar face that I know. Then I remember my yesterday's dream. What if I see my ex-boyfriend right now while he is entering the restaurant? Can he remember me? I know this is nearly impossible, because I am living in a very big city and it is very hard to see someone that I know as a coincidence.

The waiter brings my salad and a second later Vika enters into the restaurant. She was late. Why is she always late for the appointments? This isn't the first time that is happening. Last Christmas, she and her husband invited me to their house to celebrate Christmas. I didn't have any plans to do, so I said okay. When I arrived at their home, my dear friend Vika was still in her bedroom. In other words, she wasn't ready for going downstairs. Her husband, Vanja, opened the door for me and we have talked maybe half an hour until Vika joined us. I really don't like her habits about being late or making someone to get waited for a long time. Actually, I get used to it, because I have been waiting him for many years to show up someday and still I am waiting for his message.

'Sorry for being late. I had some works to do at home. So what are we drinking firstly? I really like this place's white wine. What do you think?'

She always has the same excuse. Some works to do... She gets to be more creative really. Maybe one day I can find some better excuses for her. She can thank to me for that.

'Why not, let's drink some wine as you said.'

We order our meal. She wants to eat fish and I choose to eat chicken with cream sauce, mushrooms and of course potatoes. Until our meal gets ready, we finish the salad that I have ordered and talk about summer plans.

'I really want to go Paris this summer with my husband. Hopefully, he can make some arrangements for that. What about you Katja? Do you have any summer plans for a vacation?'

Of course I don't have any summer plans because I need to work and earn more money. I remember the time when I went to Munich and other places with my family. We went to somewhere absolutely in every summer, but in every place I thought about him. Why didn't we make a summer plan for us all these time? I know that we could make an arrangement, at least for a week, but what has happened between us? All the time he said me that I should visit Turkey, but my mum didn't let me do that. By that time I was young. I just couldn't say fuck off and do whatever I wanted to do, make something crazy in my life. But now, I am a grown up woman and I can do anything that I want to, but then why didn't I go to meet him? I feel like someone still prevents me to go some other countries by alone.

'Well, sadly I don't have a plan like yours. I think I need to work in here. Anyway, I don't have someone who can arrange holidays for me. You are lucky about that.'

'Don't say like that. You are a beautiful woman. I bet lots of people want to get married with you. You don't think that you will continue to live all alone in this life, do you? That's a very stupid thought. I hope you will have a good summer this year too.'

'Yeah me too, it is good to see you again. We couldn't talk to each other for a long time.'

'By the way, how is your work going? Are you still happy to work with that company? I heard in the news that they were going to be the biggest company in medical. You guys are making very big trades around the world with your medicines.'

I fear that they are selling more than medicines. I don't know who the real boss of the company is. Can he be a leader of gangsters? Maybe we are all guilty for working in this company, but how can I stop this?

'The work goes normal. I just have some doubts about the boss' reactions in these days. He doesn't look normal. He is keeping a secret from me. I will talk to him about it more within next week.'

After we finish our meal, Vika pays the dinner and we leave the restaurant. I thank her for the dinner and hope for her to have a good holiday in Paris. Maybe I can make an arrangement to go Istanbul this summer. Before that, I really need to communicate with him. I should text him tonight when I go home again and make him to contact with me as soon as possible. I hope everything will be fine just like in the photo which is standing on my office's table.

I come home at 9.30, but still I can see the sun while it is setting in east. It has a beautiful color, a dark tone of red and orange. That's what I really like. In Russia, the days are very long in summer. You can walk on the streets until 10 o'clock and still the sky doesn't completely get dark. Sometimes I just find myself walking in parks until it gets pretty late, especially in spring and summer. I like to be a part of the nature, getting away from all crowd places, being away from cars noises, listening birds' sounds. I can just spend my whole Sundays with being in parks. I have always passed my weekends in parks, while I was meeting with my friends, drinking and having fun. Those were good days of my life, but where have they gone? Can we meet each other again just like we did at high school? There are only two close friends that I have from those days and one of them is Vika.

Before I go to bed, I change my clothes and feed my golden fish. I always have golden fish in my life. I had two more before, when I was living at my old house with my family. So many people think that fish are stupid creatures and it is better to have dog or cat as a pet, but hell no. They cannot understand me nor will they. Golden fish are different than all other fish. They are pretty smart actually. I know that they watch you and see everything that you do with their small eyes from inside their aquarium. I have a connection between these animals somehow all this time.

My mum had a cat once (actually our cat) and at that time we were living together. I don't really like cats, but I looked after my cat for a long time. Anyway, my first choice was always my golden fish. I took more care about my fish than our cat. I remember that he had a cat also. He said to me that he didn't like cats but still he was feeding one. He was always a dog lover. I wonder if his cat is still alive or not. Also he wanted to have a dog in the future. Does he have a dog now? I need to talk to him definitely. There are so many questions that need to be answered.

I try to sleep, but I forget something that I had to do before. How could I forget to text him? Sometimes I can be very forgetful. I can easily forget my telephone, my coat and even my house keys.

One day I forgot to take my keys with me before leaving the house. When I realized that I didn't have my keys, I had to go to Vika's house in order to take the replacement keys of my house. Luckily, they were at home. I drank a coffee in their house and then went back to my house and got inside.

He knew me that I was a forgetful person. He realized that while we were playing memory game back in Germany. He has said that I had some memory problems and reminded me that again while we were talking months later. He had a great memory that he could remember all the important stuffs easily.

I get up from my bed and open my PC. I check my emails; unfortunately there isn't any answer from him. I start to write a new message.

'Once you got very sad that I didn't text back to you for all summer until I turned back to you for celebrating your birthday. Right now, you are making the same thing to me and it is hurting me more than you can imagine, because it gets too long than that. I really need to talk to you if you still think about me. Please answer my message. I started to get really worry about you as if something had happened to you. I miss you. Katja...'

I wait in front of my PC for a time, hoping that maybe he is looking at my mail now and writing back to me. I look at the clock. It is passing midnight, but I know that it isn't late for him. He has to be still awake. We had conversations until 2 o'clock.

After waiting a little more, I give up and go to my bed again. This time, I go to sleep easily and I don't remember anything about my dream the next morning

Today is Sunday and there is a beautiful weather at outside. The sun is shining and lighting inside of my room. It is a perfect day to go for a walk in the park. I have a shower and dress my sport clothes for walking. Before I go to outside, I make a strong breakfast. There are eggs, butter, jam, honey and bread. I finish my breakfast quickly, so that I can go to the park as soon as I can. Just before I leave my home, a thought comes into my mind. Maybe he has texted me at night. I look at my mails again and see that Andrew has written something about our conversation from yesterday.

'As I thanked you before because of checking everything about the trade yesterday, I want you to have a holiday. I think you need to spend more time for yourself or that boy in the photo that I have seen on your table. Let's say you have four days to get relaxed and do your holiday. I want to see you on Thursday again in your office. Take care for yourself. Your boss, Andrew...'

I really don't understand why he acted so gentle to me. The way he acted makes me wonder more about the situation. I just did my job yesterday and he was rewarding me because of my job. There has to be something that he didn't explain it at all. Maybe he doesn't want me to go over about this trade that will be happened a few days later as he said. The company doesn't want me to stand in their way. I have never heard that Andrew was giving a reward to any workers in the company as a holiday before. It can't be that simple. I have to go to work tomorrow and see what's really going on.

I give a break after walking for two hours in the park. My legs get hurting. I have a seat on a bench and take my telephone into my hand to see if someone text or call me. There is only one missing call from Vika. She called me like thirty minutes ago. By then, I was listening music from my I-Pod and getting enjoyed of the sunny weather. I decided to turn back to her.

'I just see that you have called me. What's the problem?'

'Oh Katja there was something really terrible. I couldn't reach my husband. When I got home yesterday at night, he wasn't at home and I tried to call him. Unluckily, his phone was closed. When I woke up this morning, he wasn't at home. I looked at my phone to see if there was a message or not and there was a message from a number that I don't know. It says that if I wanted to see my husband again, I had to stop talking to you and recover your every action that can cause problems for them. What are they talking about and who are they?'

'My god, I really don't know what you are meaning Vika believe me. I didn't do anything bad to someone. They must be some maniacs that try to threaten you. I don't think that Vanja is in trouble. He will turn back to you once he has a chance.'

Vika sent me a photo as a message and says: 'Then what's the meaning of this photo? Someone has got real problems about you.'

It is the picture of me and Vika from the dinner that we had yesterday night. I cannot believe that someone has followed me and took our pictures without being noticed. 'I don't know why someone has taken our photo. You are scaring me, please if it is a joke then stop it because I will get very pissed. Look, I don't have any idea who that person can be or why he has sent a threat to you.'

'Just try to think Katja. How they can know about our meeting and why this is so bother them. Is there really someone that wants you to get in trouble or maybe someone has tried to warn you about something that you didn't care about.'

'Wait a minute, I think I know someone.' But he cannot be that person. Andrew will never do such a thing to me. I just wondered about the names of the medicines on the list and the huge numbers of their prices. It cannot make him to get troubled enough to threaten me and Vika. He just sent me a message that I shouldn't come to work for three days and I didn't say anything about his action to anyone.

'Katja, are you still there? Talk to me god dammit! Who are these people and where is my husband? If something happen to him, then it will be your problem to deal with it.'

'Okay just try to get relaxed. I will call you back. I have to close now. I need to visit someone.'

I run all way down to metro and go to our company's building as soon as possible. I know that Andrew is working on Sundays too. He just makes his holiday when he wants to and nobody can say anything about it. I think he talks to someone from higher levels that they give permission for him about his wishes. Maybe after all these people aren't normal guys who have dark secrets behind their jobs. I hope Vika is wrong about the message she took. If Andrew has a part in it, his problems are between me not her. I cannot let something that can happen to my close friend.

I enter into the building and take the elevator in order to get into Andrew's office. My heart starts pumping very fast that I think I will have a heart attack. Without knocking his door, I directly enter into the office. He isn't there. Shit, where can he be? I look at his table and see some documents that have the same names with the one that I have checked. What are they really planning to do? I need to get some answers right now.

'Katja, what are you doing there?'

I get scared when I heard that someone said my name. When I turn my back, I see one of the other managers of the company. His name is Vladimir (actually I call him as 'Vlad'). I never like his face, his attitudes and mostly the way he smiles. He looks like the psychopaths in the movies, smiling in a terrible way when they are planning to do something really shitty. He is working in the security sector and he has the highest place in his sector. Everyone that works as security was chosen by Vlad. Some of them from our security look like they were gangsters or bodyguards in their old life. They are really strong and big that even sometimes they make me feel not safe. If they try to do something to me, I have no choice to protect myself. Hopefully, they haven't needed to use any force until today.

'Hello Vladimir, I just come to see if Andrew is here or not. Did you see him today at work? I really need to talk to him.'

'I am afraid that he has got serious works to do. He left the building just a few minutes ago. I don't think that he will come back again today. Can I help you about this situation? I can inform him about your visit.'

Do I look like a stupid woman for you? Of course I won't say anything to him. This is a personal issue that no one has to know. Anyway, he makes me more wonder about Andrew. So our boss has some big works to do, but where is he now? Damn it, I just missed him with a few minutes if Vlad was saying true.

'Well thank you Vladimir, but I think it will be much better if I just talk to him one by one. It is personal. I hope you understand me.'

'Of course, not a problem. But if you cannot reach him, you can just talk to me and I will gladly help you at any time.'

Why does he say like that? Is he saying the same sentences to every woman in our company? Does he like me? He can be a real prevent with his smile. I guess I shouldn't appear in front of him after this day.

As soon as I say that I need to go now, I walk toward the elevator with fast steps. I press the ground floor button and see Vlad while he is leaving the office too. Before the elevator's gates are closed, I see for a second that he is calling someone and looking into my eyes. Is he giving a message to Andrew about my visit? Is he also in the part of this situation?

I leave the building and face with our security in the front doors. 'Sorry miss, but we had an order to take you to your house. Please enter the black Ford that you see just right of the street.'

'What? Are you joking with me? I don't need any protection. I have to go to see my friend if you excuse me. I can take metro for my travel thank you.'

'Unfortunately, it is not a request. Our boss warns us very strictly about his order. He thinks that your life is in danger somehow. Don't make the situation harder.'

Is my life in danger, really? Who are these people that try to hurt me and threat my friend? Can they be one of our securities? Why not? They are afraid of something that I might cause trouble for them. I cannot have any other choice, but to follow these securities. They take me to my home and wait me until I enter inside. I look from the window and see that they are driving their car back to the company.

My phone starts to ring in my pocket. I look at my phone to see who is calling and of course that is Vika. 'Katja, I am coming to your house. I cannot wait any longer. We have to go to police and show them the message.'

'Are you really sure that it is the best option right now? If these people understand that we are going to police, Vanja's life will be in real danger. They can kill him in a second.'

'I think about that risk also, but what else can we do? We don't know anything where to start our investigation. Don't worry; we will go to police station without being noticed by someone. You need to trust me.'

I have to support Vika and cover her back. I cannot leave her. She needs me more than ever just like I need him. I wish he could be with me right now. I would feel myself safer with him more than everyone around me. God, please send a message to him and make him see what's going on in here. He will definitely come to protect me if he knows I am in danger, but what if his life is in real danger now?

Twenty minutes later Vika is standing in front of my house. I leave my home, lock the door and jump into her car. She is driving so fast all the way down to the police station that I just pray for us not to have a traffic accident. Luckily, we arrive at our destination without having a single stretch on the car. Vika enters directly into the station without realizing that she forgot to lock her car. When I enter after her, she already starts to talk with an officer. I miss the beginning of the conversation.

'You have to understand that my husband has kidnapped by some maniacs who have sent me a threat. I don't know what to do and who can want to do something like that to me. Somehow, they are worried about my relation with my best friend Katja.'

The police officer turns his face to me. He has got brown hair and brown eyes. When I look into his face, the most important thing on his face is his long beard. He has got a really good looking face with his beard. I like beard people, especially when he has got beard. I liked to touch his face and felt his beard on my fingers when we were together in Germany. I always wanted him not to shave his beard when we would see each other again, but that day never came. Does he have long beard now just like this police officer or does he like to shave his beard? Right now, I just want to touch his face again.

'As your friend has mentioned, some people have problems with you. Can you explain what can it be and who these people are? Every detail you will mention might be very important for us. Before you start, do you have any enemies who want to hurt you?'

'Of course I don't have. I just work for Naviance Company as the sales manager's assistant. My boss is Andrew Petrovic. He is the one of the managers of this company for more than 10 years I suppose. He...'

I say them everything about what happened yesterday at work, between me and Andrew. Then I mention the trade they will make with Turkish people within a few days and the names of the medicines that I cannot find any information on Google. Finally, I talk about the dinner that I had with Vika yesterday evening. At first, I also think that I should talk about my ex-boyfriend who left me without saying anything directly to my face, but then I keep it for myself. That doesn't mean anything in this case. He doesn't even know where I am leaving now, but he knows that I am working for which company. Shit, am I really worried about him also? Can my dream be a message from the future? Of course I am getting stupid by thinking like that.

Vika and I leave the police station after two hours later. It is about 4 o'clock and I realize that I haven't eaten anything since my breakfast which I did at like 9 o'clock in the morning. I get really hungry. 'Vika, have you eaten anything since our dinner?'

She doesn't need to give an answer. I realize that she hasn't when I look her again. 'Come on, you need to eat something. Let's buy something from a café. After that, I will come with you to your home. I won't leave you alone until everything gets fine.'

She looks into my eyes. She is nearly crying as I see her tears in her eyes. She hugs me and says: 'Thank you so much for being on my side. You are right. Let's eat something.'

We go to a café to eat sandwiches. I order a sandwich with parmesan cheese in it and Vika wants to eat a chicken sandwich. The sandwich makes me feel better. I cannot stand too long as being hungry. That is one of my weaknesses I suppose. Also, when I get hungry, I get easily in stress and I cannot think clearly. It is because of the brain's function, something that I will never forget, because he has explained to me many years ago.

One day he just asked me a question: 'Why can't we get concentrated while we are hungry?' He has mentioned on a very good point. I replied his question and he started to explain. It is very logical actually. Our system needs to take food and with food it produces carbohydrates such as glucose. So that the glucose can enter inside the cells and our body's cells use it as energy. That's how all of our systems can continue to work. However, the brain has a different property than the other organs. When we get hungry, our body can use the carbohydrates which are stored as glycogen or the lipids, but the brain can only use carbohydrates to continue its function. Simply, we need to take carbohydrates in order to use our brain. That's why, if we stay hungry too long, we will have problems about thinking logically or getting concentrated. He was very good at biology at high school. He said that biology was his favorite lesson and that's why he wanted to study medicine and improve his biology knowledge. Could he succeed his aim?

We nearly don't say any words until we finish our meal. This time, I pay the check because I cannot let Vika to pay my food after yesterday's dinner.

Vika always lives in the same house since she started to live with Vanja. That makes since she was 18 years old, the time when she got married. It sounds very early to get married, but for me it is normal. Besides, they don't have any children and they don't want to have one for a couple of time. It is a good idea. You just continue to live with someone that you want in the same house, sleep together in the same bed every night. As long as you don't have any children at an early age like 18 or 19, I don't see any problem about being married while going to university, even the same university with your husband.

The last time when I visited her house was last Christmas. We were having fun for all night. I have drunk only one glass of vodka and red wine in the dinner. On the other hand, Vika got too much drunk that she could hardly stand on her feet, but she was very cheerful while she was like that. When I looked at her face that night, she reminded me a party I was at. Some of my friends have planned to give a party at my friend's house and they invited me too. My parents weren't at home, so I didn't need to get worried about them and left my house for the party. They have bought nearly all types of alcohols: vodka, tequila, whiskey, absent and more...

At first, the party was going awesome. Everybody was happy. We were making jokes, playing some stupid games and of course getting drunk. I still remember some of my friends from that night who were acting crazy. The problem was that I went too far that night like my friends did. As we all know, not all of the stories have happy endings.

I remember the time very well when I got really drunk for the first time in my life at that party. My friends said to me that I was looking very cute, but I didn't even remember what I was doing at that moment. However, that night something has changed in my life. I have kissed Aleksey, my ex-boyfriend and we started to date after that night. Everything was going great between us until one day. Maybe, after all is was a big mistake that I have done by going to that party.

When I came home, by the way I don't have any idea how I made it home, I was feeling really sucked. I had a terrible headache for two days that I just went outside to meet with Aleksey, because there was a question in my mind for whole night that bothered me so much. What had happened at that party in a real way between me and him? I asked that question and he just said: 'We were having date. You looked very happy about that situation and I really liked what you did in the party. You kissed me and I kissed you back again. I know that you love me.'

For a moment, I didn't know what to say. Should I be mad at him or show some tolerance? I wasn't as happy as he was, but in time I started to forget about it. What's happened had happened and still he loved me. I had some feeling towards him too; at least I thought I had.

I gave a promise to myself that I will never drink too much again after that party and I continue to keep that promise. That's why, I didn't drink too much last Christmas at Vika's house.

We enter into the house. It looks same as it looked like the last time. They have a big living room, a small kitchen which is enough for them to put everything they need, two rooms that one of is their bedroom and the other one is a study room, but they use it as a bedroom also when some of their friends come to stay at night just like I did at Christmas's night. Finally, there are two bathrooms, one is for them and the other is used by neighbors most of the time. It is at the end of the hall on the right side. In the living room, there is a comfortable sofa, a dinner table that six people can easily sit, bookcases, a Sony television which looks pretty big for the living room and a wonderful sound system.

Vika always like to listen to music. That's why, she wanted to buy a good sound system for their house and they bought one of the Pioneer's. They have many photos around the living room, nearly at every part of the house. One of them is a photo from their marriage, the other one is from their honeymoon where they made in Petersburg but the best for me is from the birthday party of Vika. It was her 20th birthday and her husband made a big party organization in a bar. He has rented the place for a whole night and then invited all of her friends, including me, to the place. We have prepared a big birthday cake for her and brought it to the bar. As we were waiting her to show up, Vanja went to bring her to the place. When she entered, we opened Happy Birthday Song and started our celebration. When the party was over, it was 2.30 a.m. That was one of the best day of her life as she has mentioned and one of the most exhausting day for me.

I have a very similar kind of memory. I remember our last day in Germany. We went to a small place which was just for us, for the farewell party. It was the best party of my life and also the worst one. I was really happy to spend all night with him, hugging him while watching the city's lights and listening to his words. Unfortunately, we both shared the sorrow of our last night as being together. The next day, we were at our home, in very different places of the world. It was just like a terrible dream that I wanted to wake up again in Germany and see his face in the morning while he is staring at me. The most importantly, he has said something to me in that night that I will never forget his words: 'This is the best night of my life, because I have you right next to me and we have a whole night together.' I was hoping that he was saying the truth. I believed in his every word. Why shouldn't I? He didn't have any reason for lying to me. He never likes to lie for any reason and that is one of his characteristics that I really appreciate.

We go to the kitchen. Vika makes coffee for us. When we have our coffee in our hands, we sit in the living room. I am waiting Vika to say anything, but she is staring at her coffee. I can feel the stress and hypertension that cover all inside the room.

'Hey Vika, you can talk to me you know that right? I am here to help you. I am not going anywhere.'

She finally starts to look at my face. She looks really lackadaisical, like losing all motivation to continue living. I have never seen her like that before. We had so many colorful photos from our teenager's time, but where have all these photos gone? It must be a terrible nightmare for her. What if she lost him? Damn, I shouldn't think too much pessimistic.

'Well, it sounds very strange, but we just saw each other less than 24 hours ago. Normally, we don't miss each other too much or worry about each other, but look at me right now. Isn't it ironic?'

Yes it is. The same thing happened to me also when the summer camp was over.

'When did you see him last time? You saw him before leaving the house for the dinner, didn't you?'

'No, it was in the morning. He said to me that he had a phone call from his job. They were calling him to meet with them as soon as possible. He was surprised about their urgency, but he had to go. Before leaving the house he said that he would see me at night. That was the last sentence that I have heard from him.'

'Can you remember the people who wanted to meet with him? They could be the last people who saw him from yesterday. Maybe we can talk to them, don't you think?'

'Do you think that I am stupid not to think about it before? Of course I reached them but they said that they haven't made any talk with him yesterday. I made calls to all of his friends nearly, but none of them talked to him yesterday. That's why, you was the only person that I can take help.'

I think about my boss again. They could make the whole plan about kidnapping Vanja, trying to stop me so that I cannot reach where Andrew is. Suddenly, my phone starts to ring. I get really excited about who is calling me. I open the phone and it is Andrew on the line.

'Hi Katja, I heard that you were trying to reach me. I said you not the come to work until Thursday, didn't I? So what is the problem that is so serious? Tell me.'

'Alright, but I want you to be honest. Did you give an order to Vladimir to take me back to my home? Also, why should I stay at home for three days?'

'Unfortunately I have heard that someone wants to hurt you or maybe kill you, but I can give a promise that taking you back to your home was not my plan. Yes, I talked to Vladimir and he said me that you were looking so stressful and angry that he understood something was going on. He just tried to keep you safe. By the way, if you are wondering too much about this trade stuff, it has been done. All the cargo transported to a plane which took off for Istanbul just an hour ago. Our company has just made the biggest trade so far. We will become very rich; you will see it pretty soon.'

He is lying to me. I know he doesn't say everything about this trade.

'That isn't an answer for my second question. What are you hiding from me?'

I can hear his laughing. 'There isn't anything that we are hiding from you. You are working with us for how many years I forgot, but I know you and you know me. I just want your favor. Don't start to talk nonsense Katja. If you need any help, you can ask me. If you don't have anything to say more...'

'No I don't. Thank you for your understanding, but we will handle about it.'

He closes the phone, without answering my question. Why doesn't he want to see me next week? I explain to Vika everything that Andrew said to me. At that moment, she gives a loud cry. She shouts and gets really excited that I don't see what's going on.

'That's him. You said Andrew, right? That's the guy who is my husband's boss also. He had to talk to my husband and wanted to see him for some reasons. Come on, let's talk with that guy. You have to know where he is now.'

Can it be true that Andrew is the real reason for everything?

'Are you sure that we are talking about the same person in here. How did Andrew know about your husband?'

'My husband is doing all the transportations of his company you know about that already. I don't remember clearly, but one day his manager talked about a different manager of a different company that they were planning to corporate on transportation. I know that they succeed about their plan, but I have never asked my husband about the other company. He just said me that he had met with the manager of that company and mentioned his name as 'Andrew'. Definitely, he was talking about the same guy.'

'Then it is time to get some answers from Andrew. He starts to be a pain in the ass.'

We leave the house, get in the car and drive to Andrew's house. I know his address from work, because his address and the phone number are written on his card from work. Luckily, I am still keeping his card in my wallet. I give directions to Vika all the way. He is living close to his work, in a small apartment. After all, he doesn't have any wife or kids. He doesn't need a bigger place to live.

We stop in front of the apartment. I get down from the car and go to the entrance. I find his name on bells and press it. I wait a few seconds but there isn't any answer, so I ring the bell again. This time I press harder and longer in any case. 'Where the fuck is he?' Still, there isn't any answer from his house. I decide to call him from my phone. I don't have any idea about what he does. He doesn't open his phone. 'I cannot reach him.'

'So what are we going to do? We have to talk to him.'

It starts to get darker and late. He has to be at home in this time of the night. Maybe he is meeting with his friends or going to the place where Vanja is. We don't have any other choice but to go back at home. I asked Vika to go back and she agrees with me. We drive back to her house.

When we arrive at home, there is a box in front of the door. Vika takes the box and gets us inside. She goes to the kitchen and opens its inside. There is a small letter and one more box, but this one is packaged well. As she starts to read the letter, I take a knife from the kitchen and open the packaged box. I barely control myself not to scream. As soon as I see what is inside of the box, I drop the knife from my hand and close my mouth. It is very disgusting and smells like shit. There is a bloody hand which has chopped with something like a saw. Vika sees my reaction and asks what that was.

'Vika, you don't have to see this.'

Vika pushes me so hard that I have to lean on bar in order not to lose my balance. When she sees the inside of the box, she doesn't scream, but she starts to cry very loudly. She drops the letter from her hand.

'My god, what have they done to you?'

I don't have any words to say in order to make her feel better. There isn't anything that I can do for her right now. I take the letter from the floor and start to read myself.

'We warned you about not to talk to your dearest friend, but you didn't listen to. You are putting your husband's life in a great danger more than you think. I hope it will give you a good message about your fault. Everything has happened because of Katja. It isn't something personal about you. You left us no choice but to send one more message. If you want to see your husband again before it gets too late, you must do a favor for us. Get rid off her.'

What!? What is the meaning of getting rid off her? They cannot mean that. No, no way. Vika won't do such a stupid action. I look at her again and I am afraid that I am getting wrong about her. She is holding the knife in her right hand, looking right into my eyes. She looks really furious and full of hatred. For a moment, I cannot recognize my friend. She becomes someone else who wants to have revenge.

'Vika, don't try to do anything stupid with that knife. You cannot do something like that. It is totally bullshit. That doesn't solve your problem.'

She doesn't even care about what I am saying to her. She starts to reach me slowly. I take few back steps. I get really shocked that she is going to kill me. 'Just listen to me for a second.' You need my help in order to save Vanja's life. We will find Andrew and make him talk. Drop the knife right now!'

'You don't understand Katja. I have no other choice. I love him god dammit! He is everything to me. I don't let you to take him away from me. None of us need your help. Everything happened because of you.'

She runs to me and tries to stab the knife into my chest. Just before she tries what she has planned to do, I can dodge her attack. I punch her face and hold her right arm so that she cannot stab me while holding the knife in her hand. 'Just drop it Vika! I don't want to harm you.'

She is fighting back to save her arm. She spits onto my face and punches my stomach with her left hand. I continue to hold her arm and use all my force to bend her waist. She is screaming at me and trying to punch me every time but I kick her right leg so hard that she falls down onto her knees. Before I can see what's going on, I realize that there are blood drops on the floor. I look at Vika's body and see that the knife has stabbed inside of her stomach. How can it be possible? I didn't stab her. She was holding the knife in her hand, never lets it go.

'Shit! Vika just stay calm alright? I will call for an ambulance. I am so sorry for everything. Please stay with me.'

I take my phone and call for an ambulance as fast as I can. I give the address and explain briefly what has happened. Then I close the phone and run into the bathroom. I take a small towel and wet it under water. I turn back next to her. She is still breathing, looking up to see my face, but she cannot say anything. There is too much blood on her. I try to do my best with making pressure on the wound. I continue talking to her and trying to help her in order to make her stay awake until I can hear the sirens.

'Can you hear the sirens? They are right outside. You will be fine. Please hold on a little bit more.'

I can see my tear streams, dropping down from my face onto Vika's face. I hear that someone breaks the door and steps inside the living room. The ambulance crew tries to calm me down, pulling me away from her. They look at the wound, get her up and carry her with stretcher to the ambulance. They take me to the hospital too. They are asking some questions about my name, but I don't say any words on road.

Finally, we reach at hospital's emergency as we were driving for hours. They take Vika directly to the operating room and me to a different room. I see a young doctor in front of me. He starts talk to me, but I don't want to talk to anyone.

'Can you understand what I am saying miss? Your friend will live, just believe in that. Our doctors will save her life. Now, can you say your name if you understand me?'

'Katja... My name is Katja. I... I didn't do anything. It all happened...'

'Okay Katja, I don't want to make you feel worse. I believe that you don't have any crimes.'

'Of course not, my friend tried to stab me. I just protected myself. I haven't done anything wrong. I don't know what it had happened.'

The doctor gives me some medicines to calm me down and then makes a call for police. A few minutes later, I can feel the effects of the medicines. There are two police officers who want to talk to me. I explain everything in details, answering all of their questions. Sometimes police officers can be real headaches with their god damn stupid questions. Lastly, I say to them that I went to police station because of getting treat and kidnapping. They said to us that they would work on it, but within a few hours these people has sent that box to Vika's house. It was impossible for them to realize that I and Vika have talked with the police. Someone had to inform them about our every action.

It is 2 a.m. of the night. I fell asleep inside the hospital while waiting for my friend. I wake up because of too much loud. One doctor just leaves the operating room and starts to give information about the patient's condition to the police. I hear that she will live and there isn't anything to worry about. They think that she will get recovered one or two hours later. I get really relax to hear good news about her. The police officers come back next to me and inform me about my friend.

'Until we do our job and find these guys who did this, you and your friend will be absolutely safe in here with other police officers. As soon as we can talk to Vika, we will investigate about the suspect who is Andrew as you have mentioned. There will always be police in the hospital in case that something might be happened.'

I thank for them, but I cannot wait these police officers to find Andrew and make an interrogation with him. On the other hand, I am really afraid of going outside of this hospital. It is very clear in the letter that whoever they are, want me death. I know that everything have happened because of my curiosity about the documents of our company's trade. My god, where is he now? I wish he could be with me right now, but he has to be thousands of kilometers away. I really miss him.

I try to sleep some more and finally manage it. I see him again in my dream, but this one is so woozy that I cannot remember anything about it. When I wake up and look at my phone, I see it is going to be 7 a.m. I get up on my feet and talk to the first nurse that I see on the corridor.

'Excuse me, but can you say where my friend is staying? She was brought yesterday at night, had an operation. Her name is Vika. I have to see her.'

'Yes, I know who she is. Unfortunately, she is still sleeping and I cannot let you disturb her. No visitors can be acceptable for now. She had a hard night. After the police have gone, she went to sleep immediately.'

'You don't understand. I caused everything that had happened on her. I really need to see her. I won't stay long I promise.'

The nurse shows tolerance to me and makes a favor that I can see her for only a very few minutes. She shows me where the room is and opens the door. I thank her so much for letting me see my friend.

There she is, leaning on a bed and sleeping so deeply that as if nothing can wake her up. She doesn't look very awful. The doctors sutured the wound on her stomach and stopped bleeding. Her hearth pumps normal as I see from hearth beat sensor on the screen. How has she ended up like that? She doesn't deserve any of these. All her life became a nightmare in a few days.

'I am so sorry for everything that happened to you. Please forgive me Vika. I should have never gone to that dinner with you. I didn't realize that someone has followed me. I promise you that you will continue to live in your old life with your beloved husband again. We both see him alive after I get Andrew first.'

I give a kiss at her and leave her room. I control myself not to cry anymore, not in the moment. I have to be strong. I am the only person who can save him and reveal everything that is going on around me.

I leave the hospital and jump into a taxi. I give my home address so that the driver leaves me in front of my house. It takes only 20 minutes to arrive at home. I take out my keys from my pocket and open the door. After the fight in Vika's house, my home looks very clean and tidy. There are some dishes to wash in the kitchen and also some of my clothes are lying on the sofa. I don't have any time to consider about the cleaning, so I pretend as if I don't see any mess inside the house. I feel so tired. I have to take a shower and wear some clean clothes. I go to my bathroom, take out off all of the clothes on me and look into myself in front of the mirror. My body looks really nasty. There are a few scratches and some dried blood. I cannot stand any longer to see myself like this and get into the shower. I start to clean all the blood on me. After I finish cleaning my body, I open the wardrobe to take out some clean clothes.

The first thing that draws my attention is a pink t-shirt which I have been keeping for a long time. It wasn't my cloth, but it was given to me by a friend, a friend that I will never forget. When we were together, I wanted him to give one of his clothes for keeping it for myself, something that has his smell on. Before he left me, he has given me a pink t-shirt of him as I wanted. Even we haven't seen each other after that day, I wore his cloth sometimes when I went outside until it got too old to wear. However, I couldn't let his cloth go to bin. So, I kept it in my wardrobe until today. If we meet again sometime, maybe I should wear his cloth on. He cannot believe that I have his cloth for all these time. It can be a good surprise and welcoming for him.

I wear my underwear, Hard Rock Café t-shirt, blue jeans and lastly white socks. I dry my hair inside the bathroom as I am looking at myself again. My appearance looks much better after the shower. There are still some small wounds on my arms but they don't matter at all. I am ready to go outside and find my boss. I go back to the living room and remember that I haven't fed my golden fish since yesterday's morning. I give its food and watch her while it is eating all the food. Suddenly the bell is rung. I walk to the door and see who comes to my house. There is a police officer at the door. I open the door for him.

'Hello police officer. Is there something that I can help?'

'You must be Katja Prokurowskaya right? Sorry for bothering you, but I have an important message to deliver. May I come in?'

I don't want him to take a step inside my house, but I cannot say like that. 'Yes, come in. Whose message was that? Is it from the hospital?'

The police officer takes a few steps. He looks very nervous. He is putting his hand on his pistol. I can see that he is sweating for some reason. I have a bad feeling about him. It isn't quite natural.

'Sorry, but I don't have his name. He just informed me to bring the message for you.'

I open my mouth to ask what the hack was going on, but in a second he takes out his pistol from his belly holster and aim at my head. 'You are a beautiful woman. Such a waste... You could have been more helpful for our boss, but you have taken a very wrong step my dear.'

I want to scream, but something inside of me stops me. I close my eyes and get ready for being shot. When I hear the gun shot, I don't feel any pain. I force myself to open my eyes and see what is going on. The police officer gets shot from his chest. His death body is lying on the floor. There is blood, running on the floor. I cannot believe whom I am seeing in front of me. He doesn't change so much since the last time I saw.

He puts his pistol back again into his pocket and comes next to me. ' Hello Katja, it is good to see you again. How are you feeling?'

I slap his face as fastest as I can. 'This is for leaving me dammit. How I suppose to be? Feeling great to see you back again Aleksey?'

He holds his cheek while looking into my eyes. 'I miss you too Katja. You can thank me later, but first of all we have to get out of here.'

'Hold on a minute. How did you find me and know where I am leaving? Most importantly, why didn't you turn back to me after leaving me that day?'

'There isn't too much time to answer your entire questions, but I can say that I have been watching you for all these time. I have never left you behind. Since you started to work for that company, I knew that something would happen to you, one way or another. I cannot let anyone to hurt you.' He grabs the corpse and drags him to the outside.

'So, you were spying on me all these time, without turning back to any of my messages? You are an asshole. You cannot know how much suffer I did. I blamed myself for everything that had happened between us so far. I should have never been in that party.'

'You can continue to blame on me later, but we really need to go now. Leave your phone at home. You won't need that. Let's go.'

Aleksey leaves the house, puts the death body behind his sport car and rides on. Damn, he has got a white Porsche Carrera. He starts the engine and waves at me in order to get in there. I nearly forget my keys before leaving my house. I leave my phone at home just he said. I get into the car and he steps on the gas. He is driving very fast. I hope he knows what he is doing right now. I cannot believe that. Two minutes ago, he just saved my life.

'So where are you taking me? Do you know what had happened so far?'

'I know that your friend is at hospital right now because you stabbed her and also her husband's situation.'

'Wait, that's not true! I didn't do anything wrong to Vika. She has attacked at me with a knife and somehow she got wounded. I saved her life. By the way, if you know everything, then why didn't you save her husband? His life in big danger and we have to save him.'

'I didn't say that I know everything about this situation. That's why, I have no idea where he has been held. These people, you don't know anything about them or your boss Andrew. First of all, we have to get rid of the body and then stay in a safe place until we leave this country.'

'What? You can't just let him get tortured and killed while we are hiding somewhere or flying to a different country. I gave a promise to my friend and I will keep my word. There is nothing that you can do to stop me. So, if you want to do something correct, you are going to help me or let me go right now.'

'Did you hear what were you saying? That's nearly impossible. There isn't any chance for him. He has already been death or he will be as we are talking. They will know that your friend couldn't stop you and that police officer too. He was working for the company.'

'Shit, Vika's life is in danger. We have to turn back to the hospital right now.'

'Don't worry about that, my friends have already moved her to a safer place. She will be fine.'

'Of course she won't be fine when she wakes up. She will understand that Vanja was death. She will blame on me and hate me forever. I cannot let that happened.'

'Have you ever thought that how did your boss have that authority in his hands? How did he gain all that power? He is just a pawn in their small game. It is a matter of time to get rid off Andrew, but we need him alive.'

'Yes, I thought about that before. After I checked the list about the trade between Turkish people, I always know that he is hiding something from me and trying to avoid from me. He wanted me to have a holiday, so that he wouldn't be bothered. I tried to find him all day, but nobody said where he went off. Can you say to me what the company is selling?'

'Believe it or not, they are producing heroin, LSD, other kinds of illegal drugs and also normal medicines for the hospitals. They are making trade with some gangsters from Turkey. They send medicines to their hospital, but they hide drugs inside the cargo which cost ten million Euro. You were helping them for all these years. They have full authority on you as everyone who is working for the company. They don't let you work in somewhere else, so they are giving you the highest money that you can earn in your job.'

'My god, so I am guilty. I was so blind that I couldn't see that before. How can you know about all of these? What are you doing as a job, a detective or an agent?'

'I cannot say it to you right now. You will see in time, but I have got some people who are watching my back. I am not alone and the only one who tries to stop your company. My boss wants to see them as they are nailed down to the ground from the sky, more than anything.'

'Where is your boss? Is he hiding in that safe place you are taking me to?'

He looks into my face and smiles. He slows the car, stops next to the street and opens his door. I see a graveyard right side of me. I leave the car too and watch Aleksey while he is carrying the corpse out of his car.

'He is somewhere far away from here. Can you take the shovels from the baggage please?'

We enter to the graveyard. Hopefully there isn't anyone around us. I try to be cautious, watching our back. After a few more steps, Aleksey stops next to a dig hole. He throws the corpse and takes one of the shovels from my hand. I understand what I should do, so I start to help him. We bury the corpse and have a look around us. We are still the only one inside the graveyard. I get tired and drop the shovel from my hand.

'Well, nobody will know that he is lying here. Come on Katja, we have got lots of things to do.'

'Wait Aleksey, if you won't help me rescuing Vanja, I won't go with you. I know that you have to know something, a small clue about his location. Please, I need your help.'

'I don't really know his location, but I guess I know someone who can help us. I just do it for you, for the old days.'

Is he still falling in love at me? If he isn't, then why did he choose to save my life and help me? Maybe, he just needs me in order to find Andrew's boss and put an end to their realm. Maybe I am just a pawn for him just like Andrew is. I hope, I am guessing wrong. He has still some feelings towards me, but I cannot be sure for now.

We turn back to Porsche and hit the road again. We go to a night pub and stop in front of the entrance. Aleksey gets out of the car and enters inside. At first, I think I should wait him inside the car, but then I realize that I cannot stay in the car. I have to see this guy and listen to his words.

The inside of the pub smells terrible. There are some men who are getting ready for the night. DJ opens some songs and chooses some of them for the show or maybe he is just making practice. I don't get it why a woman wants to come in a place like that. It has a terrible atmosphere. It looks like everyone is smoking because I cannot breathe easily. Don't they have any air condition inside? As soon as our job finishes here, I will never enter to this place again.

Aleksey has already started questioning the person who is drinking vodka and sitting on a chair in front of us. He starts to laugh at Aleksey, but after a second he gets punched badly. It must hurt him.

'Look Nico, I don't want to break your nose or your teeth even you are deserved it. Just tell me, where I can find Andrew, the selling manager of Naviance Company. Your time is running out.'

I go next to Aleksey. For a second, we stare at each other. Nico spits some blood out of his mouth and starts to curse. 'Dammit man, you have a tough skin and a heart too. Why should I help you? You won't find him anyway. He is god damn far from us.'

Before Aleksey can say a word, I start to talk. 'Look into my face. I don't know who are you or what you have done before and I don't give a shit. My friend's life is in danger, so you should better say something useful or I swear that I will let him kill you. It doesn't matter how long it will take. Where is Vanja? Where are you holding him?'

'This girl has got more balls than you Aleksey. You should be shame from yourself. I like her. She is a tough girl just like you.'

'That's enough!'

Aleksey takes out of his gun and shoots him from his right leg. Nico gives a terrible cry. Everyone inside the pub stares at us, but then they all leave the place as soon as they can. The music is stopped also. He is holding his leg and trying to stop bleeding.

'That's 9mm, so you should think yourself as lucky. I could have brought my revolver. I am asking you again? Where is Andrew and, as she has mentioned, our guy who has been kidnapped two days ago?'

'Shit! I swear I don't know where Andrew is. He visited me like 2 weeks ago. I haven't seen him again since his last visit. Please, I need help. It fucking hurts.'

I take one more step forward to Nico. I look down at his wounded leg and press on it with my right foot. He gives a terrible cry again.

'Please, please stop. I will say everything I swear.'

I raise my foot from his wounded leg and wait him to talk.

'There was a guy, I don't have his name, but he was asking me to give the keys of my storage, my place where I produce marihuana for Andrew. Every month, he sends someone to take my products and brings lots of money for that. But this guy didn't want my marihuana, but the keys of the place. So, I gave it to him and promised that I wouldn't say any words about that. He took my keys three days ago.'

'Where is this storage?'

'It is in Krupskaya. You will see the storage when you get there. It is behind two white apartments.'

'Thank you for your cooperation Nico. Hopefully, you will get well soon.'

It is 4 o'clock afternoon and we almost reach our destination. I hope we won't get late for Vanja. He needs a few more minutes to hold on. I can see the rooftop of the storage. Aleksey stops the car a little bit far away from the building. He takes a MG7 from back seats and leaves the car. 'We should be very quiet after this point. Can you use this?'

He is holding a 9mm pistol in his left hand. I haven't used a weapon before, but only in the computer games. I don't know how to shoot in accurate, but what option do I have right now? I have to protect Aleksey inside.

'I will try. This will be the first time that I am going to use a gun.'

'Let's hope it will be the last one too. Let's go.'

I take the gun from his hand. It is pretty heavy for me, but I start to get used to its weight. It has a silencer on it as MG7 has. I wonder how did he find these weapons and carry them with him in his car. What if some police officers check his car and find his guns?

'I know that you are wondering about how I entered a situation like that, carrying carbines and pistols in my car. Sometimes, you don't have any chance but to take some precautions that you don't want to. Anyway, these are not my guns. So, I cannot get rid of them.'

'So you are killing bad people with these guns that someone has given to you for the job, aren't you?'

'Did you start to ask too much questions after you have entered that job or was you always like that? We need to draw these guys attention. Wait for my signal.'

He starts to walk faster toward the storage. I can see that he is going to knock the door. He waits someone to open the door and finally it is opened. With a quick movement, he hit the man's head with his gun that the guy gets unconscious. He calls me with a hand movement and enters inside. My hearth starts to pump faster and faster. I look down at the guy's face, but I don't know who he is. I enter inside and walk very slowly.

The storage is very dark and old. There are lots of spider webs on the walls. I try to see Aleksey's face in the darkness, but I cannot find him. I am afraid to say his name loud, even to whisper. They can hear me and find me. I see some lights a few meters away. I get closer to the lights with my every step. I hear a thin voice and then a sound that hears like something has fallen. I see a death man's body on the right side. There Aleksey is. He had to kill that guy with a single shot from his gun. He gives a message with his hands to cover his back. I nod my head to show that I understand him.

As we get really close to the lights, I can hear some voices. They are talking about Andrew and Vanja. I can see the guys. They are sitting on a table, playing some card games and smoking. There are 4 people as I'm seeing right now.

Aleksey takes a brick from the floor and throws it to the door. There is a loud sound inside the building. They hear the sound and take their guns in their hands.

'Go and check what that is. Also call our guy to the game. He can stop standing as a guard in there. No one knows that we are here.'

One of the guys starts to walk toward Aleksey. Aleksey waits him to come close enough and stabs from his neck with a knife. I try to keep calm as possible as I can, but I cannot imagine how could I love him, a killer and a cold bloody person. Is this the real character of him? It cannot be. Something must have been happened in his life that changed everything in his life. That's why he had to leave me without saying anything. There cannot be any good reason for that.

'Hey, bro what are you doing there? It took so long. Let's check it out guys.'

All of them start to approach to us now. Aleksey gets ready to shoot. I take a deep breath in order to calm down, but it doesn't help anyhow. Aleksey aims his gun and makes his first shot. He gives a headshot. Within a second, he kills the other guy too by shooting him from his neck. The third guy takes cover and starts to fire. He is shouting for backup. There are more guys coming our way.

I aim my gun at the guy, but I cannot pull the trigger. Aleksey shouts me to take the shot, but I cannot do what he wants me from. He starts to shoot from his cover and kills one more guy. One of them is coming right at me, but he doesn't see me in darkness. It is my only chance if I don't want to get killed. I try to get concentrated and take the shot. I shoot him from his belly. He falls to the ground, starts to scream in pain. I shoot one more time and take down one of the other guys.

Within a minute, Aleksey shoots every one of them and ends their pain. He reloads his ammo and comes next to me.

'Well done Katja. I know that you are a strong person. You have got real courage. Let's hope we were not too late.'

I start to run inside the storage. There isn't any sound except my footsteps. I see a door which is locked. I try to open it but I cannot. Aleksey comes next to me. He has a key in his hand. He puts the key inside the keyhole and unlocks the door. Inside of the room, there are many marihuana and a guy who is tied up to a chair. 'My god, that's him!'

I go next to Vanja and look into his face. He has lost his conscious and looks terrible. He hasn't got his left hand. There is too much blood on the floor. Aleksey cuts the rope and looks for his pulse.

'Shit, we are going to lose him. He is still breathing, but not for long. We need to call emergency.'

He takes out his phone and calls for the ambulance. Until they reach us, we bring him outside of the storage. Aleksey starts to make to him. When I can hear the sirens, Aleksey holds my arm.

'Come on. We have to go now. If they find us, we will be responsible for all these murders. They will put us in jail and we cannot let that happen. Hurry up!'

He is right. We have to get out of this place and lose our marks. Nobody should know who we are. We run back to the car and get inside. Aleksey turns on the engine and hits the gas. We leave the place.

'Now can we go to my safe house? I did what you wanted me to. It is my turn. After this point, you will do whatever I say you, got it?'

'Yes I got it very well. Thank you for saving Vanja's life. I kept my promise. It is time to find Andrew now.'

'Damn right. I know where we should start for that, but first I need to show you something.'

About half an hour later, we arrive in front of a workshop. It looks like abandoned. Aleksey stops the car and gets out. By the time I get out and enter the workshop, he locks his car and shows the way. The ground floor looks completely empty. It is also very dirty. There are some stairs which go down. When we get to the stairs, a small light comes up from a bulb.

I go down from the stairs and see a metal door in front of me. There are two cameras on the corners of the wall. They look like they aren't working, but I am sure that whoever stays behind this door must be watching us from the cameras. Aleksey waves his hand at one of the cameras and knocks the door.

A tall guy opens the door for us. He has got black hair and brown eyes. He is taller than me and Aleksey too. He is definitely comes from a different country, because he doesn't have a Russian accent.

'What did you take so long? We were waiting for you at least for two hours. Did someone follow you all the way down here?'

He must be coming from a European country, because he is talking Russian very differently. I want to ask him about where he comes from, but I think it isn't a good time to ask that right now.

'Let's meet with your friends Katja. They are waiting for you.'

The down floor is a very big place. There is a long corridor behind the metal locked door which leads us to the big room. There are some guys that I haven't seen any of them before in my life. Some of them look like Russian, but the others have no similarities with the Russians. There is a big screen on the wall which shows all cameras recordings. I count the numbers of the cameras as five. Two of them are showing the entrance just as I've thought, one of them is showing the corridor, fourth one is in a room with full of weapons and a big city map of Moscow which hangs on the wall and the final one is showing a small room, but as I see, there is a woman who stays inside the bed. It is Vika! She is in here with us.

Before Aleksey introduces the guys inside the room, I run to Vika's room and open the door. She is staring at me. She looks happy to see me. She tries to get up from her bed, but she doesn't need to do that. I go next to her bed and hug her.

'Thanks god, you are looking great. I was afraid that you could be death because of your wound. There were too much blood on you, but the doctors saved your life. I was waiting for you all night at the hospital. I am so sorry Vika. I didn't want any of them have happened to you.'

She is smiling at me. I can see that her hatred was gone. She has forgiven me. Also, her wound looks much better.

'Katja, I am the one who should be sorry. I shouldn't have attacked you like that. I was in shock and couldn't control myself. Please say me that my husband is still alive. Did you find him?'

'Of course I did. I have given a promise back in the hospital that I would never give up until I save Vanja's life.'

Aleksey enters the room and comes next to her.

'If Katja didn't be insisting on too much about saving his life, we wouldn't be so lucky to save him on time. He was nearly going to die, but we saved him just in time. The doctors are taking care of him. Don't be worry; you will see him very soon.'

She is reaching her hand in order to hold his hand, so she does. 'Thank you so much, both of you. I love you so much.'

'These guys won't give up until they reach Katja. That's why all of our lives are still in danger. When your husband gets better, I will send some of my guys to bring him back. We cannot stay in here for too long. They will find this place sooner or later. We have to leave the city.'

He lets his hand go and leaves the room. When he leaves us alone, I look at her face again.

'I have to go and talk to him. He has a plan in his mind. I know that we will find Andrew and see whom is he working for. You just take care of yourself. Get well soon.'

I leave Vika alone and join Aleksey. When I get back to the main room, I see one of my best friends in front of me. She is standing in there and looking at me with a curious face on her. We hug each other. I haven't seen her maybe for one year, but here we are.

'It is incredible. How many months have passed since we haven't seen each other Nastja?'

I turn my face to Aleksey and say: 'What is she doing in here? Is she working with you?'

Nastja is always a good friend to me. She and I have lots of things in common. I remember the old times when we were drinking in clubs, having party, staying each other's houses and walking in the parks. She doesn't change at all. She looks same. Blond hair, yellowish light brown eyes and a big smile on her face as she has always. She is taller and coarser than me. After the university, she went to Ukraine for working for one or two years. She studied business and now she is working in Moscow again, in a technological company. I just saw her when she got back again to the capitol and that was the last meeting between us.

'I have the same questions for you too Katya. I don't know what the fuck is going on right now? I was staying at my home and suddenly I took a phone call from Aleksey. I remembered him of course, but I was worried about what he was saying to me. I heard that your life is in danger somehow and mine is too. He came to my house and brought me to this place.'

'I am sorry for that. I really don't want any of you to get in danger because of me. There are serious problems going around. My company is selling illegal drugs to many other countries. I found their little secret and then everything got worse. At first, they kidnapped Vika's husband and sent threat to her. Luckily, we weren't late for saving him. Also, one of the police officer tried to kill me, but Aleksey came up and saved my life.'

Aleksey enters into conversation and shows some photos from the computer about the trades of Naviance Company. I wonder where he took these photos, because they are the important documents that show the all products names list, the places and the dates of the trades. Some of them are very old that I haven't been working for them at that time.

'Ladies, as you can see in these pictures, we have a big trouble about Naviance Company. It isn't a normal company as it looks like. Katja was working for them for a few years, but suddenly she found a big mistake of them. The last trade was happened in Turkey and kilograms of drugs were sold which cost more than 5 million Euros I suppose. Our biggest target is Andrew, the sales manager of the company and Katja's boss. He escaped to somewhere out of Moscow as I have learnt. The biggest possibility is Istanbul. He couldn't take any risks about the last trade. If we reach him, we can find the real boss who is behind all of these.'

He turns to Nastja and continues his speech. 'They want Katja as death, so they can hurt anyone who is close to her. You are safe with us. I cannot let you go back alone to your house.'

'So what's our first move? Are we going to Istanbul to find him exactly?'

I have got lots of questions in my mind, but I cannot ask each one of them. So I just ask the one of the most important questions that makes me get wondered.

'Who are you really Aleksey and where have you been for all these years?'

For a moment our eyes meet each other, but then he turns his back and takes a deep breath.

'It is time to explain everything I believe. I am a secret agent from a European country that I cannot say anything more. It is classified. While we were together, somehow I wanted to help my country in a best way and talked to my father about my plans. Luckily, he had some close friends from agency and he helped me to become one of them. The only problem was I cannot say any words about that until I turn back to my country. There isn't any place for love in this job Katja. I really loved you, but I had to do everything they have told me. When I became an agent, I have been sent back to my country. The first thing that I did was finding you. I knew about the company and you. I made lots of investigations, saw that they are selling drugs and worst of all you are helping them without knowing anything about their dirty work.'

I just listen to him as he is telling me a story or making a very creative joke on me. It doesn't sound believable. He cannot be an agent. This can just happen in the movies that I have watched. He is working for a secret agency and he is trying to stop these people's illegal works. It sounds crazy, but what can I say to him? He doesn't have any reasons to lie to me or my friends. He is still Aleksey, the guy who takes care about me more than anyone in this world.

'That sounds really unbelievable. So, you are trying to stop them and saving our lives as being an agent. I have always wondered about why you left Katja, because you two guys were looking very happy. I don't know what to say anymore. I cannot leave my country and come with you to Turkey to find this guy. What was his name? Oh right Andrew. It must be a terrible joke or something, isn't it?'

I look at Nastja as if I'm saying: 'I am sorry, but everything is true about what is going on. You have no choice but to stay with us.'

'I understand you Aleksey, truly. However, what will we do about Vika and Vanja? They aren't ready for a flight, especially while Vanja is in a terrible situation. We cannot force them to come to Istanbul, am I right?'

I am waiting an answer from Aleksey. He is right about where should we start searching about Andrew, but it isn't something really easy. We cannot leave my friends alone in Moscow while these people are trying to find us everywhere.

'Of course I cannot force them to come with us. So, I have a plan about that too. There are good friends of mine who stay at Petersburg. They will be safe in there, hundreds of kilometers away from these people and your company's workers. By that time, we need to get ready for our trip Katja. You should come with us too Nastja.'

She looks angry and critical about his plan. I know what she is going to say and these words are not the good words that I want to hear from her.

She curses at Aleksey after everything he has said about his plan, and then she starts to stare at me.

'Good luck in your adventure Katja. I won't come with you, I'm sorry. I have a work to go and I won't escape from these people. They don't know me, so why should I stay with you? You are the one who try to ruin our lives in here, but I will be out of this situation. I think it is time for me to go back to my house.'

I try to convince my friend about staying with us. 'Nastja, you know that you are one of my best friends all these years. I know that I am asking too much and put all of you into a trouble, but I believe that if we work together, we will become stronger than Andrew. He won't realize that we will end their management.'

'I understand what you are wanting from me, but it is beyond my limits. This time, I cannot help you Katja.'

She walks to the entrance. Aleksey doesn't try to stop her and he orders his men to escort her until she reaches her house safely. My heart says me that it shouldn't be end like that, she won't leave me behind. She will change her mind and come with us. I have faith on her. She has never done something like that before, but what if something happen to her?

'Aleksey, if we are going to find Andrew, I have to turn back to my home and take my passport for the flight.'

He nods his head and starts to walk to the door. I follow him from behind. We leave the safe house and get into the car.

The outside nearly gets completely dark. When I look at my watch, it is 10 p.m. Aleksey is driving the car a little bit fast. Anyway, there isn't any traffic on the streets. We reach my house 20 minutes later.

'I will wait you inside the car. Try to be fast. You are not safe in here.'

'Don't worry, I will just take my passport and some clean clothes to wear.'

I get out of the car and walk to my house's door. I take out my keys and open the door. Damn, the lock is broken. I am sure that I have locked the door before I leave the house. Somebody has already been here, entered my house. I try to walk very slowly. I cannot take any risks, so I shouldn't open the lights.

The inside of my house looks casual. There isn't any mess around, just dried blood of the police officer on the floor. I have to clean the floor when I turn back to my house. I remember my golden fish. She must be hungry. I look at my aquarium and there she is swimming. I feed her.

'You were late Katja. I started to think that you will never come back to your home again, but you cannot leave your fish starved to death right? By the way, nice place you have.'

I force myself not to scream. When I hear the voice, I know that who is in my house. Vlad, that god damn guy... He was waiting for me. How stupid I am. I should have thought about it before. I can feel that all my blood get colder inside me. I turn my back and see a dark silhouette inside the living room. He is sitting on my armchair.

'Come over here. Let's make a short talk. I am sure that you won't try to do anything stupid, will you?'

'I will not escape from a rat. You bastard! You are the one who have informed Andrew so that he could escape. I bet you have sent that police officer to kill me.'

I go next to him and sit in front of him. I can see his face in the darkness right now. He is smiling at me. God, I really hate from this guy's smile. Even Joker has a better smile.

'Sorry for my misbehavior. I was just doing my duties. I had no other choice but to send someone after you. Actually, I have believed in Vika. She could have done anything in that moment, but you get a real courage. I must say that I have impressed.'

How dare he can talk to me like that! I will kill him. He tried to use Vika to kill me, made her suffer and her husband. Nobody can hurt my friends and if someone does it, they will pay their debts.

'Ah Katja, you don't know how much you are causing trouble for us. You are a tiny kite flying in the storm.'

'And you are a filthy rat hiding in the shadows. You won't squirm out of it. You and Andrew will pay for everything you have done.'

'And what are you planning to do about that? You don't have any chance to stop us. I know that someone is trying to defend you. You cannot be alone in this case. We won't let you get caused more trouble for us. So, here is the deal. You will give your friend's names which are helping you and their plans on us, so that we will never bother you again. Also, as a small jest just because I like you, Andrew will give you 10.000 Euros for your cooperation. This money will be fairly enough for you to go anywhere you want and live with whom you want to. You are missing him, aren't you?'

I can hardly control myself not to attack him. He is offering me money for stabbing my friend's from their back. Moreover, he is mentioning about him. No one can say anything about him. If I have wanted to live with him, I would have already done that long time ago. But, still I don't get any messages from him. Where is he exactly?

'Don't say one more word about him again. You don't know anything about my past life. Do you really think that I will accept your bloody money? Even if you give me one million, I will never help you.'

Suddenly, he stops smiling and frowns. 'Well, considering that you don't care about him as much as I have thought, I am sure that you are caring about your new boyfriend who is waiting for you at outside.'

'What did you say?'

I get up and look at Aleksey from the window. There are two guys, wearing black coats and holding pistols in their hands. They are from our security and working for Vlad. So everyone inside the security sector must be in this job. Nobody looks as it seems. How could I be so blind?

I have no other choice but to warn Aleksey. I shout at him as loud as I can.

'Aleksey, watch out!'

He hears my voice just in time and acts very fast. He sees the guys coming at him. There are gun fires. I directly run to the kitchen to take a knife, but Vlad acts as quickly as I do. He takes his pistol into his hand and points at me.

'Stop right there Katja! If you take a one more step, I swear I will shoot you from your head and believe me this is the last thing that I want to do.'

I stop running and put my hand inside my jacket. I have Aleksey's pistol with me. I can take it out before he can notices me.

'Vladimir, I have one question for you and I want you to be honest at me. Do you love me?'

'I have always wanted to be with you since I saw your pretty face.'

'Well, too bad that that day will never come.'

I turn my back, get ready to shoot him. In a second, I point my gun and take the shot. Vlad starts to hold his left arm, but it looks like I miss the shot. When I see that he is going to shoot me, I escape from my house.

Aleksey is still sitting inside the car. He kills both of them. There are bullet holes on the front of the car. I get inside the car and see that Aleksey has been shot. The marks can be easily seen on his clothes.

'Aleksey, are you alright? Please let's get out of here.'

He looks at me and says: 'What did it take so long?'

He can still do jokes. That's a good sign. When I look at him more carefully, I see the bullet proof armor on him.

'Do you really think that I don't wear any protection for all day? What a fucking day is it right?'

'Damn right!'

He hits the gas and leaves the street. I turn my back and look at two dead bodies lying on the street and also I see Vlad. He is saying something that I cannot hear. I know, he will inform Andrew and come back for us. This isn't over yet. It is just the beginning and we win the first round.

'Did you take your passport? And what has happened inside?'

'No I couldn't. Our security manager, Vladimir was at my home. He broke into my house and waited for my return. He knows that someone is helping me. Also, he is the one who tried to kill me by sending that police officer and also sent Vanja's chopped hand with the letter. They tried to force Vika to kill me, can you believe that?'

'After everything I have seen in this job and been through, I don't know what to believe anymore. There are too many shits happen outside.'

I start to get wonder about Aleksey. What have happened to him? He is completely a different person now. I can hardly believe that he turned back for me and is still next to me.

'I will arrange someone for taking your passport. Until then, you need to rest. There is a long day ahead of us.'

While he is driving back to the safe house, his phone starts to ring. He talks on the phone less than a minute and closes it.

'Your friend Nastja turns back to her house safely. My men just inform me about that. I hope she knows what she is doing.'

I hope so.

We arrive to the safe house and go downstairs. One guy takes us inside and locks the door behind us. I realize that I haven't slept in my bed more than 48 hours. My whole body is trembling because of tiredness. I cannot stand on my feet any longer. I say Aleksey that I will go to sleep and he shows me a room where I can stay for the night.

I get inside my room. There is only a bed and a bathroom. I jump into the bed, take out of my shoes and get under the blanket. The bed is not bad at all. It is relax enough for me, even though no bed can be better than your own one. It is just a little bit small, but I don't have any complaining about the bed. I close my eyes and get into a deep sleep.

In my dream, I was running on the street. There was Andrew behind me. He was trying to shoot me and shouting at me. He was saying that he would kill me but before that he would torture me just like he tortured Vanja. I would beg for mercy. When he got done with me, he would hunt my friends down too. But then, I saw Aleksey's car. It was standing in front of me. I felt myself very lucky that he was here to help me. When I reached to the car, Aleksey got out from his car. I asked him what the fuck was he doing and wanted him to save me from Andrew. He looked so desperately at me. I saw his tears. He said that he was sorry but he couldn't help me. I realized that was the end of my life. Suddenly, I felt warmth. When I looked down at my chest, it was covered in blood. I fell on my knees and stared at him. I asked him why, but he turned his back and walked away. Before I closed my eyes, Andrew was staring at me and laughed like a maniac.

I wake up, open my eyes and try to breathe normally again. I got wet while I was sleeping. For a moment, I don't know where I am. I think they find me and lock me in a room, but then I hear Aleksey's sound from the next room. I get up from the bed and open the door. I go and check Vika while passing in front of her room. She is still sleeping in her bed, but she is getting better.

'Thank you for saving his life. Okay, we will talk about the processes later. Take care.'

Aleksey closes his phone and sees me that I woke up. He starts to smile at me. His smiling makes me feel better, because I know that there is some good news.

'What time is it? Did I sleep too long? I heard your voice from my room. To whom were you talking to?'

'Good morning Katja. It is coming to eight o'clock. You were sleeping for 10 hours. I hope you slept well in your bed. Do you want to drink something?'

Actually I get very thirsty, so I want to drink some water. I ask him for water and he brings me a bottle. I open it and drink all of it in a few seconds. I feel myself as if I find an oasis in the middle of the desert. I come to myself after drinking a bottle of water.

'The good news is that your friend's husband has opened his eyes. The doctors have saved his life, but he is still in shock. We need to give some time for him to recover himself. He just asked about his wife Vika and learnt that she was safe. My men will bring him back to Vika as soon as he can get out of the hospital. I think he needs to stay a few more days until then. For now, we should talk to Vika and give this important news. She needs to know about his condition.'

'I will talk with her when she opens her eyes. I am very glad to hear that.'

'Oh, I almost forgot, here is your passport.'

He manages to bring my passport and also he brings a small luggage for me from my house.

'My men bring some clean clothes from your wardrobe. I am sorry but there isn't any shower in here. If you want to take a shower...'

'No, I am okay for now. It isn't very necessary. Thank you for that.'

I take my luggage and go inside my room to change my clothes. I open the luggage and see the pink t-shirt of him. They have brought it for me, whereas they could have chosen many different clothes. I take it out and take a deep breathe. It still smells as him. If we are going to fly to his country, I should wear his cloth. After all, I can see him again in Istanbul. I hope we will meet in there and he will see me while I am wearing his cloth. It can be awesome.

I put on his pink T-shirt and change my trousers too. I know that in these times Turkey has a warm weather, but in case of getting cold, I decide to keep the sweater inside the luggage. I hear a knock on my door. It is Aleksey.

'Katja we need to find Vladimir before he gets after us. We will make a visit to Naviance Company. Will you come with us?'

'Yes of course I will. I am coming in a second.'

'Okay, I am waiting you at outside.'

Aleksey is right. We need to make the first move before letting Vlad to do. He is probably making a plan for us or he has already sent some guys after us. If we need to find Andrew, Vlad is our ticket to Turkey.

Aleksey is reloading his MG7 silenced gun. I have given his pistol back to him after we have escaped from my house. He puts new bullets inside of the pistol and gives it back to me. I start to get used to carry it. It doesn't come too heavy anymore. I put it on my belly and get into the car. He is talking with his men and giving orders.

'You will cover our back. We can be getting into a trap, but it is a risk that we have to take. Finally, when we get inside and find the security manager, don't forget that we need him alive. Use your guns if you have to.'

He sits on the driver seat and starts the engine. He is asking questions about Vladimir on all the way down to the company's building.

'How can he know that I am helping you? How many years do you know him?'

'It became 4 years with this year, but he has been working for 9 years. I don't know where he was before that. I am thinking that he is the messenger of Andrew. As I said it before, he sent that guy to my home in order to kill me. He must have been following me since I have started to work in there. That guy really falls in love with me.'

'You see? There are some guys who love you. You can still find a new partner for yourself.'

He starts to laugh. I don't understand how he can do jokes in every case, when he gets shot, when he kills someone or when he talks to me after without saying anything to me for many years. Our lives in danger, but he is thinking as if everything is a game for him. He became a very different guy after he has started to work for this agency.

'Well this is strange. There has to be guards outside the building.'

Aleksey parks the car in front of the company and gets out. There are some people who are running from one place to another inside the building. All these people are helping one of the mafia's organizations without awareness. I start to pity for each of them. I was one of them a week ago, but I realized what they are really doing under the company's name. I want to enlighten every people who are inside by showing them the documents of the trades, the names of the products and the amount of budget. The problem is that all these people are working for the company more than a few years and they don't have any issues with their bosses. Everyone gets their money and this is enough for them to become pleased from their jobs. I cannot change their minds within a day. It is too late for them now. The only people that can stand against these people are me and Aleksey.

'You know his office. We need to start searching from there. Even a small paper can show us where Andrew can be or the identity of the real boss.'

We enter inside and go to the elevator. Some of the workers know me for a long time, so they say hello to me. I smile at them. We quickly get into the elevator. Aleksey's men are waiting for us on the ground floor. They will inform us if they see anything suspicious. While they are looking around, we reach at Vlad's office. I try to open the door, but of course it is locked. Aleksey looks around us, but there isn't anyone on the corridor. He kicks the door with a strong strike and breaks the lock.

There are hundreds of papers on the desk and more inside the binders. I start to take a look at the papers whereas Aleksey opens Vlad's computer to find anything useful. Most of the writings are useless. They aren't about the trade or Andrew. I put all the papers back to their places and start to look at inside of binders which are stood on the shelves.

There is a binder which is labeled as 'Security Members'. Maybe it can be useful to identify those two guys who attacked Aleksey in front of my house. I take it from the shelf and open it. After passing some pages, I find their profiles.

'My god, Aleksey, you have to check this out. I found something that can be really useful for us.'

Both of them were imprisoned because of killing men, working for a mafia leader –his name is not mentioned- and defending drug dealers more than once. They had to be in prison, but somehow they got free. They have been wanted in Minsk's Police Department in top ten wanting list. Their addresses seem like they are living in Ukraine. They aren't even Russian citizens.

'Look at that. There are dozens of people just like them. Killers, drug dealers, alcohol smugglers and some of them have been put under arrest because of woman abuse. All of them are working for the company as security personals. Many of them are still wanted in Belarus or Ukraine or other cities of Russia.'

He puts the binder on a corner of the desk and shows me the mails of Vlad. He finds some interesting mails that Vlad has sent to unknown people. There are some which are about me too. Aleksey opens one of them and reads it loud for me. It was sent four days ago.

'She will be hell of a trouble for us. She knows everything about this trade with Turkish people. She is looking for you and the others who are behind this job. Do you want me to get rid off her? We cannot take any risks because of a simple worker.'

After he finishes reading the mail, he opens the final letter that Vlad has been received. The person who sent this message isn't mentioned in the mail and doesn't show anything about his profile. However, when we read the first sentence, it is clear that the mail has been sent from Turkey.

'There are small problems which delay the trade in Istanbul. The other guys have a disagreement about the money and the products. I am afraid, but we need more time until get back to Moscow. Within that time, you are the head of the company. I hope everything will happen as we were expecting. I will be in touch later.'

'That's good news for us, isn't it? The mail has been sent yesterday at 16.24, so the trade hasn't been happened yet. While they are having arguments, we can make our strike.'

Aleksey turns his head towards me. He is looking very serious and anxious like there is a bigger problem on us. He looks into my eyes and again starts to look at the computer screen. He opens a document about a guy's profile. He has got a colorless picture on the document. There is written his name, birth place, age, blood type and some other information about him. He has got a nervous look as it is clearly seen from his eyes.

'Who is that person? Is he one of the big gangsters?'

'Worse. He was an agent once.'

'What? From which agency is he?'

'Believe me you don't want to know him. He was the best field agent in MI6 once. He was sent to Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine and many other countries to eliminate gang leaders, terrorists or well-known mafias. As I know, he has never failed in his duty. All his targets got assassinated and nobody saw anything when all these happened. He is like a shadow or a ghost.'

'So what have happened to him?'

'That's the most important question that every agencies were asking about two years ago. He went to Russia for an important job, but he has never returned England. Some people thought that he was killed on his duty, but MI6 knew that they would have his death news if it was true. They sent some agents to find him, but none of them could contact with MI6. They have been lost since they sent to their missions.'

'So they are all dead and this guy is still living in somewhere. But why did he do something like that? Wasn't he a hero in his country?'

'That's another problem. He was Russian once. His citizenship was taken because of his crimes, so he left everything behind back in Russia and started a new life in England. I think his father was a very rich guy that he did everything for his son, took care of his education and safety in England. Somehow, he entered to MI6 and became one of the best agents in MI6's history.'

'What is the connection with us? Do we need to get worried because of him?'

'For now, we don't as it seems. The question in my mind is that why does Vladimir have a document on his PC about him and how did he find all these information about him? I fear that he can be in this job too, working for the big boss. After all, nobody made a progress on finding his location.'

Suddenly Aleksey's phone starts to ring. He picks up the phone.

'Shit! Don't let him escape. Go after him and catch him alive. We are coming our way down. Hurry up!'

Before I need to ask about what is going on, he explains that Vladimir entered to the building, but he realized our men and ran back to his car. I just look at the screen one last time before we leave the office and read the name of the MI6 agent: 'Yuri Romanovskaya'.

Just our luck, the elevator is still on our floor. Aleksey pushes the button and the doors are opened. Once we get inside, he presses the ground floor button and closes the door. When the doors are opened again, we run directly to Porsche. Aleksey starts the engine and opens the GPS. It shows the location of Aleksey's men's car. They are heading north, to Khimki. In a moment, I understand where he is going on.

'He is trying to reach Sheremetyevo Airport. We have to stop him before it gets too late.'

'As long as our men are still chasing him, he doesn't have any chance to take off even he has got a private jet. Also, this car is faster than it looks. Hold tight.'

I feel myself as riding on a roller coaster. We are going on the road very hastily that everything looks as if it is a Fast and Furious movie, but this time we are the actors on the screen. Aleksey goes from the back alleys in order not to get waited on red lights. When he turns the steering wheel, I force myself to hold still. Every second, we get closer to our target. If he continues to drive like that, we will reach Vlad before he arrives at airport.

We are on the main road again after closing the distance to the target into one kilometer. I look at the side mirror of the car and see two black Audi A6's right behind us. I cannot see the drivers face, but they are coming fast.

'Aleksey, I think we might have a problem. Behind us...'

'Yeah I know. I am definitely sure that Vladimir called some reinforcements to save his ass. You need to take them out.'

I hear a gun fire and in a second there is a bullet hole on the back window. They start to fire on us. I try to cover my head and get crouched. Aleksey makes a fast move to the right and hits the gas stronger. He forces Porsche's limit that the engine starts to sound very noisy.

'Katja, you have to get back seat and take my weapon. We need cover fire immediately.'

I jump to back seat and take the MG7 into my hand. I aim at the driver and start to fire. It is very hard to make an accurate shot while we are going with 220kms/h. I continue firing, but I cannot achieve to stop them. At least, they slow down a little bit and open the distance between us. They cannot hit their targets –which are us– from that distance. So, I hold fire and turn my back to the front side. We are nearly next to Vlad's car.

Aleksey is talking with his men and ordering them to shoot tires. 'Bring his car down! He doesn't have any change to get over us.'

There are many bullet holes on his car's back, but still he is trying to get escaped. Finally, one of the bullets hits the right tire and he loses the control of the car. He has to slow down, but it is too late for that. His car tumbles and gets lizzie. He makes a very bad accident that it is impossible for him to stay alive.

Aleksey stops his car in a sudden and leaves the car. He runs to the Vlad's car and tries to take him out before the car gets exploded. I just watch him inside the car, because my hands are shaking. It looks terrible. He must be dead or he will be in a few seconds.

Aleksey is shouting his men to help him. Both of them give a hand, so that they get succeed to take him out of the car. They get away from the car just in time. There is an explosion and a very loud noise. I can smell the fire and the smoke which comes out from the car. I try to come over the shock and put myself together. I get next to Aleksey.

'Is he still breathing?'

Aleksey is trying to resurrect him. He puts his ear on Vlad's chest.

'Come on! You can't get died now! Breathe god dammit!'

After a few tries of bringing him back, he opens his eyes. He has got a horrible look. I can see the horror inside his eyes.

'I just ask you only one question, do you hear me? Where is Andrew? Just make a favor for once in your life and tell us before passing from this world. Where we can find him?'

He isn't saying anything, but smiling at us. This is the last time I see his terrible smile and his damn face. He is making fun of death even he knows that he is going to die. All the horror inside his eyes is gone now.

'Answer me! Where is him?'

He hardly opens his mouth and says his last words: 'You will never stop him. You don't know anything about what is going on, but don't worry. He will find her and give an end to her life.'

He is looking right at my face while he is saying that. I see the light fading out from his eyes. He gets threaten me once more.

'Fuck! He just needed to give one simple answer. Our biggest connection is lost.'

Aleksey gets very angry and walks back to his car. I am still looking down at his death face. Well... Here we are. Once more, I am the one who wins the round and that is the end of our fight. He cannot be a threat any longer. After he broke into my house, I wanted to kill him right there. I shot him, but I couldn't kill him and for that I was a little bit angry to myself. However, I don't feel any good feelings while I am standing in front of his dead body, but I don't have any pity for him either. Maybe he didn't deserve to die like that, but here he is, lying on the road. Anyway, I feel at ease a little bit, but it doesn't mean that we are safe. They will learn about his death and Andrew will take more caution against us.

'Well, let's turn back to our place. We are not going to learn anything from Vladimir no more. It is a dead end.'

We turn back to the safe house. When we get there, Aleksey gets calm too as I do.

'We will figure something out Aleksey. Vladimir's death is a big trouble for us, but we haven't finished in here yet. There are always other ways to go.'

He doesn't say anything and leaves the car. He goes for a walk on the street. I know he needs some time for himself. His whole plan has gone for nothing. He will think about a new plan, he has to. Until that time, I need to take care of my friends. I want to make a call to Nastja, but I don't have my phone with me. Also, I wonder what Vanja's situation is. Is he better now? As Aleksey has mentioned, Vanja was not in peril of his life. He will get recovered. However, my conscience is still uneasy. How he and Vika turn back to their old and peaceful lives?

I get to the down floor and walk into Vika's room. I haven't talked to her about his husband's condition yet. Maybe she is awake and waiting for me. I have to talk to her and tell everything about Vlad's death. She must get excited about the happenings.

What?! She isn't in her room. Where the hell did she off to? How could she get outside by her own?

One of the Aleksey's men comes next to me and explains me what has happened in there.

'I tried to stop her, but she was really insisted on seeing her husband. I forced her not to leave the safe house, but she continued to get resist. I tried to calm her down until she took my pistol and held it on me.'

How could she do that? She must be really crazy about seeing Vanja. She has gone too far. I have to find her before something happens to her.

'Damn it! So, you let her to go outside. When did she leave? We must be hurry and find her before she puts herself into any trouble.'

'She left like an hour ago. She must have already gone to the hospital. I had to give the name of the hospital while she was holding a gun in her hand. I had no choice, I am sorry.'

I get really pissed off this guy. He just had one job to do and he screw up. If Aleksey learns about his mistake, he can even kill his guy. He can do anything while he is in that mood, full of hatred and disappointed.

'Then why are we standing here? Take me to the hospital right now.'

By the time we get to the hospital, I run inside. I ask the first nurse that I see on the corridor about Vanja. She doesn't know anything about who Vanja is. I cannot control myself and curse at her. How doesn't she know about the patients in her working place?

This time I ask to a doctor and luckily he is remembering Vanja. He says that his wife came here to see him and took him out of the hospital. She signed the papers about discharging the patient.

'I think she took him to their house. When her husband saw her, he became back to his normal life. He overcame from the shock. He can walk easily with the help of his wife. Well, I am just glad that he is okay. There isn't any problem about letting him go.'

I thank the doctor and turn back to the car.

'Aleksey is on the phone and he wants to talk to you.'

Aleksey's guy is holding a phone in his hand. I take the phone and start to talk to him.

'Katja, where are you now? I found a new strategy about finding Andrew. We must act as soon as possible. I am inside of safe house. Be hurry.'

'Okay, I am right on my way. I have something to talk also. It is very urgent. It is about Vika. She has gone with Vanja. I just left the hospital now.'

'That isn't good. She puts herself and Vanja's life in a big danger. There are still some guys try to find them. If they act before us, I don't want to think about what will happen next.'

'Yes me too. She cannot think clearly about what she is doing. Andrew can wait for a while.'

When I return to our place, twenty minutes have already passed. I tried to call Vika and Vanja many times, but they didn't open their phones. I called their home phone too, but no one answered that also. Where could they go? Maybe they are trying to take a plane in order to leave Moscow, but it is too risky. The company might have some guys who are working at the airport and if they have, they will be informed about Vika's and Vanja's escape.

Aleksey is waiting for me in front of the building. He has changed his clothes. He is wearing a black sleeve and clean jeans. On his feet, he has got brown Lacoste shoes.

'We will search for the flights, so that we will find them if they are at the airport or not. I made some calls to the agency for tracking Vika's phone. They will get contact as soon as they find her location.'

Wow, he is taking help from the agency. With his privilege, our job gets very easy. I start to get a little bit envy about his authorization. Maybe I should ask to locate his location. If he still lives in Turkey, by the help of the agency I can find him very easily. All these time, I was waiting a message from e-mail or Skype, but now I have a bigger hope in my hearth about finding him. I can use that privilege for myself too, why not?

'Maybe we should take a look at their house. If they aren't at home, then we can wait for the agency or their return.'

Aleksey nods his head as saying 'very well.' We ride to his car once more and head towards Vika's house. I give the address to Aleksey. Her house isn't very far away from where we are. If we don't get stuck in the traffic, it will take less than half an hour to reach there.

'Okay, that is their house. Let's stop behind that Ford.'

I look at my watch. It is six o'clock. The weather is getting cold as it gets closer to the night. I have a light sweeter on me to keep me warm at night for a little bit at least. I remember the nights at Berlin.

The weather was getting really cold at nights and one day I haven't wore any sweaters or jackets on me, just a t-shirt, but it wasn't a problem for me because I have him next to me. He has given his Hollister to me in order to keep me warm. I like that cloth when he was wearing it after his brown jacket. It didn't look fine on him, because he was looking like Indiana Jones, just his whip and a cowboy hat are missing. Anyway, he was hugging me for whole night while we were sitting on the bench and watching the river under the moonshine. Everything was going very calm and beautiful until it became midnight, the time when we had to turn back to our rooms.

Ah, I really wanted to stay in that place for whole night with him, the last night in Berlin. However, we were forced to go to that party. I asked him to think about a plan, so that just he and I would stay near the river, in our place where nobody could disturb us. I wanted to look into his eyes and wanted him to tell me stories about his life. I just liked to listen to his words. Unfortunately, nothing has gone as I have wished. Maybe we should have escaped into woods and cover our tracks. Then, when it got pretty late, we could just have turned back to our camp. God, we should have really done that. What could be the worst thing that gonna be happened. It could have been our night.

When I turned back to my country, I got very depressed for a few days. I felt myself guilty about that night. Yes, why didn't we make something that we haven't done it before in our lives? It could have been an amazing night, a night to remember forever. I could hardly open Skype and contact with him in those days. Today I am trying to forget about that night, but I know that those memories will never be gone. They are core memories of my life.

Aleksey knocks the door and then rings the bell. There isn't any sound from inside. I look at the living room from the window, but not a small light can be seen. But, wait a minute! I see a movement on the stairs. Someone is coming down to open the door. It is Vika of course, who can it be other than her?

She opens the door for us. She is looking not good. There is something going on, like she gets panicked to see us. Maybe she doesn't wait for us.

'Are you alright Vika? I have heard that you...'

'Yes, I escaped from that place to see my husband again, but he wasn't looking as I expected. He has changed Katja. I cannot understand why is he doing all these? He became cruel and full of anger. Everything happened to him are your mistakes. So, get the hell out of my house before he sees you in here and don't try to call me again.'

'Look, I am still worrying about you and Vanja. We have found Vladimir, but he is dead. Andrew will learn about his death or maybe he has already, so both of us are still in danger. You have to listen to us and as Aleksey has said, you and your husband must leave this city.'

'No! You don't want to understand Katja! Nothing will be fine like in the past. When we got home, he saw all those mess inside of the living room, the blood of mine, broken pictures on the walls... He lost his control and I tried to calm him down. He was repeating that it was all Katja's fault. She destroyed our life, our home and our prosperity. I am afraid that he will get after you and hurt you.'

'Oh Vika, I am really, but really sorry for that. Don't you know that I feel the pricks of conscience? Believe me, I will try my best to give back your happy times with Vanja.'

'Then just leave us alone, alright? Go and find Andrew, then do whatever you want to do, but stay out of our lives.'

I want to calm her down, but Aleksey says her that we were very sorry for disturbing her by getting to her house. He pulls my arm and turns his back. I cannot resist him. He opens the car's door for me and puts me inside. He takes his place on the driver seat and hits the gas. I cast a one last glance at her. She just waves her hand as if she is saying farewell. There is a feeling in my heart as if we will never see each other again. My whole body folds that I cannot continue to look at. I close my eyes and fall asleep.

I open my eyes inside of my room in the safe house. I don't know what time it is or how many hours I was sleeping. I get up and enter to the toilette. I wash my face, and then leave the room. Aleksey and his men are watching news on the small television. It is showing breaking news on CNN.

Aleksey hears my voice and turns his back to look at me. He has got a bad mood.

'Katja, I don't want to say this to you, but your house...'

What has happened to my house? I look at the television screen and see a house on fire. It is mine house!

'As you can see from your televisions, there was a terrible fire in one of the neighborhoods of Smolenskaya. The firefighters took the fire under control and extinguished, but it was too late for the house. The police think that the fire existed because of an explosion. The biggest probability can be gas leakage, but some of them think that it was planned, not an accident. They are trying to search for if there was someone suspicious in the accident scene from the street's cameras. We will share the further details once the police make a proclamation. We are continuing with other news...'

I cannot believe what I have heard in the news. Who could be that person burned my beautiful house? They will pay for that. I am really angry that when Aleksey tries to touch me, I get back and say: 'How could it be possible? I swear, when I find the person whoever did this, I will take care of that person. Do you understand me?'

'Of course I do.'

'I want to go and see my house.'

Aleksey doesn't try to stop me, so he accepts my wish and takes me to my house.

It is still dark at outside. There are no one left on the streets. The entire city has gone for sleep, but while it is in sleep, the evil wakes up. There happen hundreds of evil things going on every night, but most of the people aren't aware of what's going on behind their neighborhoods. There is darkness growing up until the sun shows itself in the east, but what's done is done until dawn.

When we reach to my house, I cannot still believe that this is my house or was my house once. It is remaining in terrible now. Everything inside in there has gone. I get closer to the burned house and enter inside. My whole properties were burned. They are all black and smell terrible. I control myself not to cry. I gave a promise myself not to cry once more until this job is finished. I cannot lose my strength near Aleksey. I take steps inside the living room. I look at my old photos to see if there are any left behind, but I just find one of my photos which were taken when I was with my mother. I take it from the ground and put it inside my pocket.

I go upstairs and enter my bedroom. All my clothes were burned within the wardrobe and my bed too. At least, my safe hasn't got any damage. I enter the password and open it. There is some money, golden jewelries and lastly the letter he has written to me with his own writing in Germany. I take everything that left undamaged and turn back to the down floor. Finally, I search my aquarium, but I cannot see it anywhere. I know that my golden fish cannot be stay alive in fire, but where is the aquarium now? Maybe it got lost under the remains, but it cannot stay in one piece for sure. I get very sad for my fish. This is the fifth one that I have lost until now.

'Did you find what are you hoping for?'

Aleksey stands right behind me. I turn my face towards him and say: 'Hopefully I did. Let's get the hell out of this place.'

'I will find whoever did this for you. I give my word.'

'When you get this person, I just want you to give me some time to have a talk in private. I just want to learn who wanted to do such a horrible thing to me; what is the real reason for that action.'

'You will have your answers. This time we cannot afford to lose one more person. We will get them alive and then we will deal with them.'

While we are going back, Aleksey talks about his new plan, but it has to wait for a while until we find our guy.

'I remember that while I was looking at Vladimir's computer, I found the documents about trades within the last year. As it seems, this one is their third trade which is happening in Turkey. The interesting part is all of them were done with the same people in Istanbul. Their company's name is 'Generous Hands' and their head building is in Kadıköy, one of the well-known places in Istanbul. So, we will start our tracking from there.'

'Hopefully we won't be late until Andrew escapes to a different country. There isn't any news from the agency right?'

He nods his head as saying 'no'. We can still wait a response from them while we are dealing with the attack to my house.

Suddenly, Aleksey's phone starts to ring. I take up his phone to look who is that person. It is an unknown number. I pick up the phone.

'Hello. Am I talking to Aleksey?'

It is Vika's voice. I say to Aleksey that Vika was calling him.

'Hi Vika, it's me, Katja. How did you know this number?'

'I wanted from Aleksey because I knew that I cannot reach you from your phone. What has happened to yours? Anyway, I heard in the news about the fire. I am very sorry for you Katja. I have warned you about Vanja.'

'Are you trying to say that he is the one who did this? But why did he want to do this to me?'

'You didn't understand me Katja. Dammit, he is getting too far. He will destroy everything in your life. This was his first and biggest move. He took one of the most precious things from you, your home.'

'No, he couldn't have done that. After everything I have done for him, is that how he paid his debt? Where is he now?'

'Oh, please Katja just stay out of this. Don't do anything to my husband, I am begging you.'

'Alright I won't, I promise. However we have to find him. He is getting crazier. God knows what he can do as his second act.'

Aleksey takes out his other phone and makes a call to his guy. He wants him to search for Vanja and bring him to us no matter what it costs.

'Look Vika, I have to stop him. I will turn back to you once I find his location. Don't leave your home and don't open your door to anyone except Vanja. If he gets back to the house, call this number again immediately. I lost my phone, so don't try to reach mine. Get it?'

'Yeah I will. Take care yourself Katja, I will be waiting for your call soon enough.'

I close the phone and give it back to Aleksey.

'If Vanja could do such a thing in order to get revenged from you, we need to be extra careful. Maybe he has already learnt about our safe place. He can try to attack us in there too.'

I don't want to believe that Vanja is trying to avenge from me. I know him for a long time and he has never harmed me. He always becomes very kind to his friends and also to his wife's friends as I am. Why does everything turn into disaster? Is it a trial of this life for me? I have experienced so many events within two weeks that I haven't for many years. Everything looks like a terrible joke that was organized very carefully for a long time.

Aleksey's men are waiting for us on the street. When we get out of the car, they get closer and give the latest information about their search for Vanja.

'We have learnt that he had done his second move. He attacked to the Katja's office. Some employers said that they have heard very noisy sounds from the office, but when one of them couldn't resist and went to the office, he has already gone.'

He turns his head toward me. 'He destroyed all your works, your computer and everything once were in there.'

The computer or the documents aren't important for me at all. I don't give a shit about them anymore, but I get worried that if the picture on my desk is still staying as undamaged or not. It is the last picture that I have got from him and keep it for all these years in my office.

'I wonder what will be his next move. Is there anything left that he can destroy in your life Katja?'

'I don't think so. He has taken nearly everything from me by destroying my house, but still I don't think that it is Vanja. It must be Andrew's job. He had to feel terrible about Vladimir's death, so he is trying to get his revenge from us.'

'Well, if you are right, then his next move will be finding my place and it won't be so easy for them.'

'What are we going to do now?'

'We will make a short visit to your workplace of course. I will get the camera records of the building so that it will be a piece of cake to find our guy if he was careless enough.'

He is right. It is time to make our move and get one step in front of our enemies. 'What are we waiting for?'

Aleksey talks to the security about the camera records near the entrance. They let him to look at and take him to a room which is forbidden to enter for everyone except the security. He goes backward of the final records and plays it again when he sees a guy who reaches to the floor where my office is. It is very understandable, but as I was afraid, our guy is Vanja. I close my eyes and say to myself that there had to be some mistakes. He couldn't have done it to me.

Aleksey touches my arm and says: 'I am sorry Katja, but it is him. We don't have any doubts about him anymore. He has to be stopped in one way or another.'

I open my eyes and look into his eyes.

'You won't harm him, will you? I gave my word to Vika. I cannot go back on my word, not when this is about my closest friend.'

'Then let's hope he won't do such a stupid move as his next one that forces us to invoke violence.'

He thanks to the security for the records. Before we leave the building, I want to go to my office and see if the picture is still on my desk. I say that I had to check something at my office. While Aleksey leaves the building, I get to the elevator and go up to the sixth floor.

My office looks like a battlefield. The bookshelves, my desk, my computer... Everything was broken. His photo is lying on the ground. The window frame was shattered into pieces, but at least the photo looks fine. I take it up and put it into my pocket. I don't think that I need to take anything other than this, so I can leave my office for the last time and never come back again.

I get to the outside. Aleksey is inside his car, waiting for me. When I get in his car, his phone starts to ring again.

'Yes? Alright, we will handle that. Thank you for calling us back.'

He says that it was Vika. It looks we have got a trouble.

'What did she say exactly?'

'Her husband called her about five minutes ago. He wanted to learn our location, so Vika had to give our address. He can be there in any minute. We have to be quick before he can destroy our place too or worse, before killing my men in there.'

He drives very fast back to the safe house. He wants me to take his pistol from the torpedo just in case. It is the last thing that I want to do, but I have to protect myself also. That's why I take the pistol, forcing myself to do that. I check its magazine and see that it is full.

Once we reach, it is too late. Vanja has already been here. There are death people on the floor. Aleksey examines one of the corpses quickly. I can see that he has been shot from his head.

'When he opened the door for Vanja, it was just a second to get shot. He couldn't even have time to reach out his pistol.'

There are some sounds coming from inside. Aleksey takes out his gun and warns me about being very quiet. We slowly walk into main room. I see a shadow on the wall. He is trying to burn the entire place.

'Stop right there! It is over Vanja. You have finally found me. Let's have a talk in private, just you and me alright?'

I am pointing my gun at his body. He turns his back slowly and looks into my eyes. He has an evil look in his eyes. I don't get it why he is angry too much to me. It is not the same Vanja that I remember. I feel very sad for him but more for Vika. She hasn't deserved a life like that. She must feel enough pain that she has never felt before.

He has his gun in his hand. When he sees that both Aleksey and I are pointing our guns, he doesn't hesitate for a second and holds his gun directly at me. He hasn't got any fears of being shot. He must be completely getting mad if he really wants to shoot me.

'There you are Katja. I have been searching for you until I found your secret place. Tell me, how are you feeling after everything you caused us? What was our guilt that we came under all these tragic events? Oh, I think I know the answer. You are the only reason for everything. I lost my hand, my wife got paranoid and the worst of them, I became a killer. Really, I didn't want to kill any of these guys, but they didn't let me any other chance. I had to kill all these guys in order to find you and here we are.'

'Yes, you are right. I fucked up lots of things. I am the reason for losing your hand, getting you tortured, destroying your peaceful life and your wife's too, but believe me. I got suffered too much also and I am feeling guilty for everything I have caused on you and Vika in every minute. I know it is a very hard time to forget about all these, but you can continue to live once you did just a month ago.'

'No! My life will never be the same. You destroyed the peace of my home. There is only one thing that needs to be done and nothing can stop me from doing it. Shoot me if you can, but I won't let you to stand on my way. I will see your suffering before I can say goodbye to my beloved wife.'

'What about the things that you have done for your revenge? You are the one who destroyed my home, took very valuable things from me and killed my fish. I loved her so much. You are mad!'

'You have deserved it Katja! If you take something very valuable for me, I will take yours. That's how it works. By the way, I didn't kill your fish. Lucky for her, I love golden fish as you do. They are one of my favorite animals too, so I couldn't let your fish to get died in the fire.'

'So where is it now? What did you do to my golden fish?'

'I left it to your neighbor. I said him that Katja had some problems that she wouldn't come back to her house for a long time. So, I asked him if he could take care about your fish and he didn't say anything about it.'

'So my golden fish is still alive. I should say thanks to you, but after destroying my house into the ground, I cannot say that I am appreciated for your concern about fish. After all, you deserve punishment for your crimes.'

Aleksey enters into the discussion.

'Now listen to me Vanja! I don't want to harm you. Katja gave a word to her friend that nothing would be happened to you, but you are forcing me to do it. Don't let me to have any other chance, but shooting you. Put your gun down! I promise that I will let you go and try to ignore about my men's death.'

'Look Vanja, we are on the same side. Andrew and his boss are the main reason for all those sufferings. I am a target for them just like you. They tried to have control on Vika, so that she could kill me, but she didn't. They realized that their plans about you and Vika were failures. We don't know about their next move, but we can take precautions if we stop fighting with each other.'

'Don't use your boss as an excuse to show yourself as innocent. I heard all the conversation in that place when I was kidnapped. Those guys were talking about getting rid of you and your friends, but they said to me that the reason that I was there was you.'

'They tried to confuse your mind and showed me as your real enemy. How can be so foolish to think like that as they wanted you to?'

'That's enough! We have talked enough. Let's finish this.'

He is going to shot me and I don't know what to do. I cannot continue to aim my gun at him. The tears inside my eyes are dropping. I crumble my eyes with my left hand's fingers. Suddenly, there is gun fire.

Everything happens so quickly that I don't have enough time to open my mouth or stop Aleksey. Before Vanja pulls the trigger, Aleksey acts faster than him. The gun fire comes from Aleksey's pistol. He shots Vanja from his stomach, but at that time Vanja makes his shot too. The bullet is stuck into my stomach. Luckily, it doesn't get into deep. I put my left hand on the wound and see that I am bleeding. My hand gets bloody. When I see my blood, I start to feel the pain. I cannot stand on my feet.

Aleksey catches me before I fall. He looks at my wound and says me to take deep breaths. While he is taking care of me, I try to warn him about Vanja. He is standing behind Aleksey and still aiming his gun at me. I don't have any other chance but to shoot him while still I can hold the gun in my right hand. It is an instantaneous reflex that I protect myself by shooting him.

Aleksey turns his head back to look at Vanja. I cannot believe that I had to shoot him. He looks into my eyes and there I see the same fear that I have seen in Vlad's eyes too. It is the fear of passing from this world, fear of obscurity and oblivion.

He can continue to stay on his feet for a little while after getting shot, but in the end he is lying on the floor. He spits blood while staring at me. Aleksey takes his gun from the floor before he can reach it. I try to get closer to him and keep him alive as much as possible, but I cannot even lift my arm. We are just staring at each other. I try not to look into his eyes, but I am hypnotized by his look. I continue to stare at him until he gives his final breath and closes his eyes.

Aleksey tries to bring him back, but it is too late for him and he knows that too. But still he keeps continuing.

'He is death! He is fucking death! There is nothing we can do for him now. I killed him, killed my closest friend's husband. How am I supposed to tell Vika about his death? There is no apologizing for that action.'

He comes next to me again and takes me into his arms. He carries me outside and puts me to the back seat of Porsche. He starts the engine and takes me to the hospital. He is asking me about how I am feeling back there. Is he really serious about that question? How should I feel? I become a killer like Aleksey. I had to kill someone for the first time. I feel sick and have a headache. I try to close my eyes and rest for a while until we reach to the hospital, but when I close my eyes, I'm seeing Vanja's death face and his blood on him. I kill the innocent sleep. There are no more good dreams for me, but only nightmares.

The doctor takes care about my wound. He takes out the bullet without any problem. It doesn't hurt so much. He starts to sew the wound. It just takes a few minutes.

'You were very lucky that the bullet didn't hit any of your vital organs. It just scraped your stomach a little bit and it didn't stab deeply. Your wound will heal up in a few weeks. Don't push yourself too much; otherwise it will hurt you more. If it starts to bleed again, come back to the hospital as soon as possible and I will figure out something different, but I don't think that it will be happened. Get well soon.'

I am lying on a bed and Aleksey is standing next to the window. He thanks the doctor for taking care about me. The doctor wants him to have a conversation privately. They leave the room and talk to each other next to the door. I try to give my all concentration to hear their conversation. I can hear some parts of the doctor's saying.

'One day you will let her to get killed. This time the luck was in your side, but you cannot continue to put her life in danger. I am trying to warn you as a friend Aleksey. Just think about it for once.'

'I know what I am doing doctor, everything will be fine as soon as we finish our job. She can continue to live like in her old days again.'

'We both know that she won't be the same again. Whatever you are planning to do, I hope it is the best for both of you. She isn't like you. It isn't a life that she can get used to.'

That's all I can hear. Aleksey tries to be optimistic and doesn't want to think about the side effects of his actions. That's how he stands strong all these time. He ignores some parts of the truth. Maybe that's what I need to do also, convince myself about losing him forever many years ago. He won't turn back to me, so why am I supposed to have faith on him?

Aleksey enters back into the room and comes next to me.

'I am sorry for that. I should have stopped him before he could have a chance to shoot you. I know that it will be very hard for you but you have to stop thinking about killing him. You just protected yourself as a reflex. Everyone would do the same thing in a case like you were in.'

'Still that doesn't show that I am innocent. I have given a promise to her for keeping Vanja alive, but...'

I start to weep. Aleksey hugs me and tries to calm me down.

'Don't think like that. You are not a murderer Katja. I will talk to Vika and explain what's happened to her husband. I will say her that I have killed him.'

'No! I cannot let you lie to her. It is my responsible. That's why, I have to talk to her and tell the truth about Vanja's death.'

I scrub my tears with back of my hand and try to get up from the bed. At first, Aleksey tries to stop me, but then I say him that we couldn't stay here for all day. He gives me right and helps me to get out from the hospital.

I am still wearing his pink t-shirt which is covered with blood. It looks very nasty, but I cannot throw it into the bin as an ordinary cloth. One day, I will clean that shirt and put it to its old place in my wardrobe (I mean a new wardrobe after remembering my house's condition). Few years later, I will look at it again, see the bullet hole and remember today, the day when I lost one of my friends completely.

When we get back to the car I say him I had to make a visit to Vika's house. He drives the car to her house. While he is driving the car he makes a call.

'It's me Aleksey. We had a trouble. I need you to clean up the mess inside my place. You know the address right? Good, good. No, still waiting for the agency, but we will fly to Istanbul very soon. I have some other plans. I think I found a connection which shows us where to start in there. Let me know when you finish the job. Thanks, goodbye.'

He explains me briefly that one of his friends would help us to get rid off the bodies. He adds that he would bring Vanja's death body to Vika so that he could have a proper funeral. About the other bodies, they are going to be erased from this world and he really means that.

'Are you really capable of doing this? I can come with you inside, you know that. She will get mad and probably try to hurt you again.'

'I am the only person that left close to her right now. She will need her friends more than ever. I hope she won't hurt herself this time.'

I get out of the car and pass the street. My legs are shaking as my whole body trembles. Each step that I am taking gets harder and harder as if I cannot reach the door. I take some deep breaths and think about the words I am going to say to her, but when I raise my arm to knock the door, I stop for a second. What am I supposed to say her? How can I apologize for my actions and forgive myself? There is no other way, but to tell the truth and wait for her reaction.

Finally, I knock the door and wait for her, for everything that is going to be happened. It is too late for turning back now. I can hear her footsteps. I feel that I am getting closer to the inevitable ending.

'Hello Katja. Are you alright? You came here to talk about my husband, didn't you? Where is he now? What has happened between each of you?'

She is getting more worried every second that have passed. I don't know where to start my speech, so I just decide to tell directly what has happened.

'There isn't any easier way to tell this, but Vanja is death. I am really sorry Vika, I couldn't stop him. He got really mad at me for everything and shot me. Before he could make his second shot, I didn't have any other choice but to take him down. I didn't do it purposely, believe me. It was just an instantaneous reflex.'

Her face becomes white as a ghost. She can hardly stand on her feet, leaning to the door. There are tears down her face.

'Katja... No, no, no! You cannot mean that! You couldn't have done something like that. You are lying to me in order to show yourself as guilty in front of my eyes and protect your friend Aleksey. It was him right? He is a god damn murderer and the one who killed my husband, because it was his job to do.'

'You are completely wrong Vika. I am telling the truth. I gave a promise to you, but I couldn't keep my promise. If you never want to see my face again, I can get it. However I am hoping that one day you can forgive me.'

She doesn't talk for a while. I start to think that she is in shock. I reach out my hand, but she flinches. She gets back a few steps and curses at me.

'You are a monster just like him. You have cursed my life and brought destruction to this house. I should kill you right now because of killing my husband, but I won't. I won't be a murderer like you Katja. You will have that pain for all your life and it will bring a worse death to you than just getting murdered. You and your friend will pay for that.'

I cannot look into her face any longer. She is totally right. I am doomed and a murderer. I will have that pain for my entire life and there is nothing that I can make myself feel better about it. I turn my back and walk away. I wish that our friendship hadn't ended like that. I wish, I hadn't shot him twice, but brought him to a hospital. At least, he would have been living right now.

I get back to the car and say nothing Aleksey. He doesn't need to ask about how it went, so he drives away from her house. We are turning back to his safe house. After a short time that has passed completely quite, he starts to talk about our next move.

'It is time to get concentrated about Andrew. I've talked about a company as you remember, which is in Istanbul, made some trades with Naviance Company within last year. I have some friends who will meet with us in Turkey. They will help us for finding Andrew and the others behind this job. If the luck is on our side, they won't have any chance to realize that they have been caught in the act. We will show their true faces to the public so that everyone will know who they really are. I...'

He jams and stops the car sharply. I am nearly standing out to outside of the car. I ask him why he did that, but he isn't listening to me. He is staring at someone who is standing in the cross street. I look at the same person that he is staring at. He is a tall guy, wearing sunglasses and a baseball hat. He has got a black jacket on him and his hands are inside the pockets. There is a strange look in his face like he is staring at us too, but I am not so sure while he has got sunglasses.

'Shit! We have to get out of here! We don't have too much time. Get ready your gun.'

He reverses the car and hits the gas. He makes a sudden turn to the back and then drives away as fast as possible.

'Who the fuck was that person? Why are we escaping from him?'

He always checks the mirrors to see our back. It looks like that person frightens him enough to soil his underclothes.

'He has sent for us and he is right here in Moscow to kill us. We have to take everything we need from the safe house and leave this country immediately, before he has a chance.'

'What are you talking about? You are an agent for God's sake and now you are escaping like a drug dealer who is trying to escape from the police.'

'Believe me I don't have any chance but to run away against him. It was Yuri, the guy I have told you about back in Vladimir's office.'

'What? Are you sure about this?'

'I know what I have seen back there. I know this guy very well. That was my biggest fear and it came true. Andrew must have very powerful people in his back if they could get over Yuri to their side.'

'So how are we supposed to stop this guy?'

'That's the biggest trouble. You can't. He is undefeatable. He isn't an ordinary man like me or any other agent from MI6. He is the real James Bond.'

'That's ridiculous. Everyone can be defeated. You are exaggerating his abilities. If he is a person like you said, then why are we escaping from him? Somehow he will finish his job, so trying to escape to Turkey isn't a salvation.'

'No, he wouldn't know where we are once we land Turkey. It is nearly impossible to find someone's tracks in that crowded city.'

'But he found us in Moscow.'

'Yes he did, but Andrew already knows about where you are living, working and your friend's house too. I mean, he has got enough locations under his hand and he must have given all the information to Yuri before he found us.'

Aleksey is right. Andrew knows too much about our actions. It shouldn't be so hard for him to find us in this city, because we always hang in the safe places. However, they don't have any ideas about where we can be in Istanbul and who will help us or what are we planning to do.

'Katja, I want you to enter safe house and take everything which stays on the table and the other stuffs like your luggage and mine also. The passports and the money are in my wallet which must be on the table. I will wait for you and have a watch.'

'No, I cannot go down there. He is still lying on the floor. I don't know if my stomach can bear the screen once more. It was horrible.'

'My friend has already cleaned up the mess while you were talking to Vika. He called me back and said that it was done. Look, if you hear any gun shots, just run as fast as possible from the back door and call this number. They will help you to fly to Turkey and find Andrew.'

He gives me a card that writes a telephone number. I put it inside my pocket.

'Come on, nothing will happen to you. You cannot leave me now. You know that I cannot win this fight against Andrew without your help. If he finds us, just hit the gas and horn so that I will understand what is going on.'

'Alright, but don't try to save me because you don't have any chance against Yuri. I will try to stop him as much as I can, but it won't get enough.'

Once we arrive, I get out of the car and try to act as fast as I can. I take down the stairs and head to the locked door. Aleksey has given me the keys of the front door. I unlock the door and enter inside. There are still dead bodies lying on the floor. Apparently, Aleksey's friend hasn't arrived yet. He was lying to me. What if he has been lying to me since he came up again as showing himself as a different guy in order to gain my trust? That isn't his first time.

In the past, while we were having date, he had to lie to me sometimes about his job or appointments or whom he was hanging with. I always got angry to his attitude, but he was right sometimes. He didn't want me to wonder about him too much or to have misunderstandings, but there is something that he doesn't know. His lies were hurting me more than the truth. After all, Aleksey is not like him. He has never lied to me while we were together or when we turned back to our own countries. That's why I still hope for his return. His honesty is one of his best characters that I like at most. He has never felt the necessity of being a liar in my eyes.

I hop from the death bodies and see Vanja's body. He is still lying there as we left. The only difference is it stops bleeding and his skin gets whiter. I force myself not to think as if he is still there, but even seeing his death body is enough for my stomach getting sick.

I don't have too much time, so I consider about taking our stuff and leave this damn place for the last time, not to come back again. I look at the table which stands in the middle of the room. There is Aleksey's wallet. I take it out from the table and run to my room. I take my luggage and then his luggage from his room. I check everything twice in order to make sure that nothing left behind. It looks like I don't miss anything that we need, so I leave the safe house. I lock the front door again and get out of the building.

There he is, still waiting for me. It means that there is nothing to be afraid for now. I put all our prompts to the back and take my seat again. Before I give him the wallet, I ask him why he lied to me about getting rid off the bodies.

'Will you always be a liar to me? When can I start to trust you without having a single doubt in my mind? You were lying to me before. Do you remember those days?'

'Yes I lied to you, because you had to listen to me and do whatever I say to you. Don't act as a child. About those days, of course I remember those times when I had to lie to you. You know that sometimes it is the best for both of us to keep the inevitable events for ourselves. That's how we are living in this world; lie to each other in order to keep the peace and regularity. Now, let me have my wallet.'

He looks inside his wallet and gets shocked.

'There aren't any passports! Shit, where are they? Did you see them somewhere?'

I'm in shock also. I remember that Aleksey brought my passport from my house by sending one of his guys, but I am sure that he took it from his man. I haven't taken it from Aleksey either. So where can they be or who could take them?

'I will go down and check everywhere again.'

This time, he also gets out of the car to come with me. We enter back inside and search every corner of the rooms. We search the pockets of the dead bodies too. I don't know how much time we have spent to find our passports, but we get sure that they aren't in here. Somebody must have taken it, but whom?

'I am trying to remember what could have been happened to them, but it is impossible that someone could steal from us. They must be in my wallet.'

'Let's get out of here and look inside your luggage. Maybe one of your men put it into your luggage in case of something might be happened to your wallet.'

'Yes, you can be right. But if they aren't in there also, we definitely fucked up.'

Once we turn back to Porsche, he opens his luggage and starts to take out everything from it. There are some clean clothes, some cash, ammo for pistols and a metal bag which contains his silenced 9mm pistols. Unfortunately, our passports aren't inside the luggage also.

'Are you searching for something? Luckily, I know what you have lost.'

A guy is talking to us and holding something in his hand. When I look carefully at him, I realize that he is the same guy with his sun glasses and his black jacket. We have a big trouble, because that guy, who is standing right in front of us, is Yuri. He is holding our passports and showing them.

'Why did you run away from me as if you have seen a death man? I know that each of you have grown used to see death men, killing them without any hesitations. You don't need to be afraid of me. I am just a normal guy just like you.'

'I know who you are and why you are here. You were a MI6 agent once, the best one in your class. However, you were sent here to kill us. For you, it is a new contract need to be done, isn't it?'

'You know my name then, don't you? Yes, I am that guy who was sent here to kill both of you. I think you know that I have never failed while I was on duty too. Anyway, I don't want to kill a beautiful woman like you honey, but the duty calls. It will be one of the worst moments in my life after I kill you.'

I have to continue talking and make him talk to me. I believe that Aleksey will save us in any minute.

'Wait a minute! I just wonder, how did Andrew have contact with you and what will be your prize for this job? Also, how did you manage to take our passports while the door was locked?'

'Are you serious? You are a very funny woman. Well, have you ever watched some agent movies? It will be too bad for you if you haven't. About Andrew, I don't know him. I just heard his name. He wasn't the one who gave that job to me, but he helped me somehow. As you understand, you are wrong about him. I've never seen his face, but soon I will, after bringing your death bodies to him.'

He takes out his gun and aims at my face. I cannot breathe or move as if I get paralyzed. I pray for a miracle that will save us in that moment. I turn my face to Aleksey and give him a final look before I close my eyes for eternity. However, he is looking into Yuri's eyes and he starts to laugh at him.

'What's the matter? Is there something funny about getting killed?'

He continues to laugh and laugh until he cannot breathe because of laughing.

'I have never thought that I will be the first person who gets you, the legendary MI6 agent Yuri Romanovskaya. It cannot be a better timing for that.'

'For what?'

There is a car which is coming very hastily upon Yuri. Before he can turn his back to realize what is coming upon him, the car hits him and stops in front of us. He gets a heavy wound with that crush, plunges back of the car and drops our passport with his gun too.

The driver inside the car gets out and takes out his gun. Aleksey runs for the passports. He picks them up and Yuri's gun from the ground. He turns back and orders me to get inside the car. At that time, the driver talks to Aleksey and starts to shoot Yuri.

'I will deal with him. You guys just go and don't get worried about me. I will buy you some time.'

Aleksey says: 'I owe you one. Thanks for the perfect timing. Goodbye my old friend.'

We get back to Porsche and get ready to leave. However Yuri has already got up on his feet and takes out his second gun from his back. He aims at Aleksey and makes his shot. I warn Aleksey and help him to take cover. In the last second, I save his life from that shot which hits the front glass of the car and then gets stuck into driver's seat.

Aleksey hits the gas and gets us out of Yuri's range. I turn my back to see what is going on. Yuri gets shot, but he can still stand on his feet and hold his gun. He makes another shot and shoots the driver. Then they start to hit each other's face with their fists. Yuri is fighting as if the bullet hasn't hit his body. He is a very tough guy. It looks like there isn't any chance for the driver against him.

Aleksey turns right to the down alley and it is all that I can see. He tells me about that guy who came to help us.

'That was my friend who had to be in there to take the bodies and clean that all mess in my place. Luckily, he was late and came just in time to save our lives. I don't want to say that but he sacrificed himself for us back in there. He cannot stop Yuri.'

'Maybe he can and he did. I saw him that he shot Yuri and punched his face. Maybe Yuri isn't as well as you think.'

'Come on, you have seen that crush. It was impossible to stay alive with that hit. Even you got survived from that crush; no one could stand up and continue to fight within a few seconds. By the way, he missed the shot. I know that Yuri has body armor under his clothes, a very strong one that no pistols bullet can penetrate. It is a very special production that only is given to best field agents and we don't have any one of them in our agency. Not a single one. Right now, we have got another problem which is we don't have anywhere to stay until our flight to Turkey.'

'Wait, I know where we can stay for tonight. Go to Nastja's house, she cannot refuse us. She is the only person who is close to us.'

We get to her house at 8 p.m. Aleksey parks his car while I go to the entrance and knock the door. Within a few seconds, she opens the door and gets very surprised to see me in front of her.

'My God, Katja what has happened to you? You look terrible. Did you get shot? You are wearing a bloody t-shirt. Let's get you inside.'

'I really need your help; actually we both need your help.'

Aleksey gets inside the house too and shuts the door. Nastja doesn't look happy to see his face, but she doesn't say anything to him. She is looking into my face with her uneasy look. We enter to the living room and sit on chairs.

She is living alone in her house; that's why it isn't a big house as Vika's or mine. It has just two rooms, one bathroom, a small kitchen and a lovely living room. She likes painting and there are some interesting paintings on the walls. One of them is the famous painter Dino's which is called as 'The Picture of Happiness'. There is a big family who are sleeping on a single bed with lots of children, parents and also a dog. There is sunshine coming inside from a single window which illustrates the morning.

There is a small television, a bookshelf, a dinner table with four chairs, an air conditioner and a sofa inside the living room. She puts some photos from her graduation party or the places she has gone like Paris, Munich and other big cities around Europe.

She brings us some water and asks: 'When it was the last time you ate something?'

That is a good question to ask. I really don't remember when it was or what it was, but I know that I'm starving right now. It is more than a day that I haven't got any time to eat something in all that rush.

I ask her if she has got any food for us. She says yes and brings some sandwiches with Russian salad and some potatoes which have left from yesterday. Aleksey and I eat our food very quickly like wild animals. It doesn't even take ten minutes to finish our meal. Then, I start to explain why we are here and what we are going to do.

She listens to the entire story and then she says that she would gladly be happy to help us by letting us to stay tonight in here. I thank her so much for her understanding.

'Katja, if you want to have a shower, you can use the bathroom as you wish. I will give you some clean clothes.'

'That won't be necessary Nastja. We have already brought our bags with us. I have my own clothes but thank you.'

Aleksey says that he would go to the car to bring our bags while I was having shower. He would put my luggage inside the room.

While I am taking a wonderful shower, I feel myself very tired. Every part of my body is hurting, especially my stomach because of the wound. I stay a little bit long under the warm water and finally get out of the shower. I dry my whole body with a towel and then go inside the room to wear some clean clothes.

The room is a very tiny room which has got only a small bed and wardrobe. There aren't any pictures or paintings around the room, but only a photo album next to the bed. After getting dressed, I take the album into my hands and look at the old photos of Nastja's one by one. There are some photos from her childhood on the first pages, but when I come to the middle, I see our photos when we were seventeen. The time when we were meeting in pubs, hanging in the parks or having fun at one of our friend's house... These are the best memories that left from those years.

One of the photos draws my attention more than any others. It was taken on the street when me, Nastja and our two other friends were together. The reason why I like that photo is we were all wearing the same cloth, a t-shirt of Minions. It looks wonderful on us in that photo. I cannot stop myself, but I take that photo from her album and put it inside my luggage. She has dozens of similar photos of us in her album, so she won't even realize that one of them is missing. I haven't got any photos like this one in my house nor in my any technological devices (as if I have got them still). All of them have burned in that fire. I have no telephone, no computer and no photo albums left. It really sucks. Nastja is really lucky to have these photos in her album.

'Katja, are you okay in there? You are inside the room for too long.'

It is Nastja, who knocks the door, waiting an answer from me.

'I'm just coming outside. I was lost in thoughts, but I'm fine.'

I hear her footsteps getting decrease. I put the photo album back to its place and leave the room. I take my place next to Aleksey on the sofa. He is drinking vodka with Nastja. I must admit that I am surprised to see a moment like that. We barely escaped from getting killed and still we aren't in safe as long as Yuri is after us. However, he is drinking alcohol and acting like as if nothing has happened to us. I cannot understand how he can be so relax in this situation.

'You smell wonderful Katja. What shampoo did you used to wash your hair? I really like its smell. Anyway, we were having conversation until you came up. Come and have some drink.'

He finishes all his glass of vodka and puts some more. I warn him about not to drink too much, but he says that it was for me. He holds the glass for me to take it, but I nod my head as saying 'no'. I can't still forget about that party when I got really drunk and what has happened between our relations after that. I cannot drink any alcohols and put myself into that condition next to him once more.

'Aleksey was telling me about what he has discovered about Andrew's plans. As I learnt a few minutes ago, you had Vladimir and lost him because of the car accident. So, you have got nothing about Andrew's location and worse than that, there is a serial killer after you. You cannot stay in this city for one more day.'

'We are aware of that, but no matter what, this city is my home and no one can take my home from me. After this is over, I will come back again and open a new page in my life.'

We keep talking until late hours. Nastja looks at the clock and says that it was coming to 1 a.m. She leaves us alone in order to go to sleep and says good night for us. In a few seconds, I say the same thing and gets up from the sofa. Aleksey says that he would sleep on the sofa. I say good night for him too and go inside the tiny room. When I lean on the bed, I fall asleep in a short time.

In the morning, I wake up because of Aleksey's voice coming outside of the room. He wakes me up and says that Nastja had something to show me which must have been important for me.

I was just seeing a strange dream which is also a little bit scary. There was Vladimir, Vanja and Vika in my dream. First, I was chatting with Vika in her house. Suddenly, the front door was opened and Vanja entered to the house. I was shocked to see him alive. Somehow I knew that he was death, but he said that it was a nightmare. I told him about killing him, but he and Vika just laughed when they heard that story. After a while, all the lights went out and there was someone right behind me. I could feel his breathing. When I saw his face in the darkness, he was Vladimir. His face was covered in blood and there were scars on his face after the accident. He warned me about what I have done to his face. I would be punished for my actions, but the most interesting part was that Andrew wasn't my biggest enemy actually, but someone else who was very close to me a long time ago.

The first person came to my head was him, the one who loved me and gave me a promise to see each other again someday. But, he can't be that person. Why did he want to kill me after all? I asked Vladimir about what he tried to say exactly, but he just said the same words over and over again: 'Think about your sins.' Before I could have more clear answers, Vanja shot him with his gun and said: 'He was just a freak, who tried to scare you. You haven't done anything wrong. It's all over now.'

I was just thinking about what he tried to mean by his words. At that time, I heard a familiar voice who was calling my name and that's how my dream ended up.

I get up and say Aleksey that I have already waken up. I try to get to myself, but I am still thinking about the dream. Vlad was trying to give me a message or a warning about somebody, but that person isn't Andrew as I am thinking. Maybe he was true by saying that the real problem isn't Andrew. There has to be someone who has got more power to control everyone, including Yuri too. The real purpose is to find that guy, but for that we have to get Andrew in order to reach our real enemy.

I go inside the bathroom and wash my face. I look into my eyes on the mirror and then check my sewing of the wound. It looks normal, like how it was on yesterday. When I finish my job in the bathroom, I go to the living room.

Nastja has already prepared a breakfast for us. There are boiled eggs, bread, butter and honey on the table. She says me good morning and asks what I was going to drink.

'I can drink coffee with milk. Thank you for the breakfast by the way.'

'You are welcome. It is like in the old days, isn't it? When you have stayed at my house and we were watching thriller movies until very late hours.'

'Yeah, but you forget Vika. Without her, we couldn't have fun that much. I hope we will have some time to have fun one day. We will recover the old times.'

'You are right. We haven't had fun all together for a long time.'

I sit on a chair and start to have breakfast. Nastja brings my coffee when it gets ready and takes her seat in front of me.

'I saw your photo album inside the room. You have kept very precious photos from old good times which remind me our strong friendship. I really admire you for that.'

She smiles at me and takes a drink from her coffee.

'All these photos are parts of our lives which are worth to remember. I couldn't risk forgetting those memories. That's why, I decided to make an album, starting from my childhood up to this time. We can make some copies of our photos if there are some you want to have for yourself also.'

'Maybe I can think about that later.'

We continue to have our breakfast and then Aleksey enters into our discussion.

'Well, I am still waiting for your news which must be very important for us Nastja.'

'Oh yes, I almost forgot about that. You guys lucky to have this...'

She opens his I Pad and shows some photos to us. They are black and white photos, but when I look at the date, it shows that they were taken two days ago.

'I have got a friend in the research department. The day when you have explained me about who Andrew is and their dirty works...'

'And our plan about finding him in order to reach the big boss behind those works.'

'And about that too, I thought that I might have some help for you. So, I called my friend and made a request about the location of Andrew. I gave any information in order to make his job easier and the next day, he made a favor by finding him.'

Aleksey looks carefully at the photos.

'There is also a video record which takes one minute.'

She plays the record. As she mentions, it just takes one minute, but it gives enough information for the beginning of our search. In the video, Andrew and another guy are talking inside of a building which looks very similar to a hospital. There were some doctors passing next to them. Unfortunately, we couldn't hear what they were talking because of no sound.

'Can you make a zoom into that picture?'

She does as Aleksey requests. The person, who was talking to Andrew, has glasses on his face. He looks like he is in 20's, maximal 30 years old. He has got neither beard nor moustache. He has short haircut.

'Who is that person?'

I turn to Aleksey while waiting for an answer from him. He nods his head and says: 'I haven't seen him before. He is unfamiliar to me.'

'Well you guys have to thank me for investigating his identity also. His name is Emre Yılmaz, a Turkish guy who is 28 years old. He is living in Istanbul, but he entered to Russia for many times within past a few years. Actually, he is a joint owner of a famous hospital in Turkey which is called 'Acıbadem'.'

'Wow that is explaining much about his relation between Andrew. It seems that he is trying to make that trade with Andrew, but for some reasons they couldn't get on an agreement. Maybe Andrew was trying to persuade his customer by talking face to face. We have to find that guy by making a visit to that hospital.'

Aleksey is thinking very deeply about the situation. He gives me right, but he is suspecting from another events.

'If they were trying to sell the drugs to Acıbadem Hospital, then why did they make many trades with the Generous Hands Company within last year? It doesn't make too much sense, don't you think? Whoever this guy is, he must know the answers to our questions.'

'So we know what we should do as our first move in Turkey. We will talk to that joint owner, Emre Yılmaz and see if he can help us. Also, his flights to Russia are a big evidence for the cooperation with Russians.'

'That is another question to be answered. Anyway, our flight is at 1 o'clock in the midday. We don't have too much time left.'

I thank to Nastja for her favor. As she said, these photos are very important for us. Finally, we get a clue about Andrew and his customers. If they haven't agreed on the process of the trade yet, we will have enough time to get him in Istanbul.

I change my clothes and put everything back into my luggage. Aleksey is waiting for me in front of the outside door. I take my luggage and leave the house.

'I will be in touch with you Nastja. I hope we will see each other again soon.'

'Take care about yourself back there. I hope you will get that son of a bitch before he has got any change to escape this time. Also, be very careful about the guys after you.'

We hug each other and say farewell. Aleksey puts his luggage and mine into his car and gets ready for the drive. I wave at Nastja one last time before getting inside the car. He controls our passports one more time and starts to drive for the airport.

'What do you think about your friend and Yuri? Can he find us in Turkey also?'

'I was thinking about him before I got sleep. If my friend was still alive, he would definitely make a call to me until now. I looked at my phone this morning and saw that the agency will send some agents for helping us in Istanbul. They realize that this job is getting a serious problem not for only Russia, but for the other nations too. When we get there, they will have contact with us.'

It is a good thing to hear from Aleksey. We made a great start this morning. Everything goes as I want for now, but the dream, which I saw yesterday, is still bothering me. I get really curious about whom that person could be, but I know that we are getting closer to the answers of my questions.

Eventually, we get ready for the flight and arrive at Sheremetyevo Airport. There is two and a half hours for the departure, but it is a routine procedure, to go to airport before two hours for an international flight.

Aleksey parks his car a little bit far away from the entrance, because the airport's parking lot is very big that it is nearly impossible to find a place which is the closest to the terminal. That's why we have to walk for a few minutes until we get into international terminal.

I ask him about how he would manage to take his pistols with him on the plane and he smiles at me.

'Just watch and learn how to do it.'

While he is passing from the control, the security guys open his luggage and take out the bag which contains pistols. They want him to open the bag so he does. Before they can say anything to him, he shows his identity card and states that he is from a European Agency. The officers check his card and his ID. As it seems, everything looks normal. So he can easily pass the security and put his bag inside the luggage back again.

After delivering up our bags and receiving the tickets of the flight, we go to the passport check zone. I pass the check firstly and wait for Aleksey. His control takes a little bit longer than the other people. The people behind the line start to get whimpering and enter into different lines. I'm worrying about him. What if they don't let him pass? No, that's ridiculous. He is a secret agent from Europe and these guys have access to enter every country with their identities. Or it should be as it is in the movies.

When his job is finished and passes the control without having a problem, he looks a little bit angry.

'That guy is a real dick head. He was making calls for someone from higher position and asked some silly questions about my passport. I've entered into many different countries, hundreds of times, but this one took the longest thank for that guy. They have to choose better workers for this job or enlighten them.'

'It's okay now. Don't make it a big discussion. Look, we still have plenty of time for the flight. Shall we drink something in that café?'

He says that it was a good idea to spend our time. I get a cappuccino and he gets an espresso as a hot drink. Until our flight, I start to get some information about the city that we are travelling to. I look for what to eat, where to eat, which places are the best for tourists and of course a little bit of its history. Actually, you cannot learn everything about Istanbul in a few hours just by surfing on Internet or reading guide tour books about the city. It has got a deeper history.

For hundreds of years, it was the capitol of one of the biggest empires of the history, the Ottoman Empire. When Ottomans have conquered Constantinople, which is the old name of Istanbul, they have destroyed the Byzantine Empire and within time, they have made many campaigns to the West.

There are hundreds of historical books, novels, documentaries about its history, but still it is a long research for a historiographer from a different country to have all the knowledge about Istanbul.

'Are you still reading about the city?'

I lose myself while reading hundreds of words about the summary of its history. I look at my watch to see how long we are sitting in the café. The time nearly comes for the flight. In a few seconds, they make an announcement about the passengers of Istanbul.

'Aeroflot 5344 number of flight to Istanbul is ready for the departure. The passengers have to come to gate 8.'

'Well, you can keep on your research on the plane once we take off. Let's get to our gate.'

Aleksey and I pay for our drinks and get out of the café. The gate 8 is on the other side of the terminal, so we have to walk quickly. There is still a short line in front of the gate which shows that we aren't the only one who gets late.

A second announcement is made for our flight as it is a final call. I show my passport and ticket to the personal and then head towards into the plane. Once we step on the plane, we keep going to the backside of the plane. Our seat numbers are 27B and 27C. Aleksey leads me take the seat which is on the window side. After we take our seats and fasten seatbelts, all the passengers get on the plane so that we can move now.

All along the flight, I use Aleksey's phone to open Internet and keep on reading from where I have stopped. After a while, it gets too long and tiring that I don't want to read more. I close the Internet and give his phone back to him.

The hostesses serve sandwiches and drinks on the plane for us. The sandwiches' taste is good, but of course I have eaten better ones. At least, it is filling my stomach for now. When we finish our sandwiches, Aleksey says that he will rest for a while and closes his eyes. I have got the same idea too. Until we get there, it will be good for us to get some rest. Who knows when will we have a chance like that in there? Maybe we have to stay awake for whole night in order to get Andrew.

Once the pilot announces that we were getting ready for landing, I wake up and open my eyes. Aleksey has already woken up. I ask him what time was it. He answers that it was getting to 4 o'clock which meant that our trip took a little longer than two and a half hours. I look at outside from the window. What a big city is that! There are lots of high towers, cars and of course mosques in the city.

Aleksey gives a short look then says: 'Finally we are in Istanbul. As Bonaparte has said: 'If the earth were a single state, Istanbul would be its capital.' I am not quite sure if he was true about that, but certainly it is more than a modern and crowded city that has to be seen once in your life. They have given thousands of loses in order to conquer this city and then to hold it at World War. After all, here we are, came all the way for getting Andrew and everyone behind this.'

Yeah that is true. My adventure has brought me to one of the most popular cities in the world, the place which I have always wanted to see. So that, I could have long time to be with him as we wished for that a long time ago. The irony is that I didn't come here for him, but for myself.

We get into Ataturk Airport and go to the passport check. This time, the police officer doesn't hold Aleksey for too long. He controls his passport and lets him pass in a minute. We take our luggage and head for the exit.

Aleksey looks for someone in the crowd. Lots of people are waiting outside the terminal with papers of passengers' names on it. There are two guys who are wearing suits and sunglasses behind the crowd. I point them at Aleksey and he waves at them. We get next to them.

They introduce themselves as Calvin and David from the agency. Then, we introduce ourselves, but it isn't necessary actually. They have already known about us.

'We were waiting for you. As we got the last news from the agency, you are chasing one of the biggest gangster leaders of Russia. Actually his most trusted man who is Andrew from Naviance Company.'

'You guys need to tell us more. We couldn't find the identity of Andrew's boss and their location.'

'First of all, you have to follow us. We will talk more in a more suitable place. Let's get out of the airport.'

As they have said, we follow them to the parking lot. They have got a black Audi A7 as transportation. We put our bags in backside and get in the car. We get on the road as they are driving our place where we will stay.

While we are on the road, I watch all the people and the places around us by looking from the window. The city looks fascinating. It is a real cultural city of Turkey. You can see every type of buildings, people and even cars on the road. However, the best view is the Bosphorus.

'Do you know that Istanbul is the only city which has land both in Europe and Asia on the world? It is amazing, isn't it?'

'Sure it is. I know that from the school, but the famous parts of the city are on Europe side. Topkapı Palace, Galata Tower and so many other historical places that have left from Ottomans...'

David enters into the topic while we are chatting in the back.

'We will leave you in a hotel which is Dedeman Hotel. Your reservation has been already done by the agency. You will just talk to the reception and show your passports. They will give your room key. Also, there is a rented car in the park side of the hotel. Here is the key.'

Aleksey thanks to them and takes the car's key. Its brand is Ford as it can be obvious from its key.

'These are your new cell phones. All the numbers that you will need have been added into contacts. You can call us or any other personals at any time. Our phones will be always open so that you can always reach us. Additionally, these phones are traced and every conversation is taken into records. If there is a problem, the agency will inform us for investigation and we will find your location. Oh, one more important info: If you hold the answer button for more than five seconds, it will directly send an alarm message to the agency that you guys are in trouble and need backup. I hope it won't get necessary.'

We take our cell phones from David. They are old phones which are Samsung E250 Model. Both of them have the same color which is black, the classical color of this model. They don't have touchscreen or any applications like Whatsapp, Skype, Facebook or Twitter. Anyway, we don't need social media. Other than that, they look fine even they were used for many years.

'So, who is that guy you were talking about? What is his contact with Andrew and how can we get him?'

'It is nearly impossible, because no one knows his real identity or his location. The agency is tracking this guy for many years and still we cannot make a progress that gets us closer. His name is Bugsy, as everyone calls him. He is controlling the entire company where Andrew and Vladimir are working. His closest guy is your target, Andrew. We don't know how they meet each other, but we got some proofs about their cooperation. They are mostly selling illegal drugs to other companies which are in medical area, mostly like hospitals.'

'We got a video record of him which was taken two days ago from a hospital. He was talking to a guy whose name is Emre Yılmaz, one of the fund owners of Acıbadem Hospitals. We are thinking that their last trade was made with this guy, Emre. We are planning to make a visit for that hospital to see if that guy has a role in that trade, which he must have.'

'It is great for you! We can research Emre's past life and see if he has got any other contacts that can be our targets also.'

'Okay then. I will call you once I talk to him. I bet he will know where to find Andrew. By the way, I don't know if you get that news or not, but Vladimir is dead. He died in a car accident.'

David and Calvin don't expect that news, whereas I think that they have already known about it.

'Really was he? Well, we don't need to worry about him anymore. He was one of our most important targets, but now only Andrew that matters. We have to catch him alive if we want to stop Bugsy.'

At that time I add: 'Don't be worried about him. He will get suffered from me once I get him. He deserves worse than an easy death after everything he caused on me.'

Calvin stops the car in front of our hotel. We get out from the car and take our luggage from back. Aleksey thanks for their help and say farewell to the agents as I do the same thing.

The hotel doesn't look very luxury, but still it is a five stars hotel. The lobby of the hotel isn't very big. There are some chairs and tables. On the right side, there is a minibar where some guests are sitting and drinking right now. On the left side, there is the restaurant of hotel which is opened at 6.30 p.m. for dinner as it writes.

Aleksey goes to the reception and talks to a woman about our reservation. The woman has got a good English accent which is easily understandable. She looks in her beginning of 30's with her long brown hair and pretty face. She looks sympathetic while she is talking to Aleksey. I think she likes his appearance.

Aleksey shows our passports and then takes our room key.

'Your room number is 142 sir. It is on the second floor. Have a nice holiday and enjoy your stay.'

He thanks to the woman and turns back at me.

'Let's put our luggage into our room and see where that hospital is. We have to move fast. The time is not in our side.'

He is saying correct. That's why, we get into our room by using the elevator. Our room is a little bit far from the elevators, but it is a long corridor and there are many other rooms which are farther to the elevators than ours. Aleksey opens the door with the key and gets inside.

Our room is a double suit room which means that we have got two different beds with big sizes. There is a television which is hanged on the wall, a small fridge, a big wardrobe and a clean bathroom. It looks highly comfortable for two of us.

I take out everything from the luggage and put some of my clothes inside the wardrobe. Meanwhile, Aleksey is using his own telephone for connecting to the hotel's Wi-Fi. Once he gets in Internet, he searches for the location of the hospital. There are many different hospitals which are all Acıbadem, but the one, which is important for us, is in Kadıkoy. He makes a call to the hospital.

Once he ends his talk and closes the phone, he says that Emre Yılmaz was working that day in the hospital.

'If we can get in there on time, he will be still in his working place. Are you ready?'

I say yes and leave the room. He leaves a few seconds later than me. As I can see, he doesn't take his pistols with him for this time.

'It won't be good if we get too much attention. Let's be quite this time. I don't want to get us in trouble from the beginning. Add to that, we have still guns that are inside the car.'

'How can you know that if they left guns for us or not inside the car?'

'Well, in every cars of the agency you can find it if you know the place. Luckily, I know its place.'

We get to the park side and look for our car. After he presses to the button on the car's key for a few times in order to see its place, I hear a sound from right side. There it is our car. It is a Ford Focus, which has got black color.

Aleksey starts the engine and opens the GPS. He locates the hospital on GPS so that we can reach our destination easily.

'So where is that hidden place of the guns in our new car?'

Aleksey gives a smile and opens somewhere on the cap of the car which is designed to put your sunglasses in there. There is a small pistol inside that place. It looks like a toy, but he explains to me that it is designed for close range.

'It is Beretta 3032 Tomcat. As you learn now, this is the hidden place of our secret weapon. It will be enough for us for now.'

'Well, you have got some own tricks. Shall we go now?'

'As you wish...'

He starts to drive the car to the hospital. There is a heavy traffic on the roads that we cannot pass the cars by going too fast as we did in Moscow. It must be terrible to suffer in this traffic every day. There are thousands of cars on the roads like everyone is going on the same direction with us, but the opposite road is the same as ours. It is understandable why he said to me that he didn't like Istanbul and didn't want to live in that city. I remember that the best city in Turkey was his city, Izmir for him. While he was going to school and living with his family in that city, he was very happy to live in there, because as he has mentioned, after the crowded streets of Istanbul nobody wants to live in Istanbul. I can get him now. He was right about the crowd and heavy traffic of the city. Maybe that's why he is still living in Izmir if he is still in Turkey.

We get to the hospital after a long trip in that terrible traffic. It looks like everyone has headed off for returning home from their jobs. I hope that Emre is still inside the hospital. Otherwise, it will be a nightmare for us to find him on the streets.

Aleksey parks the car in a down alley. We walk to the hospital's entrance and get inside. It is a big hospital which has got more than ten floors. There are many sign tables of different places inside the hospital like maternity, neurology, labs and so on. Aleksey asks to a charged person about Emre's office.

'He must be on the eight floors, on your right side, but you have to have permission in order to talk to him.'

'I have already got that, thank you.'

He lies to the guy. He always lies. He will never chance this attitude of him. We use elevator in order to reach his office. Once we get on the eight floors, there is writing on the table which shows right: 'Authorized people offices'

We find his name that is written on the door after passing in front of some rooms. Aleksey knocks the door and waits for an answer.

'Come in!'

Thanks God, he is still in his working place! We get inside his office. Our guy is a thin guy who hasn't got a high height. He is wearing glasses, a white sleeve and black trousers. He has got brown hair. He looks very young because of having no beard or moustache. At first, he starts to talk in Turkish, but when Aleksey starts to talk in English, he realizes that we are from another country.

'Welcome Mr.?'

'You don't have to know my name. I just have some few questions to you. I won't take your time for long. Tell me, what do you know about Andrew?'

He looks a little bit surprised to hear that.

'Well, I don't know what you are trying to say. I don't know a person whose name is Andrew. You must have a mistake. By the way, how could you know who I am?'

'Don't push on me Emre Yılmaz. I know that you made a chat with Andrew two days ago in this hospital. I know other things about you too. You have flied to Russia many times back in time for some reasons. So, will you start talking before I get angry? You don't really want to do this.'

He is staring at me while Andrew is talking to him. Do I look attractive for him or is there anything else about my appearance?

'I think I know you from somewhere, but I cannot remember it now. What is your name and where are you guys coming from?'

Aleksey snaps his face and repeats his question again. His lips are bleeding. This time, he is looking at Andrew's face in shock.

'Fuck! Who are you guys? Alright, Andrew came in here as you have said two days ago. You must know that he was making a trade with our hospitals' owners. He threatened me for that trade. He warned that otherwise it would be pretty bad for me. I was afraid and accepted his conditions. But I have never seen him before in my life or after our short meeting.'

'Why did you do that? You made a big mistake. Do you know that guy, who is he really?'

'That's the problem. I know his boss, Bugsy. I have never met him, but I have helped him many times about trades which have been made in Turkey. He found me somehow and offered me very generous money for that.'

'That's why you were travelling to Russia many times. You are in a part of a very dangerous job. These guys won't forgive you if they realize that you are causing problem for them. I have to call the police and report you for your crimes, but I won't do that if you help me.'

He is still looking at me. I wonder why he thought that he knows me. He must be mistaking me with someone else, because it is impossible for him to see me before. Maybe he could have seen me on the street back in Moscow, but that is a very small chance. I get disturbed because of his look.

'Why are you still looking at me like a maniac? How can you know me? We haven't seen each other before.'

'I am not sure, but you are remaindering me someone very close to me once. I guess I'm mistaken.'

He turns his eyes back to Aleksey.

'So what do you want me to do for you?'

'It is a very easy task. Just give me any clue about finding Andrew. How can you have contact with him? I have to find this guy.'

'Believe me I don't have his phone number or mail address. He generally calls me from a land line. Also, I don't know where he is staying in Istanbul. Maybe he has already gone to Russia again.'

'Stop saying bullshit to me! This is your last chance. Do you want to stay in prison for your entire life young guy? You have many years ahead of you. It would be very pity for you.'

'Okay, okay. He wanted me to talk to my bosses for forcing them to this trade and giving them a message from him. I did everything he said me. We haven't got any other choice, because you cannot rise in rebellion against these guys, not against Bugsy. The trade was done successfully. They gave us hundreds of kilograms of drugs for our medicine in hospital.'

'You did what!? You have drugged all those sick people with their drugs like...'

'Yes, like LSD, marihuana and other strange drugs I have never seen in my life. They would have killed me if I haven't helped them for that trade.'

'God damn you! Where is he now? What is his next move?'

Aleksey punches his face so hard that I think his nose is broken. He starts to scream in pain, but Aleksey shuts his mouth with his hand. He waits for a bit until Emre stops screaming. Then, he lets him talk again.

'I really don't know. He just gave me an address, the name of the place where the trade was done while he was talking to me on phone.'

'You will write the address for us and never talk to them again. You are all crazy. I can't still believe that you are poising the innocents' lives, even causing their health to get worse while they have other health problems.'

Emre writes the address on a piece of paper and promises that he won't be in touch with Andrew again. Before we leave him alone, he calls out my name.

'Hey, I remember you now. Your name is Katja right? You are living in Moscow. That's incredible, to see with my own eyes in this city.'

I get really surprised about his saying. How could he know my name? Maybe Andrew has shown my photo to him. Before I can ask my question, Aleksey says me not to take care about his words.

'Come on, we have to go now. He must be mistaken about you.'

I just say one sentence to him before I leave him alone.

'I am sorry, but you can't know me and you will never see my face again.'

While we are going down to the first floor with the elevator, I am thinking about Emre. What has he said to me? I remind a very close person to him, but whom? I'm looking at Aleksey's face as if he is going to say something about our conversation back in there, but he doesn't say a word. I hope, Emre won't say anything to Andrew about our short visit. I still don't believe that Emre will keep his promise, because I have heard that sentence hundreds of times in my lives, even from my best friend Vika or Aleksey.

When the doors are opened, Aleksey leaves the elevator first and gets outside. Before I leave the hospital right behind him, I hear someone who is talking about a doctor, but the most importantly she is talking about him! Am I hearing his name wrong or is it really true? I get closer to the doctor and listen to her conversation that is going on between her and a group of doctors. Yes, she says his name again! This is unbelievable. So, he is still living in Turkey and more than that he became a doctor as he always wanted to be in the past. I can hardly stop myself not to get into their conversation and ask about where he is. I really want to know where I can see him right now, but we have a bigger problem than that. The time still against us and we have to move fast.

I get out of the hospital and get in the car. Aleksey has already got ready to go as he has searched for a route to our new destination on GPS. He asks me what it was taken so long. I cannot explain what I have heard back in there right now, so I just say it was nothing (actually it was so many things for me).

We get to the place where Emre has mentioned about an hour ago. The traffic gets better than before. We didn't wait too long in the traffic as we've done while we were coming to the hospital. The road was a little bit long that's why it took an hour.

'Are you sure that we came to the right place?'

As I can see, there is just an abandoned fabric in front of us. There are no cars around the building or no lights from inside.

'I hope he didn't give us a wrong address, otherwise it will be a hell of a trouble for him. We should be very careful once we get in there. I really don't like this situation. I have a bad feeling about this.'

Aleksey takes Beretta 3032 Tomcat into his hand and leaves the car. Unluckily, we have left our guns back in our room and maybe we are making a big mistake by getting in the fabric with just one gun right now.

'What if they are waiting for us? We just have a single pistol and they have got more guns probably.'

'Absolutely they have. That's why I am saying you; we have to be extremely careful.'

Once we get to the door, Aleksey tries to open the door, but it is locked. It is a good sign actually, which shows that there aren't at home. Aleksey shots the lock and opens the door for us.

Inside of the fabric looks very dirty and old, but is not as dark as I thought before. There are so many windows on the roof that the sunlight can easily enter inside from the windows and light enough for us to see everywhere, except the other corner of the fabric. It is completely dark.

There are some machines that look like they haven't been used for many years and I don't think that they will work again. Aleksey takes out his flashlight that he has taken from the car. He holds it to the dark corner. There is nothing in there. He puts the flashlight back into his pocket again.

'As you can see Aleksey, there isn't anything to see in there. That guy has lied to us by giving the wrong address.'

Aleksey curses at him and shouts at with anger. We have to go all way back to the hospital or worse have to find him outside the hospital (if we can in this big city).

'We can use some help. Why don't you talk to your friends from the agency? They can locate his place in a few minutes.'

'That won't be as easy as you are saying. I bet he has already gotten rid off his phone, without leaving any risks behind.'

So what are we going to do know? I am thinking about a new plan in my mind. There must be a clue for us, hidden somewhere in this fabric. He just cannot give an ordinary place's address like this one.

'You guys will never learn where to stop right?'

When I heard his voice, I know that he can be only that person whom we were searching for in everywhere. As his footsteps sounds get closer, I turn my back to see his god damn face.

'It is good to see you again Katja.'

'I was looking forward to see your face again so much Andrew and there you are. You have kept your secrets very well until now, but it is time to reveal your true face.'

He is smoking a cigarette and smiling at me. There is only one person next to him, who is looking like a strong guy with that body. It is obvious that he must be one of Andrew's pet.

Aleksey is aiming his gun at Andrew's face. He is ready to take him down in any second, but Andrew looks very calm. There is something wrong about that. He must have planned about this moment and take his precautions.

'You are really brave Katja and I admire your actions, but you are causing too much trouble for my boss.'

'Why don't you just say his name or should I say: 'Bugsy' for you?'

He gives a laugh and takes a deep breath from his cigarette.

'I really like your character, but unfortunately it is a shame to have you on the wrong side. We could have achieved so many things with you. It was a bloody mistake to request that trade control from you. There can be some problems that escape our notice sometimes, but I have never thought that you will realize what we are doing as our real job. You came all this way in order to stop me from drugging all these innocents and bring me to justice.'

'I will give your punishment with my own justice and I found a very good one for your actions. I'm going to kill you.'

This time he laughs so loud that his voice echoes inside the entire building.

'No, you won't my dear. You won't have any chance in your hand like that, because you have brought your own death by coming there. Did you really believe that Emre won't say anything to me after you got on your way? Of course he will pay his debt for that treason, but first of all let's take care about you and your agent friend Aleksey.'

Aleksey takes a step towards him.

'I have to warn you that I am the one who is holding a gun right in your face. As you know, the agents never miss their shots. This is one of the most important rules that they taught us: Not to get hesitated when you have the chance.'

'Unfortunately, you aren't a good agent as I have expected. You should have watched your back better.'

By the time he turns his back to see who is in there, some guy hits his face with a metal pipe. I scream at Aleksey, but it is too late. Before he can protect himself, he gets unconscious and lies on the floor. Andrew orders his men to tight him up.

I try to get his gun, but that guy acts earlier and hits my face. It hurts badly. I can't do anything against him, but only shouts at Aleksey to wake him up.

Andrew gets next to me and tries to touch my cheek. I get back from him and curse at him.

'I'm sorry for that Katja, but you let me no other choice. Either way, you and your boyfriend have to die. It is necessary.'

'Not before I will take your life! You are a death man. You can't get away with it. I give my word.'

He starts to choke me with his bare hands. I try to take deep breathes and get rid off his hands, but he is strong enough to stop me. He is looking very angry into my eyes. I have to think something before he kills me. I use all of my strength and kick his balls as hard as I can. He has to let me go as he is shouting in pain.

This time, it is my turn to attack him. I take his pistol into my hand and hold it at him. Just before I can have a shot, his men stop me by taking the pistol from my hand. Andrew wants his man to give his gun back.

'You are pushing my limits too much Katja. I can shoot you from your legs just for letting you suffer greatly, but as I am thinking about the things I have done to your friends, you won't deserve the same sufferings. Yours one is to watch your close friends while they are suffering and you can't do anything to help them.'

I really hate that guy. He is a real psychopath who gets enjoyed from torturing people. He orders his men to tight me up also and then burn the fabric.

They force me to sit on the floor and tight my hands to one of the machines part with a rope. Once they are done with me, they bring some gas can and pour all the gas around me, but worse than that they pour all the left behind onto Aleksey's body. I am shouting at him.

'Aleksey! Wake up! You have to wake up! Come on!'

He is still unconscious and he is running out of time. He has to wake up within a few minutes or I will watch him burning alive in front of my eyes.

Andrew looks at me for a while and then he drops his cigarette on the floor. Once it touches the ground, it reacts with gas and everywhere starts to get burned.

'Come and find me if you can get survived. Maybe then, you will have a second chance to get your revenge of your friend's death. Have fun while watching him burning. Don't worry, everyone open their eyes and come to themselves when they feel the terrible heat of fire. You can still give a final look into his eyes.'

I spit on his face and say him to fuck himself. He doesn't say anything more and leaves me alone. I cannot hear their footsteps anymore as the fire gets bigger and closer to Aleksey. In a few seconds, he will get burned alive and I can't save his life.

I beg him to open his eyes and try to get rid off the tights. I force myself as much as I can, but there isn't any chance to free myself from these tights. I cannot look at him anymore. I close my eyes, waiting for the end of this nightmare.

There is a loud sound back inside. I cannot turn my head and see what's happened, but it sounds like someone is running towards me.

'Oh my god, help him right now! He is going to get burned!'

This is David's voice. He comes to rescue us! I don't know how could he find our location, but I am very glad to see him in front of me. There is also his other friend Calvin. He is cutting the Aleksey's tights and takes him out of the fire. His clothes are burning, but he puts out the fire on his clothes.

'Thank you so much guys. I can't be happier to see you, but how did you find us?'

David frees me and helps me to get up on my feet.

'Once Aleksey has sent the signal with his phone that we have given to you, it is a matter of time to locate your place and reach just in time.'

But how could Aleksey send the signal while he was aiming his pistol and considering about Andrew? That doesn't make any sense. He hadn't got any time to take out his phone. It must be an extreme luck.

'Come; let's get you guys out of this place.'

Calvin carries Aleksey into his car. He says that he would be right behind us until we get back to the hotel. David nods his head and gets inside the car. I want to stay with Aleksey and say David that I would go with Calvin. David doesn't argue about that and makes some changes in the plan.

'I will inform the other agents and the agency about Andrew. They can't get too far. If I can act quickly, I will have a chance to stop him before he escapes from our hands. By that time, you guys go to the hotel and take care about Aleksey. Once he comes to himself, let me know so that I can have a chat with him.'

Calvin says David to take care about himself and drives his car to the hotel. I'm sitting next to Aleksey on the back seat while he is lying on my knees. It comes very strange for me to see him in this condition. Once upon a time, it was me who was in his condition in a sort of way. I was getting so tired that I felt asleep while I was leaning my head on him in his house. We were watching some movies and it was so late that I couldn't stand to stay awake until the end of the movie. When I woke up the following day, I was still lying on the sofa in his living room and realized that I had felt asleep.

This is just one of many examples. I can never stand for too long at nights or until the sunrise. There are just a very few exceptions about that like my last day in the summer camp with him. I don't remember very well what time was that, but I know that we have slept for three or four hours that night. It was a very exhausting day for me and also for him, but still it was worth to remember. Before that night, I remember that I was begging him as a kind of joke for letting me go to sleep, but he was saying a very meaningful sentence: 'These times are the most precious moments of my life and it is passing away each seconds. I don't want them to get wasted by going to sleep instead of being with you while we are sitting on this bench, watching the river and sharing a moment with each other. You can sleep as long as you want at home, but you don't have a chance to have this moment once you turn back to Russia.'

God damn, he was absolutely right about his words. That's why, I forced myself to stay awake until midnight back in there, but if I could have a chance to go back in time, I would stay with him for day and night by knowing that if it would be our last week, let's make it an incredible one. However, as I always say, nothing is like as we have dreamt about it.

We get back to our hotel at half past eight. The sun has already gone and the stars have showed up. I haven't eaten anything since the flight. I get really hungry. Actually, I had already eaten my dinner if I was at home in Russia until now; because there is one hour time difference between Russia and Turkey that it is 9.30 p.m. in Moscow now.

Calvin carries Aleksey into our room and asks if I needed anything. I want him to bring something to eat like sandwiches.

'I will check it out and come back again.'

He leaves the room to bring some food. I open the small fridge of our room and take a bottle of water from inside. I drink half of the bottle and put it next to the bed. A few minutes later, Aleksey gets himself and opens his eyes. He is trying to realize where he is.

'Don't worry. You are safe with me. Calvin and David came to rescue us just in time. We brought you to our hotel room.'

'What about Andrew? Did he escape?'

'Unfortunately he did, but David went after him. We are still waiting for an answer from him. He wanted me to call him once you get yourself.'

I take my phone which is actually the agency's phone out of my pocket and make the call. I wait him to pick up the phone, but there is no answer. After a several calls, I start to get worry about him, because there is still no answer. At that time, the door is knocked.

'Who is it?'

Aleksey tries to get up from his bed, but I say him that it was Calvin.

'He just went outside to bring some food. I'm really hungry right now, aren't you?'

He also realizes that his stomach is empty and he is hungry as I am. I go to open the door for Calvin.

'I've brought sandwiches for you. There is Subway which is very close to the hotel.'

'Thank you so much. By the way, he is awake.'

Calvin gets enter into the room.

'How are you feeling Aleksey?'

'I've been better. Just I have got a bad headache. I cannot remember what the hell has happened back in there. I thought that we got Andrew, but he has planned a trap for us. Damn it!'

I look at Calvin's face and say him that I couldn't have contact with David.

'I have to go now and see what he is up to. I hope nothing has happened to him.'

He leaves us alone one more time. I start to eat my sandwich which has got beef, cheese and tomatoes in and give the second one to Aleksey. We finish our sandwiches in a very short time.

'All along the road, I was wondering about how you could have that time to send the signal with your phone in the fabric. You were holding a gun at Andrew and then you passed out.'

He smiles at me and explains in detail.

'Once I heard his voice which was coming from our back, I knew that he wasn't stupid to take any risks and had a plan for us. While you were discussing with him, I put my left hand into my pocket and pressed the answer button long enough to send the signal as David has explained to us. I wanted him to think that we were screwed up and got us.'

'My god, I was in panic and feared that I hadn't got any chance to save your life while I was watching you getting burned alive in that fire.'

'That was too close for sure, but next time we will be the one who set the trap.'

He goes to the bathroom to wash his face. After he gets out, it is my turn to use the bathroom. When I get out of the bathroom, Aleksey is waiting for me to leave the room.

'Where are we going? Calvin and David...'

'Yes they haven't turned back to us yet, but I won't wait for them. I bet Andrew has already realized that we have survived and still looking for us. I have made a call to another agent who was with David an hour ago. He explained that they were looking for Andrew with the help of traffic cameras. He had contact with the police. They are still investigating for Andrew's car from the cameras.'

'What about David?'

'He doesn't know what had happened to him after they got separated. By the way, the good news is that he gave me the address of Emre Yılmaz. We should give him a payback, don't you think? He is the only person that can help us to find Andrew.'

It looks like we don't have any other chance but to talk to him again. I really don't want to see his face again, but Aleksey is saying the right.

Once we get into the car and head toward Emre's house, Aleksey's phone starts to ring on the road. It is Calvin, but his sound is coming hurried.

'What progresses do you have Calvin?'

'We have got a serious problem Aleksey. It is David. He just sent his signal from his phone. We have located his place. He is in Kadıkoy, inside a huge building whose name is Generous Hands.'

We look at each other for a second. We both know that it is the name of the company which has made some trades with Naviance Company within last year as Aleksey has mentioned in Moscow.

'Thank you Calvin. We are coming there as soon as possible.'

He closes his phone and starts to drive faster.

'Shit! I knew that there was a connection with that company. I have said you; these guys didn't make their trading plans with that company randomly. There is something hidden about it and David chased them until Andrew got him in that place which he is familiar with. He must have realized that someone was chasing him, so he brought David into a trap.'

'We have to be faster, before it gets too late for him. Maybe this guy Bugsy is the owner of Generous Hands Company, so that he can easily bring his drugs to Turkey. After bringing the drugs to his place, he sells them to different hospitals by using some people like Emre for this job.'

'What you are thinking is definitely sensible. He could have owned the company by paying a very big amount of cost last year and then started to make his trades between two of his companies. If we have a proof to prove it, we can bring forth his crimes and his real identity.'

We get to the place in 30 minutes. Calvin and some of the other agents have already reached the destination before us. Aleksey goes next to Calvin, whereas I am standing right behind him.

'We arrived just a few minutes ago. Let's get inside and find David. His signal is still coming from inside the building.'

I look at the building to see how tall it is. It looks like there are more than twenty floors. I can see the light from some of the windows. It means that there are still some people inside the building even in the evening. I don't think that they are ordinary workers, but Andrew's men. They are waiting for us.

'Come on, we are getting inside.'

This time, Aleksey took his pistols with him before he has left the room. He gives his extra one to me. He enters the building as being the first one. I and Calvin follow him from behind and then the other agents get enter.

The first floor is completely dark like there isn't got any electricity on this floor. Everyone takes out their flashlights and lights the way. Calvin is telling Aleksey where to go as he is tracking David's signal from his phone.

'It looks like he is on the seventh floor.'

I go to the elevators but they aren't working in a strange way. Aleksey says to me: 'They must have cut the power of the elevators. We must go up from the exit staircase.'

Calvin says to the others to go upstairs by using the other stairs in order not to get someone escaped. Also, two of the agents will stay at the entrance to be sure that they can't have any chance to leave the building. So, three of us start to go up to the seventh floor.

It gets a little bit long and exhausting to use the stairs, but in the end we get into David's location.

'He must be very close to us; the signal comes from somewhere in here.'

Aleksey gets his pistol ready to shoot if he sees a movement. We are walking very cautiously. As a difference, there are lights on this floor in the corridors and inside some of the rooms. I check out every room that I am passing in front of, but there isn't anyone.

Aleksey opens one of the doors and gets into a meeting room. When I get there also, I see a huge table in the middle of the room, but there is no light inside the room. Aleksey is holding his light toward the table. There aren't any papers or documents or anything about the work on the table. The chair on the first place of the table is looking to the other side. I get closer to it and turn it to us.

I hardly stop myself in order not to scream. The view in front of my eyes is horrible. It is like we are inside of a horror movie. Aleksey looks at the death body of David and says some bad words. We are too late for saving his life. Until now, we got always in time to save someone's life like Vanja's, but we aren't lucky this time.

He is shot from his chest too many times that I cannot count, but it isn't the only thing. Someone shot him from his eyes or worse hollowed his eyes out. There are big holes whereas there should be his eyelids.

Suddenly, Calvin enters into the room and sees his friend's death body sitting on the chair. He runs next to him and starts to scream.

'No! How could it be happened? Who did this to you my brother? I will find that guy, I promise.'

Aleksey tries to calm him down and takes him outside. When the others hear Calvin's scream, they run near us and see the same image that all of us saw. One of them calls the police and gives the address.

When I look at his death body again, I see a small paper which is standing inside his left hand. Someone has put a note for us. I take the small paper and start to read what is written. There is an address and time line. I show the paper to Aleksey immediately. He reads the note and says: 'It is a trap. They want us to chase them just like David did. They are making fun of us.'

'But it is the only way to face with Andrew. We can make a plan in order to get him in his own place and we don't have too much time left. It says that we have to be in there at 10 o'clock which is like thirty minutes later.'

'What if Andrew isn't in there? Then what will happen? I will say you. There won't be anyone in that place, but they will watch us from somewhere and once we get in there, they will make their move. They can even bomb the place.'

Calvin looks at the note too and says that he would go to that place whatever it was going to be happened.

'I don't force you guys to come with me, but this can be our only chance. I know it is a very stupid idea to get into this risk as they want us to take it, but I cannot see a better way for now.'

Aleksey has still doubts about Calvin's plan, but I say to Calvin that I was coming with him also. In other words, I don't give any other chance to Aleksey, because I know that he will come with me. He cannot leave me alone with Calvin.

'You two are going to your own doom by knowing what can be happened to you, which is really bothering me, but I admire your courage. What are we waiting for?'

I know that he is going to say that. He always says the same sentence at the end of his talk. He is crazier than each of us, but at least he is aware of his actions. That's why I want him next to me. He makes me feel more self-confidence.

Before we leave the building, Aleksey wants to make sure that there isn't got any person who can be stalking us in the moment. If there is, he is going to tell everything to Andrew. That's why; we have to search the entire floor, while the other agents are searching for the upper floors. As long as we look for every room, there is no one except than us.

Calvin starts to grow impatient.

'We are getting late Aleksey. We have to leave right now.'

He is right. There is only 20 minutes late and we don't know how far the place is. When Aleksey finishes searching, we get down to the entrance and leave the building. Before the police come to the crime scene and start to question every one of us, we have to get out of here.

Calvin wants to get in our car, because it will be faster to travel with one car. Aleksey opens the GPS and locates the place. It is an open car parking lot and just ten kilometers away from the company's building.

Aleksey takes us from the back alleys, so that we don't have to stop at the traffic lights. Inside the car is too quiet which I don't like. I'm wondering something about what Calvin has said back in there when he saw David. He called David as his brother. If it is true, it must be very painful to lose someone from your family.

I don't know how a feeling it is to have a brother or sister, because I haven't got any siblings. I always lived as a single child of the family. I hadn't got anyone to share my room or to be taken care at school. Nobody needed to protect me at school. I always took care of myself and I was happy about that. When my friends asked me if I wanted to have any siblings, I said to them: 'I don't care if I have a sibling or not. I'm fine as being a single child. I don't need a brother or sister to take care of me.'

However, while I'm thinking about the situation that I'm in right now, it could be very good to have a sibling who can help me. Andrew would have one more problem to consider about and this could bother him too much. Well, I'm still a single child, but I have got some friends who are brothers and sisters for me. At least, I'm not alone once I was.

He was always saying me to get more social so that I could easily make some new friends. At that time, I was a girl who was a little bit shy and unsocial. I had got only two friends that we understood each other. Maybe the reason was for that I was a vegetarian like my two other friends. The other people inside my school were strangers for me. I just talked with them if I had to ask something about the lessons. When I said to him that I had got two best friends, he said me that he had got more than six friends who were very close to him. It sounded unbelievable for me. How could someone have got that many best friends? He also wrote in his letter: 'Don't be afraid to be social and meet new people. Everyone can be changed and you should change this attitude of yours. Make some new friends and get enjoyed while you are spending your time with them' for me.

I listened to his advices and changed myself when I got back to Moscow. Within a next summer, I had got too many friends around me that I still love each of them as being friends with them. If I haven't decided to change myself, I couldn't have met Aleksey or Nastja. That was one of the best thing I have ever done in my life, giving a chance to myself in order to become more social and it did. Right now, I have got plenty of good memories from the old times about Vika, Aleksey, Nastja and Vanja.

'Can I ask a question to you Calvin?'

He looks at my face and says: 'Of course you can.'

I get hesitated for a second, because I don't want to hurt his feelings, but I cannot change my mind. When I get wondered about something, I want to know the answer of my question. That is one of my other attitudes.

'Was he really your brother?'

He keeps his silence for a while that I don't think he will talk about David.

'I am sorry; I shouldn't have asked a stupid question like that.'

'It's okay Katja. He wasn't my brother, but we were working together for ten years. For all these time, he saved my life so many times, but I couldn't save his. I couldn't pay his debts. I shouldn't have let him go after Andrew just by himself. It is all my fault.'

He starts to look at outside from the window and takes deep breaths. He is going to cry, but he is forcing himself not to cry. I touch his arm and try to convince him.

'What's happened back in there wasn't your fault Calvin. You couldn't have known that. I have almost lost my closest friend also, but it all went very luckily. Sometimes you can't be that lucky person how much you have tried.'

He gives me right and thanks for my support. I hope he is feeling better now and get better and better within time.

When we get our destination, we are late for ten minutes. Aleksey stops the car and all of us get out of it. He takes out of his gun and glances at me. Let's hope they are still waiting for us.

There are a few cars in the parking lot, but the lights of a jeep are burning. It directly causes us to see harder with its bright lights. It is a black Range Rover. I cannot see the face of the guy who is sitting inside the jeep, so we get closer.

'Come one Andrew! Let's face each other. You wanted us to come and here we are.'

However the guy in front of us isn't Andrew. When he gets out of the jeep, I cannot believe whom I am seeing.

'No, that's not possible. You were death in that car accident. I saw your face. You were looking right at me too before you gave your last breathe. It can't be real.'

It is Vladimir who is standing in front of us. But how can he be still alive?

'Interesting, isn't it? I came back from death.'

He is making fun with me.

'Come on Katja. Don't look like you are seeing a ghost. Anyway, I have never believed in those kinds of horror stories in my life. All those movies about haunting house and walking dead are very nonsense and unnecessary.'

Aleksey gets very angry at him and takes some steps to get him closer. He is aiming his gun at his face.

'Stop saying bullshit and tell us how could you stay survived?'

'Did you really think that I would stay at Moscow while you guys were chasing after me? After my short conversion with Katja back in her house, you were lucky to get over my men. However, I didn't go after you, because I knew that you would follow Andrew all way down to Istanbul.'

'But who was that person back in there? Was it your twin or what?'

When he hears that he laughs so much that he cannot answer my question for a while. Aleksey and I are still waiting for him to give an answer.

'I have never thought that you would ask that to me. Of course it was someone else, but not from my family. He had got a plastic mask of my face, but you were too blind to see it. Who could imagine a hundred years ago that the technology would come to thus far? Anyway, you couldn't get me in Moscow.'

'Well, it isn't a big deal. You cannot make your little tricks this time. What matter is we are still after Andrew and we will take down everyone who stands in our way.'

'Do you really believe that a bunch of people can stop us? It doesn't matter if you are from MI6 or CIA, you aren't the first one who tries to stand for justice against us. Before you will become a bigger trouble for us Katja, I want to show you something.'

He takes out his phone and throws it to me. I catch his phone and look at the screen. When I see what's on the screen, I drop the phone from my hand and get in shocked. I don't know how could it be happened, but they have got the photo of someone that I never expect to see. No, they can't have him, not him.

He is smiling at me while I am looking in desperate.

'I bet you are wondering how it can be possible. Let me explain you briefly. Actually, it was not so hard to find him in Istanbul after having a copy of his photo, which was taken with you, was standing on your desk back at your office. It is very obvious that you are still thinking about him, otherwise why would you keep that photo from your childhood and look at it every day when you get to work? You have got still feelings toward him, don't you?'

I don't know if I have got the same feelings once I had toward him, but my mind can chance again if I see him again. It depends on him. What will he do when he sees me after all these years?

'I don't believe you. You just found his picture from the Internet, but you don't have him.'

'Oh Katja, when did you see that I was lying to you? It would be a big shame, lie to you especially it is about your old boyfriend.'

Aleksey and Calvin are trying to understand what is going on. It is not the time to make an explanation.

'Where is him? I want to see his face.'

Aleksey asks Vladimir what he has done

'Why don't you ask this to Katja? This is between her and her old boyfriend.'

Aleksey looks at me with his questioner eyes. He is waiting for an answer. I cannot continue having this conversation with Vlad, so I take out my gun and hold it at his face also.

'Don't be ridiculous. If you kill me, you will never know where you can find him in this god damn city. There is only one thing to do: You and your friends will leave us alone.'

Calvin gets very pissed off after Vlad's words.

'You bastards killed my best friend and now you want us to forget about what has happened. You can't be serious.'

'Well Katja, what do you say about that? Which one is more important for you? You can either save his life or you can insist on getting revenge from Andrew. His life is up to you.'

I really want to see him one more time, but on the other hand, I can't just leave everything behind.

'You know what, this starts to get bullshit.'

When Aleksey says this to Vladimir, his look on his face becomes very serious suddenly. He doesn't like to hear it as I can understand.

'So be it. You have sentenced him to death. However, there is someone who is very nervous to see you. I think he will have some words for you Katja.'

Before we can shoot Vladimir, there is a gun fire from our back side. Someone shoots Calvin from his back. He screams in pain and falls onto his knees. When we turn our back to see who is there, it looks like we are in big trouble this time.

'Oh no, not you again.'

Yuri is holding his gun at me. He finds us even in here also. He will never give up until he kills us as Aleksey has mentioned about him. He starts to get closer to us.

'Do you know why some people call me as 'Black Hole'? It is because no one can stay alive while they are trying to escape from me. None of my targets could succeed to get over me, because as you know, I am the death itself and you got me in Moscow very luckily. However, you can't be as lucky as you were one more time.'

I look at Vladimir. He is getting inside his jeep. If I want to find the place where they are holding him, I can't let him go. Aleksey understands what I am thinking and he says to me: 'Run! I will deal with him this time.'

'I can't let you fight with him all by alone. You know that you don't have too much chance against him.'

He just shouts at me to run and starts to shoot Yuri. Everything gets into a battlefield. I am shooting at Vladimir's jeep and Aleksey is taking cover behind a car. Calvin is still breathing, but he cannot get up. He can barely crawl on the ground and get back one of the cars.

Before Vladimir can hit the gas, I can hit one of the tires successfully. He has to get cover and gets out of his jeep. I don't count how many bullets I have got in my gun, but I don't let him a chance to shoot me. Finally, I get out of ammo and none of them can hit Vladimir. This time, I have to take cover behind a parking car.

By that time, I look at Aleksey to see how he is holding on. They are still shooting at each other behind the cover. Calvin tries to get back of Yuri to kill him, but he sees me that I am in trouble. For a second, our eyes meet each other and I see him smiling at me. It is his way of saying farewell to me. He forces himself as much as he can and he gets on his feet by leaning on a car.

Vladimir starts to talk to me while he is getting closer to me.

'What are you going to do now Katja? You had your chance, but it is over now. You will see your boyfriend again, very soon. I'm making a favor for you; however I don't want to do this, but you can't understand me. You should thank me for that.'

I get out from the cover and put my hands in the air. This time, it is my turn to laugh at him.

'One more time, you are mistaking Vladimir. You should thank me for giving you an easy death.'

'What? What are trying to say? You are joking with me. I like that, but let's face with the truth. You have failed Katja.'

'No, that one is you by giving us a chance to find you and I should really thank you for that.'

Calvin makes his shot and hits Vladimir from his right arm. When Yuri sees Calvin that he is still on his feet, he aims his gun at him and shoots him from the back of his head. Suddenly, Calvin falls to the ground. Aleksey shouts his name and gets so angry that he starts to run toward Yuri.

I look at Vladimir while he is holding his right arm with his left hand. He drops his gun on the floor. Before he can take it back, I don't give him that time and hit his face. He becomes dazed a little bit, but it is enough for me to take his gun into my hand.

'So, what was I saying? Oh, I remember it now. Tell me, where can I find Andrew and my friend?'

He can still smile at me before he is going to die.

'You are making a terrible mistake Katja. You can't stop Andrew. He will take care of you in one way or another. Maybe you defeat me, but in the end you'll just betray to yourself.'

He is getting on my nerves. That's why I shoot him from his stomach. He gives a terrible cry.

'Fuck you Katja! You are not so different than Andrew. He also tortures anyone until he gets what he wants. He has got no pity on someone just like you. You won't show any mercy until this is over right? Fine, do whatever you want. I will see you in hell.'

'You have got one last chance to answer me. Otherwise, it won't be good for you.'

'I've lied to you about him. We have never found where he was. I just tried to use your weakness, but it looks like you don't love him like once you did. I was mistaken about that.'

'You don't know what has happened between me and him. You are just making prejudgments about me, but you are true about one thing. I won't be merciful against Andrew when I find him. By the way, stop telling lies to me. I know that you have locked him somewhere. Just give me the name of the place and I will end your sufferings.'

At that moment, I hear a gun fire again. I look at my back and see that Aleksey can finally shoot Yuri. However, he is still alive. He throws a grenade at Aleksey and then a smoke bomb. Before it gets exploded, Aleksey takes cover. When he gets out from the cover again, there aren't any signs of Yuri. He vanishes inside the smoke and makes it to escape from Aleksey somehow.

'Ha-ha. He will get after you again. He never leaves his job unfinished. He always gets succeed.'

'We will see about that, but you won't live that long to see what will happen next.'

Aleksey comes next to us and then someone's phone starts to ring. The sound is coming from Vlad's phone. I take it out from his pocket and see who is calling him. It is saying Andrew! It is about the time. I want to open the phone and talk to him, but Aleksey takes the phone from my hand and holds it to Vladimir.

'Don't say anything about what has happened. Just lie to him and see why he is calling.'

He takes the phone into his hand and answers the call.

'Yes Andrew? No, they haven't came yet. I don't think that they will take that risk to face with me. I don't know what they are planning to do, but they will rise to bait in the end. By the way, how is our guest? You understand whom I'm talking about. Good, good. Is there anything else? Okay, I will wait for a while and then visit our guest. See you later.'

He closes the phone and gives back to us.

'So, where are you holding that guest as you are calling him?'

'There is an old motel on the other side of the city. You have to cross the Bosphorus Bridge in order to get in there. He is in Etiler, on Etiler Street. There you will find the place.'

'And Andrew's place? What about it?'

'You don't need to know his place, because he will leave as soon as he learns that I've lied to him. If you want to save your friend, you have to move now, before Yuri gets to the place.'

'He is right Katja. Let's move out.'

Aleksey starts to run to our car while I am still staring at Vladimir.

'So Katja... Let's make it quick.'

He is thinking that I am a villain like Andrew, but of course not. I don't want to kill him while he is in pain on the ground, wishing for mercy from me. No, I won't kill him. He is just a loser who has got nothing to lose but only his life. He won't be a problem for me. The only person, whom I really don't show mercy for, will be Andrew, because he doesn't deserve that.

I turn my back and walk away.

'Hey stop! You can't leave me like that Katja. At least just give an answer to one question.'

I stop walking and wait for him to ask his question.

'I know that you couldn't just forget his name. When we got him, he didn't say anything about you as if he didn't know a person whose name is Katja. We asked him for his name, but he didn't answer to that also. Do you still believe that he will remember you when he sees you after all?'

He has to. After everything we have been through, he couldn't forget about all the good and bad memories that we share together. Maybe it is because of the shock that he was in. It is normal not to remember some of the names. He must have gotten afraid, but once he sees me again, I'm sure that he will remember everything about us.

'I have got faith in him. He isn't just an ordinary person that you can meet on the street. He's still remembering me.'

That is the end of the conversation. I leave him alone inside the parking lot and get back to our car.

Aleksey is talking on the phone and explaining the situation. He wants someone to take care of Vlad.

'We've lost Calvin too and Yuri has escaped, but we got Vladimir. He is still alive and he doesn't have any chance to escape. You have to come here and take him into prison. We are going to European side for saving someone. Then, we will get to Yuri and hopefully to Andrew. We will stay in touch.'

We get on our way in order to pass to the other side. It gets pretty late, which is very good for us. There isn't any long traffic or too many vehicles on the roads so that we can easily reach to Etiler. On the other hand, it doesn't mean that everyone get in their houses. There are many loud coming from the streets. I can see the young people, who are in my ages, having fun in the pubs with their friends. There is a crowd in front of the bars as usual. When I think about them, what a difference life I have got from theirs. They are looking very happy to be with their lovers or friends, whereas I am living a very adventurous and dangerous life. I want to be in their positions, to have fun with my friends as I was in university's life.

'So who is this lucky person? What did Vladimir mean about your relationship? What is his name?'

For all these years, I haven't talked to someone about him or said his name. I kept it as a secret that no one has to know, but it is now time to tell Andrew about who he is. He will be the first person that will learn what has happened.

'His name is Mehmet. I met him in a summer camp in Berlin when I was 16 years old. We started to love each other, but that didn't last so long. We had got a very short time for being together. When we got back to our countries, we continued to talk to each other via Skype until one day.'

'What had happened?'

'I don't know, but for some reasons, he didn't text me back or talked to me. I've tried to have contact with him hundreds of times by sending e-mails. I've searched for his profile on Facebook too, but I have never found him on social media. I thought that he had some serious problems in his life that he couldn't have time to have contact with me for a long time. After some months have passed, I started to think he was death somehow, maybe in a traffic accident I don't know. It was just a thought. On the other hand, my hearth was saying to me that he was still out somewhere. That's why, I haven't lost my faith on him for all these time.'

'But why didn't he talk to you again if he is still alive? Maybe he decided to forget about everything that has happened between you two. Sometimes, the best way to get rid off your pains is to forget about all those memories, the good ones and the bad ones as one.'

'Is it like you have done when you left me alone? Did you forget about all the good times we spent together when we were young?'

He isn't waiting this question from me. He looks like he doesn't have anything to say about it, because I am right. He glances at me, but then he acts like he didn't hear my question at all.

'He could choose to forget you in order to easy his pains which were hurting him every time he thought about you.'

I understand that he has chosen to leave me and never called me back again in order to get rid off his sufferings when he left Russia. He wasn't planning to come back again for years.

'No, I don't believe that. That's what I really want to ask him when I see him again: Why isn't he talking to me?'

'At least, you found him after many years have passed and better than that you are going to see him again. What a big coincidence, isn't it? If you haven't came to Turkey in order to find Andrew, you couldn't have found your friend. It's strange. Andrew and Vladimir have found him for you actually, but it didn't go as well as they were expecting. Now, we know where he is with the help of Vladimir.'

For the first time, they have made a favor for me, whereas they want to kill me. That's why I can make Andrew's death easier for him, without causing too much pain. This is the only payment for his favor.

When it comes to Aleksey's words about coincidence, I don't agree with him. I have never believed in coincidences. I always think everything that happens to us in this life must have a reason. That's what I want to hear it from him, his main reason for leaving me. I am sure that it is worth to be important for him. Can it be because of me?

'Hey Katja, we are passing the bridge. The famous Bosphorus Bridge which connects European and Asian sides to each other. You want to look around you. It isn't a view that you can see in everywhere.'

He is god damn right! Everything looks perfect when you are passing the bridge. It's amazing. I have never seen a view like that before. It looks as if all the lights of the city can be seen from here. It gets very hard to describe this view to someone who has never seen the photo of Bosphorus before. All the lights of the bridge and the buildings are shining on top of the sea.

I think we get to the correct place. There is a small motel on the right corner of the street. There are some light coming from the windows which shows that they must be inside. I hope Andrew hasn't learned what have happened to Vlad yet. Yuri might have already reached him and tell him the truth.

Aleksey parks the car on the next street. We get to the motel and pass the reception. There isn't anyone in the entrance in a strange way. They must be staying on the top floor. I say to Aleksey that we had to go upstairs. He already knows what we have to do, so he acts before me. As we are going up, I can hear some voices. It sounds there are at least three people in there.

'What can you see? Is he there?'

Aleksey is looking from the half opened door to the corridor.

'There are only two guys who are guarding the room. We should be unnoticed and we cannot fire our guns until we have to. If they hear the gun shot, they can kill our hostage.'

'So how are we supposed to take them down?'

He gives a smile and says me to act naturally. I don't understand what he meant by that, but he opens the door and heads to the corridor. He calls out to the guards in order to get help.

They are aiming their guns while they are walking toward him. They are asking who he is, but Aleksey doesn't give an answer for their question. When he gets too close to them, he takes out a vaccine and sticks it to their necks before they can stop him.

In a few seconds, they lose their and fall to the ground.

'That is very effective. What did you give to them?'

He is showing the vaccine to me and explaining what was inside. As I understand, he gave them a very strong anesthetic drug which will last for at least six hours. Until that time, we will already save Mehmet and get far away from this place.

We take their guns' ammunition so that they won't have any bullets to fire. Aleksey leans on the door and listens to the conversation inside the room. He says that we were going to breach the door and then he kicks the door to break it down.

'Put your guns down! You are all under arrest! Don't make me to kill you!'

They don't have a chance to take out their guns which causes them to surrender. Aleksey orders all of them to get in a corner and throw their guns to us very slowly. They do whatever he said. While he is keeping an eye on them, I get to the next room which is completely dark inside. I open the lights and see him.

He doesn't look as bad as Vanja, but there are some scars on his face which must have been happened long time ago. Other than his scars, he hasn't got beaten or he doesn't have any bleeding. He has changed so much within all these years. I could easily see that it was him when Vlad showed me the photo, but seeing him in front of me is something much different. He looks like a stranger with that appearance. He has got beard as I wanted to see him like that, but he has changed his hair style. His brown hair gets too short, which looks like he cut it a few days ago.

One of the other changes on him is that he gets taller than the last time I saw him. I haven't thought that he got taller this much while I was talking to him on Skype. Anyway, he is still the same person that I remember. After everything that I have tried, finally I find him. It is a very good feeling to see him alive.

'Mehmet, I'm here. It is me, Katja. I come to save you.'

I run to him and hug him. He opens his eyes and starts to look into my face. However, he doesn't show any cheer to see me again. He is looking very surprisingly. I help him to get rid off his ties. He gets up from the chair and stares at me as a stranger. I touch his cheek while I'm looking into his eyes.

'Don't you remember me? It's me. Everything will be alright. I'm right here now.'

He tries to say something to me, but he is still in shocked. That's why I help him to get out of the room. By that time, Aleksey has already made some calls and took their all phones.

'You guys don't try to get after us or I will kill each of you. Am I clear? Good.'

He looks at me and says that we had to go. We get Mehmet out of the motel and cross to the next street. Aleksey opens the back door of the car for him and gets into the driver seat. When all of us get into the car, we are ready to leave this place.

'What is the problem with your friend? Can he hear us?'

He is still in shocked, but this time he can answer Aleksey's question.

'Of course I'm hearing you, but who are you guys? I don't have any idea about what is going on. Can someone explain it to me exactly?'

I hold his hand and look into his face. How can't he remember me? I know he still knows me very well, but he needs some time to get recovered.

'We just saved you from those people. I will explain everything to you once we get back to a safer place.'

He keeps his hands off mine and starts to talk in anger.

'No! I want an explanation right now. Where are you taking me and who were those people?'

Aleksey starts to talk to him.

'They are working for a guy called 'Andrew', have you heard his name before?'

'No, but what's his problem with me? I have never met him in my life. Why did they kidnap me?'

'Can you just tell us how did that happen? Where did they find you and when did they take you?'

'As I can remember, I was working in the hospital when those guys showed up. They wanted me to come with them to outside. They lied to me about they had got an injured friend who had to get in operation as soon as possible. When I followed them to their car, I realized that it was all the part of their plan. They hit me with their guns and got me inside the car.'

'How long were you staying in that motel?'

'Before they got to this place, they took me into a different place where was a big mansion. There was a blond haired guy who looked like the boss.'

When he said that to us, I break in and ask a question. He must have mentioned Andrew without knowing who he is. He can take us to that place if he is talking about Andrew.

'Was that person has got blue eyes, light brown hair and a scar on his forehead? Was he tall as much as you are?'

'Yes that's him. He said to me that it wasn't personal. Then he talked something with his men in Russian that I didn't understand. He started to talk to me about a woman whose name was Katja. I said him that I didn't know a person with that name, but he didn't look like he was convinced. Right now, I know that he was asking about you actually, wasn't he? You said that your name was Katja.'

I feel myself like a broken glass, shattered into pieces. My hearth is broken. I cannot believe what he just said to me. He isn't remembering my name, but how? It can't be true. After everything we have been through, he can't mean that. I don't know what to say to him.

'They were holding me in that motel for four days. They have never hurt me, but that guy came to talk to me again two days ago. I said him the same thing that I have said before. I hadn't got any idea about who she was. There was also a different person who looked very close to the other guy. I know that they are trying to find you.'

'And they will never stop until we find him first. That guy, who has kidnapped you and caused all these bad things, is Andrew. He is a selling manager of a big company in Moscow. Naviance Company. Did you know this name?'

'It doesn't sound unfamiliar. I think I know something about it. Isn't this company which is making big trades with Turkish companies?'

Aleksey looks a little bit surprised to hear that, but it is me who is in shock now. This must be a nightmare. We loved each other back in that summer camp. Did he really forget about our meeting too?

'Yes that's the company I am talking to. Anyway, these people are selling illegal drugs, anything that comes to your mind and they have already drugged hundreds of innocent people around the world. In these past few years, they started to give more importance to their trades with Turks. However, Andrew couldn't organize all those trades by himself. That's why, there must someone else who got Andrew in this job and luckily we have got a name. The people call him 'Bugsy'. Do you know that name?'

Suddenly, Mehmet starts to laugh. He cannot stop himself. Did Andrew say something very stupid or funny or is he getting mad? What has happened to him in the past? He isn't the same guy that I know. I was waiting for this moment for all my life, but I didn't mean that. I was hoping that he would find me and kiss me once more if he still has some feelings toward me, but it looks like I was totally wrong.

He barely controls himself in order to stop laughing.

'I just cannot believe what you've said about these people. Is he really called with that name? I had a dog when I was a child and its name was Bugsy. I've never thought that some of a gangster leader would be called with the same name of my dog. It's really funny to hear that. However, that guy Andrew has never mentioned that name while he was talking to me.'

'Do you know where he is staying? Can you bring us to that mansion? We have to get him before he can escape from us once more.'

'Of course I can, but you cannot mean to go there just by yourself. He has got more than ten people in there. They will kill you before you have a chance to shoot him.'

'That's why I will need all of yours help. We will sneak into the place and put Andrew out. When he gets awake, he won't realize where he is. Once we get him, we will find more about Bugsy.'

Mehmet looks at me again, but still I look like a stranger to him. I start to miss the old person already.

'I don't know how you found me or how you can know about me. By the way, have we met before? As I know, I don't have any friends from Russia.'

What? How could he ask that to me? I start to lose my temper. This is too far. I bet something has happened to him that he cannot remember anything about me. Otherwise, he would definitely remember my name. I try to touch his face, but then I think that I shouldn't do that. He must be the one who needs to get closer to me, but I just cannot wait for him until he comes to himself.

'Mehmet, you can't be serious. You're still in shock. That's why, you have short term amnesia. Don't you remember the time when we met in Germany, in the summer of 2014? We were in a summer camp, but the time was too short for us. You wrote me a letter on the last day and I gave a promise not to read it until I got home. You have written in your letter that how much I was special for you and...'

'I am sorry, but you must be mistaken me with someone else. I've never been in a summer camp in Germany.'

'How? How can you say that to me? What has happened to you? You are acting like you don't know me, but somewhere inside your mind I know that you are still remembering everything we have been through.'

I can sense that he is forcing himself to remember those times, but he gets angrier. 'Okay, this gets really unrealistic. I said you...'

'Well, I don't believe you. You will see that I was right about everything that I have said to you. I've never lied to you as you have said the same words to me also. You've mentioned about it in your letter too.'

He is still looking as if he doesn't take care about anything I am saying. Yes! I know what to do in order to help him. I have still our photo which I have taken with me from my office. I check my pockets. Luckily, it is still with me. I take the photo out of my pocket and show him.

'Look, this is our photo from the last day of our summer camp. You have said that that photo was your favorite one and I still believe that you have this photo also in somewhere. So, do you believe in me right now?'

He gets very surprised to see that photo. He takes it from my hand and gives a closer look.

'I... I don't know. How can you have that photo after all these years? But, I... I don't really remember when we had a time to be together.'

At that moment, Aleksey's phone starts to ring. All of us give our concentration on the incoming call. Aleksey opens it and the speaker too.

'You always impress me Aleksey, you really do. I had no faith that you could make it out alive from that fire or have a chance to get survived from Yuri. As you know it better than me, he was the best agent of his time in MI6, but for the first time in his life, you guys were the only people that beat him. Also, there is your ambition. You will take any risks on your way in order to stop me, won't you? But I am not that stupid as you think.'

'Of course you aren't. That's why, you always have a B plan when you get into trouble, but you won't be so lucky next time. I think that you have already known, but I want to say it anyway. Vladimir has told us everything. Well, he is still alive and he will be judged in his country. I hope he will tell all your dirty works, how you drugged all those innocents around the world and all your threats to the ones who could cause problems for you.'

'He won't say anything in the judgment. He will rather die than betray his company. Well, have luck with your plans. Oh finally, I hope he is okay while he is next to Katja now. But, don't become too hopeful, because he doesn't know anything about Katja. I asked so many questions, but he didn't give any answers. I think he isn't the same guy she has been hoping for seeing all these time.'

He closes the phone when he finishes his last sentence. He knows everything, what have happened to Vlad and Yuri, Mehmet's rescue and most probably our next move. He is still one step in front of us.

'So, where are we going now?'

We are not turning back to our hotel. Aleksey is taking us to somewhere else that I have never been before. We don't pass the bridge again which means that our destination is on European side.

'We will pay a visit to my friend from MI6. He is living in Istanbul more than a year. He is working in that case too, investigating about the trades between Russia and Turkish companies. I know that he will help us gladly. He wants to proof their crimes as much as we want to. That's why, I can count on him.'

We drive to Aleksey's friend's house. His name is Thomas. He is actually from Sweden, but he has lived in England for so many years before he got to Turkey because of his case. He is looking a little bit older than Aleksey and Mehmet, but I don't think that he can be more than 33 years old.

His house is a small apartment on European side of the city. I don't know the name of this place, but it is close to Etiler. It just takes 20 minutes or shorter to get to his house.

He is living alone in this small house, but it looks not bad for me. I've seen worse places where I have been before because of my friends. He has got lots of alcohols in his living room on a shelf. When I see all these different types of alcohols, I wonder how he can drink all of them by himself and how long they are staying on that shelf. Some of them are not opened, whereas the others are nearly finished.

Thomas offers us some alcohol, but all of us aren't in that mood for drinking alcohol. Aleksey rejects his offer kindly. He puts a small glass of whiskey (Johnnie Walker Black Labeled 12 Years) to himself and gives us the final news.

'A few minutes ago, one of my associates has just told me that they got Vladimir. After you have made that call and told them that you got him, he got to the parking lot in ten minutes. Vladimir was still lying on the floor, waiting for us. My associate is taking him to a hospital as we are talking here. He will be taken to his country once he gets better. Then he will be punished for all of his crimes. We don't have to worry about him any longer. He can't escape from the penalty. So, what news do you have?'

Mehmet starts talking before Aleksey can say anything.

'As I understand all of you want to find that guy Andrew, who has kidnapped me. I've been in his place on the first day of my imprisonment. There is a mansion on a high place. It is not far from here, but as I warned Aleksey on the road, you guys just cannot enter inside from the entrance. He has got many men under his command who are standing in every part of the place.'

'It's a perfect time for us. There can't be a better time than that. It is completely dark outside and we can easily sneak into the building.'

Thomas thinks about Aleksey's plan for a while. He finishes his drink and gets into his bedroom. He takes out a MP7 silenced and says: 'Well then, let's go.'

Just before we leave the house, I tell him about Andrew's call.

'He knows that we will head toward the mansion. Mehmet is right. We can't just go and arrest Andrew. He must have some plans for our operation. If we go there right now, we will get ourselves killed.'

Mehmet is supporting me, but on the other hand Thomas is very eager to go there as quickly as possible. He doesn't give right to my words. It looks like we have no other choice, so we leave the apartment and get into our car. When we get in, Thomas makes a call to his associate and tells him about our move.

'They will be in there once we get that place. He is tracking the car right now. As you can understand Katja, there isn't any problem to get worried. We are not alone in this operation.'

As Mehmet is giving directions to Aleksey on the road, we almost reach the place. Aleksey stops the car on a different street in order not to get attention. All of us get out of the car and start to walk toward the mansion. Thomas gives guns for me and Mehmet for protecting ourselves. I ask Mehmet if he has ever used a gun before or not.

'I've just used it once that I don't want to talk about. I had no other choice in that situation. That's why, I started to hate from guns. It was a terrible feeling to shoot someone.'

Yeah, I know that feeling very well. It got me also when I shot my first target back in the place where Vanja has been hold and got tortured.

'Did you kill that person?'

'Of course I didn't! I'm not a killer, but a doctor. I had a great work life until you and your friends entered into my life. I can't believe that you got me into this. I want to go to my bed, close my eyes, wake up in the morning and go to my job again, like everything was just a nightmare.'

That's exactly the same wish for me also. I wish that I could just wake up in my bed again and turn back to my ordinary life again. We are all inside of deep sleep and our nightmares became our reality.

'At least, you became what you wanted to be. You were always thinking about being a doctor or a writer when you were in high school. I believe, you are a good doctor in your job.'

I give a smile and he smiles at me back.

'You are still remembering that I wanted to be a doctor, whereas I can't remember anything about you or the days from that summer holiday. Strange isn't it?'

We will figure it out, don't worry. After this is all over, I will help you to get your memories back as much as I can. At worst, you can know me once more. I won't leave you and I don't have a plan like that also.

We get to the walls of the mansion. Aleksey and Thomas help us to climb and pass to the other side. Once we get inside, Aleksey orders all of us to get down. Thomas takes out a binocular and checks if there are any guards at outside or not.

'It looks empty. I think they are hiding somewhere and waiting for us. Let's move out.'

We sneak into the mansion from the back door. Aleksey breaks the lock and gets us inside. All the lights are closed inside. Thomas opens one of the rooms light and checks every part of the room. It looks pretty empty. We are checking each room very carefully to see if they are hiding somewhere or not, but after searching all the rooms on the first floor, I start to think that they have already gone.

Thomas goes upstairs to check the other rooms too, but there isn't any track of their existences. Aleksey gets angry because of this situation and starts to curse at Andrew.

'That coward doesn't have that courage to face with us. He can only escape from some place to another place. It gets really disturbing.'

'So what are we going to do now? Can we talk to Vladimir again?'

Aleksey nods his head as saying 'no'.

'He can't help us, but we cannot wait for them to make their move. There is only one person who can have still contact with Andrew and help us to find him. If he still doesn't call Andrew back until now, Andrew cannot know that we are aware of his connection to himself.'

'Are you talking about Emre Yılmaz right? But how will we find him in this time of the night?'

Mehmet enters into the discussion.

'Hold on a second. You cannot mean him right?'

'What do you mean? Emre is working for them for many years. He has been in Russia too many times within past a few years. He talked about all of his cooperation with Andrew. How he sold Andrew's products in his company.'

'No way! You can't be serious. He can't be that guy who is the fund holder of Acıbadem Hospital.'

Aleksey and I get surprised to hear what he just said. Aleksey asks him how he could know about Emre and then Mehmet starts to explain the situation from the beginning.

'He is one of my best friends from high school. We were in the same colleague. He can't have a role in that, because as he said to me he couldn't go to Russia because of some family issues. It can't be true.'

So he can remember his old friend from high school, but he cannot remember me. Is it a kind of joke or what? It doesn't make any sense.

Aleksey asks him another question that what was the last time he saw Emre?

'That was I think couple of months ago. After the... After the... Whatever, but he has never mentioned about Russia to me. He is a great person. He helped me too many times as I once saved his life. He is like a brother to me. I don't believe what you were saying about him until I talk to him. If this is real, I won't let you do anything to him. Is it clear enough?'

While he is waiting an answer from Aleksey, I give my word for both of us to Mehmet.

'Of course nothing will happen to him. I'm sure that Aleksey won't be tough on him and I won't let something like that happened. Isn't it right Aleksey?'

He just nods his head and asks one more question that where could we find him in that time of the night. Mehmet starts to grin and says: 'Of course in a night club, where else? I know his place, because we went there too many times. He knows the best places when it comes to that. I hope he is still drinking his last shots before he goes to his house. I will show the way.'

This time Mehmet drives the car and gets us to the club. It is passing 2 o'clock and still there are too many people inside the club as I can hear their sound. It is playing one of John Martin's music, Anywhere For You, which is an old song from 2014 but still one of the best compare to the new songs of famous DJ's. However, this music has got an importance for me more than being a great song. It reminds me a video which was his birthday present to me when I got 16 years old.

It was the same year when we first met each other in Germany. He made a surprise for me and prepared a wonderful video in his school for my birthday. He just wanted from his friends to celebrate my birthday so they did. Everyone was saying happy birthday to me in the video and there was this song on the background. I really liked his present. He has never mentioned about that video until he sent it to me. I have still his video on my computer, actually I had. I remember that everything was gone in my house in that fire. So, I have lost his present also with my computer.

Once we get to the entrance, the guards at the door have to frisk us for caution. That's why we have already left our guns inside the car. They let us get inside after they do their jobs.

My ears get hurt because of the high sound when I get to the club. My ears are always sensitive that I cannot listen to music in high volume. It gets a little bit time to get used to the sound, but still it is too loud for me. I can never understand those DJs. They have to play the songs for all night in the clubs under that commotion. They must have hearing problems after all these years doing their jobs. It is a shitty job for me that I could never make it, but like so many people, I like listening to these types of music while I'm walking in the park or using metro or making a party with my friends.

Everyone is dancing, drinking, sitting on the tables with their friends, in other words having too much fun. The club is very crowded that it gets really harder to find Emre in that crowd. Mehmet goes to the bar and starts to talk to a young brown woman who is working as a barman. It looks like she knows him well. She serves a beer for him, but he refuses it.

'It is from me. You don't have to pay for this one.'

'Thank you, but I have got no time for that. My reason of coming here is different this time. I have to find my friend Emre Yılmaz. You know him.'

'Of course I know both of you guys. Unfortunately, I didn't see him this night. I think he isn't here.'

'Well then, thank you.'

After his short speech is ended, all of us check for him inside the club. I walk to the dancing floor to find him, but under these lights I cannot see people's faces clearly. It gets very hard to recognize someone while everyone is dancing. Also, the music is disturbing me that I cannot focus on finding him.

'I look for Emre, but he isn't in here.'

Aleksey comes next to me and says that it was time to get out of this place. Once we get outside, I take deep breaths and fill my lungs with oxygen. It is a great feeling to breathe fresh air after that atmosphere inside. I cannot get how those people can stay for hours in that noisy place. It gets harder to breathe in there. If I have to stay in there more than an hour, I will probably lose my consciousness.

Thomas says: 'So where is our man? You said that he would be inside' to Mehmet.

'I thought that he would be in here, but it looks like he didn't come for a drink. We will go to his house, but if he isn't at home also, then there are no other places where he can be that I know.'

'Let's hope he is still in his house.'

We reach his house in a short period of time. There aren't any cars on the road at this time, which earns us lots of time. Mehmet parks the car and shows us his house. As it seems, he is living in an expensive detached house with a garden and a garage. I have seen too many houses on the roads in Istanbul, but this one is the best one that I have seen. None of the others can be expensive as much as his house. It should be normal for him to have a house like that luxurious with the money that he earns from the company, the money which causes ill people get died.

'Wow, that is a really great house for living, but isn't it a little big for a single person? I bet he has got a Mercedes or BMW in his garage. Well, I am wondering about his house's inside, don't you guys?'

Aleksey and Thomas are walking in the front while I am taking my steps slowly as Mehmet does.

'I didn't have time to ask that to you before, but what was the reason for not turning back to my messages? I have tried to reach you, sent many mails to your e-mail address and from Skype also. Why haven't you texted me back all these years?'

'What? Did you really text me messages too? Well, I'm sorry but I didn't take any messages from you and I don't use Skype. Are you sure about that? I check my e-mails nearly every day and I am sure that there are no mails from you. I can show you if you don't believe.'

'No, that isn't necessary.'

The situation gets worse than I thought. Maybe he quit using his Skype account, but how couldn't he take my mails?

'I was thinking that you are using Hotmail as your mail account.'

He says that he didn't have an account from Hotmail, but just he was using Gmail to check his mails. There is something going on and I think only one person can explain what has happened to him. Luckily, we just come to pay him a visit.

Aleksey rings the bell and knocks the door. The light of the corridor is opened and then the door. It is Emre who opens the door as we are expecting. He seems to be afraid when he sees me and Aleksey one more time.

'Oh shit, how did you find my house? I swear that I didn't call Andrew after you guys have left my office.'

'We didn't come for that. You have to help us.'

When all of us get inside, Emre meets with Mehmet's eyes. I bet he doesn't wait for seeing him with us.

'Oh God, I cannot believe that she has finally found you. I was right. I have said that I was remembering her somehow. Of course, how could I forget that?'

'I don't know how she has found me, but I know that she is in trouble as I am. We need your help Emre. I'm sorry to disturb you at this time, but it is very urgent as it looks like.'

Aleksey disturbs their conversation.

'Alright Emre, it is time to tell us how can we find Andrew. He knows everything that we have done so far. The only hope is to believe that he doesn't know our conversation. That's why, you are our only chance to find him before he can find us.'

'I've said you just a few seconds ago. I haven't got his address. He always becomes the one who gets in contact.'

This time Thomas bears down on him. He tries to hit him, but Mehmet stops him by holding his arm. He wants us to leave them alone. Aleksey doesn't think that it will be necessary, but I give him right. After all, they are good friends from high school. If there is someone who can talk to him very easily, it can be Mehmet. I hold Aleksey's arm and says him that Mehmet needed some time. We leave the house and leave them alone.

'This gets really long. We have to know what they are talking to. How can we know that if he is telling the truth to Mehmet or not'

'We have to believe in him. He gets us to Emre's house. We couldn't have found him if he hasn't showed us the way.'

Thomas gives me right.

'Yes, she is saying the right thing. We need to hope that Emre will say where Andrew is hiding so that we can make our move.'

'Come on, I cannot wait one more minute longer. I'm getting inside.'

At that time, Mehmet gets outside from the house. He says: 'He doesn't really know anything about their places, but he mentioned about a young guy whose name is Hakan. He believes that Hakan can help us to find Andrew, because as it seems he is selling illegal drugs to criminals in underground of a pavilion. Emre has gone there a few times and met that person.'

Aleksey looks that he isn't convinced. 'Can we trust him? If he gets us into a trap...'

'Look, I know that he gets into a shitty situation and he has done too much bad stuff, but this is your only way. Like it or not, I believe his words that he wants to help me. He cannot betray his close friends, especially if this person is me.'

I say to them that I had to talk to Emre for a couple of minutes. While they are still discussing about his loyalty, I get into the house.

Emre is sitting on an armchair and drinking a glass of whiskey. When he sees me, he smiles at me and asks me if I wanted a drink also.

'No thank you. I have to talk about something. There is a problem about Mehmet.'

'What can it be? I think, he is living his best day of his life right now. He was always talking about you at the high school that for all this time he wanted to see you once more and there you are. His wish finally became true.'

'I wish that your sayings were right, but it doesn't seem as you are thinking. I had the same expectations that he would be very happy to see me again, but he asked me if we had met before. I tried to help him in order to remember the time when we first met each other. However, he doesn't even remember anything from that summer camp.'

He laughs at me and sups his drink. He fills his glass when he finishes the first glass.

'You can't be serious. If I know him better than you, he can't just forget about everything that has happened between you.'

'I'm saying the truth! I heard it from his mouth that he had never known someone whose name was Katja. How can it be possible? What had happened to him?'

'Oh... This is getting really complicated. Maybe it can be because of the car accident.'

What is he talking about? Has he made a car accident? Oh my god...

'What are you trying to say? When was that happened?'

'I've never forgot that day. There was a terrible storm at outside. I was talking to him on the phone, but then suddenly I heard some hoot. He said something in that noise, but I knew that he didn't speak to me any longer. He must have dropped the phone, because I was shouting at him. After a few seconds, there was a crash sound and then I couldn't reach him again.

'When I learnt that he could hardly survive from the accident, I went to the hospital immediately. Thanks to God, he opened his eyes few days later. However, he wasn't the same person anymore. There was a change in him. I saw it from the first time when I looked into his eyes.'

'Could he remember that it was you?'

He nods his head as saying no.

'For a moment, he was staring at me like a fish. He didn't realize what was going on, where he was or who I am. Doctors said that the hippocampus part of his brain got damaged. In other words, he had long term memory lost.'

'You are talking about amnesia. That's why he cannot remember me or could text me back.'

'That can be correct. It gets some weeks for him to recover himself. Luckily, he didn't have a big damage on his brain so that he could start to remember me, his other friends and unfortunately his fiancé.'

What!? Did he just say that he has engaged with someone?

'What had happened to her?'

'When he remembered her, he asked about where she was. It was a terrible feeling for me to tell the truth, but I had no other choice. I wanted to talk to him about her before the doctors. I thought that it would be better for him to hear it from his close friend. She was dead in that accident. She couldn't make it.'

Oh no...

'I told him about her death. He didn't want to believe that of course, but when he remembered the time before the accident, he made himself to get believed that she was dead. For more than five years, he is blaming himself for her death. He cannot dare to visit her family. I think the last time he talked to them was in the funeral.'

'How could it be happened? I'm so sorry to hear that. I don't know what to say to him.'

He gets up from his chair and holds my arms. He is staring at me.

'Please don't say anything about this conversation. He has suffered too much. Somehow the accident has happened. He lost his memory and as you have mentioned, it seems that he has got still some problems about his memory. I hope, he will remember you one day as he has remembered the other people whom he cares.'

That explains everything. After creating different types of scenarios in my head about what could have been happened to him and thinking about his reason for not turning back to me, finally I get my answer. So, this is the reason that he couldn't talk to me again. Whatever I said to him or how much I tried to reach him hasn't got any meanings for him. He has forgotten about his mail address, Skype account, summer holiday and the worst of all he forgot about me.

'I won't say anything to him. You have my word. Thank you so much Emre.'

I leave him alone and go back to the others. What a fucking life he has got. He has tried to find someone else whom he could be happy and he did. But, it took for a very short time, just like the time we had back in Germany. After everything he has been through, I cannot leave him one more time. When he remembers me, he will need me more than ever and I will be there for him.

'Is everything right Katja? What did you take so long?'

Actually I should ask this question to him, but I know the answer already. How can he say everything is fine? I should find a fairy tale to say him.

'He just warns me about Andrew. I shouldn't underestimate his capabilities. That's why, we have to be more careful in our every move that getting us closer to him.'

He doesn't say anything about that. We turn back to the car. Mehmet sits on the driver seat and head towards the place where we can find that guy called 'Hakan'.

It is getting nearly morning. The first sun light of a new day is shining from the east. I feel myself so tired that I can't stay awake on the road. I close my eyes and sleep for a while. I don't know how long I was sleeping inside the car, but when I wake up again, I find myself in the hotel room. When did I come back to the hotel? Where have they gone?

I look at the clock and see that it is 11.34 a.m. My god, I slept for too long. I have to find Aleksey and Mehmet. They have to tell me what has happened after leaving Emre's house. I cannot believe that they leave me alone in this hotel room. What if something had happened to them while I was sleeping? The funny part is that I was having a dream which was really realistic.

We were getting to a huge villa, where Hakan was living. He was an extremely rich person that there were at least ten servants under his command. Most of them were hookers, but the strange part was that there was Yuri, right next to his seat. When we entered to a big hall, there they were sitting on a round table. Aleksey took out his gun and shot Yuri from his head before he could have a chance to reach his gun. Hakan tried to take Yuri's gun into his hand, but Thomas was faster than him. We questioned him and forced him to say how we could find Andrew, but he was just laughing at us.

'He is in everywhere. You don't have to find him, he will find you soon. Then, all of you will regret from what you guys have done. It's all over. They win this fight. In a few hours, everyone on the streets will start to die one by one.'

I didn't understand what he meant. Why would the people start to die? It doesn't make sense. Why does Andrew want to kill innocent people? Aleksey was leaning his gun on his forehead and counted from three. Before he pulled the trigger, there was a shout which was coming from the entrance. Someone was shouting my name. When I turned my back, I saw Andrew.

He stopped Aleksey before he could kill Hakan. He started to talk about releasing him. Finally, I had got a chance to kill Andrew, so I held my gun towards him. I wanted to shoot him so much, but for a reason, I couldn't do it. He was laughing at me and saying that I was too weak and hadn't got that courage to kill someone. I was forcing myself to pull the trigger, but it just wasn't happened. Then, everything got fogged and darkened.

It is the dream that I was seeing in my sleep last night. I know that I cannot have good dreams until I end that man's life. He is always in my dreams, but he always stays alive. I could have never had that success to kill him, not even in my dreams.

I get up from my bed and look for my phone. My jacket is lying on a chair. I take out everything from its pockets. There is only my phone. Before I make a call to Aleksey, I hear a sound from bathroom. The bathroom's door is opened and Aleksey gets outside.

'Finally, you woke up Sleeping Beauty. You must have been exhausted after all those actions. I was going to wake you up, but you were sleeping so deeply that I didn't want to wake you up.'

'You should have. What did I miss within this time? Did you find Andrew's place?'

'Unluckily, when we got pavilion, Hakan has already left the place. A guy, who is working in there, gave us his address. We checked that address also, but it seemed that he gave us a wrong one or Hakan was staying in a different house.'

'So you couldn't find him. Where are Mehmet and Thomas?'

'Don't worry about them. Mehmet is staying in Thomas's house. All of us got really tired of chasing one person to another for whole day. So, when we couldn't find Hakan, it was getting like 5.00 a.m. I left them to Thomas's house and brought you back to our hotel room.'

'Then how are we supposed to find that guy?'

'It is very simple. I have already called the agency and requested permission to track his phone. The guy, who gave us Hakan's address, also gave us his phone number. When the agency checked for that number, it seems that the number is really his. Until we get to the European side and meet with Thomas and Mehmet again, they will turn back to me once they find his location. But before that, let's go and eat something. You must be very hungry because I am.'

I can realize my hunger when we get into a restaurant to have our breakfast. One of the best parts of staying in Turkey can be the breakfast. There is everything on the table that you can think: omelets, savory pastry, bread, different types of cheeses, honey, jam, olives, tomatoes, cucumbers and simit (which is a savory roll covered with sesame seed). I have never had a breakfast like that before. It looks perfect.

We are drinking our tea and trying to finish everything, but it is too much that it can't be finished by two people even we are both very hungry. When I finish eating, I don't think that I will get hungry today again.

'Did you like it?'

'Are you joking with me? Of course I did. That was the first time that I have seen so many foods for breakfast on my table. Everything was really delicious. I can have that breakfast every day as long as I stay in Turkey.'

We start to smile each other. For a moment, this breakfast helps me to forget about all the troubles we have. It's like in the past years, when I and Aleksey were together. Sometimes at the weekends, we made breakfast outside with our friends. I must admit that those breakfasts were not as well as this one, but still it was a good idea to spend joyful times with each other and make a good start for a day. But this one is something much different than those ones. I want to have lunches or dinners or breakfasts like in the past again, but this time I want Mehmet next to me. Also, I want him to taste our cultural foods.

'Well, I'm glad that you like the breakfast. If you are ready, let's get on our way.'

Aleksey pays for the breakfast with his credit card. I thank him for this awesome breakfast. Once we get back into our car, he starts driving toward Thomas's house. On the road, he calls Thomas and informs him that we were coming on our way.

'I hope I didn't wake you up, but we are coming to you right now.'

'Mehmet has already woken me up. We made our breakfast and sitting in the living room right now. Did they turn you back?'

'It is a matter of time for them to locate where Hakan is. We have still time for passing the Bosphorus Bridge. There is traffic on our way. If they don't turn back to me, I will call the agency again.'

'Okay Aleksey. Take care of yourself. We are waiting for you.'

It takes a little bit long for us to pass the bridge because of god damn traffic. How can these people endure to spend hours in the traffic just for passing to the other side? I'm lucky that I don't have to go work that much further. It's a real challenge for these people, especially the ones who have to go work on the other side of the city and turn back their home nearly every day.

It is getting 2 o'clock when we nearly reach Thomas's house. Aleksey's phone starts to ring.

'Just in time, it is the agency.'

He picks up the phone and starts to talk. From what I heard, it looks like they found him. Aleksey looks at me and wants me to write the address down. I take out my phone, open the notes page and start to write it down while he is repeating the address one more time. He thanks for their support and ends the call. Then he calls Thomas and says that we were waiting at outside.

A few minutes later, Mehmet and Thomas leave the house and come next to us. I ask Mehmet about how he was feeling.

'I hope I will be better tomorrow than today. How about you? You looked so exhausted the previous night that you just felt into sleep inside the car.'

He is smiling at me.

'Yes, I know. It was just in the summer camp, but you don't remember that part, do you?'

He shakes his head as saying 'no'. I don't get surprised for that.

'Anyway, you were always saying me that I was going to sleep too early and you were right. At that time, I was a child that couldn't stand until late hours very easily, whereas you have been used to stay awake.'

He doesn't respond for a while and then adds: 'We were both children in those time.'

Aleksey wants from Thomas to follow him on our way. Thomas gets into his car and starts the engine. Mehmet comes with me. It is time to know who that guy, Hakan, is and about his possible connection to Andrew.

Hakan's place is not very far from our location. It is on the European side of Istanbul, but in different vicinity which is called 'Maslak'.

'I think we find the right place guys.'

There is a housing complex in front of us. There are four blocks which have got at least 20 compartments. The buildings are not so tall as most of the other ones around this location, but they look extremely luxurious. It looks like our guy's sales are going great. Anyhow, he must be selling his drugs to dozens of his customers every night in that pavilion. I bet that he is also the manager of that place.

We get out of the car and walk to the entrance. There is a security guard in front of us. He asks us whom we came for a visit. Aleksey says: 'There is a guy called 'Hakan' in one of these blocks. We came for visiting him. Can you tell us where is he living?'

The guard is a good hearted person. He doesn't ask for the reason of our visit or anything else and tells us that he was living in Block D, top floor. We thank him for that and go to Block D. It looks like Hakan is still at home.

The inside of the housing complex is looking wonderful. There is a huge pool in the middle but there isn't anyone who is swimming right now. Next to the pool, there is a big place for making barbeque or having a celebration if you want (at least it is my opinion). Also, there is a sport complex on the other side of the garden. It looks as a very small place, but there are some people who are running on treadmills or making fitness.

'This place reminds me of my father house where he was living in for a long time ago with his wife and three of my brothers. He had got a great house, maybe the best one of the city that there was even Jacuzzi and sauna inside the bathroom. I had got a great room where I was staying when I went to stay for the night. It was also our television room or, as I called, the cinema room. We have watched too many movies together.'

It is seen that Mehmet doesn't forget about his dad's old house and the good times that he has spent with his dad in there. On the other hand, he cannot remember some of the other good memories from the year of 2014.

There are eight bells, that there are different names on each of them, next to the door of Block D. I look for Hakan's name, but his name is not written on neither of them. He could use a different name that he has got.

Aleksey rings one of the bells randomly. Whichever the person's bell is, the door is opened. We get to the elevator and go up for the top floor which is the fourth one. There is only one compartment on the top floor. We knock the door and wait for someone to open the door for us.

I think Hakan couldn't hear the knock, because there isn't any sound coming from inside. This time Aleksey rings the bell. A minute later, a tall guy opens the door for us. He has got dark brown hair, green eyes, short beard and deep voice. He looks very fit that there isn't got any fats on his body nearly. He is wearing a black Armani shirt and dark blue jeans.

'Who are you and what do you want?'

Aleksey pushes the door and breaks inside. He forces the guy to sit on a chair.

The inside of his house is very large. He has got a great living room with full of decorations. There are famous painter's the most famous paintings, an old piano, a round table with plating of King Arthur and his knights sitting on the famous round table. There is a huge plasma SONY television, two armchairs which are from leather and also a skin colored sofa. I must say that he has got a good enjoyment about house decoration, because his house looks like the same as the millionaires' in the movies.

I check for the other rooms to see if he is living alone or not. He tries to stop me and warns me about not going his bedroom, but Aleksey holds him back. I get curious about what he is hiding inside his bedroom. I take a few steps toward his bedroom. The door is half opened, so I just look at inside from the space.

Am I seeing wrong or are there really big boxes around his room? I get to his bedroom and check for what it inside of the boxes is. I open the box and see some plastic packages which look at least three kilograms.

'What it going on baby? Who was it?'

I look at the bed and see a young lady who is half naked inside the bed. When she sees me, she gives a sudden scream and then she covers her body with the blanket suddenly. She is a pretty woman who has got light brownish hair, snow white skin, aesthetic body and small lips. She is almost as tall as me, which means she is shorter than Hakan at least 20 cm. I ask her who she is.

'I am just one of his visitors. Please, don't hurt me.'

Why does she think that I'm going to hurt her? She must be afraid of seeing strangers at his house.

'Of course I won't hurt you. Are you Hakan's girl-friend? By the way, do you know what these are?'

I am holding one of the packages and showing to her. She says she didn't know anything about the packages and she adds that she was working for him which means she is his hooker. I should have realized that before.

Thomas enters inside the room and sees the young woman on the bed and the boxes around the room.

'What is going on here? Who is she? What are these boxes?'

I give the package to him and ask him what it could be. He takes out his jackknife from his pocket and cut the plastic cover. There are some small tubes which contain liquids with different colors. It can't be something good. He takes one of the other packages and opens it also. This time, there is white powdered inside of the package. When he smells it, he explains that it was a drug. So, these are Hakan's products that he sells every day in that pavilion.

Thomas doesn't care about the woman and turns back to the living room again. I order her to stay inside the room until we will decide what to do with her. She is looking horrified that she can only shakes her head in a positive way.

I leave the bedroom and check the other rooms too. There are two different small bedrooms and a small study room. There are some old and world classic novels on the bookshelves, but also some trading lists on the desk. I look at the papers and see that some of them are about Naviance Company. This is a proof of his contact with Andrew. I run back to the others.

'So you are Hakan, the biggest drug dealer of the city. I know that you are selling your stuffs in that pavilion every night and I bet that you are procuring hookers too. You have got a nice house to live, but isn't it too much intellectual for a person like you?'

Thomas is showing the liquids inside the tubes and asking about what they were. When I go next to him, I show them the papers of Naviance Company and the shipment lists. Aleksey looks at them carefully and then hits Hakan.

'Wow, wow, wow... Our guy is the essential guy whom we are searching for. What will you say about your part in this job? You are working for Andrew, aren't you? He is using you as a deliveryman in Istanbul to sell company's products.'

He starts to laugh and stares his eyes at me. Why all the guys whom we meet have to stare at me as if knowing me from somewhere? It can't be that everyone who works for Andrew also knows about whom I am and how I look like.

'You guys don't know whom you are dealing with. Actually, Andrew is my deliveryman. He is the one who controls all the trades between the companies in Moscow and some of the other cities in Russia.'

'You are going to answer my question. Where is he right now? How can we find him?'

'Ha-ha, you have a bigger trouble than Andrew. He has got Yuri, your doom. He will never stop until he kills all of you. He is the Black Hole. No one could escape from him so far, neither you can.'

'I have defeated him once, I can do it again. You should worry about yourself rather than thinking about our lives. There are plenty of drugs inside your bedroom which contains kilograms of heroin, cocaine and other bad stuffs. It will get fairly enough for you to spend rest of your life inside the jail, so you should start to tell me everything you know about Andrew. Are you trying to say that you are the big boss who is behind all of it?'

'Aha, you are talking about my father.'

'What? Do you call him as 'Bugsy'?'

'It is a stupid name which is used by the weak ones who are afraid of him and what he can capable of. You will never learn his true name, but she will.'

He is looking at me again, but this time everyone turn their faces toward me. I don't understand what he meant by that. What is he trying to say to me?

Thomas takes out his phone. 'Okay, it is enough for me. I am going to call the cops. They will deal with him afterward.'

'I wouldn't do that if I were you. They are on their way and they will be in here in a few minutes. Unfortunately, you don't have too much time to spend with me, whereas we just started to meet each other.'

I ask him what he meant about his previous words.

'Who is that guy Bugsy? What does he want from me? If we don't have time to lose any longer, you have to start answering my questions god dammit!'

I cannot hold myself and punch his face as hard as I can. He spits on the ground and continues to laugh. Mehmet tries to calm me down. When he touches me and holds me from my arms, I can feel his warmth again after a long time which makes me feel much better.

Thomas is giving the address to the police and making a notification about drug trade. When he closes his phone, he says that we had to go before they got there. However, our questions are still unanswered and Aleksey is waiting for an answer.

'Please don't kill him! Kill me, but not him!'

The young woman cannot stay any longer inside the bedroom and comes next to us. She is trying to protect him, but why? Is she really giving care about him or does she act like that as it is her job? She passes in front of Hakan, but Hakan gets up from the chair and wants her to get back. Aleksey takes out his gun and captures the woman. He is holding his gun at her head while holding her with his left arm very strictly.

'I'm in no mood of joking. You are going to tell us where Andrew is and who Bugsy is or I will shoot her from her brain. It seems like she loves you, but what about your feeling toward her?'

I know that he goes too far this time, but it can be our only option in order to force him to talk. Mehmet tries to stop Aleksey, but Thomas gets him back. He says that Aleksey knew what he was doing. I hope he really knows what he is doing. He can't be serious about killing a young woman even she is a hooker or not.

Hakan gets hesitate for a while. His eyes are begging him to release her, but he can't say it that aloud. He curses at him and threatens him to release her, but Aleksey doesn't give a shit about his platitudes. He doesn't let him another choice.

'Fuck! Okay, I will tell you where Andrew is. He is hiding in a place far away from the city center. You have to go to Sapanca which is on Asian side. He has got a big wooden house near the beach. You can't miss it if you go near the beach. He must be still in that house. Now, you are going to get the fuck out of my house!'

Aleksey releases the woman and turns his back. He takes the cell phone of Hakan from the desk.

'Of course we are going to get out, but first we have got one more thing to do. We can't leave you like that.'

Meanwhile, Thomas takes out handcuff and ties his hands to the chair. He can't have a chance to call Andrew. However, I don't believe that he says the truth. There is no one that will come to his help. He is just bluffing. If there are some guys coming here right now, it will take lots of time for him to get rid off the handcuff. Thomas says that this wasn't over yet. Finally, he wants Hakan's girl-friend to get out of his house and leave Hakan alone. She has got no other choice but to obey his orders. All of us leave the house and head back to the entrance. Once we get back to our cars, the young woman starts to walk down the street and gets lost of our sights when she turns right.

Mehmet tells that he knew the place. 'I think I can take us there, but it is a long way. It will take more than an hour to get there. I will go with Thomas, so that you can follow us. Is it okay for you?'

It is fine with me. Aleksey doesn't have an argument about that also, so we do as Mehmet said. They get into Thomas's car while I and Aleksey get back to Ford. They get on the road and we start to follow them. Whenever they turn right or left, Aleksey does the same thing. It looks like Mehmet is trying to get us on highway, so that we can reach Andrew quickly.

'What if Hakan frees himself and informs Andrew or his father? They will prepare an ambush for us and we are only four people. We don't know how many guards Andrew has in there.'

'I'm aware of that. That's why, we will need backup. I'm going to call the agency so that they can have contact with the police department.'

He takes his phone to make the call, but suddenly it starts to ring. Someone is calling him, but this time his own phone is ringing, not the one that David has given to us. I ask him who that person is.

'It's an unknown number, strange...'

He picks up the phone.

'Hello, whom am I talking to? Oh, Vika... How are you?'

I get shocked to hear that it was Vika. Why did she call Aleksey? Did she forgive me finally?

'Yes of course. She is right next to me. I'm giving to her. Take care yourself.'

I take the phone from Aleksey's hand and wait her to say something. I don't know what to say to her. I keep silence until she starts to talk at first.

'Katja, are you there? Is everything alright? I got really wondered about you. How is your adventure going on in Turkey?'

'I... Well... So far so good... We get really close to Andrew this time. We are just on our way to his hiding place which is far away from the city center. What about you? How are you holding on?'

'Oh really, I'm very glad to hear that. By the way, I'm trying to be fine. I'm sorry that I got tough on you. I hope you will get that bastard as soon as possible.'

Oh yes, that's what I want to do.

'You were right to get furious at me. I'm very happy to hear that we are cool again, aren't we?'

'Yes I think so. After all, you are still by best friend for many years. I can't just end my friendship with you. Anyway, how did you find where he is hiding in that huge city?'

'That is a little bit complicated situation. We talked to a guy whose name is Hakan. We got to his house and found kilograms of drugs with different kinds in his bedroom. He said that Andrew was working for his father, who was the real person behind all of these.'

'My god, are you joking with me?'

'I'm afraid not. Once we get Andrew, we will learn the identity of that person, the father of Hakan. Then, we will end his management and put an end to their company's shipments.'

'Good luck with that. I should close now.'

'Hey Vika, thank you for turning back to me.'

She closes the phone. Aleksey looks into my face for a second and then turns his eyes to the road. He doesn't say anything to me as if he is waiting for me to say something. He takes his other phone into his hand and calls the agency. He describes the situation and where we were going then. He mentions that we needed backup in Sapanca. The person on the other line says that they would contact with the closest police department and turn back to us.

I have never thought that she would call me back within a short time. I had got fear that she wouldn't want to see me again or talk to me for her entire life, but she got apologize from me and looks like she also forgave me.

The silence between me and Aleksey gets longer and longer until he decides to open some music from radio. He opens Power FM and increases the volume a little bit. The music makes me feel relaxed. He makes the right thing by opening the radio, because we have still a long way and neither of us wants to get continued on our road in complete silence. Otherwise, the atmosphere inside the car will get too nervous as if we don't nervous decently.

We get back to the Asian side once more. We are now on highway which means there is not too much traffic and we can drive faster. After a half hour, we are nearly outside of the city. There aren't so many apartments around us right now. I can see the plateaus spread horizontally. Aleksey calls Thomas.

'Can you ask Mehmet how long it will take more to get there?'

Thomas asks the same question to Mehmet and then he replies that we got half of the road so far. So, there is at least a half hour more until Sapanca. He ends the conversation and puts his phone back into his pocket.

We have to give a break on our road in a gas station because of Thomas. He stops in one of the Shell stations and buys some fuel for the car. While he is paying for the fuel in the cash, I get into the toilette. A few minutes later, I get out from the toilette and turn back to the car. We are ready to continue our way. However, there are some black jeeps, which are Land Rovers, coming to us. The one in front is driving directly on Thomas's car and it is not going to stop. I scream at Mehmet in order him to get out of the car, but it is too late.

The jeep crushes Thomas's car and Yuri gets out of the second jeep which stops a few meters backward. There are some other guys inside the jeeps who also get out and start to fire at us. Luckily, our car has got bullet proof windows that their bullets cannot penetrate the window. Aleksey hits the gas and drives the car directly on Yuri. He can throw himself to the left side in the last second before we can hit him.

Aleksey takes his gun out and starts to shoot everyone as much as he can. On the other hand, Thomas tries to protect himself and Mehmet, but it looks like he gets stuck inside the car. His car doesn't have bullet proof windows that Yuri can easily shoot him from his chest. He orders his men to take Mehmet out of the car.

Mehmet tries to fight back, but they hit his face with the back side of their guns. They drag him into their jeep. Yuri gets in cover by getting into back seat of the jeep. They start to escape from us.

Aleksey manages to take some of his men down, but he cannot stop Yuri taking Mehmet away. It is happening again, the same thing on Mehmet. He is kidnapped by Andrew's order once more and it is us who have to save his life.

We get out of Ford and run next to Thomas. He is still breathing, but he has got bleeding.

'Oh shit! We have to get him to the hospital immediately. Help me get him out.'

'No! I will help him. You have to go and save Mehmet. I will stay with him, but we cannot let them get escaped. Don't worry about us Aleksey. We will be fine. Now go!'

He doesn't want to leave me alone, but he knows what to do as much as I know. He knows that I am right and he cannot let them kill Mehmet. We stare at each other for a second and then he gets back to his car and leaves us in the gas station.

The people, who are working in the station, watch the whole scene in terror. They are still hiding inside and calling for emergency. I ask them to help me. They look like they don't understand what I am saying, but then one of the guys get next to me and give me a hand. We take Thomas out of his crushed car. He is still awake, looking at my face.

'I will get you to a hospital Thomas. You will be alright. Just stay with me.'

He cannot talk to me, but he can understand me as I can see from his look. The guy, who helped me, starts to say something. He has got terrible English, but still I can understand his sayings. He says that there was a hospital, thirty kilometers away from there. He can take us to the hospital with the station's vehicle which is a small truck carrying fuel in its tank.

We can't wait for the ambulance in the station. It will be too late for him. I thank for his help. He carries Thomas to the truck. When we all get in the truck, he starts to drive as hastily as possible to the closest hospital.

I don't know how long it takes for us to get to the hospital. The only thing that I am considering about is Thomas's life. I could stop the bleeding on the way by making pressure with my hands. He doesn't lose his consciousness for now. Once we get to the emergency, the doctors take him to the examination room. It becomes the second time that I'm bringing a wounded person whom I know to the hospital within only this month.

I sit on a chair and start to wait for the doctors just as I did for Vika back in Moscow. While I'm waiting, I make a call to Aleksey. He opens the phone and asks me about Thomas's situation.

'Don't worry. I take him to a hospital right now. The doctors are taking care with him. He wasn't unconsciousness when we got to the hospital. I stopped the bleeding. I'm waiting for doctors right now. What did you do?'

'I'm still on the road, but I cannot catch them yet. They escaped so quickly back in there. Some way or another, I know where they are taking him, so I will find them. I will be in touch again when I get to Andrew's place. I will try to call you back if something happens to me. You know what to do then.'

Yes, I know. I will go and save both of your lives. I won't let any of you to get died in the hands of Andrew.

About one hour later, one of the doctors come next to me. He is an old doctor, at least 50 years old. He is wearing round glasses. He introduces himself and shakes my hand.

'Are you the relative of the patient?'

'I am not, but he is my friend. How is he?'

'First of all, be relaxed. Your friend is very lucky that two of the bullets didn't hit his lungs or heart. Both of them hit his right collar bone. He will wake soon. Secondly, as you are the one who is his only relative in here, you have to sign some papers.'

'Of course, I do. Can I see him right now?'

'Yes, but not for too long.'

The doctor leads the way to the Thomas's room. He opens the door for me and leaves me alone with Thomas.

He is looking fine even he got shot two times. I get closer to him. He opens his eyes very slowly and stares at my face. I don't expect that he would open his eyes within a short time as the doctor said, but it is good news.

'Hi Thomas, you are looking better.'

He is slowly coming to himself. He starts to talk with a very thin sound.

'Did you talk to Aleksey? Could he stop them?'

'Actually, he called me back and said that he was still chasing after them. He was worrying about you. I should call him and say him that Thomas has opened his eyes. By the time, you should rest, take care about yourself.'

'Katja, you have to help Aleksey. He could be in trouble. I will be fine.'

I leave his room and close the door. The doctor asks my name and I answer his question. He helps me on signing the papers, because there are written in Turkish. He translates the words for me so that I can easily fill the papers and sign them. I ask him was there anything else for me to do.

'I think we are done. Your friend will stay with us a few days. If he gets himself faster than we expect, he can leave the hospital two days later Miss Prokurowskaya. We will let you know about the processes.'

'Thank you for saving his life. If you excuse me, I have to call someone.'

'Of course, I won't take your time.'

He walks away from me and gets lost of my sight when he turns the corner. I get outside the hospital and call Aleksey, but he doesn't pick up the phone. I start to worry about him. It has been more than an hour since I talked to him. What if he gets in trouble just like Thomas said?

My phone starts to ring while I am worrying about him. It is Aleksey, who can it be else?

'Aleksey, Thomas has opened his eyes. He is fine. You don't have to worry about us.'

'Miss Prokurowskaya, it is a pleasure to talk to you once more.'

Oh my god, he is not Aleksey. I try to remember this voice, but it doesn't come familiar.

'Who are you? Where is Aleksey?'

'He and your other friend are both safe, but not for too long. He acted as a stupid by chasing us until the end of the road.'

'You won't hurt any of them, do you hear me? I'm coming there and I'm going to kill each one of you.'

'You are a very brave woman Miss Prokurowskaya, but unfortunately I cannot let you save both of their lives. Tell me, whom do you love more? What if you have to make a decision between them, which one will you choose?'

'What do you mean? Oh, no... You can't do that.'

'I have already done. It is your time to give the final decision. You have only one hour for saving one of their lives.'

He must be bluffing. He tries to put me inside a trap, but I won't fall into that trap.

'I don't believe you. I want to hear Aleksey's sound. You guys couldn't take him as prisoner. He is not an easy target as you think.'

The guy on the phone starts to laugh and then I hear Aleksey's voice.

'Katja, don't ever come to save me. It's a trap! You have to save Mehmet. I can take care of myself.'

It is really him! How could it possible? Aleksey is a very careful person. He shouldn't have fallen into their trap, but somehow they managed to get him. I have to save his life.

'Hold on Aleksey! I will come to save you.'

'Alright that is enough. You heard his voice. As I said, you have got only one hour for saving one of them. Mehmet is kept in the house which is near the beach in Sapanca. I think you know which house is that. Whereas your other friend Aleksey is with me, in an old car washed place. You will see the directions once you get to Sapanca. There is only one place like that, so you cannot go to a wrong place. After sixty minutes pass, you have to say goodbye to one of them. If you come with the police or anyone that is your friend, I will kill them both.'

'Alright, I will come by myself, alone. There will be only me.'

'Very well... We are waiting for you. Your time has already started.'

He closes the phone. Damn it! I have to be fast and save them both. I just only sixty minutes to go both places and find them, but where should I go first? What if there will be a delayed that I get late for saving the other. I cannot let that happened. However, how can they expect me to choose one of their lives? Aleksey is one of my best friends for a long time. We were couple and spent too much time together once. I don't know if he still loves me as he did in the past, but I have got still some feelings toward him (I think so). After everything he has done for me, I cannot let him died.

On the other hand, there is Mehmet, the person whom I loved for a long time ago. I know that he has got some feelings toward me even he doesn't remember me. After for all these years, we are finally together again, but now I'm deciding his fate. If I choose Aleksey, we won't be together again and he will never remember what we have been through back in that summer camp. I have to be on his side and help him to get remember who I am, but if I let Aleksey get killed, I will never forgive myself. I don't know how I can live with that pain while I am with Mehmet, the person whom I loved too much.

I'm losing every second while thinking about whom I choose firstly. I will follow my heart. It will take me to the person whom I really love, so that we will see whom I care about more. The problem is how am I supposed to go Sapanca? It is a long way and I don't have a car. I see a woman who is getting inside her car. I have to ask her for taking me into her car.

'Excuse me, I want a favor from you. I don't have any vehicle that can take me to Sapanca and I have to go there as soon as possible.'

The woman looks at me with her suspicious eyes.

'Please, it is very urgent. I don't know the way also.'

I'm begging her. She can be my only chance and my savior.

'Well, you are lucky that I am going to the same place. Get in.'

I thank her so much for her favor. We get inside a Hyundai I20 model white car. It is smaller than our Ford, but still it can go fast.

On our way to Sapanca, I introduce myself. I have to lie to her in some parts of the conversation which I really don't like to do. She is a very kind person and helpful, but I am lying to her in order not to get myself into more trouble. She listens to me very carefully while I am talking about myself and what I suppose to do in Turkey. Then she introduces herself. Her name is Zeynep.

'So, you are saying that you and two of your friends came to Istanbul for a summer holiday, but you wanted to escape from the city crowd after staying a few days. So, you decided to go to a calm place outside of the city and you have got a Turkish friend who has got a small house in Sapanca. That's very nice. You are making the right thing about escaping from the city for a time. I wish I could do the same thing whenever I want to, but unfortunately I don't have that chance. So, why were you at hospital?'

That is the story that I told her. I cannot say her that my friends got kidnapped by a psychopath who was my old manager in Moscow. I just extemporized that came to my mind at that moment.

'Oh, one of my friends made a car accident and injured himself while he was going to Sapanca. He left the city before me. When I heard the news, I had to visit him.'

'I'm sorry for hearing that. I hope your friend will get soon. It is a very tragic event.'

I look at the clock from my phone. I have got 15 minutes left. Damn, I can never save both of them within 15 minutes! When I look at the road, there is a sign which says: 'Sapanca'. Hold on guys, I nearly get there, just a few more kilometers.

Zeynep turns left and take us to near the beach. So, this is my destiny, to save my old love, to save Mehmet. But, there is still a small chance that I can save both of them. I have got still ten minutes. I can do this, I have to do this.

I see a very similar house that Hakan has mentioned about. It is a wooden house that all the others around this one are much smaller. I ask Zeynep to leave me there. She stops on the road. I thank her for getting me all that way and then start to run toward the house. There is a small garden and an outside door. I ring the bell.

There is no one going to open the door for me, so I climb the wall and jump to the inside. I don't have any guns with me which causes that I have to find a way to protect myself if shit happens. I walk to the front door of the house and knock. There are no sounds coming from inside. Am I at the wrong place? No, that cannot be. If Hakan said the truth, then it must be here. I have got only seven more minutes.

Finally, someone opens the door. The guy is caring a revolver on him. He checks on me if I have got any weapons. He lets me to get inside and closes the door.

The place looks completely abandoned. There are dust and spider webs in everywhere. The sofa and armchairs are covered with a dusty bed sheet. However, there is electricity inside the house. With my every step, the floor chatters.

The guy leads me to the basement. When I get there, I am surprised to see Yuri in front of me, but more than that there is Aleksey, tied on a wooden chair.

'Oh Katja, I said you to save Mehmet, not me. Why didn't you listen to me for once?'

Yuri is holding a DE-50 pistol in his hand.

'Welcome Katja. We were waiting for you. You came just in time to save Aleksey or should I say to save Mehmet?'

He is smiling at me. I look at his face with my furious eyes.

'That's not funny. Where is Mehmet? What have happened to him?'

'Tell me Katja. How is it feeling, making a choice between two people whom you take care about more than anyone in this world? Oh, you don't have to answer that question, because I have got a better one. Why did you choose Mehmet, a simple Turkish guy whereas you have an agent friend from your own country? He is your fellow citizen and the person who still loves you. He can do anything if it comes to keep you alive, but rather than choosing your old-boyfriend, you chose him.'

I feel myself really bad at this moment; it feels like I betray myself and Aleksey. I want to say something to Aleksey that I didn't choose Mehmet purposely. It was just a coincidence. I was passing next to the beach and saw the house where Mehmet should be kept.

'You lied to me. You knew that I was coming to save Mehmet. That's why you gave me the wrong address. Because of you, he is going to die you son of a...'

'Alright that is enough. Seize her.'

The guy next to me holds my arms and forces me to get down on my knees. I try to fight him back, but he hits my face so hard that I cannot stand on my feet. He aims his gun at my head. Aleksey gets very angry when he sees that I got hurt.

'Leave her alone! I'm going to kill all of you for that! She came in here as you have said.'

'Indeed, but the problem is that you and she got escaped from me back in Moscow. I have a duty to complete and I have never gotten failed in my life, not a single time. I hate from both of you for that. No one can stop Black Hole. You both have to pay for getting over me.'

Yuri looks at my face and then he wants a hammer from his other man. He gives his pistol to his man and takes the hammer in chance.

'You must be thinking that I am going to break your bones before I get done with you, but no my sweet. I want you to get enjoyed of this moment. If you try to do anything, my man will blow your head, got it?'

Oh no, he is going to hurt Aleksey in front of my eyes. I will watch him get suffered and I can't do anything about that for the second time. It has happened back in the old factory. He could barely get survived from that fire.

'So Aleksey... I think you and me have something left over. Let me remind you. Oh yes, you shot me from my chest in the parking lot. Did you remember? Which of your hand did you use while firing your gun at me? I suppose it was your right hand, wasn't it?'

Aleksey stays very calm. He gets himself ready for the pain. He doesn't show any fears about what will be happened to him.

'Go to hell Yuri. You were just very lucky for saving your ass.'

Yuri doesn't say a word. He lifts the hammer into the air and swings it with his all strength. He smashes the bones of Aleksey's right hand. Aleksey gives a terrible cry. I scream within the same time, but his voice is so loud that I can hardly hear my own scream.

Yuri laughs louder and louder. He throws the hammer to the other side of the basement and picks his gun back again from his guy's hand.

'There was also the time when you and your girl-friend escaped from me when we met for the first time in front of your hiding place. Somehow, your friend came to save your lives just in time, but he was a really stupid guy. He thought that he could beat me. He suffered too much before he gave his final breath. I was very angry at him, you know the reason. Anyway, I won't let any other chance that you can escape from me again.'

He holds his gun toward Aleksey's leg and then shoots him from both of his knees. Aleksey screams in an excruciating pain. His knees are bleeding very badly as his right hand. I start to beg him to put an end to this torture. I cannot continue watching that brutality. He turns his face toward me again.

'Are you getting enjoyed while watching your friend? Don't look at me like that. You made that decision by coming here. Some way or another, Aleksey or Mehmet will get suffered, but I'm glad that you chose Mehmet as I wanted you to make that choice. Otherwise, it would be too boring for me to kill your old friend.'

'You are god damn psychopath. You won't get away with your crimes.'

'I have heard that sentence more than thousands of times, but it is all the same bullshit.'

He leaves the basement and goes to the upper floor. Aleksey is looking into my eyes. He is saying farewell in a way as he knows that he is going to die. I don't know what to do. This cannot be over like that. All our plans and exertions cannot be for nothing.

Yuri comes back again in a few seconds. This time he brings a machete with him. He is going to butcher Aleksey into pieces and forces me to watch that scene.

'Do you have any last words to your love, Aleksey?'

He doesn't say anything to me or him. He just tries to get smile and spits at Yuri's face. Yuri scrubs his face with his left hand.

'Very well... I will take it as your last word.'

He sticks the machete into Aleksey's stomach. I shout at him.

'Noooooo!!! Aleksey!!!'

He leaves his machete as it is stuck into Aleksey's body. Aleksey is taking deep breaths, but then he starts to spit blood on the ground. I'm watching him without doing anything to help him. How can I? It comes to my turn now. I wish I could see Mehmet for a last time and hug him again.

Yuri takes a few steps toward me. I'm waiting for him to end my sufferings. I close my eyes and take a deep breathe one last time. At this moment, there is a shout and then a gun fire. I fear to open my eyes, but I have to see what is going on.

There are some police officers who shoot Yuri and all of his men. They have got no chance to protect themselves. I see that Yuri gets shot from every part of his body dozens of times. He cannot do anything, not even take a single shot He is finally death, lying on the ground.

I hear a familiar sound. Someone is saying my name. When I look at my back, I see Emre Yilmaz! But how could he know that we were in Sapanca and more importantly we were in trouble?

'Oh my god, are you alright Katja?'

He helps me to get on my feet.

'How was that happened?'

I don't know where to start. I have got in a big surprise. Once more, I get survived from getting killed in the last minute. First, Aleksey saved my life back at my home by killing the police officer who has sent to kill me. Then, there were Calvin and David... And now, I owe my life to Emre.

I get next to Aleksey and take out the machete from his stomach. He has got too much bleed. I try to stop the bleeding, but Emre tries to hold me back. I shout him to leave me alone with him. Everyone looks at me. Emre doesn't resist about that and says everyone to leave the basement. Then he gets out with the others also. It is just me and Aleksey right now. I get on my knees, looking at his face. He is still alive, looking into my eyes.

'You cannot leave me now Aleksey. I need you, Mehmet and I need you.'

'He needs you more than me.'

'But I still love you.'

'No Katja. You chose his life rather than mine. It has to mean something. He is your real love, not I am. I cannot give you what you seek.'

I untie him and continue to make pressure on his wound, but it is too deep that I cannot stop the bleeding how much I try. He holds my hand with his left hand.

'Don't. It is over. Leave me be. We both know that I am going to die.'

'I wish we could live in a better world, where is no crimes or murders or sufferings but only happiness and joy.'

'I wish that too, but as you know, we don't live in our dreams.'

'You are right. As you always say, every dream will end someday right?'

He smiles at me.

'Our dreams that we share has already came to an end. I know that I did so many things that I am not proud of. Among them, especially I regret for leaving you without leaving a single message while we were sharing a common life. I broke your hearth, but I have never meant to hurt you.'

'We are still sharing a common life. You did the right thing by choosing living a different life, far away from me. I owe you for turning back to me, saving my life many times and bringing me where I am standing now. Also, I could have never seen him again if you didn't appear in front of me.'

'Come on, you didn't need me in order to see him again. You could have done it by yourself as long as you wanted to. I should be the one who thank you for spiritualizing these good memories once I was with you in my previous life. You should know that those days are the best days of my life. I got enjoyed in every minute that I spent with you. Going to parties, celebrating your birthday presents, watching movies, walking in the park... I remember it all.'

I remember all of those times too. I can give anything to turn back those days right now.

'I wish that I had never gotten curious about the trade lists and put us into this trouble. I wish none of these had happened.'

'So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us and I believe that you will do the right thing.'

I cannot hold myself anymore and start to cry. I gave a promise to myself that I wouldn't cry until this is all over, whatever would be happened, but I cannot get successful about keeping that one. I cry louder and louder. Tears are running down my cheeks. I can't continue to look at his face. I don't want him to see me like that. He touches my face.

'Hey look at me.'

I scrub my tears and look into his eyes again.

'Save it for later. It is alright. I am not afraid of death. It is up to you to stop Andrew. Now go. Go and save Mehmet. I will see you on the other side.'

He closes his eyes and never opens them back again. I get up on my feet.

'I will stop him. I will do it for you. I promise that. Rest in peace Aleksey.'

I leave his death body in the basement and go to up floor. I don't expect that but Mehmet is standing next to Emre. He is looking fine. When he sees me, he walks toward me and hugs me. After all these years he hugs me again. He gets sorry for my lost. Before I can ask him how he could get there, Emre understands what I am going to say.

'He was getting kept on the upper floor, inside one of the rooms for all these time.'

Mehmet says that he has heard the screams and shouts of mine and Aleksey's, but he couldn't do anything to get downstairs.

'I am sorry that I couldn't save Aleksey by getting earlier.'

'But you came to rescue me and Mehmet. That's what important. I owe you my life. But how could you...'

'While I was talking to Mehmet back in my house, I gave him a small device so that I could track his signal once he has activated. I have some relatives from the police department so I requested their help for saving you, but I got failed in a kind of way. I had got a bad feeling that something would happen to any of you. That's why, I got on my way as soon as possible when I found Mehmet's location.'

'But still it was impossible for Yuri to know that we were on our road to Sapanca. How could they know that before?'

'Andrew has always a B plan. It isn't easy to trick him and get him. He could have sent someone after you if no one has had contact with him before.'

Emre is saying right. Somehow Andrew or Yuri learnt that what was our move and he took precaution against us. He got us this time which caused Aleksey's death. Someone must be spying on us.

'By the way, I found this on Yuri.'

He is holding a smart phone in his hand. I take the phone from Emre and look for the last calls. As I expect, all of them were done with Andrew. Mehmet asks me what I was going to do. I don't need to answer that question, because there is only one thing that must be done. I call Andrew.

'What has happened Yuri? Did you get her and her friend Aleksey?'

I really hate from his sound, but at least I'm talking to him finally.

'Yuri is dead. It is your turn now Andrew. There are no more tricks. We will end this, just you and me.'

'Katja... So be it. I get tired of waiting someone to stop you. It looks like I have to do it by myself. I had faith on Yuri, but he was just a disappointment.'

'Maybe you shouldn't trust your men too much and try to choose them more wisely. Nothing can stop me until I find you. How much you try or how many men you send after me is nothing at all.'

'If you are so eager to kill me, then I will be waiting for you in my house. I have turned back to Moscow. The trade has already got successful and the entire drugs have sent to the different hospitals. It looks like your friend got failed.'

'Don't ever mention about him. Your trading isn't important too much. The narcotic will investigate about that case and get your drugs from the hospitals. I won't let you poison innocent people and steal their money anymore.'

'Then you have to face with me. You know my address.'

He closes the phone. Emre and Mehmet are looking at me with astonishment. I want Emre to call the narcotic and explain the situation to them. Anyhow, he was one of them who have sold those drugs in the hospitals once. He knows all the hospitals names and addresses.

'I will handle with that, but what about you? Are you going after him?'

Mehmet doesn't let me face with Andrew just by myself.

'I am coming with you. You cannot stop me. I can't let you go to his house while you are alone. He must have some plans for your return.'

How can I say that it wasn't a big deal, you didn't have to come with me? Whatever I say, he will never change his mind.

'Then we have to go back to my hotel room. My passport and other belongings are still in there.'

'Also I will look for the earliest flight ticket to Moscow.'

Emre asks me what would happen to Aleksey's body. I think he will bury where he belongs.

'I will let Thomas know about his death. He is a close friend of him. He will know what to do.'

Mehmet and I leave the house while Emre has still some works to do about the death bodies. He waves at us.

'Be careful in Moscow. This time you are on your own.'

Aleksey's car (actually the agency's car) is still out there, but I realize that I don't have the key on me. Mehmet says that he would get the car's key back. It takes a few minutes for him to take the key and turn back. I suppose, he had to search Aleksey's body in order to find the key. When I imagine the view in my head, I startle and feel that the warmth of my blood passes away.

Mehmet starts the engine and wait for me to get inside. I take my place next to him.

'I know it is a very hard day for you, but you want to think for a second time before you pull the trigger when you confront Andrew. You are right that he has to pay for what he has done, but in the end it comes to you, to give the final decision.'

'What would you do if you were me? Would you forgive his life after everything he has caused on us?'

He doesn't give an answer to that and starts to drive the car. I take that as an answer, as if he said yes. But then I remember his words to me. 'I'm not a killer like you.' Does he really think like that? Am I becoming a killer, like Aleksey or Andrew?

It takes shorter to get back to Istanbul and to the hotel. Mehmet waits for me inside the lobby while I get to the elevator and pack my suitcase, but before that I need to change my clothes. I take out his pink t-shirt and wear it on. Maybe it will help him to remember. I make sure that I don't leave anything behind, but what should I do with Aleksey's suitcase? I can't leave his belongings inside the room. I have to take his suitcase.

I look into his suitcase because of my curiosity. There are some clean clothes, his passport and wallet and an old paper. I take the paper and see what is writing on it.

I cannot believe that he had got that, but how? I was holding Mehmet's old letter that I took out from my safe when my house was burned down into the ground. How long did he have that letter and when did he take it from me? I try to remember the last time I saw that letter. I got it back from my house with my passport and put both of them into my suitcase, didn't I? Somehow, the letter got in his hands and he didn't a word about that. That's why he said me that Mehmet needed me. He was the person whom I really loved. Aleksey has known Mehmet's feelings towards me, whereas I haven't talked anything about that subject.

I put the letter back into my suitcase and brought both our luggage to the lobby. Mehmet comes next to me and take the luggage. He put them into the backside of the car.

'So did you search for the flight?'

'I've already bought our tickets.'

The earliest flight to Moscow from Istanbul is next morning at 7 o'clock. We stay until morning in the hotel room. Both of us cannot have a good sleep, but it gets enough for us to get relaxed a little bit. It is strange actually. We just stay in the same room. I was waiting for this moment for a long time, but it isn't happened as I was expecting. It could be a better time if the situation was different. I say to myself, maybe someday...

Mehmet wakes me up at dawn. The sun slowly shows itself from the east coast. I get into the bathroom and wash my face. He says that it was time to leave. We leave our room and get back to the lobby. I give back the room key to the woman in the reception. She thanks for that and adds that I shouldn't have worried about the cost, because it has been already paid by someone. I ask her by whom, but she doesn't know that person's name. I guess it is Aleksey's last favor for me.

It is a great feeling to come back my homeland, but the greater thing is that he is with me this time, just like in my dream. After planning his visit to Moscow in order to see me again for a long time, it has just happened. I didn't want him to come with me in the beginning, but now I'm glad that he is with me in my country.

'So... It is in my fate to see Moscow today. I have never thought that I would come to Russia.'

You were dreaming for that moment for a long time, but you are not aware of that. About that fate, you are right. I know that we will be together again in Moscow, it can't be a coincidence. As I always say, coincidence is the nick name that is put by the people who don't believe in fate.

We have to rent a small car from the airport. It is an orange Renault Capture.

'This time I will drive the car. I know that place.'

'Alright, whatever you say you are the boss in here.'

It gets nearly midday when we get to Andrew's house. He is living in his private house, with two floors and a small garage. It is not attractive as it was back in Emre's house. It looks similar to Vika's house.

Luckily, I can get Aleksey's pistol with me from Turkey. I check it if it load. There are five bullets left inside the clip. I hope it will be sufficient to protect ourselves.

We get to the door and ring the bell. Andrew talks to us from the loudspeaker.

'It's me Andrew! Let me in! It's time to face with me you coward!'

He opens the door by clicking a button.

There he is, waiting me inside his large living room, sitting on a seat. I aim my gun at his head.

'Get your ass up. It is time to say your last words before I kill you.'

He gets up slowly from his seat. I can see his pistol on the glass table.

'Pity... I had lots of plans for you Katja. We could rule Moscow together, but you chose to stand against me. I've never met a woman like you before. You are strong and tenacious. You can do anything you want; nothing can stand in your way.'

'I don't want to hear these sentences again and again from your filthy mouth. You thought that you could beat me, like I was an ordinary woman for the company, but you are wrong.'

'At least I achieved some of my plans.'

'You've arranged all those plans in order to kill me and Mehmet, but you failed.'

There is another voice that is coming from the next room. At first, I cannot realize whose voice that is, but when I see her I can't believe my own eyes. She walks into the living room and glances at me.

'No Katja. It was me who arranged everything that has happened on you, on him, on Aleksey. I'm the one who tries to get revenged from you. '

'But why? I thought that you were my best friend Vika. Why did you do that to me?'

She is holding a pistol in her hand.

'You know the reason very well. You took the only one I have cared about more than anyone in this world.'

'You've caused his death! You betrayed me Vika!'

'Oh yes I betrayed you just because I want you to feel the same pain with me. Do you know what the bad thing about this situation is? I will tell you. You are lucky to have two guys who love you so much, but I had one. It doesn't matter anymore; I'm going to take his life too.'

She aims her gun at Mehmet. I start to hold my gun against her, but my hands are trembling in fear. What am I going to do? I cannot shoot her, but I cannot let her killing Mehmet also. I have never felt myself in desperate that much before.

'So you were the one, who informed Andrew about our plans.'

'Finally, you start to understand Katja. The moment you left the country with Aleksey, Andrew got contact with me. At first, I was cursing him and didn't want any of his offers, but then I realized... Why not? He was my only chance to bring justice. So, I called you and you told me everything about what was going on. That wasn't the only one. Before that, I told him about Aleksey's hiding place so that Yuri could easily find you, but he got failed.'

My god, she has explained all our conversation to Andrew that Aleksey was an agent who was helping me, where he was hiding and what he was going to do. She warned them about all of our moves. That's why they were always one step in front of us.

'Are you calling that justice? Killing me and my friends so that both of you can feel relieved. I won't let that happen. You have to stop Vika. Can't you see? Andrew is the one whom you have to get revenge from. He is our common enemy.'

'No Katja, if there is a person who has to pay for, it is only you, no one else.'

Andrew looks into my eyes.

'So Katja, what are you going to do now? Whom are you cared about more? Will you choose him again like you let Aleksey get killed or is your best friend's life more important for you?'

Mehmet stares at me and I look at him back. Suddenly, I hold my gun toward Andrew. It is my only choice. It's now or never.

'Go to hell Andrew.'

I make my shot as Vika makes her one. My bullet hits into Andrew's chest. He doesn't have a chance to take his pistol from the table. He puts his hand on his chest in order to stop bleeding, but I shoot him twice. He cannot do anything and falls to the floor.

At that time, I aim at Vika to stop her, but it is too late. She has already shot Mehmet. He is losing blood through his chest. She smiles at me while holding her gun toward me this time. Is she really going to shoot me also, her best friend?

'Does you really hate me that much Vika? Doesn't our friendship mean something to you?'

'No Katja, that's why I won't kill you and you are not going to kill me.'

She aims her gun at her own head. She is going to kill herself! I put my gun down and reach out my hand.

'Easy now, just give your gun to me Vika. I can help you. You don't have to do this. It's insane. It's over. Andrew is death. We can turn back to our ordinary lives. Come on Vika, your death doesn't have any benefits for anyone.'

She starts to cry while looking into my eyes.

'Goodbye, Katja.'

'Vika, NO!'

The sound of the gun shot echoes inside the house as my shout too. I couldn't watch her while she pulled the trigger. Only one shot is enough to kill herself, a bullet directly into her brain. She falls on the ground. There is nothing that I can do to save her after this moment. She has already passed away.

I go to check Mehmet's condition. He is still breathing with short breaths. The bullet hits into his liver or his stomach I don't know, but he needs medic as soon as possible. I hold his hand and try to stay him awake.

'Hey Mehmet look at me, I am right here. You will get over this like you have done it before. Stay with me. Don't ever think about leaving me alone. Just hold on. You are going to be fine.'

His eyes are half opened. I am not sure if he can hear me, but I keep talking to him, but then I hear Andrew's sound.

'Ha-ha-ha, look at what you have done. All your feelings toward me, your anger, hate, hunger for revenge caused only death. After everything you have sacrificed, this is what you get Katja. Another lost. You don't just betray yourself but also betray your friends. You betrayed Vika, Vanja, Aleksey and finally Mehmet.'

He is laughing at me. He gets on my nerves too much this time. I get really but really angry. I clench my fists and turn my back. He is lying on his armchair. I go to the kitchen and take the biggest knife that I can find into my hand. I swing the knife in the air while walking and getting closer to Andrew.

'Have you ever wondered who your father was? I mean your real father, not your stepfather. Has your mother ever mentioned about him to you?'

How does he know that I had got a stepfather? I haven't seen my father since I was a small child. I don't even remember my age, three maybe four? He has left my mother and me and never came back again. When I asked my mum about him, she didn't want to talk about that subject. She has never explained me what had happened. Never! When I grew up, I wanted to find my father and see him again. So, I wanted my mum to tell me where he was, but she said that maybe another day. She always kept saying that to me. At the end, I gave up finding him.

For many years, I tried to learn more about him, but I found nothing. Nothing! But, right now Andrew is talking about my father. Is he still alive? Can he still recognize me if he sees me again? I don't remember what he looks like. I don't know where he is living, why he left us or what he is doing right now. I've tried to find answers for a long time and now all the mystery of my father becomes clear.

'How did you know my father? What are you trying to say?'

'That's very sad. I guess your mother has never talked about him, hasn't she? You know nothing Katja. Believe me you don't want to go after your questions. The answers that you will find at the end may cost too much pain.'

'God dammit Andrew! You have to tell me what do you know about him? Is he...'

Oh my god! Is... Is he Andrew's boss? Is his name 'Bugsy'? The person who is behind of everything that has happened so far?

Andrew is leering at me. He looks like he is getting fun of me.

'Yes, you know who he is with that name. He is still living if you have still doubts about that. He knows everything about you. He was watching you from the time when you got graduated from high school. When you have chosen to study business at the university, he talked to me and wanted you to work for us in his company when you got graduated, so that you would be always close to him.'

How could he keep it as a secret from me? Why didn't he just show up and talk to me?

'No, you are lying. He has never wanted to hurt me or kill my friends. You keep saying this because you want me to get crazy about your sayings for my entire life. I will never forget about this conversation. I will keep wondering if you were true or not, but of course I won't. This is completely your bluff.'

'Come on Katja. Let's finish what you have started. You and I... We are not different too much from each other, you know that one. We are both sinners, taking people's lives for our personal reasons. Neither you nor I will stop fighting until we get what we want, won't we? This time, it is your turn. I've played all my trumps.'

I put the knife into air and swing it as fast as possible. I stick it into his throat. He starts to puke blood on my face.

'This is for Aleksey, asshole!'

I take out the knife and throw it away. I run back at Mehmet's side and help him to get on his feet.

'Can you walk?'

He says yes with a hoarse voice. At least, he can manage to talk to me while taking steps very slowly. He says something about Andrew.

'Don't worry about him. He can't hurt us anymore.'

We get back to the car. Mehmet is lying on the back seats while I am driving to the hospital. Within a few minutes, I get him to a hospital. I call for help from the nurses and doctors when I get him out of the car.

Two of the nurses hear my voice and run to me. They carry him inside the hospital and get lost of my sight. I don't get entered after them. There is still one thing that must be done. I have to be sure that if my father is really that guy or not. There is only one way to find it out. I have to talk to my mother.

Our relationship between me and my mum is extraordinary compare to most of other people. Normally, children miss their mothers when they grow up. That's why they always try to be with them, look after them when they get older, because no one wants to lose their parents. When it comes to our family, it doesn't work like that. I have got my own life and no one can have a control on it, not even my mother. I always did what I wanted to do and I didn't need my mother's permission for that. Of course she guided me; sometimes supported my decisions, but also opposed my thoughts.

She married again after a few years later when I was born. I lived with my mother and my stepfather for whole my childhood, until I got to a university. I got really tired of living in the same house with them, so I moved out and started to live on my own. Generally, we didn't spend too much time together at home. She always watched TV while I was staying in my room. I really didn't like her getting inside my room; especially I got mad when she opened the door without knocking it before. We were like living in different places but also sharing a common life inside that house.

Four years ago, she lost her husband, my stepfather. She got in a very depressive mood. No matter what I've done, she couldn't cheer up again. Our old house hunted her, made her to feel more depressive. She decided that she couldn't continue to live in that house any longer, so she sold the house. She moved into a different place, far away from where her old house was. I just visited her five times at her new home, but every time I got there, she started to reprove that why I haven't been in his funeral.

That was not my mistake. Nobody informed me about his death. Not my mother, not my uncle, not my other family members. I don't know why they kept it away from me like a secret, but I got very upset to hear that for the first time when I visited my mother. At that time, I was studying for my finals at the university mostly. That was my final year and the most important one. I didn't have too much time to visit my mother or hang out with my close friends like Vika.

What's done is done. There is no turning back that time so that I could be in his funeral, but my mother is still upset at me. I broke her hearth and there is no way to gain it back.

The last time I saw my mother was maybe more than a year. I have celebrated her birthday by gifting a plaque of her favorite band to my mother, but she didn't get happy about that birthday celebration. I think she doesn't like to remember her birthday, because every year it gets longer that her husband passed away. She is waiting for her death inside her house in order to see him again on the other side.

What has Aleksey said to me in his final moments? 'I will see you on the other side.' But until that time comes, you have to wait for a very long time Aleksey.

I reach my mother's house in the afternoon. The weather gets colder and cloudy. It looks it's going to rain at night. A perfect weather for the desperate and melancholy times... I get out of the car, walk to the house and knock the door. There is no sound. I knock harder this time. Finally, I shout for my mother.

'It's me, your daughter has arrived.'

There is still no sound. She must be sleeping. I shouldn't wake her up. I can come and visit her another time. There is no need for rush. No one is going to escape from me. But if he said the truth, then where is my father? Why didn't he show himself? Is he trying to escape from his fate? If so, he is thinking absolutely wrong, because I am going to find him, what matter will it cost.

I turn back and start to walk away. After taking a few steps, there is a sound of an opening door.

'Katja, is that you?'

My god, she looks terrible and pretty older as if I saw her at least ten years ago. Loneliness doesn't help her to get better, but makes her worse. Her hairs get whiter from the last time.

'Hello Mother. Can we have a chat? I have to ask you something.'

She doesn't deny me and invites me inside.

Her house looks like the same. Since my last visiting, she didn't make any changes inside her house. All the household goods are the same that have left from my childhood, from our old house. She is sitting on her favorite armchair as she always sat on it before.

'Do you want a coffee?'

'No thank you.'

'Why are you standing like that? Come and sit.'

She is pointing her other armchair that is next to her. I don't want to sit, but she insists on that. We look at each other for some seconds. Neither of us wants to start the conversation. I'm waiting for something that she is going to say about my stepfather's death again as she always says, but she doesn't say a word this time. The silence inside the room gets longer and longer until it gets meaningfulness to wait for my mother. I should directly enter the subject, but what am I going to say?

'So... Mother, I have gotten over so many things in these days and I have got too many questions in my mind. You are the only person that can help me.'

She looks as if she doesn't give a care about, but I continue my talk.

'I've heard that my father is still living somewhere, probably in Moscow, because he knows what I am doing as a job and where I am working at. I've heard that he is the owner of Naviance Company. Is he really that guy who is selling drugs to other companies around the European countries? What is my father's job, mother?'

She doesn't show any act of surprised or shocked. She keeps her silence for minutes.

'Where can I find him mother? Please, you have to tell me this time. I have asked that question hundreds of times and each time you didn't want to answer my question, but this time is really different. You have to know something about that. I have to learn the truths. I am not a child anymore.'

I get angry as she continues to keep in silence. I'm begging her in order to talk to me. Her eyes get full with tears.

'Yes you are not a child anymore. I cannot believe that how you learned about all these, but I know that I cannot lie to you about your father. Do you really want to learn who he is really? I have never wanted to make you feel sad Katja, but you are insisted on finding the answers.'

'Yes mother, I am ready to learn the whole story about my father even that will bring suffering to me.'

'So be it. You are right about everything that you have said to me. You father is one of the greatest gangsters in Russia. He lied to me many times about his job, his plans and his feelings toward me. When I discovered that he was a killer, a businessman who was selling drugs to other people from his companions, I couldn't bear it longer and ended up our marriage. He didn't talk about that at all, so he just got out of my life. However, he still loved you. After all, you are his only daughter. He wanted to see you again, but I never let him do that. It would be much better for you as long as you don't know anything about your father. So, he started to have an eye on you. For a moment, I thought about calling the cops and explaining everything about his dirty works, but then I realized that it wouldn't have any help. He was keeping making his trades in the shadows. That's what he is very good at, also getting lost inside the crowd. I haven't talked to him for a long time, but I know that he is still living in Moscow, in Domodedovo.'

She gives the direct address of his house. It is closer to the airport. That's why it won't get too long to reach his house.

'Are you really sure that you want to see your father Katja? He isn't a guy as he looks like. You cannot predict what he can do. I hope it will be worth for your meeting with him.'

I thank my mother for telling me the truth about my father after all these years. Now I understand why she always changed the subject when it came to speak about my father. Before I leave her house, one more question comes up to my mind.

'I have got another question. Did you know that I have a brother who is a Turkish guy from my father?'

'Unfortunately I know. I wish I didn't learn that. His name is Hakan, isn't he? He is a dangerous guy Katja. Your father raised him like how he is. His son will take your father's place. He is too ambitious and self-confident.'

'That will be very hard for him. The police have already caught him and took him into jail when they found kilograms of drugs inside his bedroom. He doesn't have any chance of keep our father's work to get continued. I believe that my father doesn't have any information about Hakan's situation.'

'I hope you are right Katja, but still I want to warn you about him.'

I open the front door and head outside. I give a last look into my mother's face.

'What will you do when you see your father?'

This is a question that has got no answer until we see each other. Really, what will I do? He is the creator of all my pains. I lost my best friends because of him. He has to pay the price but how? Killing Andrew is something different, but what about my father? I don't know how to react when I see him as it will be the first time.

I don't say anything about her question and walk away. I hear my mother's saying from the back.

'Take care of yourself. Go in peace Katja.'

Yes, going in peace, but where? How can we describe the word 'peace' in a world full of murders and wars? The strong one gets survived while the weaker gets crushed. The peace cannot be obtained until the strong one becomes the weaker and the weaker doesn't take the strong one's place.

Domodedovo is a little village, outside of the city center. It is a proper place to stay for those who want to get out of the crowd, searching for a calm place. The right place to stay in the shadows. There are a few big houses in the village and one of them is my father's. I have never thought that he was living in this village, out of people's sight. The good thing is that it gets too easy to find his place.

I am standing in front of the entrance. There is no movement in the garden. Where are his bodyguards? Did he send all of them when he realized that I'm coming for him? Maybe he wants to face with me alone, so that nobody can disturb us.

I take out Aleksey's golden pistol and walk inside the garden. The front door is opened for my arrival. I take steps carefully and slowly, because I don't want to make any sound.

There is a closed door next to me inside the house. It must be the living room where he is waiting for me. There is no one inside the house expect my father. I open the door and get into the living room. There is only one chair, a round table and a small television inside.

I see a guy who is sitting on the chair, watching the forest from the window. My hearth is pumping faster and faster. My hands get wet and my body starts to shake. I don't know its reason, maybe I get too excited or too happy to see him. I cannot describe my feelings right now. There is a chaos inside of me. I'm feeling the happiness and sadness, serenity and anger together.

'You are late Katja.'

He is still sitting on his chair, doesn't turn his face toward me.

'I know, but you know that I would find you at the end. Here I am, standing in front of you.'

He gets up from his chair and turns his back. It is the first time I have seen his face, because I remember nothing about my father's appearance. He is just a stranger to me. He has got dark hair and brown eyes. He is taller than me. He must be at least in his fifties. He is wearing casual clothes, not like Andrew. He has got a white sleeve and grey trousers on him. His hands are empty which I didn't expect. Where is his gun?

'You got tall, but you are all bones. Are you eating right?'

He smiles at me, but I don't.

'You're really grown. Look at yourself. You became a beautiful woman.'

'Yeah but you are still bigger.'

He gives a laugh.

'Well, I am Bugsy as you know.'

'That is not funny.'

There is a long silence inside the room until he starts to talk again.

'Well... You know... Let's end this.'

'Dad, I want you to answer only one question. Why did you do that to me?'

'I have trusted on Andrew too much, gave him a second chance, but I've learnt something from you. Nobody is deserved to have a second chance. The life is so crucial that it won't give us a second chance, like coming back to this life again.'

'That is not the answer. You have killed my friends, tried to kill me and him. But why? What have I done to you? You took me to this job, promoted me in the company, but your business life comes in the first place, isn't it?'

'You are everything for me, but you got too far. You didn't realize what you were capable of. You didn't leave me no other choice, but I swear that everything happened to your friends were not my plans. It was all Andrew's fault. He wanted you to get suffered, so that you would be an easy target, a vulnerable one against him. That was his plan to arrange Yuri.'

'That's enough! You've helped him to get him what he wanted. He kidnapped Vanja, my best friend's husband, and then it came to Mehmet. Finally, Aleksey... You have ruined my life, tried to take everything from me, but you are not going to do that.'

I aim the golden pistol at my father.

'I always knew that the death will be a familiar face, but not yours.'

'Dad?'

'Yes?'

I cannot look at his face while saying this to him.

'I hate you.'

'I know, I know. You know what you have to do. I am sorry that I couldn't be a good father like you wanted to.'

I cannot hold myself back. I have to make the shot. I cannot let him live and hurt more people's lives. Everything that he has created will be gone with the company also.

I close my eyes and pull the trigger. The gun fire echoes inside the room for only one time. When I open my eyes again, he is looking at his chest. The white sleeve starts to paint with red color more and more until the blood covers his entire chest. He is going to fall, but I catch him before that. I lay him down on the floor.

'You'll cry. You are going to cry. You always cry. See? You are crying?'

My tears are flowing down onto my father's body. I've just shot my own father and now I am watching his death.

'I hate you dad.'

He gives his final breaths between my shoulders. I close his eyes and drag his body to the garden. I cannot let him to stay inside the house. There is a shovel inside the garden. I pick it up and start digging. I get more exhausted with my every movement. It takes a bit longer to open a deep grave, but I use all my strength in order to get it done.

The rain starts bit by bit. The storm is coming pretty soon. I have to bury him before I catch up the storm. I think this will be enough.

I throw my father's dead body into the grave and close it. My job is done in here. Also the rain gets faster. I have to turn back to the hospital.

It gets 21.00 o'clock when I reach at the hospital. I ask a nurse where he was. It is room 303, she said. It is on the second floor. I use the stairs to get up floor. There are nurses, patients and doctors walking from one side to another on the corridors. I stop in front of room 303.

I open the door and get inside. He is sleeping in his bed. There are bandages on his chest, but it looks they've stopped the bleeding. I pull a chair next to him and hold his hand. I stay next to him until he opens his eyes again. He is looking inside my eyes.

'I know that face. Is that really you Katja?'

'Yes I am. I'm right next to you.'

There is a song which is playing on the radio.

'Wait a minute, I know that song. It's one that we have listened to back in Germany. We sang that song nearly every morning in that camp. Actually, you don't like that song compare to Rammstein, whereas I like it more.'

I cannot explain my happiness inside of me. Finally his memories come back again. He is definitely remembering the old times that we have been together. It's unbelievable.

'I cannot believe that you are still remembering this song. I'm so sorry for everything that has happened to you, but I promise, I won't leave you again.'

'By the way, I have got something that you should take back. It must be yours.'

He takes out something from his pocket and gives it into my hand. When I look at it, I see our photo from Germany, the photo that I have showed him in order to help him get remembered. I put it back into my pocket and smile at him. He starts to look at my pink t-shirt that I am wearing.

'Wait a minute... I know this one. It was mine. I gave it to you as you wanted to. You wanted something that would remind you about me.'

'Yes, that is true. I have kept it for all these years until we saw each other again. When that day came, I would wear it again so I did.'

'Also, I remember that I had a promise to you. I was going to write a book about you. I think that it is time to keep my promise.'

So, I start to explain everything that has happened to me. I start my story from the beginning, the time when I realized that the company was rolling big deals. It takes hours, but he is listening to me with full of concentration. He gets excited more and more while listening to every word that I am saying. After I finish my story, he gets shocked to hear that I had to shoot my father. I get shocked also while I'm thinking about our adventure. It is unbelievable that all these have happened in a very short time period. It is just like a movie, but a true event. At the end, it is good to have him back.

It is a beautiful Saturday morning. There is a perfect weather to spend time at outside, have a walk in the parks and make a great breakfast in a café. We are sitting in one of the cafes which are near to Red Square and drinking our teas. We have just finished our breakfast. He has gone back to his country because of his job, but we are in Moscow back again after few weeks have passed. He has planned a summer holiday and came to stay at my new house. It is smaller than the previous one, but at least it has got a pleasant seat and it is enough for both of us.

'Oh my god, it is really you! I have read your book and liked it so much. It was an amazing story.'

One of his fans comes to near our table, talking to both of us. He wants to have a picture with him and asks for a signature for his book.

'Of course it won't be a problem for you.'

He is holding the book with his one hand. He puts it on the table. This is my hundredth time that I am seeing the same book's cover, but each time I read its title again which is seen clearly on the cover. 'The Sins of the Father Are the Burdens of the Child'

Mehmet wrote the entire story that I have told him. When he finished writing, they translated into Russia as soon as possible because of its popularity and started to sell the book in every bookstore. It is sold so quickly that it is now one of the bestsellers. I think everyone knows about my story now.

Mehmet doesn't refuse his fan's request and lets him to take a picture and signs the first page of the novel. I take his phone and take their picture while they are shaking hands. He looks at the picture.

'It is great. Thank you for the picture. By the way, when I finished your book, I couldn't stop thinking about if it is a real story or just your imagination. I mean, all these events cannot be real, can they?'

I am going to answer his question, but Mehmet acts earlier than me.

'Everything is real as long as you believe in so. There is no reason to be unrealistic, don't you think?'

He cannot say a word about Mehmet's sayings and thanks both of us again. He walks away and leaves us alone.

We glance at each other until my phone starts to ring. I take it out from my bag. The number is seen as 'Unknown'. I pick it up.

'Hello, am I talking to Katja Prokurowskaya?'

I cannot recognize the voice, because I haven't heard it before. It is a guy who knows my name, but I don't his one.

'Yes, you are. Whom am I talking to?'

'I'm Agent Karl, from KGB.'

I think he means he was from KGB. It must be a joke or something, but I keep listening to him.

'Actually, we are from a new agency. We have been informed that your brother from Turkey has escaped from a highly secure prison. It was impossible for him to get out from that place by himself. We are worrying about some people who have helped him about that.'

'What? When did that happen? We are talking about Hakan in here right?'

'That's our guy. As we know, he must have escaped within the last 24 hours. He could have turned back to his father, but I am afraid your father was dead. Do you know about his death?'

I pretend as if I don't know and change my voice. I talk like I'm in shocked at the moment.

'I... How can it be possible? I haven't seen my father since I was a small child. He got out of my life entirely and has never showed up again. Are you sure that he is my real father?'

'I am afraid so. We've investigated his company and got everything in clear. For a long time, we were trying to find a clue that was out of the law about the company's business and finally got one. It took us to the owner of the company who was your father Miss Prokurowskaya. We located his place and found his death body inside a grave in his garden.'

'So what are you wanting from me?'

'We just want to help you so that you can help us in order to find your brother. You are the only close person from his family that we can have contact with. You need to say everything you know about him. Only then, we can find his location.'

'Are you offering a chance of becoming an agent to me?'

'You can say that from your perspective.'

Hell yeah! I'm going to become an agent like Aleksey was. I cannot deny this offer. Mehmet is looking at me with his opened mouth.

'When are we starting?'