Chapter 8

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserves neither liberty nor safety."

-Benjamin Franklin-

***

"You will be back to US  tomorrow, right?" she asked him as they were walking down the Gorky Park, it would be his last destination in Moscow. They were passing by the ice skating rink, silently watching as people skated around with nothing but smiles and giggles on their face. The sky was getting slightly dark and they knew that soon they would have to go back.

"Yes, work will start soon." He replied briefly. She had gotten used to his cold attitude,  which she found was mostly due to his introverted nature. Lana did not mind it at all, in fact she thought it was quite charismatic in a different direction

The two had spent so much time together for the last week, he had not realized it, but he had   opened himself up to her and felt much more comfortable, they had gone to so many places, from getting a live view of Lenin preserved body at Lenin Mausoleum to visiting Moskvarium, she had helped him discover several places he would not have figured out otherwise, and despite being a well-organized man with fixed to do list, she had made him change several little details of his trip which he ended up enjoying, she was more carefree in her approach toward travel, it had made its influence on him.

One thing he still did not understand was why? Why would she spend so much of her time with him when they barely knew each, how she had so much free time to accompany him like that, at the end of their day together, he still knew absolutely nothing about her except a few basic things like her likes and dislikes.

At the end of their trip, before he went back to his apartment to pack his belongings, he   handed her over an envelope filled with some roubles he had prepared since the night before, once she had a look at the inside, she quickly returned it back to him.

"No, I don't need it, I enjoyed our time together, you can keep it." Once more, Damian was silently baffled by this woman, she was an oddball in a positive way. On his first day at the city, he would have never expected his trip to turn out the way it did and he clearly was not expecting a company.

"You can just pay me back the next time we meet again, by then I'll be expecting lots of dinner dates. You'll pay for every dates." She winked. Damian felt himself blushing for the first time in his life. It was the strangest feeling ever. He still could not quite grasp it.

They called a taxi and drove back to the apartment together, while both of them were staring outside the window, he stole a few glances toward her here and there, unsure of what he was feeling at the moment.

The thought of no longer meeting her in the future brought a certain emotion in his heart, he   tried to identify the feeling, it was a mix of sadness, a bit of disappointment and a dash of...loneliness? That could not be it, he must have misanalysed himself. Why would he feel lonely without her? Yes, she was a joy to be around with, but she was no one to him, if she   was a timeline, she would be a momentary phase in his life, so why was his heart so deeply bothered by their definite farewell?

After the ride was over, they both stepped down from the car and was about to walk in when they saw two black cars parked right outside the apartment, which was unusual, they were not parked in the correct parking spot, yet no one seemed to confront them, not even the apartment's own security officer.

Lana knew right away that something was not quite right, she had a tight feeling in her gut that told her something terrible awaited for her inside, she flashed a frown to Damian who was understood the situation. Guess it was their mutual sense of sensitivity toward danger. Both of them took the emergency stairs instead of the elevator to reach their floor. Which fortunately was empty at the time. The made sure as they were reaching near the floor, they decelerated their steps to prevent anyone from hearing their presence.

The emergency door itself was sound proof, but sometimes someone would forget to keep them closed. It was better to take precaution that regretting it.

Her instinct was right, once they arrived in front of the door, she slowly opened the door   without making any noise, she stole a peek to find several men in black t-shirt and jeans standing in front of the door, she had recognized some of them as Vincent's men. Not like she ever remembered their face, she just had a sharp memory for faces. What truly disturbed her was the fact that they were able to  find her so soon, she predicted they would eventually but not that soon, and especially not when she was having a guest. She spun her head trying to come up with a solution, because she rather died than coming back to that vicious man.

"What's going on, who are they?" Damian whispered from behind her, she placed her index finger in front of her lips to silent him. From where they were hiding, she could hear their conversation with someone on the other side of the phone.

"We're here, it looks like she isn't home yet, her door is locked, we will wait here until we   find her...yes...understood!" then the phone went silent. She was navigating the amount of people that was sent, there were seven in totals. If she was to make a scene on the hallway, the space would be way too small for her or Damian to tackle them on their own without damaging any of the property. Then she thought of an idea.

"Can you help me?" Damian had no idea what she was thinking, but whatever it was, he knew   he would not like it. She opened the door and went down to the end of the staircase, grabbing the attention of the men who were standing on the other end. They were frozen for a minute as she flash them a seductive smile before running down the stairs, they soon reacted by   chasing her down, it was like a game of tag, she went all the way from the tenth floor down to the ground floor and went outside, where Damian was already waiting on the other side.

Right before they were out, Damian who had been waiting on the ground floor near the exit,   pretending to be another visitor went and beat up two men who were running on the back, simply by chopping the neck with his hand, a very dangerous move he would never do unless it was a case of emergency, like what they were facing. Once they were unconscious, he quickly tied their hands and legs before following her outside where she was once more surrounding by the men.

He was about to attack them when a smirk suddenly appeared on her face, confusing him, and then out of nowhere, she began attacking the men one by one, she used both her arms and her legs in a way which resembled a dance. Capoeira? No, it was not exactly that, it looked more like MMA, the way she threw her punches looked like a mixture of boxing and karate, her kicks looked like enhanced version of Tae Kwon Do and Muay Thai with a few personal twists. When one of the man grabbed her by the shoulder, she swiftly caught his wrist and flipped him to the ground, which was a move learnt in Judo.

It was only when he snapped out of his amazement did he make a move and started to threw his punches as well. Unlike the gangster members he had fought earlier that week, these men were a bit more difficult to defeat.

They were more experienced, and their movements were so much smoother, as if they had years and years of experience, however, the goddess of luck was on their favor that day because somehow, the two of them managed to take these men down. It took quite a bit and by the end, they were exhausted, which is why both preferred short term, but explosive fight, because it was also a battle with time.  

After ensuring that the men were completely unconscious, they tied them up one by one and took out any weapon they might carry with them, but surprisingly, none of them were carrying any gun.

I want her to be delivered unharmed.

They dragged them one by one to the basement where they had to wait for someone to release them when they gained consciousness. The street was dark and people barely walked pass the side of the building. It was a quiet winter night. Almost too serene for what had just happened. After they were done, they rushed upstairs to pack their belongings.

"Why are you packing as well?" He asked her after returning the key to the host. She was  already waiting outside in the lobby with a large suitcase on her hand and a large carry on around her shoulder.

"This place is no longer safe for me, I'm coming with you." He raised his eyebrow in   bewilderment, but she casually pulled up her sleeve and walked outside.

"Come on, the taxi is here!" she casually said as she placed her luggage on the garage. He was dumbfounded. It was one of the most unexpected thing that ever happened in his life, and he had been through a lot. As he stood still, she turned once more to him.

"Are you coming or not?" she entered the car and he had no choice but to follow, he placed his own luggage and got in the car, seated side by side with her.

"Would those men be fine?" he asked her.

"Don't worry, they'll be fine. He'll probably send another wave soon, this is why we must leave as soon as possible." she said with such ease, as if it was nothing.

Just who are you, Lana?