Little Dove

by Jaden Wilkes

  “Miss me?” he said and climbed inside. Columbia hadn’t realized how big he was until he crowded next to her stretcher. She was so grateful she hadn’t allowed herself to be strapped down.

  She kept very still, assessing his intent and not letting him catch on that she was physically stronger than she had been an hour ago.

  He pulled a knife and held it up to give her a good look. It was nasty looking, about twelve inches long and wide, curved like a hunting blade.

  “I figure I might not make it out of here alive,” Mace said, his lip curling in a cruel sneer, “so I better hit him where it hurts. I see now you are more than his whore, he wouldn’t have brought this much firepower for a simple little cunt.”

  He dragged the knife along her abdomen, she watched him, trying to keep her face flat and emotionless, but panic flooded her body like an itch she couldn’t scratch.

  “He loves you, and your death will destroy him like nothing else I could possibly do,” Mace continued and pulled the blanket apart, exposing her bruised and battered flesh.

  He drew the tip lower, towards her pussy, and said, “I didn’t get a chance to fuck you earlier, so this will have to do.”

  He plunged with the knife, intending to jam it down and deep, destroying her from the inside out.

  She didn’t know where it came from, but she felt a surge of energy, ripped the IV from her arm and twisted as the knife made contact with her mons.

  She kicked with her good leg and hit his hand with her knee. The blade cut her calf as she swept it upwards, but it fell from his hands onto the stretcher.

  They both watched it land, their heads moving with its trajectory. It would have been comical had it not been life or death.

  She got to it first, darting her hand down and gripping the handle like it was the one thing that would save her. It quite possibly was.

  She sat up and he backed away a few inches, put his hands up and said, “Hey there, no hard feelings. Just let me go and I won’t kill you.”

  “You’re not getting out of here alive,” Columbia said. Her voice was husky and deep.

  “Listen,” Mace said, “let’s talk reason here.” He lunged for her as he spoke, hoping to catch her off guard. She was ready for him. She darted back off the stretcher, tipped it on its side and kicked it with her good foot. He hit it and missed her, his arms not quite long enough. She jabbed him with the knife and he grabbed the blade and howled when it tore through his skin and muscle.

  “You cunt,” he said, his hand dripping blood, “you need to die.”

  “If you had just walked away, you fucking idiot,” she said, “you wouldn’t have had to die. We would have hunted you down eventually, but you might have even had a few more months. But now, you have to die. Today.”

  She leapt up from behind the stretcher, the blanket fell off her and she landed in front of him, knife held tightly in her hand.

  She lunged towards him and caught him by surprise, he didn’t seem to expect her to come at him naked, and he didn’t seem to expect her to be so good with the knife.

  He reached for her arm and took hold of it. She couldn’t pull back fast enough, she was so off balance because her foot still burned and her ribs ached.

  She twisted out of his grasp; she’d have to thank Nico later for showing her that move. She feigned to the right, he took the bait and moved to snatch her as she went past, but she moved back to the left and sunk the knife into his unguarded ribcage.

  He roared and moved for her, she stabbed again, blindly hoping it would hit something. It glanced off his collarbone and simply tore the flesh.

  She was fading fast, her initial burst of energy was drained and she had the sudden realization that she wasn’t going to be able to kill him.

  She was simply not strong enough.

  She screamed for the pilot, but with the rotors whirring, his headphones on, and his orders to stay in the cockpit, ready to fly. He didn’t respond.

  Mace loomed above her, larger than life. He understood how the power had just shifted and was back into taking his time, enjoying this moment.

  She lashed out at his leg as she fell back onto her ass. She was still naked, but now covered in blood and too feeble to drive the knife home.

  He reached down and yanked it from her hand. He grabbed a knot of her hair and pulled her up onto her knees.

  She felt every single pain in her body, in full force now. Whatever the doctor had given her had worn off.

  Her broken ribs, her wheezing breath, her throbbing foot, her aching abdomen and the hollow loss of her empty womb. She felt them all.

  But most of all she felt the gripping, all consuming anguish of leaving Dimitri.

  When he’d found her and brought her out of the house, everything she loved and lived for had come flooding back.

  She wanted her life, her future, and she wanted Dimitri.

  “I’m going to make sure you fucking scream, ”Mace said, an evil light gleaming in his eyes. “This is gonna hurt.”

  Columbia tried to fight back, but her arms were ineffectual against him. She closed her eyes and waited for it, the blow that would tear her apart.

  “Fucking right, it is,” Dimitri said.

  Columbia felt Mace’s hand jerk and her eyes popped open. She saw everything unfold as if in slow motion. Mace gurgled his reply, but blood poured from his mouth when he opened it.

  A knife blade was sticking out his throat, and her Dimi was behind him, holding the knife handle and helping Mace slide to the floor to gag on his dying breaths.

  Mace’s hand unfolded as he dropped, loosing her hair.

  Columbia was stunned; tears stung her eyes and clouded her vision. Her Dimi had come back, she was going to live.

  He stepped over Mace’s body and rolled him out of the helicopter with his foot like something disgusting he’d stepped in.

  “We’re going home, little dove, and I’ll never let you go again. I promise.”

  She allowed him to pick her up and wrap the blanket around her. He sat and held her on his lap, refusing to let Nico lay her on the stretcher when the group returned and they got ready for take off. She smiled when Dimitri introduced her to Iryna; the voice on the other side of the wall finally had a face. A dirt-smeared, haunted but beautiful face.

  Columbia let her head fall against his chest and listened to the rhythm of his pounding heart as the chopper lifted from the ground. All around her they were talking about the casualties and the successes of the raid. Dimitri had ordered some men stay behind and organize a clean up to execute the remaining guards and dispose of the bodies. He also wanted them to round up any captives left in the mansion and offer them freedom with enough money to start over somewhere else. Anyone who wanted to join them in Malta was also welcome. It sounded to her like Dimitri was forming an army.

  She closed her eyes and felt his voice rumble in his chest, let her breathing slow and allowed herself to sink into his arms. Her body still ached, but her heart felt good.

  Once she told him what had happened to the baby, she knew her soul would heal and time would pass and everything would be right in the world again.

  In his arms, she was home.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  DIMITRI

  He didn’t want to leave her, it went against every fucking cell in his body, but she was well guarded by the mercenary he left behind.

  He had to get Iryna, the girl who was like a niece to him, the girl he’d seen grown up.

  He owed it to her to save her; he was responsible for her father’s death after all.

  He ran, Nico by his side, and gathered men as he went, waving for them to follow.

  He found Boian inside at the metal door to the basement, it had been sealed shut again, all the locks were once again engaged. Somebody had taken the time to secure the captives; some sadistic bastard really did want them to suffer. Boian and his men were busy setting up explosives to blow through it when Dimitri stopped them.

  “Try th
ese,” he said and threw Boian the ring of keys Columbia had thrown at him. Boian went through each one, but none of them fit the locks on the door.

  “Did you try the lift?” he asked after Boian returned the keys. All five of them turned to him and waited for him to go on.

  “The elevator? Did you try it?

  “There’s an elevator? Boian asked, incredulously. “Where?”

  “Follow me.”

  Dimitri hadn’t gotten off on the main floor, but calculated where the elevator shaft would be. It was around the corner, a great, tall wall of carved wood, images from Greek mythology as far as he could tell.

  He located the call button along a detailed spray of water; it was cleverly disguised as part of a sea creature. He pressed it and moments later the doors opened.

  “Are you fucking joking?” Boian said and laughed, “It was here the entire time?”

  Dimitri nodded and the men crowded inside. Nico pushed the lowest button on the panel and they went down.

  It opened where Dimitri had entered not long before.

  They walked through the hallway into the prison area, where cells lined the walls.

  Dimitri pulled the keys from his pocket and tried one on the first door, he had to try a few but one finally worked and it swung open.

  The cell contained a young man, maybe in his mid twenties. He was strong and healthy, but obviously had been worked over. His face was a mass of bruises, cuts and gouges, and Dimitri imagined the rest of him would look the same.

  “Get up, you’re free,” he said in Russian and English. The young man stood, rubbed his eyes and walked towards him.

  “You’re free,” he repeated in English. They moved from cell to cell like that, releasing everyone they found. He reached Columbia’s old cell and felt a wave of anger and disgust when he glanced inside.

  That she had been forced to live like this for two weeks, like an animal in darkness and filth. He felt impotent with his rage, he needed to seek revenge and destroy Mace or he would never rest easy, not after this.

  The cell where he’d heard the familiar voice was trickier to open. The lock stuck and he took an extra few moments to loosen it.

  The door swung open and he was surprised to find a tall, beautiful, very gaunt version of his beloved little Iryna crouched in a defensive posture.

  “I’m here,” he said in Russian, “come with me, Iryna, you’re free.”

  She stood, looked him up and down, smiled and jumped into his arms. She was laughing and crying but managed to say, “What took you so long?”

  He set her down and said, “I’m so very sorry. I never imagined your father’s death would lead to this.”

  “He sold me long before he died,” she replied, “I’ve already explained that to your lovely girl. No guilt is on your shoulders, Uncle, it was my own father who did this to me.” She paused and looked at his face, as if searching for evidence of some event. “Can I ask? Did you save her? Did she make it?”

  She had been looking for grief, he understood. The two of them must have bonded in here, and he was grateful that they had found each other. “She did,” he said. “She told me where you were.”

  “You’ve found a tough one, you’ve met your match.”

  “If only you knew,” he said, smiled and pulled her in for a hug. She clung to him for a moment, and he felt a small shudder as she suppressed her tears. Talk about a tough girl, he could see why she and Columbia had grown close.

  They went to the remaining doors until there was one last cell to open. Boian, growing restless, snatched the keys from Dimitri’s hand. He opened the lock, kicked the door and waited as it swung open.

  A girl walked out, heavily pregnant, thin and malnourished, with haunted dark eyes and thick, black hair. She looked at the group of men in utter disbelief.

  Boian whispered, “Ioana,” and dropped to his knees in front of her, holding his hands on either side of her stomach.

  He said something in Romanian, Dimitri didn’t understand the words, but he understood the intent.

  Ioana nodded yes, Boian had just found out he was to be a father.

  Dimitri felt a small stab of envy, once again surprised by any indication that he would want to have a child. But to share something like this, something as precious as bringing a life into the world, somebody to care for and love, and share with her…it was a thought that filled him with longing.

  “That’s Boian?” Iryna asked Dimitri. “She’s been talking non-stop about him since I met her.”

  Dimitri said, “Yes, and he’s been doing the same.”

  Boian stood and took his girl into his arms. She was small, like Columbia, but possessed a different quality. It wasn’t that she was more beautiful than his little dove, he didn’t fathom that as a possibility, but she had a grace about her that made her seem more composed, and more fragile.

  “Dimitri,” Boian said, “this is the girl I am going to marry. Meet Ioana.”

  She smiled at him and said, “Thank you for this.”

  Boian couldn’t stop smiling, Dimitri was pleased for him, the tension around his eyes had already disappeared.

  They made to leave and Ioana gave a small gasp, doubled over and held her stomach. Boian was beside her, and held her to give her balance. He spoke in Romanian, but the concern in his voice was clear when he asked her something.

  She forced herself to standing and waved him off, trying to reassure him.

  It didn’t work, Boian was beside himself and Dimitri let them go ahead to get on the elevator first.

  “Take Albu with you,” he told him as they entered the lift, “you need him more than we do.”

  “Are you sure?” Boian said, “We brought him for Columbia, she looked close to death, my friend.”

  “She’s stabilized,” Dimitri said. “She’ll make it, and we don’t want to have you delivering your baby alone, somewhere in the air halfway home. You need him.”

  “I don’t know,” Boian replied. Ioana gasped, doubled over and held her swollen stomach again. Boian’s face blanched and he said, “I take that back. Albu is coming with us. Thank you.”

  They left the house and he noticed the lawn was already fairly deserted. A couple clots of people were gathered at the helicopters behind the one he’d come in. Most of the men and women were inside the house, vandalizing and taking what they wanted. He didn’t stop them, didn’t stop Boian’s people. It would go to waste if it wasn’t taken now. There was nobody left to take over for Mace.

  Iryna crowded behind him, not wanting to let him out of her sight, even when Boian offered her a ride on his flight leaving immediately. She shook her head and stuck with Dimitri.

  There was a pile of bodies dragged to the edge of the lawn. Dimitri estimated ten or so, all Mace’s men. He saw the man from the study, the one he’d shot, draped over the top. He didn’t recognize Mace in any of the others, but couldn’t be sure.

  Boian called for Albu and a couple men to follow from the house. They headed straight for their waiting helicopters. He turned to Nico and said, “We did it. We got her back. Thank you my friend.”

  Nico replied, “Yes, and she’s strong. She’ll heal, but it might take her longer to get over this. Emotionally I mean.”

  Dimitri had been so focused on her physical health that he hadn’t considered how this would have damaged her inside, traumatized her.

  He was used to dealing in flesh, from his time in Bucharest, to the flesh he learned to destroy as Sergei’s Enforcer.

  The map of the human heart, the human psyche…it was uncharted territory to him. He hesitated and scanned the distance for her. To reassure himself that she was fine, that she would be okay.

  They were about halfway across the lawn and he spotted a figure lying on the lawn outside the open helicopter door.

  He started to run when he saw movement from inside, frenetic motion, a struggle.

  Nico caught on a moment later and ran behind him, with Iryna following.

  Dimitr
i got the opening just as Mace was standing inside, holding Columbia by a handful of hair, her body twisted against his knee. He was poised to slit her throat and a dark madness came over Dimitri.

  He’d dropped his gun much earlier, and didn’t have anything else on him. His pack, everything, had been discarded when he’d found Columbia.

  His trusted blade was right where it always was, and in one fluid motion he pulled it from the sheath strapped to his midsection and leapt up behind Mace. He heard Mace’s threat to Columbia and growled his own reply as he found the back of Mace’s neck, drew his hand back and sunk his knife, hilt-deep, into the other man’s spine.

  Mace let Columbia go, she was on her knees at this point and hadn’t noticed him, her eyes were squeezed shut and hot tears leaked from under her lids.

  His heart broke when he saw her, naked and vulnerable, open and exposed.

  He realized then what this had done to her.

  It had deconstructed everything they’d done together and turned her back into the terrified girl she’d been when he met her, worse than that even.

  As her absence had meant he’d lost his humanity, his empathy, and regained his cold, killer’s heart…his absence had meant that she’d lost her strength and sense of self. Her fighting spirit.

  He pushed Mace off the edge and fell to his knees in front of her.

  “I love you,” he said and wrapped the blanket around her, “Everything will be okay, we’re going home.”

  She crawled into his lap and he held her like that as they pierced the night sky and lifted off for Bucharest. Nico and Iryna both offered to help him move her, but he refused. They settled in next to each other, talking in low voices for the rest of the flight.

  Columbia seemed to fall asleep against him, her face pressed against his chest and her hair draped over his arm. Dimitri felt his arms and legs grow numb, but he didn’t want to move, to disturb her. She was so precious and frail; he wanted to let her rest, afraid if he shifted, he might break her.

  “And miles to go before I sleep,” he said and lifted her to kiss her forehead. It wasn’t as hot as it had been in the mansion, and her sleep seemed natural, not the fitful dreams of the fevered and dying.