Falling for the Hitman

by N. Alleman

  “I’m a big girl. Try me.” I fold my arms across my chest and give him a look that says for him to get the fuck on with it. We’ve gone this far, why hold back for another second?

  “We’re drug traffickers. We transport massive amounts of whatever you could damn well want. Heroin, meth, ecstasy, weed, you name it. We are also about to add cocaine in our mix as well... anything that people can get addicted to and that we can make money from, we sell.”

  Even though I knew that already, it makes me a little sick how proud he sounds. “Don’t you care about the people at the bottom of this chain? The vulnerable ones who are growing hooked on substances that they can’t afford? What about the families being torn apart, the lives being ruined, the deaths being caused... don't you ever think about that?”

  “It’s not my problem what people choose to put in their bodies,” he shrugs callously. “I just supply a product that’s in demand. The demand is not my problem.”

  There’s no point in arguing with him, so I leave him to his delusions.

  But for the first time I see Dimitri for who he really is. With his face twisting and contorting in the glow of greedy pride about his morally bankrupt business, I finally get a glimpse of his true self. And this is a man I can picture killing his own brother, I can see this version of Dimitri wanting to pin it on me, and I can even imagine him kidnapping a child.

  Karen and Alexi were right... he really is evil.

  An icy chill zips down my spine and I grip the armrest next to me. My hairline is starting to sweat.

  Dimitri grins sinisterly and moves away from me.

  “Now that I think we might be done with all this talk about lawyers, why don’t we finally get the show on the road? I’ve already taken the initiative and had a contract drawn up, so don't you think it’s time to sign it?”

  “You’ve had a contract drawn up since this morning?” I ask him, accusation dripping from my tongue. If he admits now that he’s had this done for a while, then he’s basically confessing to everything. He’s admitting that he knew that his brother would meet his untimely death, and that he didn’t have a will in place. That it would come to this... me needing to sign everything over to him.

  But he doesn’t give me that confession. He doesn’t admit anything. Instead, he very calmly pulls a gun out of his pocket and aims it at my head.

  “I don't think this is the time for negotiations now, do you?” He cocks his head at me, and it takes everything I have not to vomit on the rug in front of me. How could I ever have thought that Dimitri was the good guy, or that he could have given me a better life? He’s clearly a complete and utter psychopath! “So why don't you just pick up that pen and sign the contract? Things don’t need to get out of hand, do they dear?”

  All of a sudden, I spot a shadow out of the corner of my eye, and forgetting myself I glance over at it. Noticing me acting strange, Dimitri follows my eye line, just in time to see Karen and Alexi approaching us. Relief floods me at this sight—they must have heard what was going on.

  I inhale a huge breath and my stomach contents settle. They’ve come to save me. I’m not in danger after all!

  But my hopes are dashed just as quickly when I spot the barrel of a gun pointed at Alexi.

  Shit, this isn’t me being saved, this is all of us getting caught... we’re totally fucked now!

  “It’s nice to see you again, Aidan,” Dimitri smiles at the other man.” I see you’ve found our... unwanted guests.”

  Karen can’t even look at me, her eyes are fixed on the floor below her, and Alexi is staring straight ahead. I want one of them to communicate with me, even nonverbally, just so I can find out what’s going on. How the hell did we all end up in this mess? Maybe the whole thing was a trap, and we walked right into it.

  “Now, Nadia,” he leans closer, practically whispering into my ear, sending an unwanted shudder through my body. “I think that we can all see that it’s better for everyone here if you just sign the contract... don’t you?”

  “Don’t do it!” Alexi instantly yells, causing Dimitri to whirl on him. Dimitri is breathing heavily now, and before he even opens his mouth again, I can tell that whatever he says next will be unhinged, out of desperation.

  “Give Officer Whitfield a gun,” he announced to Aidan, who obeys him straight away. I start to seriously panic at this, wondering if I was right all along not to trust her. Maybe this has all been a double bluff and she’s actually a really good actress. “Now, shoot him if you ever want to see your daughter again.”

  Okay, I guess that part was true.

  At the speed of light, she spins and fires a bullet from a gun. One hits Alexi straight in the chest. I simply stand there, watching this happen, without even registering the severity of this. It’s as if I’m having an out-of-body experience, completely disconnected from everything that’s happening.

  Alex’s body starts to fall to the ground.

  “No!” I scream loudly, as a part of it slams me in the face.

  Alexi has been shot. He might even be dead.

  “No, no, no!” I hear a guttural scream that can only be coming from me, but I don't even care. I try to move, to be with him, to see if he’s okay or if there’s anything that I can do, but Dimitri quickly holds my arms in place.

  “Sign that first,” he growls, thrusting a pen into my hand. “Sign it and you can go to him.”

  Tears blur my vision so that I can’t read the words on the paper, but I do it anyway, before starting to move again. Only this time I’m stopped by the sound of a gun cocking behind me.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” Dimitri tells me. “I have all that I need from you now, so I guess it’s time for you to die. It’s a shame,” he shrugs his shoulders. “Because I didn’t want it to go this way. I wanted you to be with me, and for us to take on the world together. But now I know that you’ve been screwing that loser...” he cocks his head towards Alexi’s body. “I don't want you anymore... just like you’ve never wanted me. Maybe I knew it all along. Maybe that’s why I wanted to pin Damien’s murder on you. Who knows?”

  I slowly raise my arms above my head, weirdly calm as I accept my fate. If this is how it has to end, then so be it. If Alexi is gone then I don't have anything left to live for anyway...

  23

  Alexi

  I hate hearing Nadia so upset, it damn near tears my heart to shreds, but I have to keep up the pretence that I’m dead for a while longer. Lucky for all of us, I thought to wear a bulletproof vest before coming over here. Karen knew about it, so I wasn't surprised when she turned the gun on me. She knew it would help things along, and that it would get her the information she needed, without actually having to hurt me... well not too badly anyway, so I can’t blame her. I just hope and pray that she gets what she needs.

  Only now I can hear Dimitri threatening Nadia, and I’m not sure what to do about it. I don't know whether I should give it up now and kill the fucker. I want to surprise him at precisely the right time. If only I was sure when that was.

  “After you’re dead,” I hear him say nastily, “I can take Officer Whitfield here to my uncle’s home where her daughter has been very well looked after. That will be her reward for sticking with me until the bitter end.”

  At least she knows where Lisa is now—that’s one good thing. A Novikov uncle shouldn’t be too hard to find, there can’t be many of them.

  “Thank you, Dimitri,” I hear Karen reply calmly, and I open my eyes slightly. I need to know what she’s doing, what’s going on, so I just need them open a sliver for that.

  But as soon as I do that, everything changes all over again.

  The first thing I see is Karen spinning on her heels and firing a shot into Aidan, which unfortunately sees coming so he jumps out of the way. The bullet does graze his arm, which slows him down for just a few seconds.

  This is it, the moment to take him down. He’s injured, distracted, it needs to be now.

  I leap up, shocking everyon
e, and charge full speed at Aiden, knocking him backwards until he slams into the wall and knocking the wind out of him. I move my right arm back so I can punch him with all my might. My hand connects with his jaw with a sickening thump, I can’t help but feel sad that our relationship has come to this. The man is my mentor, the one who brought me to this country, the person that I’ve always looked up to... and now we are in a fight to the death.

  “You bastard,” he spits out, allowing blood to flail everywhere. “What the fuck are you doing? You’re supposed to be loyal to me, to the organization. You agreed to a lifelong dedication or have you forgotten that already? Just for some random chick... you can have any woman you want, you know that, right?”

  I take a step back, allowing that to sink for a second and as I do I spot Dimitri running from the room with the contract in his hand. For a split second I’m torn—do I finish things off here, or go and get that fucker? Dimitri is the head of everything after all... but Karen makes my decision easy for me by tearing after him with a gun in her hand. I don't like the thought of her going out there by herself, facing the man that’s put her through so much torture, but I’m also aware that she’s a trained police officer, and that she’s dealt with stressful situations such as this one before.

  “I guess it’s just me and you, kid,” Aidan snarks, which makes me wonder where Nadia is. I assume she’s made her escape. And even if I don’t know where she is, I believe she’s safe. She must have gotten out while I was playing dead. That means I can throw all my energy into this fight with Aidan without fear. She isn’t here to see me, or to get hurt. It’s going to be okay...

  Something hard smacks me upside the head. I stagger around the room, feeling totally dazed and confused.

  “You need to stop this now,” Aidan warns me. “I told you that before. You work for me, you’re a part of my organization, and this is something I cannot tolerate.”

  “Oh yeah?” I ask, rubbing my injured head. “So what exactly are you suggesting?”

  “Kill Nadia,” he shrugs his shoulders as if what he’s just suggested means nothing. “Kill her and prove your loyalty to me, then things can go back to normal. I won’t even make you stay with us for life. We will simply carry on as we were, before all of this happened.”

  I step back and nod, as if this is something that I’m actually considering, but inside my mind is whirring. I want to ask him if he’s fucking serious, if he actually thinks that I’m going to go through all of this just to kill Nadia? What the hell would be the point of that?

  Then, just as his guard slips because he assumes that I’m on his side, I race back to him and I force him to the ground. He tussles against me, trying to fight with all of his might, but the gunshot pain is radiating through him. I can see it on his face, and it’s slowing him down.

  White hot anger combined with the adrenaline transforms me into a fighting machine. More powerful than I’ve ever been before, I’m overcome by the urge to wrap my hands around Aidan’s throat and choke the life out of him. It’s a sick, twisted thought, so instead of allowing myself to do what I want to do, I kneel across his chest and onto his arms, before reaching down and pulling his second gun from his belt—the one I’ve seen there many a time before. Until now, it’s always made me feel safe and secure, knowing that my boss always has a second way to back me up, but now it sends terror bolting through me.

  A greedy man is a dangerous man, I’ve always thought that. I just never thought that it would apply to me and the people in my life. I always assumed we had our heads screwed on better than that.

  “I know you don't understand this,” I tell him, panting from our struggle. “But Nadia has altered my life. I know you won’t get it, and you certainly won’t approve, but I would do anything for her. I’m not going to kill her.”

  “But you’ll kill me?” he gasps, consciousness starting to slip away from him. “The man who brought you to America and gave you a chance?”

  “I appreciate everything that you’ve done for me. I do,” I tell him honestly. “But you brought me into a cold, cruel world. You brought me to a place where betrayal is the norm, and crime is a way of life. I don't want that anymore, I want something more.”

  “You won’t be able to do anything else,” he sneers at me, using his last breath to insult me. “You’re just a poor boy from the streets of Moscow. This is all you’re good for.”

  I could argue. I could tell him I will defy expectations and make something of my life, but there’s no point. His opinion won’t be swayed, and he won’t be around to see it anyway. Unfortunately, because of his actions, and because I don't want to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder, I have to do what I need to do.

  With an intense sadness in my heart, I close my eyes, put the gun to his head, and listen as the loud blast rings out...

  “Noooo!”

  There’s no time to dwell on what I’ve done because another piercing scream rings from outside, and I already know it’s Nadia. She might have gotten out of the house, but it doesn’t sound like she’s escaped.

  She needs me.

  I jump up, tossing Aidan’s body to one side, and I run from the building to the driveway, where I can instantly see Dimitri, waving his gun like a mad man at Nadia and Karen. He’s screaming at them like a lunatic.

  My heart rate slows and a strong sense of calm overcomes me as I realize this is the place where I’m best, the moment where I can put all the skills that I’ve learned from working at the agency to good use.

  Clean kills. That’s what I do, and that’s what I need to do here. We might not have all the answers, but I feel like we have enough now. It’s time to put an end to this situation.

  But as I lift the gun, Dimitri takes hold of Nadia and positions her body in front of him like a shield.

  Fuck, this is going to be more complicated that I thought.

  I step forward, into the light so he can see me and drop my gun in front of me in a gesture of peace. “Okay, Dimitri,” I say in a business-like tone of voice. “Time to stop playing here, don’t you agree? I think we’ve all gone a little crazy, we’ve all done some things that we regret, some shocking things, and it’s time to move on.” I glance over to Nadia, widening my eyes, hoping that she’ll get my meaning, but she’s giving me a blank look back.

  “Fuck off,” Dimitri spits back at me. “This has nothing to do with you. You shouldn’t even be here.”

  “None of us should be here,” I reply, glancing to Nadia’s pocket where I’m sure the taser is hidden. Thankfully this time, she seems to get it. “But this iss where we are.” I watch her discreetly reach for it, so I use this moment to keep on talking, just to keep him distracted while she works. “I might as well tell you that Aidan is dead inside, and I would hate for the same thing to happen to you.”

  His expression is stunned, and I have his full attention. “You don’t need to end up in the grave too, not after you’ve worked so hard...”

  At that moment, I see Nadia separate herself from him then slam the taser into his side, She must have hit the button hard, because he falls to the ground momentarily paralyzed.

  As soon as his body stops jerking from the electrical charge, I pounce on him, keeping him pinned to the ground.

  “One of you call the cops,” I yell as Dimitri shudders beneath me, succumbing to the shocks that have just burst through his body. “Let’s get this fucker justice.”

  I would prefer him to be dead, but this is the best way all round. Dimitri will unravel everything... he’ll get Nadia off the hook for a crime she didn’t commit, he’ll likely be blamed for killing Aiden too, and we’ll be able to find out for sure where he has Lisa—in case he was lying before.

  I might want to put this fucker out of his misery, but a life time of incarceration will have to do.

  24

  Nadia

  All I can do is watch in shock as Alexi pins Dimitri to the ground, fixing him in place. My brain is having a hard time processi
ng all that has just happened. That situation took a turn for the worse so quickly that it’s impossible to really consider. I don't even know where to begin with it all.

  It turns out that not only is Dimitri a bad guy, he’s actually one of the worst criminals out there, which means he tricked me for many, many years into thinking that he was a nice person—how could I have been so stupid as to just fall for his act?

  The fact that he threatened me with a gun just because I wouldn’t sign the stupid drug business over to him sends a shiver through my veins all over again. Who was that person? The one with pure evil in his eyes... I’ve never seen anything like that before, so cold and calculating. Even Damien never gave me that look. Plus he admitted to all of those other terrible things that people said about him, which means my judgment has been utter shit all along. This isn’t some heat of the moment crazy reaction over money... this is something that’s been carefully plotted over the last few years.

  What sort of parents do these guys have? I mean, I always knew that they weren’t great, but this has me questioning everything. Then again, my dad was a bad guy too, and I didn’t turn out evil so maybe they aren’t totally to blame. I may have made some bad decisions, but it’s never been evil driving me.

  How could I have ever thought that Dimitri was better than Damien? They are both scum of the Earth. I should never have gotten involved in the Novikov family at all... I can see now that I should’ve just waited to escape my own family problems rather than gotten involved with the first man to come my way. I should have saved up my own money and done it on my own. I should have been more independent and a whole lot smarter.

  As Alexi yells at us to call the cops, Karen looks at me like a deer in headlights. “You’re going to have to do it,” she tells me, her voice shaking as she speaks. “I can’t have my voice recorded in case they ever use this 911 call as evidence or something. Plus, I’m supposed to be on call tonight so I’ll probably get called in as backup anyway. I’m going to have to go for now, you just... get your story straight in your head and wait for the cops to come. I’ll try and make sure that I’m the one questioning you so that we can work this out together, okay?”