Filthy Russian Savior

by Reina J Richards

  “Get the fuck on with it then,” I spit, having zero patience for his bullshit.

  He chuckles as if I’ve said something funny.

  “Well, you certainly don’t waste your words, do you, Maxim? I suppose if you are so desperate to get on with it, as you say, then I might as well do just that.”

  Chapter 19 - Ava

  “Hi baby, please call the number I just sent you, for my colleague Luka K. He will know what to do. Let him do what he needs to do, and please make sure you stay home. Don’t worry. I will see you soon.”

  The text from Maxim makes my heart pound like someone’s chasing me. Something is wrong. He wouldn’t just ask me to call this random colleague of his.

  I already know, despite Maxim’s direction, that I will NOT be staying home while he’s out god knows where. With shaky hands, I dial the number for Maxim’s colleague, praying to every deity that he picks up.

  He picks up on the second ring. “Yes?” He says gruffly.

  I stutter out who I am and how I got this number. Luka doesn’t seem terribly concerned, but his manner is efficient and business-like. He tells me he’ll take care of everything, but before he hangs up, I beg him to let me help. I need to be wherever Maxim is. I need to know he’s okay.

  After a long hesitation, during which I’m certain Luka is going to say no, he sighs heavily and instructs me to be ready in five minutes.

  I have no idea where he lives that he can be here so soon, but I don’t question it as I climb into the back of a massive black SUV with the windows tinted. The car drives away as soon as my door is closed, and I finally get to look at my fellow passenger. Across from me on the bench seat is a giant of a man. He’s like a walking cliche of a Russian mobster. His bright eyes assess me as I put my seatbelt on. I give him a brief smile and wave—why did I wave? I’m a doofus—and he tips his head to me in reply.

  “So,” he says, in accented English, “you are the one who has my friend tied up into knots, huh?”

  I’m grateful for the darkness of the car because I just know I am blushing. I don’t know how to respond. Thankfully, he doesn’t seem to expect me to. He laughs at my unspoken reaction, shaking his head a bit like he can’t believe it.

  “Yes, I see it. I see it,” he says, with no further explanation about what he sees.

  “Are you... Luka?” I ask.

  He quirks an eyebrow like he’s surprised I don’t already know who he is, but then he nods in response.

  “I’m Ava,” I say, rather lamely if his response is any indication. He just smiles and nods. I’m kind of annoyed by this guy already. “Where are we going? Do you know where Maxim is? Is he okay?”

  Luka fixes me with that piercing gaze again. “Well, we are going to intercept the men who aim to kill Maxim.”

  Wait, what? He delivers this so calmly like he’s delivering the weather. What the fuck?

  “How do you know where he is?” I ask, which honestly is the dumbest question I could possibly ask in this moment but for some reason it’s the first thing I blurt out.

  Luka raises his phone to show me some sort of tracking map onscreen. “Most people know you can track cell phones, so they make sure to confiscate and turn them off. But they sometimes forget that you can also track someone through their smartwatch or another similar device.”

  Before I can ask for more info, Luka speaks again. “And it would appear we are here. Let us hope it’s not too late.”

  Chapter 20 - Maxim

  I can’t believe I didn’t tell her I love her. I am such an idiot. That’s all I can think about as I’m pushed to my knees on the floor of this dingy warehouse. I should have told her.

  “Alright, fucker,” Eric says in his heavy Jersey accent, “why don’t you tell me what you told Luka about Punch. I’m sure you’ve already had your little report to him, so what exactly is it that he knows?”

  I wordlessly consider my options for a moment. Something tells me this is interconnected with Ava’s sister disappearing. The question is, should I tell the truth about Luka not knowing anything about this situation, or should I back up my boss even if it might put my girl in danger?

  Apparently, I’m taking too long to respond, and before I know it, I’ve taken a pistol to the jaw. I spit out some blood right in front of my own personal goon for the afternoon. “Why don’t you uncuff me and see what kind of fight we can really have, huh?” I taunt. “Or are you too much of a chickenshit to fight me?”

  That earns me another blow with the pistol, but I don’t fall over, despite the fact that I’m on my knees and my hands are cuffed behind my back.

  “Boss, can’t we just shoot this fucker?” the goon grumbles. Eric chuckles and walks around my back. I tense, knowing nothing good will come from him being out of my line of sight.

  “In due time, kid, in due time. First, we have to make sure our friend here tells us what we need to know.”

  Another pistol-whipping from the goon, while Eric continues to speak behind me. “Now, Maxim, we’re only trying to help, you see? The more you cooperate, the quicker we’ll put you out of your misery.”

  Eric comes to kneel beside me, speaking in my ear. I don’t turn my head, making sure my response is heard by everyone else in the room too. “Fuck. You.” I spit out, knowing that my response will probably get me beat even further if not completely discarded. But who does this motherfucker think he is?

  Before I can consider that, I feel a heavy boot in my back, kicking me down and sending my face barreling toward the concrete floor. I’m able to tuck my head and avoid a direct impact on my face, but the resulting crack of my temple against the floor does not feel like luck. It feels like I might be in danger of passing out. Once I do, they’ll have no use for me, so I try my hardest to stay awake for as long as possible. I’ve been knocked out and concussed before. I know how bad it is if I fall asleep. I know I could die just from that blow alone. I know if I take one more punch to the head, my brain will shut down out of self-preservation, and who knows if I will ever wake up again. Just as I’m thinking about this and lamenting the fact that I won’t get to see Ava’s beautiful face again, I drift off into the nothingness of the place beyond sleep. The place where I can see Ava forever.

  Chapter 21 - Ava

  We pull up to a squat warehouse-looking building, as Luka stashes two pistols in his suit jacket. He fixes me with a look, but I already know what he’s going to say. I shake my head.

  “I’m going inside,” I tell him, already moving toward the car door. He glances at me for a beat before shaking his head in defeat.

  “Do you know how to use a gun?” he asks, gruff and impatient.

  “No?”

  With a heavy sigh, he pulls one of his pistols out of his jacket pocket, then quickly shows me how to release the safety and pull the trigger.

  “Keep it pointed at the ground when you’re not using it, and do not point it at someone unless you intend to shoot them,” he says, leading me out of the SUV.

  I trail behind Luka and his bodyguard as we inch our way along the warehouse’s exterior brick wall, making sure to duck as we pass in front of the large grimy windows. Once we reach the side door, we find it locked.

  Thankfully, Luka’s bodyguard pulls a small, cell phone-sized device out of his pocket and holds it up to the door’s handle. I flinch, my years of watching movies and tv shows preparing me for an explosion or something similar in order for us to blast the door open.

  Apparently, times have changed because, after a few seconds, the light on the device blinks green, and the lock snicks almost imperceptibly. We pause, waiting to see if the voices inside grow quiet in suspicion of our lock picking. Much to my relief, there’s not even a pause in the cadence of their impassioned speech.

  Through the door, I can’t make out what the man inside is saying or who he speaks to, but I can tell that he’s angry, that’s for sure. My heart thuds in my chest as I imagine the countless scenarios Maxim could be in by now. None of them are go
od. None of them end with us leaving here together. I swear, if he put himself in this kind of danger for information about Maya, I might kill him myself. It would be on my conscience forever, knowing he was doing this for me.

  I’m snapped out of my thoughts by Luka drawing my attention to where he and the bodyguard stand in front of the next door down. I squat and scoot closer to them.

  “Are you sure you do not wish to wait in the car? It would be safer. Maxim will have my head if I let you come in.”

  I fix Luka with what I hope is my fiercest look, and he nods almost immediately.

  “Okay then. Bruce will go in first, then me, then you will follow behind. Please remember what I told you. Do not aim the gun if you don’t intend to shoot,” Luka reminds me.

  I nod, swallowing past the lump in my throat at the idea of using this gun, and then surprising myself when I realize I would not hesitate to use it if someone threatens Maxim. Here goes nothing.

  As discussed, I follow Luka and Bruce the bodyguard into the warehouse. We’ve barely taken two steps before an explosion of sound sets off like a bomb in the small space. I vaguely register that Bruce has been hit in the shoulder, though he falters for only a moment before drawing his gun once more and firing at the men opposite us. At Luka’s urging, we duck behind a stack of boxes as Bruce makes his way deeper into the room, dodging shots and taking down a few men in the process.

  “Do you see him?” I ask Luka, scared he won’t answer me. He peeks over the boxes again and I know it’s bad. I just know it. He meets my eyes, shaking his head.

  “I do not... I am not sure if it is him. There is someone... on the floor.”

  My heart stops. It’s him. It absolutely has to be. I move to stand up, but Luka’s firm grip pulls me down again.

  “If it is him, you will not do him any favors by barging over there. Let Bruce handle this and then I will join him. You stay here as long as possible. Don’t do anything stupid.”

  I close my eyes, trying to breathe through the pain wracking through my body. I can’t lose him, not now, not so soon after we just met. Not so soon after I lost Maya. I’m not sure I can bear the thought of being alone for good this time.

  Luka peeks through the boxes and whatever he sees causes his expression to harden as he cocks his gun. He stays me with a palm out in the universal sign for ‘don’t move,’ and suddenly he’s gone, his gun ringing through the air, followed by the indeterminate sounds of a scuffle and more guns. I peek through the boxes, desperate for some information, and my eye immediately goes to the far corner, where Maxim sits slumped against the wall, his head lolling to one side. From where I sit, I have no way of knowing if he’s dead or alive.

  Feeling frustrated by my own inability to move and my overwhelming desire to go to him, I form a plan of my own. I just hope it works.

  Chapter 22 - Maxim

  Ava.

  That’s the first thought I have once my brain gets back online enough to register the sounds of a struggle around me. I don’t have the energy to do anything about it, as my brain isn’t awake enough to even push me to my feet. My face feels heavy and swollen, caked with blood and who knows what else.

  Ava.

  Where is she? I wonder if she knows I am here. Though I wish to see her, I hope she is far away from this place. I do not want her near these terrible people.

  A familiar scent invades my nostrils as I struggle to fully wake. Her scent must have been present in my dream. The sweet, crisp citrus and mint smell is at once pleasant and heartbreaking. I might be alive, but I don’t think I’ll ever get to smell her again. Even if I manage to survive this day, there’s no way in hell I’m going to let her stay with me now. I’m too dangerous. This life isn’t for her.

  “Oh baby, no,” an angel whispers. And an angel it must be because the voice sounds a lot like Ava’s. Perhaps I am closer to death than I thought. Perhaps I am already there.

  “Maxim, please, please wake up. Oh my god, please don’t be dead,” she whispers, and my heart stirs at the pleading tone in her voice.

  She’s... here? I’m not dead?

  I want to jump up and beat my chest, proving to her that I’m alive, but I can’t. I can’t make my body move the way I need it to. I settle instead for taking a huge breath, hopeful she sees my chest move and knows I’m alive. I know the moment she sees me breathing because she lets out a little choked-sounding sob.

  “We’ll get you out, Maxim,” she says, her voice low and sweet, and god, I love her. I try to move my head but that takes too much effort. I settle for breathing. Just breathing, for now.

  “Oh no you don’t,” Eric’s gruff voice breeches the sweet fortress of Ava’s words right before I hear her gasp. Fuck fuck fuck.

  Before I send myself into cardiac arrest, I hear Luka’s calm voice. “Let go of her, or I’ll put this bullet through your head.”

  The familiar noise of two guns being cocked fills the silence.

  “I don’t think I will let her go, Kotov. She seems important to you. And that means she’s important to me too.”

  “You don’t want to do what you’re about to do,” Luka warns, and I’m grateful for him but I wish he’d just shoot the bastard already. I know Eric must be holding Ava in front of him as protection, but I also know that Luka is a phenomenal shot.

  “Maybe if you’d taken better care of your business, you’d have seen what was going on right under your nose,” Eric says, with an evil laugh.

  Luka’s voice sounds bored. “Let her go, and I’ll consider letting you stay alive. But please know, if you do not release her, your death will be long and painful.”

  “Oh please,” Eric sneers, but his next words are cut off by a shout and a gunshot, then another.

  No no no no no. I struggle to open my eyes, to get my head up, to focus on the scene in front of me. Everything hurts, and when I take in the scene at the warehouse, I almost pass out from the shock of it all.

  Chapter 23 - Ava

  I did it. I shot a man.

  I know I should feel more remorseful in this moment, but I’m not. From where I stand, I see that the bastard Eric is writhing around in pain on the ground, my bullet having entered through the top of his thigh.

  I don’t even know what came over me. One second I was rejoicing at seeing Maxim breathing, then I was yanked up and practically choked by Eric. What he didn’t realize was that I held Luka’s gun in my hand. I guess maybe he wasn’t expecting a girl to have a gun. But I did.

  Once Luka started killing time by talking to him, I knew I had to take my shot. Maxim had been stirring awake, no doubt trying to get to me and save me, and the last thing I wanted was for Eric to realize Maxim was still alive.

  Despite my lack of hesitation when it came to shooting Eric, part of me is glad I delivered a non-fatal shot. I’m not sure I’d be able to deal with being a killer right now. But I absolutely know, without a doubt, that I’d kill to save Maxim if it came down to it again.

  After Luka gets Eric tied up with some zip ties, he hands him over to Bruce with instructions to not let the fucker get up until he’s shared every piece of information he’s been hiding

  I kneel in front of Maxim again and he looks up at me, his face all beaten and bloody and heartbreaking. It looks like he’s about to try to say something, but I know it must hurt to talk so I quickly shush him.

  “Shh, it’s okay. Everything is okay. Don’t strain yourself, alright? We’re going to get you all fixed up.”

  He nods slowly and I gingerly take hold of one of his hands, not wanting to hurt him. Despite my previous demand that he take it easy, he still manages to croak out my name. I look into his eyes and notice he seems to be smiling—at least that’s what those piercing eyes are saying. After a moment, he opens his bruised mouth to say the sweetest words.

  “I am in love with you, Ava.”

  My eyes fill with tears. I nod and hold his hand tighter. “I’m in love with you too,” I tell him.

  His shock is almo
st comical, followed closely by relief as he slumps back and closes his eyes. As peaceful as he looks, I know we can’t let him fall asleep in case he has a concussion.

  I gesture over to Luka so he can help me get Maxim up.

  “Don’t worry, honey, you’ll be able to sleep soon. But I need you to wake up, okay? You’ll be all better soon.”

  Chapter 24 - Maxim

  My head hurts more than ever.

  As I slowly wake up, becoming aware of the murmured voices around me and the sounds of machines beeping, several thoughts run through my mind. Number one: I must be in a hospital, which means I am not dead, which is great because Number two: I’m in love with Ava. Number three: where is Ava? And number four: my head fucking hurts.

  With a considerable amount of effort, I force my eyes open and am rewarded by the sight of my Ava slumped in a chair at my side. She's got her hand resting on mine and her head propped up against the side of the high-backed chair. I smile to myself, knowing that no matter what happened, I am okay because Ava is here.

  "She didn't want to leave you, even though the doctors told her they'd call her as soon as you woke up," Luka says from the opposite corner of the room. I had no idea he was in here, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I force myself to look away from Ava and gently sit up, trying not to wake her. There's a shooting pain in my left shoulder, and I look down and see the bandages, remembering that the fucker shot me at the warehouse.

  "Where is he?" I ask Luka.

  "He's been taken care of," Luka says, and I feel a little guilty considering I'm the one who's supposed to protect him, though I know if he knew I felt this way he'd beat my ass and say something about us being brothers.

  "I need to talk to you," Luka says, inching closer as he keeps an eye on Ava. He looks back at me with an eyebrow raised, and I brace myself for some terrible piece of advice or something like that. Luka thinks relationships are a waste of time, and I would have agreed with him until meeting this beauty.