The hostess eyed us weirdly, stepping out of our way and we made it inside the plane at the last moment. We sat down under the curious eyes of the passengers and the pilot announced our departure. The plane started to move, and I looked out of the window. I could notice the commander on the runway a few miles away from us foolishly trying to catch up with our plane, only to be held back by the others. He struggled and punched a man in the face, screaming at their incompetence, obviously angry that we got away again.
I crooked a victorious smile that faded away fast when I realized something. I turned my head to the seat next to mine where Ezra was reaching for the eyes mask, putting them on, and making herself comfortable in her seat.
"Hey, Ezra" I called, and she only grumbled.
"What happens now? What if they stop the plane? We will be caught like rats in a trap" I asked anxiously.
She had a moment of silence before answering me still with her eyes mask on "That's a Romanian plane from the Romanian airline. Americans have no right to stop it now unless they get the acceptance of the Romanian embassy and until they do so we will already be out of Americans Airspace. So you can rest your tits and stop worrying about everything"
I looked out of the circular window again and we were already hundreds of miles away from the ground.
That's madness. I am running away to Europe with a psychopath. Fuck...I totally forgot about my parents...and Julia. Oh my God. After seeing my face in the news they should be going ballistic right now. I should call them and tell them I'm okay when we land.
"Hey Doc" she called "Have you ever been to Europe?"
What's with the small talk now?
"Umm...yes twice actually. The first time I was a kid I went to Germany with my mother to visit my grandmother and the second time I went to France to participate in a conference after I got my doctorate"
She took her eyes-cover hastily and sat straight looking at me surprised "Your grandmother is in Germany?"
"Yes"
"Don't just say this. Tell me more" she ordered
Intrigued by her sudden curiosity I begin to tell her my family history briefly" My grandmother is German and my grandfather was Italian, they both lived in Germany's countryside because my grandmother never accepted to move out. When my mother was five years old her father died in a car accident. She never had a good relationship with her mother so she moved out to the U.S when she finished high school to pursue college she met my father there who was an Afro-American man and that made my grandmother even angrier because she was one of those old religious women that still think Aryan race is superior to other races especially black. They didn't speak with each other for years until my grandmother got sick and my mom had to go to her side. She took me along to meet her and my grandmother accepted me only because I didn't look like a typical black kid. She died a few years later"
"Hah, yes there are still some fucked up people like your grandma around. And what the hell? You are actually a quarter German as well?! That explains how you could understand some of my language" she said smiling proudly.
"Yep, that's right"
Satisfied with my answer she laid back in her seat putting her eyes mask and begin to snore lightly a few minutes later. I looked in her direction wide-eyed.
Seriously? How can this woman always fall asleep that fast anywhere and anytime?
Our flight to Romania actually took us longer than I expected and I was too bored sitting alone admiring the plane that time went too slowly.
We landed and I had a hard time waking Ezra up. We were the only passengers left on the plane and I was shaking her violently asking her to get up. The hostess came to help me and was about to call an ambulance when the big bad bear finally got up screaming and cursing at us.
I dragged her out took her suitcase along, apologized to the staff and called for a taxi when we were out of the airport. We had arrived in Bucharest and It was almost 4 am in the morning here. It a foreign city with a foreign language and I had no idea where we were supposed to go.
My psycho companion was too angry and moody to answer the taxi driver's question so I asked her myself."Ezra, please stop being childish and give him that damn location or he will throw us out"
She looked at me with the corner of her eyes clicking her tongue and handed him the piece of paper she had got from Roy and sat looking straight forward frowning.
"So...Are we going to see that client?" I asked wanting to break the awkward silence.
"It doesn't work like that sweetheart. It can't actually be that easy. People who are ready to pay an extravagant amount of money to get rid of one person are not just ordinary people with a grudge so they would never make the call themselves. They surely have a scapegoat that does that for them and that's who we are going to see" She answered opening the suitcase without a care about the driver seeing her collection of weapons and taking a packet of cigarettes pulling one out and placing it in her mouth.
"Yeah you're right it can't be that easy." I confirmed "So what's the plan? What are you going to do when we get to him?"
Like always she didn't answer me right away and knocked on the glass separating us from the driver, asking him to give her a lighter.
"Why are you always asking questions you don't need to have the answers to? All of this doesn't concern you so you shouldn't work yourself up over it" she answered lighting her cigarette and handing me the packet "Stop worrying yourself and have a smoke"
I looked at her offer for a moment and pulled a cigarette out taking the lighter, after placing it between my lips and lit it up. I took a deep breath and let out a heavy puff while rolling down the window to let it escape.
I caught her eying me with amusement and I asked "What?"
"You're always surprising me Doc" she answered taking her cigarette out of her mouth with her two fingers exhaling a large cloud of smoke "I was just teasing you. I never took you for the smoker"
"I'm not really a heavy smoker but I do have a smoke every now and then. I picked up the habit in my senior year at high school and decided to stop after finishing college. It turns out bad habits are tough to get rid of especially when you're always in constant stress"
"It sure is" she agreed.
The taxi parked close to an enormous hotel that looked like a castle from the outside and we got out after he confirmed that it was the exact location written on the paper.
I was spraining my neck looking up trying to guess how many floors this building had when I heard Ezra cursing at the driver " fifty fucking dollars for a few miles lift you motherfucker?! Do you think you can take advantage of us just because we are foreigners?! I'm going to kill you bitch!!"
She was going for his eyes when I caught her "Ezra!! Just give him 20 bucks and let's go before we become wanted in Europe as well!!"
She threw a few bills in his direction and the poor guy took off quickly not even bothering to count them, he just wanted to stay away from this furious beast.
Spitting on the ground in disgust after he took off, she ordered me to follow her. To my surprise, we didn't go into the hotel but to an old antic shop that was at the end of the road and she went in.
There was an old man who she asked where the toilet was. At this point, I learned not to question her behavior and just to go with the flow. So I just stood in the shop looking around and waiting for her.
A few minutes later the door opened and she walked totally transformed. I wouldn't have recognized her if it wasn't for her unic eyes. She was now wearing a very short and tight black dress that clearly displayed every curve of her body and red high heels. She had her long hair tied up in a ponytail and wore red lipstick on her lips which was weird because I never saw her wearing any makeup. Even her bruises disappeared; I can guess that she put some foundation to do so.
She was breathtaking and I couldn't take my eyes off her. Even the old man was taken by surprise and stopped what he was doing just to admire her beauty.
She walked elegantly in her heels and reached for me handing me her suitcase and asked "Can you be a good actor if you need to?"
"Umm...yes I think so. Why?"
"Good. I'm a hooker and you're my pimp. Let's go" she said casually walking out of the shop.
I stayed glued in my place processing what she had just said for a second before running after her.
"What do you mean by this? What about explaining to me what's happening?"
She turned around facing me and rolled her eyes "What's wrong with you? You are supposed to be smart but you're always so slow to understand everything"
"Ohh I'm sorry to disappoint you but I was never a criminal before"
She looked at me with an exhausted look and explained "We are going to get to that man pretending that we are here to entertain him because obviously we can't just go there and ask to see him or they will skin us alive. Did you understand that?"
"I understand that. But are you sure about this? What if they discover we are just acting?"
"Arghhh..." she grumbled loudly hitting the floor with her heel "Why do you always do this uh? I know the fuck I'm doing so stop questioning my action idiot" She barked before adding "Anyway...yes I'm sure of this. First, because men always think with their dicks, and second they are never cautious of a woman and that's why they always die tragically"
She gave me the piece of paper with the guy's name on it and continued to walk towards the hotel gate not waiting for my answer "I'm a man and I can't argue with that"
We passed the hotel's gates and went to the receptionist where Ezra gave me a strong jab in my guts asking me to start talking. I took a deep breath and begin my act "Hi, how are you doing? We are here to give Mr.Salvotski a gift"
The young receptionist lifted her head up from the computer and answered in thick English "I'm sorry but I wasn't notified about a visit like this today so I can't let you two in"
I looked at Ezra worried and she was smiling. She bent over the reception desk and talked to the girl in a low voice "I advise you to let us in or you will get a call in a second ordering you to lead us to his room and they won't be gentle while ordering" Ezra looked up where a security camera was and flashed a sexy smile at it.
Barely ten seconds passed, and the phone on the desk started ringing.The receptionist and I both looked at Ezra and then at the phone. The young girl picked it up shaking and listened to the man on the other line without a word and only nodded, after hanging up, she looked at Ezra and gestured for us to go up.
The so-called hooker walked proudly to the elevator and pushed a button waiting for me to join her. Once the door closed she started talking between her teeth in a low voice "Your performance wasn't as bad as I expected. Now we have a minute until we reach his floor so open your ears, listen carefully to what I have to say, and don't talk back" I nodded lightly and she continued "I am going to go into his room you will be most likely kept outside with his bodyguards, wait for exactly five minutes then you'll do anything to make them all turn their backs to the room's door and I will take care of the rest"
"Something like what exactly?" I whispered.
"I don't know. Figure it out. You have one job so don't screw up"
We reached the floor in question and the elevator's door opened revealing a group of six bodyguards standing in the hallway, they all turned to face us when we stepped out of the metallic box. Ezra took the suitcase from me and strolled to the door, moving her hips with her usual self-confidence.
I stayed back sweating from stress and moved my gaze around noticing that each one of these men was wearing a gun on his hip.
We are not going to get out of here in one piece. How the hell I am supposed to turn their attention away?
The room's door flung open and a short, fat middle-aged man wearing a red satin nightgown, walked out to stop in front of Ezra and he barely was reaching her chin. He looked at her from head to toe, licking his lips like a hungry animal "What a beautiful creature you are" he said in a breath stepping out of the way and gesturing her to come in like she was some royalty.
She was about to take the first step when one of the bodyguards pointed to the suitcase she was carrying."Oh? This?" She asked holding it up "Those are just some toys I brought so we can have fun with" She answered smiling wickedly at him and he smiled back at her thinking that he understood what she was assuming.
Yes, toys...you will have so much fun. I thought half smiling but fast regretting it because that fat man looked at me and said something I had never expected myself to face in my lifetime "That handsome guy can join us too. I don't mind a threesome"
I moved my eyes from his face to Ezra's waiting for her to save me. She took a second to recover from her shock and answered his request "Ha ha Mister Slovatitch he would have loved to but he is today here only to be my companion" She lowered her face to his ear and covered her mouth in an exaggerated way "He has Hemorrhoids and nasty moles covering those parts so I don't recommend him"
"OH...Is that so? Too bad. Come on sexy let's get down to business we are losing time" He announced dragging her in and closing the door behind them.
After she got in, I begin pacing in the hallway looking at my watch trying to figure out how I will carry out my task.
Five minutes had already passed and I was running out of time.
I am going to do something very stupid and taking everything insane I have done so far this is the cherry on the cake...
I took a deep breath, walked toward the first bodyguard that came into my field of vision, and without thinking twice delivered a strong blow to his jaw. In an instant, I was pushed to the ground with a man's knee on my neck three of them holding their guns my way towering over me and the two others were delivering strong kicks to my sides.
Out of air and spitting blood, I thought once again that I won't be able to continue living until I heard my angel's bullets cracking my assaulter's skulls. They fell one after the other like flies without having any chance to react.
I breathed normally again, crawled away from the bloody mess around me, trying to hold myself up, and saw Ezra's face burning with rage looking straight at me "What the fuck is wrong with you?! I asked you to hold their attention for a moment not to kill yourself fucker!!"
Managing to stand up again I answered her holding my sides tightly "What's important now is that I got the job done didn't I? What did you do to fatty anyways?"
"He's waiting for me inside" She turned her heels and walked back inside.
Upon following her into the penthouse suite, I saw Mr. Salvotski sitting in a big chair, mouth bounded, teary eyes, and both arms on the chair's armrest while two daggers were embedded in his hands all the way inside the chair, holding him still. A small pool of blood began to form beside his feet as a result of his wounds.