Bullets And Roses

Chapter 9

CHAPTER-9

"I'm so sorry Mia. This is my entire fault, I knew that the restaurant wasn't safe but I still chose to take you there so that I could save up some money. I'm so sorry..." Lauren kept apologizing ever since our abductors placed us in a circular room which had a tiny window on top. It was an unusual shape for a room, but then again everything about this place was unusual to begin with. There is nothing normal about a secret stairway in a cottage that leads to a massive underground establishment.  

When we were being taken down the stairs I did expect to be met with some sort of a secret hideout. But "hideout" would be an understatement. I mentally made a note of the things I observed while they were taking us to the circular room but it all went to waste when I realized that every lane that we passed through had the same paintings and decorative items attached to the wall. It was obviously done to confuse the people who entered and it certainly worked.  

Whoever we were abducted by was definitely someone with a great influence, someone who also wanted to hide from the world. What could be a better place than an island which seemed perfectly vacant and untouched by civilization? If it weren't for that cottage, it would be hard for people passing by to even imagine someone living in an island like this, which only seemed to be covered by forests and wild plants and certainly didn't look like a safe place to be vacationing in. 

If Anonymous could not locate me, which was highly unlikely, I had to come up with a plan stronger than killing every person that I came across. I knew that sooner or later I would come up with something but until then I decided to rest in the shabby room that was given to us. The blisters under my feet looked worse than they did when I last checked them. I searched the room in the hope of finding something that could ease the pain or maybe find something which could be used against the abductors but found nothing but an empty drawer, not even food or water supplies. How did they expect us to survive in this mess? 

But I knew we would be presented with food and water at some point because if they wanted us dead, they would've killed us already but they had not shown any sign of doing so, which filled my mind with relief. I glanced at Lauren who was trying to get hold of the situation. Up until then, she didn't feel the weight of what was happening. I told her to quit apologizing because it wasn't her fault, but that didn't seem to stop her. After apologizing to me two or three times more, she finally dozed off.  

A sunray passing through the window on top, reached my eyes. The coldness of the floor against my skin felt like tiny needles. I winced and got up with the support of the wall. The tiny window seemed useless when I first entered the room but its significance grew as I realized it would actually help me keep track of time. I dragged the drawer and placed it below the window and peeped out, standing on top of it. The sky was barely visible but from what I could see, it looked like it was just before dawn, probably around five in the morning. My eyes drifted towards Lauren. She was curled up in the tiny bed, fast asleep. She looked peaceful. I decided to wait for a few minutes more, before waking her up.  

My stomach was growling in hunger. Not a single drop of water had gone down my throat since the incomplete dinner the previous night. I was accustomed to hunger but I wondered if Lauren was. Even though I was starving, I knew that I had enough energy to face what was coming next and I wanted Lauren to be the same way too but that wasn't really in my hand.  

Fifteen minutes later, Lauren woke up on her own, violently rubbing her eyes. She looked around the room and buried her face in her palm "Holy shit. This is real." 

"Damn right it is. "I murmured under my breath. 

"What are we going to do Mia?" 

"No, the question is- what am I going to do?" I met her confused eyes. 

"Listen, I might be some money loving prostitute to you but I got some skills and I am not as weak as you think I am." 

"I know that. I never doubted your mental strength; it's the physical one that I doubt." The confusion in her eyes still had not left. 

"What makes you different from me then? These people look skilled- like Mission Impossible skilled. The karate training of yours isn't going to do much. We will be much stronger together." She pointed out. 

I knew no matter how many lies I told or how many excuses I made, I wouldn't be able to convince Lauren of my skills unless I told her the truth, the whole truth about me and where I got these skills from. I didn't know where to start or where to end. I wasn't even sure if I could trust her with my secret. But my not trusting her would only result in the death of the both of us.  

I walked towards the bed and placed myself beside her.  

"What's going on?" Curiosity gleamed in her eyes. When I didn't answer, she questioned me again. 

"What is going on Mia?" 

"I'm not Mia." I whispered looking down.  

"What?" She humorlessly laughed.  

"I said I'm not-" She cut me off and added  "I heard you the first time, but what do you mean by that? Did you lie about all that? Oh my god, are you involved with them? Shit Mia or whoever you are, will you tell me what on earth is going on?" She started to panic; I could see the color draining off her face.  

"What? Of course I'm not involved. Lauren, calm down." I squeezed her hand to calm her down which only made it worse. "Do not touch me." She emphasized every word with her jaws clenched.  

"For hell's sake Lauren, will you listen to me first?" This time I screamed on her face, capturing her attention.  

"I'm not Mia, I'm Nina and yes I lied about who I am. But first you have to promise to not utter a word about this to anyone or it's going to be the reason for our deaths and also the death of many others who are related to me. Do you understand?" I carefully framed each and every word, trying not to reveal much from the very first sentence. She already looked overwhelmed with the provided information and couldn't seem to process it very well. She gave a quick nod and indicated me to continue. I didn't tell her about Anonymous in particular. I just told her that I worked for an organization and I was in Philippines for a mission and whatever was happening was certainly not a part of it. I told her to trust me and the things that I could do. After listening to the story she exhaled deeply and looked at me with a grin "So, you're an Assassin!" I rolled my eyes and knew that she would not understand what my profession really was. Assassin was the definition of who I was according to her, if that helped her understand me-so be it. "Yes Lauren, I'm an Assassin."  

I couldn't get over how ridiculous the word sounded.