No Tears | NR

Chapter 13

Village outside of Jaroslavl, Russia

The three women had landed in the tiny village to get more gas for the second half of their trip and have a quick meal. They ended up deciding to stay there for the night and get some proper sleep considering that they would likely not be able to do so in a while anymore.

The town's hotel was tiny and old, but it seemed cozy in a way that expensive hotels never managed to feel. It was in the center of the small settlement which consisted of a few hundred houses and a few churches, many of which were barely standing or in ruins. The streets were mostly empty and there were barely any cars. The few people they saw, were generally older people who looked to be over 40.

It was freezing cold and the icy wind attacked every little piece of skin that wasn't covered by multiple layers of fabric. Yara's eyes were watering from the cool air and the wind. Ironic; she wasn't able to cry when she wanted to, but she couldn't stop tears from rolling down her numb cheeks when she didn't want to cry.

As soon as the three women entered the building that was the little hotel, they started to warm up slowly. Yara took her hands out of her pockets and pulled the top of her jacket's zipper open to relieve the slightly uncomfortable pressure its collar had been putting on her neck.

"Здравствуйте,  три комнаты пожалуйста", Yelena told the woman at the reception desk, asking for three rooms.

The receptionist looked to be around 50 years old which was likely misleading, considering that everyone seemed to look older here than they probably actually were. She had looked up when they had walked in and had warily watched them approach her. The woman nodded briefly in response to Yelena's request and grabbed three keys from a drawer next to her. "Под каким именем?", she asked the blonde curtly for a name.

Yelena glanced at the two women next to her for a split second waiting for them to say something. Yara was about to speak up, but Natasha was quicker. "Fanny Longbottom. F-A-N-N-Y L-O-N-G-B-O-T-T-O-M."

The receptionist looked at the red-head with a surprised expression but then proceeded to write it down. The poor woman looked even more surprised and mildly confused when Natasha broke out in perfect Russian, as she gave the receptionist the rest of the required information.

"Fanny Longbottom? Really?", Yara whispered to herself. Yelena had heard her and smirked not taking her eyes off the red-head.

Once they had finally gotten their room numbers and keys, the three women went to find their respective rooms and inspect them. Natasha searched Yara's room too after she was done with her own one, not knowing that Yara had already done so herself thoroughly earlier. Although they were in the middle of nowhere, they didn't want to take any risks, but the rooms were clean, so-to-speak. They hadn't found any hidden cameras or other bugging devices. They did, however, find various other things they wished they hadn't found.

It was some time in the afternoon. Yara had sat down on the edge of her bed and had gotten to work on her laptop, carefully taking it apart piece by piece. She had subconsciously arched her back uncomfortably, trying to get a closer look at what she was doing, and was so focused that she didn't hear the soft knocks on her door at first. She got startled when she finally noticed a voice saying something from right in front of her door.

Yara picked up the rest of her laptop from her lap and placed it down next to the other pieces. Then, she got up and had to stretch her back from sitting in an arched position for too long, before she finally went to open the door.

Natasha was standing there looking ready to go outside.

"Are we going somewhere?", Yara wanted to know.