That Summer In The Country

Fifty-two:

Fifty-two:

Alina screamed when she heard the shot. There was blood splattered on her face, and clothes, and when she looked up there was a man standing there with a red beard and a gun in his hand. Mal's body crumpled in her arms. "Petyr Lantsov sends his regards, Miss Starkov," the mans voice said. He didn't come after her the way that she thought that he would. Instead, he turned, and slipped out of the café as if she were nothing. All Alina could do was sit there with Mal, looking up at her, as the light dimmed from his eyes.

"Lina," he murmured, blood spilling out of his mouth as he coughed.

She was sobbing and screaming. But there was no one in the café to hear her. She had to recover quickly enough that she could figure out something to do about Mal. She considered calling Aleksander, but she didn't think that he would even answer her calls. Trembling, she called the hospital, not knowing what else to do.

She had a vague memory of bright lights of the stad watch cars, and the emergency vehicles. The paramedics talked in hushed tones and asked her questions about what happened as they wrapped a blanket around her. She found herself put into an ambulance with Mal, and she gripped his cold hand in hers the entire time. Alina didn't know if there was any point in them even taking him to the hospital, but she knew they had to do something.

She was left outside in the hospital waiting room because she wasn't family. Alina had no idea how long it had been when a dark shadow fell over her. "Alina?" Aleksander's voice said. She looked up at him.

She was still covered in Mal's blood, still wrapped in the blanket the paramedics had given her. A cup of warm tea was in her hands, but it had long since cooled from her not drinking it. "Aleksander," she said, "he...they...."

He took the cup of tea from her hand and placed it on the nearby table. He took her hand in his long, thin fingers and pulled her up. "Are you hurt?"

Alina shook her head. "The bloods all Mals. I called him because I....I wanted to talk to him about the NDA. I shouldn't have called. If I'd called you, you wouldn't have even come. I shouldn't have...."

There were tears streaming down her face as she gripped his shirt tightly and buried her face into his shoulder. "Alina," said Aleksander as she sobbed, "Alina, it's okay---"

She pulled away from him. "Are you serious? He's dead! Mal's dead. A stranger came up and shot us."

"It wasn't a stranger," Aleksander said, "it was Petyr's man. Pekka Rollins. They wanted to keep you from talking, and to hurt me."

"Is he alive?" Alina asked.

Aleksander shook his head.

"How can you be so calm about this?" she said. "Your cousin.... the person that you called your brother, is dead and your---"

"Genya Safin is missing," said Aleksander, "she's been missing since yesterday. We have reason to suspect it's Petyr behind it and Mals death confirms it. I'm not letting you stay here alone. I've already talked with your aunt, and she's agreed that the best thing for you is to come with me."

"But Mal----"

"Mal is dead," said Aleksander, "I am seeing to the arrangements to take care of him. But Petyr has already taken someone I love from me. I am not letting him take you from me either. Come on."

Before Alina knew what was happening, she was dragged out of the hospital and placed into the front seat of Aleksander's car. They drove all night in complete silence. Alina kept on seeing Mal dying over, and over, and all she could think of was that she wanted to kill Petyr Lantsov with her bare hands.

When they finally stopped, she was aware of Aleksander pulling her out of the car. He carried her in his arms up the stairs. He took her to his bath, and he carefully undressed her before he put her in. She was still in her bloodied work clothes, a black skirt and a white blouse with an apron that had her order pen and pad in there. When Alina was completely naked, Aleksander turned the bath on, and helped to wash Mal's blood off of her. She was completely mute the whole time.

Aleksander was grateful for something to do with his hands, which hadn't stopped shaking since he'd been told about Mal. He needed to focus on something, anything other then that his brother was dead. Finally, when the blood was cleaned off Alina and down the bath drain, Aleksander picked up Alina and carried her to the bed.

He dressed her in one of his shirts, and sweatpants, and then crawled into bed with her. He wrapped his arms around her tightly. Neither one of them said anything to the other. They were too exhausted to say anything. Eventually, Alina fell into a very deep sleep, as did Aleksander.

Alina wasn't sure how long she slept. All she knew was that when she woke, it was day, and Aleksander wasn't in the room with her. She could, however, hear his voice coming from downstairs. Gingerly, she got up and tiptoed down the stairs.

Aleksander was in the kitchen, with a cup of coffee in his hand. Standing across from him was Fedyor, who he was talking seriously with. "Well, thank Nikolai for me," said Aleksander, "did he say what was on the flash drive?"

Fedyor shook his head. "Mal did snooping on his own. Nikolai had his own business, but he was still living in his parent's home. Whatever Mal found, it put Petyr on edge enough that he went after him."

"Thank you," said Aleksander.

Fedyor nodded to Alina. "Alina."

"Fedyor," Alina said with a small, tired wave.

Fedyor left, and Alina was alone with Aleksander.

"What's that?" Alina asked.

"A flash drive Mal found before he went to see you."

"What do you think is on it?"

"I hope it's the truth we need to destroy Petyr. But I have no clue."