Coming Undone

Cutting Ties

My eyes flickered open and my first thought was Katerina. I reached my hand to the other side of the bed but, to my surprise, she wasn't there. Instead, I felt a piece of paper. Frowning, I rolled over to see what it was. As my tired eyes began to focus, I saw the paper had been folded into four and on the outside was one word: November. A wave of dread washed over me. There was no doubt that this was a letter from Katerina and if she had left me a letter, she had left the house, on her own, and she was not returning. Cautiously, with my heart beating in my throat, I unfolded the paper and began to read it.

Moy dorogoy,

I'm so sorry I had to leave this way but I didn't have a choice. I love you more than anything in the world and that means I have to protect you. I know we talked yesterday about doing this together, but I'm a trained assassin, I know how to keep myself hidden and safe. The people after me will kill us both without any hesitation given the chance and taking you with me would just put us both in danger. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to you because of me.

Spending the last couple of days with you has been a dream come true. After I was forced to leave for Russia I feared I would never see you again and when I finally got out, my first thought was to rush back to you but I knew it would just put you in danger. I watched from the shadows for years, doing all I could to keep you safe and it broke my heart to have to watch what you went through and not be able to hold you in my arms and comfort you. Last night I got that chance and I know it meant as much to you as it did to me but it was naive of me to think I would ever be safe from my past.

I know you, I know your first instinct right now will be to come looking for me but you can't. Even if you wanted to find me, you wouldn't be able to. I'll be out of the country by the time you read this and by looking for me you'd only put us both in danger. I love you so much but you have to let me go, for both of our sakes. I have left instructions for you on the kitchen table on how to get out of the country safely. Go to Cambodia, I have a guy who will meet you there and protect you. His name is Russell, I trust him and you should too. Use what you've learnt as a PI to look after yourself and take the gun I left under my pillow, you know what to do with it if you need to.

Leaving you a second time is the most difficult thing I've ever had to do and I wish things could be different but this is the reality we live in.

I love you November.

Kat

For a few moments, I stared blankly at the piece of paper, trying to process what I had just read. We had agreed to run away together despite the risks, why did she have to leave me again? The people after her were dangerous, I knew that. At least this time she'd left an explanation.

"Nina," I called, "power on."

"Good morning November," replied the automated voice. "It's nice to be back."

"Nina, give me everything you have on Katerina Vasilev?" I instructed, jumping out of bed.

"Are you referring to the international fugitive?" Nina responded.

"Yes Nina," I confirmed as a few pictures of her appeared on the mirrored glass of my wardrobe doors. "I need you to find her. Activate the 'Cheating Husband' protocol. Run Katerina's face through every camera in the city you can access, especially around airports and stations. She will have either left the city some time in the last 6 hours, or be planning to very soon. If we can track her, so can the authorities so we need to find her first."

As Nina began the search, I quickly dressed and began to pack a backpack. I ran downstairs to check what documents Kat had left me and found a fake passport and a plane ticket for later today. She really had thought this through. I shoved the documents in my backpack along with Kat's gun and my laptop and ran back up the stairs.

"November, my search is complete," Nina announced. "She's at LAX airport, booked on flight BA 7396 to Peru leaving in 30 minutes under the name Petra Cooper. I've forwarded the details to your phone."

"What are you doing at an airport, idiot?" I murmured under my breath. "It's like you want to get caught."

I thanked Nina and hastily pulled on my trainers. Shoving the last few items in my backpack, I took one last look around my room and rushed to the front door. With one hand on the door handle, I paused.

"Nina," I called once again, "after I leave the house I need you to lock it down and go into incognito mode, stream everything from the security cameras to my phone."

"Understood," she replied.

"If anyone breaches the doors except me," I continued, "activate self destruct."

"Are you sure, November? That would delete all of my data and restore me to factory settings."

"I am sure."

"Directive set."

"Thank you Nina."

I stepped outside. I had less than 30 minutes to find the love of my life before I lost her forever.