Memories of Winter

Safe House

Natalia whistled through the door, a prearranged signal to let the Winter Soldier know it was her. She didn't hear his footsteps, just heard the door unlocking. He opened it wide, a gun with a silencer in his hand. She raised her eyebrows at him. He lowered his weapon and stood aside to allow her in, he peered down the corridor after her.

"No one followed me."

She looked about the room. She was glad she'd changed in the Four Seasons before coming here. This was not the place for high heels and slinky dresses. They had to stay together for forty-eight hours before returning to the school to ensure no one had followed her from the Four Seasons or him from where he'd taken the killing shot.

"We good to go?" she questioned.

The Winter Soldier moved to the window and peered out from behind the curtain and newspaper. He nodded, and they grabbed their belongings and vacated via the fire escape. They walked on foot through the dark silent streets, keeping to the shadows and back alleys until he came to his bike, stowed safely nowhere near the rendezvous point or the Four Seasons. He jumped on, started the engine, and she clambered on behind, clinging to him to maintain balance as he sped off into the night.

The second safe house was nicer than the first. A remote cabin near Mshinskaya deep in the woods just over an hour's drive from St Petersburg. Inside the cabin, was an actual bed rather than a sofa, and a fireplace. Dawn sunlight was glinting on the snow through the windows when they entered. The view didn't last, as he promptly shut all the curtains.

Natalia made the fire and went to the fridge and cupboards, there was very basic food for two days:- vegetables, bread, coffee, and a bottle of vodka. She smiled.

"You hungry?"

He didn't answer. She was hungry and tired. Food first though. With a pot on a tripod over the fire, she began to make soup with the food they'd been provided with. He sat silently at the table, staring at the door a gun in his hand.

He was an interesting conundrum. Everyone in the training program had heard of the Winter Soldier, he'd been around for decades. With the mask, it was difficult to tell his age, but she didn't think he was older than his mid-thirties which didn't make logical sense. She intended to find out what she could about him, she'd considered using the other skills she'd been trained in, which had worked this evening with Andreas to get him to the hotel, but she didn't think they'd work. The Winter Soldier barely seemed to register as human; maybe he wasn't.

She stirred the soup until it was ready, found some bowls, and cutlery, cut up the chunk of stale bread and took the pot to the table. She served two portions of soup,  and poured two glasses of vodka before sitting opposite him and pushing his half towards him, then picked up her glass.

"To our first job."

He eyed the glass then her.

"Can you not take that thing off?"

Natalia considered that perhaps he needed it for breathing. He'd never taken it off before, maybe it kept him alive. Or maybe beneath that section he was scarred or deformed. Surely he must eat/ drink? Though again she'd never seen him do either.

She raised her glass towards him, "Cheers," and shot the vodka, then began to tuck into her food. He surveyed it, then her.

"Even you must eat sometimes."

She watched him consider then he raised his hand to his mask and removed it, placing it on the table. The face beneath wasn't scared or damaged. As far as she could see, there was nothing connected to the mask to deem it was required for any medical purpose. It simply seemed to be used for anonymity or to muzzle what could be a rabid dog. She saw a young man with a square jaw, high cheekbones and a shadow where he would need to shave tomorrow. He was younger than she'd imagined, mid-twenties at best she surmised, though something in his eyes said he'd seen much for the short years his face suggested. The Winter Soldier must be a role akin to the Black Widow, assassins taking up the mantle until they were replaced; nothing but a code name.