Guts Over Fear ◇ NIKITA

Discovery

Alys Gordon

Alys set up her nebulizer next to her bed, plugging it in and filling the small chamber with clear liquid. She got comfortable before putting the flatter end of the mouth piece in between her lips, flicking on the switch and hating the loud vibration of the machine and the hissing of the medication being turned into a vaopr. Like always, she put on her headphones and played music loud enough to drown out the obnoxious noises.

She boredly watched the white vapor to waft up the breathing tube and out of the other end as she breathed in what she could. She wanted to search for this Ari Tasarov, but she found it impossible to work while hooked up her nebulizer, there was just too much sound for her to concentrate on much of anything.

Using the machine was a nightly ritual, for Alys had a hard time breathing through the night without it. Her case of asthma was one of the worse types of bronchospasms her doctors had seen, though it was only really a problem if her lungs were agitated. It took about half an hour for the dose to be depleted, dispersed into her lungs and the air around her.

She was happy to shut off the nebulizer, quickly packing it away so she could search her domain. She was heasitant to plug the Eye into her laptop, she didn't want to alert the division of the usage and her location. But if she wanted to continue any further, she'd have to start taking risks. Alys was sure to have her laptop completely booted up before plugging in the small thumb drive.

After quickly logging into it and disabling the security measures, she first typed in 'Zetrov.' There were many results for that name, most of which pointing to an oil company in Russia, created by Nikolai Udinov. The others were articles that either praised the company or scorned it, there was no in between. From what Alys could tell, Mr. Udinov killed a lot of people in order to stand where he did before being killed himself. It was now under the controlf of a man named Sergi Semak. Reaching a dead end and nothing that mentioned the name Tasarov, she searched for it directly instead.

She focused first on his picture, his obvious Russian decendancy bearing a striking resemblance to some of the photos she had taken of herself and with her parents. Looking away from the photo, she skimmed down the list accompanying his name. He was the leader of something called Gogol, working for Zetrov and selling mercenaries to powerful forces around the world. Reading over the basics of her father's life was making her nauseous, or perhaps it was the Ritalin taking affect again, she wasn't sure. Alys unplugged the Eye and shut off her laptop, carefully stashing them both before tucking into bed.

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Alys woke to a harsh pounding on her hotel room door, causing a hitch in her breathing as she quietly watched it. "Ma'am, we have reports of a missing person staying here and have a warrant to search the premises. May we speak to you?" Warily watching the door, Alys stood and slowly walked over. She cautiously opened the door and met two police officers. She didn't expect a welcoming party on her first day in America.

The red and blue lights from their patrol car reflected off their faces, illuminating their looks of determination. "Miss Gordon, you'll have to come with us." Panic lit a fire under Alys's feet. She had entered the country with the alias Courtney Woods. One of the officers went to grab her arm but he didn't get very far before the sides of their heads sprayed a warm, red liquid over her face.

Alys's lungs ceised up and her breath left in short pants as the cops' bodies dropped to her feet, their blood pooling darkly towards the room. Thinking quickly, she shut the door and quickly stepped into her shoes, grabbing the duffle bag she had stored her things in and opening the door a crack. The cops were still laying there, but she couldn't find the shooter.

With shallow pants of air, Alys carefully stepped around the blood and bodies and exited the hotel, hurrying down to the sidewalk and hailing the cab driving past. She rode on until the next city, having the driver pull over near a cluster of hotels. She waited until the cab was down the street before turning around and taking the cheapest one. After booking and going into her room, Alys took a moment to focus on her breathing as she thought out what she was going to do.

She pulled out her laptop first, switching over files and making sure she had access to the Eye should she need it. When the transfer was complete, she removed the drive and tucked it securely into the wedge she cut in the heel of her boot. If you didn't know it was there, you wouldn't even see it.

Alys stuffed her hand into her pocket and brought her inhaler to her lips, pumping once and taking a deep breath. The stress was making it difficult to breathe but she couldn't lose focus. Speaking of focus, she was starting to run low on Ritalin, she'd have to re-up soon. With a tired sigh, she fell onto the bed and turned on the TV. The channel was preset to one displaying the news, her own face in a small square beside the news caster.

"--for Alys Gordon. She is wanted for the murder of two officers of the Maryland Police Department. The suspect is considered armed and dangerous. If you have any information on her, please call the witness hotline." With a frown, Alys turned off the TV and rolled onto her back

"Well, shit." And little did she know, the old lady that had checked Alys into her room just finished watching that same news report, looking through the office window and up at room 214 in horror as she clumsily reached for the phone.