Hunting Her

Chapter 6

I rested my head against the frosted window, letting the cold seep into my skin. This was huge, I was on the cusp of something and I held the power to save so many lives just sitting in my bra.

"You is hurt?" I heard the woman stutter out from next to me. We'd been sat in silence for awhile, and I was surprised to hear her speak up. I couldn't blame her for her hesitation. I wore shredded rags, my legs had dried blood coating them and I couldn't imagine what my face looked like.  

Gently, as to not aggravate my side, I twisted around in my seat. She was a rather plain old lady. Her face was wrinkled and sagging with age, her small lips were almost the same colour as her skin and her eyes were a simple grey. Her hair had been dyed a red, I assume it was bright at one point, but now the colour had dulled with time and her brown roots were peeping through. 

"I am okay." I responded finally. She turned her eyes to me briefly and gave me a look that told me she did not believe me, before returning to look at the road. Despite her disagreement, she did not push any further. 

"Спасибо." -Thank you- I added on in genuine sincerity. 

She nodded her understanding. Or what I hoped was her understanding. My Russian was rough, I had not used it in awhile and I never managed to master the accent. 

The blanket of silence returned to the car and I went back to staring out of the window. The snow covered fields glistened against the cold sun, and I tried to remember the last time I'd seen so much snow. My brother loved the stuff. We didn't get much in England, so every time it snowed enough to elicit a day off of school, he'd spend hours outside. Long enough that he'd come back inside with his fingers completed frozen and his nose a bright red. I hated the stuff. 

The pain was truly setting in now. The ache in my side ratting in my ribcage, shuddering with every breath I took. My legs throbbed, and I knew there definitely glass in them that I'd have the joy of digging out later. .

"Тебе холодно?"-Are you cold?- The lady bluntly spoke out.

Almost on cue, my teeth started to chatter. The biting Russian cold, finally starting to bite. 

She took my shivering as an answer and pointed to the backseats. "Jumper. There is jumper." She added and I gave her a thankful smile.

Not wanting to argue, I quickly reached behind me and plucked the jumper from the seat. "Thank you." I whispered, pulling the fluffy red monstrosity over my head. "Спасибо." -thank you-.

A small smile brightened her face, pulling up her sagging cheeks. "Natasha."

"Lexa." I responded after awhile. I regretted it the moment I said it. Given the mess I was in, the less people that knew who I was, the better. "Где мы в России?" -Whereabouts in Russia, are we?-

"Alexino." She responded curtly.

I politely smiled at her response and nodded my head.

I had no idea where that was.

"Куда мы направляемся?" -Where are we heading?- 

"Moskva." Her reply was short and sharp, as all of them had been. She did not want to make conversation with me, and I was okay with that. Happy with the information I'd found out, I left her alone. 

Moscow was difficult. It would be crowded and I'm sure by now my name was being blasted everywhere. But there was a train station and an airport which gave me options for a next step. A next step for what was the real question though. I couldn't run back to MI6, not with my reputation in ruins and the person running it being in Dominic's pocket. My family were probably being watched and I knew the moment the started to get desperate to find me they'd be in trouble. Especially if they work out what I stole. 

I knew they would move on to another people to get the encryption codes, and my silence could only buy so much time. But the organisation, the list of people and whatever else I had copied, that could cause some real damage. That was information that could cause some real damage. 

Before anything though, I had to get my family to safety. I had to make sure they couldn't be used against me. So my plan was set and England was my next move. And luckily there was a woman in Moscow that owed me a favour.