The Two Assassins - Nestor Oceteva

Ch. 7

Using her good arm, Isabella was able to pull herself up to a seated position. She struggled to breathe from the broken ribs that took the brunt of the final bullet. Her shirt was not made for high powered rifles in close quarters. The shirt had stopped the bullet in a way, but the bullet was still lodged in her side between two ribs with the material also inside the cavity. Fluid gurgled in one lung as she breathed.

She contemplated laying down and letting herself drift off but she couldn't. Not yet. Pulling herself up, she was grateful she hadn't been shot in the legs as she stumbled her way to Nestor's truck. Kneeling beside him she saw he was gasping for breath but his lips were blue. She pulled up his shirt and saw his stomach and abs concaving in with each breath he tried to take and a large bruise spreading across the side of his diaphragm. She felt in his pockets for the pouch she had given him and pulled the syringe out. Taking the suction core from the syringe, she stabbed it between two of his lower ribs. A hiss of air rushed out of the open syringe and Nestor took a deep shuddering breath.

The more Nestor recovered the more Isabella deteriorated. She had called Miguel, he had trusted friends in the armed forces that were on their way with a medevac helicopter. As she body was shutting down from her injuries, Nestor was coming around and trying to sit up. Both were weak but together they managed to cuddle close as they learnt against the truck. The woman removed her head scarf and smiled weakly as she closed her eyes. "You got my present."

The sand kicked up as the chopper landed near them. Nestor covered his eyes but Isabella didn't move. He shook her roughly, panicking when her eyes still didn't open. "I'm still kicking Ness. Watch the arm please." She sounded tired but then it had been a hard day and it wasn't even 8am. "They can't kill the Reyes', make sure they stay alive." She whispered to Nestor as the medics approached but she was taken away before he would ask why so he just nodded.

Isabella woke up in a bright sterile room attached to many noisy machines. "Mi Bella, you scared me. I thought I lost you. Again. I need you around a lot longer ok." He tried to joke but she could hear the sincerity in his voice as he held her hand and gently kissed her knuckles. "I wish I could promise you time Ness and I wish I could spend it with you too."

"I thought it was cancer. It gave me a semblance of hope." He kissed her hand again before talking again. "But radiation poisoning? The doctors said you should have been dead a long time ago. Marcus said you were on borrowed time, I just didn't...I couldn't...fuck." He lay his forehead on the mattress beside her hip. He took a few more breaths trying to articulate what he was trying tell her. "There's no cure. I can't do anything and I'm not used to feeling useless. Isabella, I know we only just met but I can't see a future without you in it, I don't want a future without you in it."

She cried for the first time she was told of Juan's death 4 years ago. She desperately wanted more time with this man. When she saw him go down getting shot, something broke in her. She felt something deeply for the hard man the was holding her so softly.

She wiped her hand beneath his eyes catching the stray tears that escaped. She knew how he felt, she had gone through the process four years ago. There was nothing to be said that could take the pain away. Instead, she moved over and made space so he could lay with her. "I wish I never met you Ness, then neither of us would be feeling this broken." He grabbed her face so they were eye to eye. "I'll take all this pain if it means I get to have a moment in time with you."
Sliding his hand behind her neck he pulled her in for a soft kiss, it didn't take long to turn into a hungry breathtaking kiss setting the heart rate monitor off on a beeping mess.

After a growling from the nurse to keep Isabella's heart rate down the two assassins settled down and fell asleep in each other's arms. Miguel entered the room to find Nestor asleep with Isabella on his shoulder. The blanket had slipped down and a large blood soaked bandage was covering her left rib cage and her left arm was in a full cast. The report he received sounded insane. Both Nestor and Isabella shouldn't have survived those shots, they weren't even wearing bullet proof vests.