Hotel Six: A Call of Duty Fanfiction

Chapter 26: Charming

"Sasha..." he echoed, voice ripe with intrigue. "A strong name for a strong woman; your parents clearly choose well."

She flashed him a smile. "I'm quite glad you think so, though, you don't know me; what makes you think I'm a strong woman? Certainly it's not because I ordered a different flavour of vodka than you suggested?" she asked.

Vladimir shook his head. "Of course not. I just read people well," he said.

"Oh, now you've got me curious..."

He once more raised her hand in his and looked her over. "Well, for starters," he began. "You work with your hands. You take care of them well, but you still have some soft calluses along the top of your palms; marks off an artist, if I'm not mistaken?" His eyes lifted to hers for a moment, then went back to her hands. "You should also probably stay away from broken glass or porcelain." Vladimir lifted her hand to look at the cut from when she'd stepped on the broken window shards earlier. "I am curious, though: why didn't you bandage this?"

She became visibly uneasy. "If you don't mind not saying so, mister, your talent seems a bit uncanny..."

"Please, I don't mean to make you uncomfortable," he said, a smooth, soothing tone to his usually cool, slightly sinister voice. "Give me more time, I'm sure I could tell more than just your physical appearance."

He was flattering- charming, even- but she felt warier than ever. It was as if he could read her like a book, and she could hide nothing. Should she tell the Captain she needed to come back already, or stick out the mission and see where this went?

"... I am definitely impressed," she said. "Perhaps I might like to see what else you can find out about me."

Vladimir shoot her a beaming smile. "Gladly!" He then looked over his shoulder. "... As much as I'm enjoying our conversation, I came here with my friends, and that would make me look rather rude if I simply abandoned them for a stranger- beautiful, though she is."

She smiled at the floor. "You're too kind, really..." Sasha returned her eyes to him. "If I give you my number, do you promise to stay in touch?" she asked.

"I wouldn't miss the opportunity for the world," he replied with a gleeful expression.

She wrote her number on a napkin and slid it across the smooth bar top to him, and gently touched his hand. "Tell your friends hello for me," she purred.

He put the number in his pocket and nodded. "Of course. I'll get ahold of you after I'm done with them. It was a pleasure to meet you, Sasha." And with that, he was gone.

Once she felt like he had been gone long enough, she casually took out her phone and texted MacTavish. "I'm going to need a lot more time"

Later that evening at an Airbnb, her phone buzzed and she rolled it over, hoping it was MacTavish asking about what she'd found. Instead, it was an unknown number. "It's Vladimir," the text read. "It was a pleasure meeting you today. Is there a chance I can see you again soon?"

Jessica sighed and rolled over on the bed. She was tired, and now her stress was off the charts. She'd only expected to find some nameless nobody who might have an idea what the Ultranationalists were doing and where they were, not stumble upon the leader of the whole operation. What was she going to do?

"What do you mean, 'what are we going to do?'" asked Sasha. "This is exactly the opportunity we need. He has all the information we could possibly want, and he's in our grasp."

"And what happens if he no longer is the prey, but the predator?"

Shasha laughed. "You're worried about nothing. We can work our way out of this. And if things go awry, we kill him and go home."

Jessica sat in silent thought and then began to type. "It was a pleasure meeting you, too! I would love to see you again. What does your schedule look like?" Send.

Typing.

"What are you doing tomorrow evening?"

God. She wasn't doing anything. Should she make an excuse?

"Not unless you're free ;)"

Typing.

"Damn it, Sasha," she growled. "Do you have to be so overt?"

"That's not overt," Sasha chuckled. "I haven't gotten to overt yet."

"Oh well, I guess you've got plans ;)" came the text. More typing. "Where would you like to meet?"

Sasha smiled. "Somewhere with a view! I'm still new to Samara, what do you recommend?"

There was a pregnant silence. Finally, typing again. "I know a perfect place. Let's meet at the Seaside Room at 7:30, and after dinner, I'll show you the best view in all of Samara."

The Seaside Room? Sasha quickly typed the name into an internet browser and pulled up a restaurant that was situated nicely on the water. In fact, it was a very lavish looking restaurant. She switched back to her texts. "Sounds expensive. Not going bankrupt to impress me, are you? ;P"

Typing. "If that's what you want... Let me see what the Moscow Ballet is doing tomorrow and I'll get back to you."

"Nooooo!" she texted back.

A laughing emoji. "See you at 7:30, then?"

Sasha smiled. "Yes :)"

She put down the phone and laid back down. "Shit..." Jessica said quietly. "We're actually doing this..." Her hazel eyes opened. "Wait, why are we doing this?"

"Because we're gaining his trust so we can extract information later."

"And what if he's unimpressed and never talks to us again?"

"As long as you let me do the talking, that won't happen"

Jessica sighed hard. "... You know I hate letting you take the lead."

Sasha uttered an amused hum. "Yes, but I might be how we pull this whole mission off. Let me take the lead."

She nodded to herself. "Fine. Just don't get us killed. We can't reattempt the mission after that."

"Not to worry. Now, we've got some shopping to do tomorrow."