The Bodyguard

23

"You. Repeat what you just said." I whisper, as I grab his neck, my ears ringing, and my heart beating slowly. I push him out, ready to attack him if what he was saying was indeed true.

"Whoa, who's, whoa, whoa! Slow down!" He manages to speak, trying to set himself free. I could tell he was getting out of breath already. I tear his shirt with my left hand, and scan his body. There are tattoos, but just a few.

"I'm not him! What I meant was, the guy you're looking for, Leonid Volkov, I know how to get to him!" He says, explaining. Nik comes from behind me, and flings my hand off. Our eyes meet. My hands are shaking, and my stomach is churning, tying up in knots. The gate opens, and I watch Irina come in.

It's as quiet as a graveyard, as they all look at me.

"Let's talk, Ms. Leister." Nik says. I could tell he was upset. Very upset.

We go back into the house.

"Control yourself." Is the first thing he says.

I look at him. "I would've never done that if he didn't say what he said."

"Regardless of what he said— you could've killed my brother, Andrea!" He yells. "Ms. Leister." He says, supposedly correcting himself.

"He said he was Leonid Volkov. I lost it for a second because of that. I'm sorry."

"Your hot-headedness is going to get in the way of our plan, Ms. Leister. You suspect everyone of being Leonid, but I assure you, he's not who you think he is."

I look at him, a string of emotions coursing through my veins, that I can't even distinguish one from the other.

"I don't know about you, but I must find that man, even if I have to check under every single rock in this world. I'll go apologize to your brother." I say, walking away. He grabs my arm.

"If you keep acting like this without thinking, he'll come after you. You'll die, before you can even find him." He says.

"That won't happen." I say, jerking my hand away.

I go outside again. Thankfully, he's still standing there. Irina's in the corner, watching me. Shit. This was embarrassing.

"I'm sorry for attacking you. I'm heavily invested in finding and catching Leonid Volkov, and I don't think your brother explained to you h—

"No." Irina chimes in, walking towards us. She continues, "What you're obsessed with is finding Leonid! An impossible thing to do. And your obsession, will harm Nik. Go back to your country, Ms. Secret Service." She says.

"Calm, calm, Irina. Leave the lady be." He turns to me. "I'm Sasha. As I said earlier, I'm a criminal. I deal in drugs, street drugs. I can get you information from my network if you're so bent on catching Volkov."

"Sasha." I hear Nik's voice.

"No, brother. I can see how determined the Miss is. I should help her." He says.

"Your brother and I, we're already working on a plan, but I think we can have your plan as a backup if ours fails. What's in it for you though?" I ask him. Like he'd mentioned earlier, he was a gangster. A criminal. He wouldn't be willing to risk his business or life, most importantly, by helping me catch the deadliest Russian drug boss.

He reaches for his pocket, and throws something at me, which I catch. I look at it.

"Why are you handing me this?" I ask, as I show him the tiny white packet of powder.

"That's my product." He responds.

"And?" I ask, raising a brow.

"Getting Leonid out of the way will be a win for me. It'll give me a chance to properly introduce my product into the market."