"Aleksandar," she whispered, using his full Christian name for the first time. "I..." She stopped herself from saying something very stupid. "You're so beautiful."
He looked at her for a moment, wondered what she had meant to say, but she wouldn't look at him and so he couldn't tell. She slid her hand between his legs and squeezed his balls gently and he forgot all about what she had started to say.
The dinner was burned, but they ate it anyway. Ashley was quiet during the meal, worrying about the night ahead. Luka didn't notice; he was relaxed and he had a full belly and he was never much of a talker, anyway. Ashley sneaked to the bathroom while they were cleaning the dishes, a sharp knife concealed in her shirt sleeve. She sat on the toilet with her left foot dangling over the bath, and felt along the arch of her foot for two small bumps. Grimacing, she slid the knife into the skin to the side of the left bump, and a small capsule plopped out of the wound, along with a ridiculous amount of blood. She ran her foot under the cold water and pressed tissue paper to the cut until the bleeding stopped, washing the capsule in the water as well. She hid the knife in the cistern of the toilet before padding down the stairs again.
Ashley busied herself preparing a hot drink for both of them, breaking open the capsule and dumping the contents into Luka's cup while his back was turned. They drank their tea and then plodded upstairs to bed, Ashley's stomach in knots at the thought of what was about to happen. Luka sank onto the bed, the sedative already taking its toll on him. He frowned; he knew that something was wrong but he didn't have the energy to do anything about it. Ashley lifted his face towards her and stroked his cheek gently.
"I'm sorry Luka," she whispered softly. "Please believe that I'm doing this to try to help you. I can't let them kill you because without me knowing you slowly creep into my heart. But I don't know what kind of relationship we have right now." She wasn't sure if he could hear her, but she had to say something. She knew that he would be mad as hell when he woke up in the morning.
Ashley didn't sleep. She sat up and watched Luka sleep as she waited for her extraction team to arrive. The sound of an approaching engine signalled that she had to leave. She had slid on a pair of his pants as well as the shirt, but his boots were ridiculously large and so she had to go barefoot. She checked that Luka was still sleeping soundly, then kissed him gently before creeping downstairs. She had to wipe tears from her eyes before she opened the door and met the familiar face of her handler waiting to meet her.
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Luca knew that something was wrong as soon as he woke up. His body was heavy and his head was groggy. He usually woke up instantly; a necessity in his line of work. And the other side of the bed was empty. And cold. And it was light. Shit! He laid back in the bed, trying to clear the fog in his head. She's gone.
What could have gone wrong? He never overslept, and he never woke up feeling like this. The dinner had been burned, yes, but it wasn't poisonous. She's gone.
He leaned his head over the edge of the bed and threw up, his body expelling the majority of last night's meal, and whatever was causing him to feel like this. She's gone.
Luca grabbed his rifle and his handgun and ran downstairs, checking to make sure that yes, she really was gone. Shit, shit, shit. He tried to calm himself so that he could think. His first priority was to get to his earlier destination, and find out what had happened. Then he could worry about finding the girl. He jumped into his truck and sped off, anger burning through the throbbing in his head. He almost couldn't believe what he found.
Bodies. He'd expected bodies, but not the ones that lay on the ground in front of him. Someone had ambushed the Serb soldiers, and they lay dead in the mud, weapons strewn where they had dropped them. He spotted Boskovic and his commanding officer, and several others whose names eluded him, but they had all been stationed at the base from which he removed Ashley. He left, not wanting to be a target for any snipers that might have been left behind, just in case.
The anger overtook his calm now as a hundred thoughts ran through Luca's head at once. She'd lied to him. She'd told them what they wanted to hear and they had believed her, biding her time until she could escape. She'd kept him happy with sex and lured the soldiers into a trap that was meant for him, as well. A wave of emotion washed over him that felt dangerously close to pain and he viciously kicked the side of the truck in frustration. He was meant to be dead here, too!
But she'd drugged him. Stopped him from leaving the house on time. Why? What could she have possibly gained by him not turning up to do his job as he'd been ordered? He growled furiously as he realised that this now looked as if he'd been the one who'd set them up. The chances of him getting out of this alive were slim indeed.
It was past midday. If she'd left after he'd fallen asleep, she would have had hours to get away now. He'd never find her today. Deciding that his best chance for survival was to get away from the scene as quickly as possible, he got back into the truck and headed east as fast as the shitheap could manage. He ground his teeth in frustration as he tried to work out a plan of action. He wasn't going to stop until he found her, and he didn't care where he had to go to do it. And when he did, she was going to regret it.
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