Niko sat at the table in the small interview room, head slumped forward and leaning on her forearms. She’d probably never been this tired in her life, not even when Roman was a new-born baby, and not inclined to sleep at night.
She glanced up at the clock in the windowless room. Three o’clock.
Excellent.
What the clock didn’t tell her was whether it was morning or afternoon, and she had no idea what day it was.
She thought it must be at least the third day of questioning, as three o’clock had come and gone many times already, but she couldn’t be sure. In the sleep-deprived state she was in, she could have hallucinated the clock ticking, just as she was hallucinating the door opening now.
Were they going to ask her more questions? Were there any questions they hadn’t already asked at least a hundred times?
‘Did you know what your brother’s activities were?’
‘Do you know who supplied his drugs?’
‘Who was he selling the women to?’
‘How were his arms shipments sourced?’
Over and over, she had answered the questions, honestly and in as much detail as she could.
There’d been a pattern to the interrogation. Two hours of questions followed by one hour of alone time. Two more hours of questions followed by one hour of alone time.
Countless times her lawyer had protested that her treatment didn’t meet with the terms of some convention or other, but that didn’t seem to carry much weight around here.
Niko guessed it wasn’t often that they had the chance to interrogate someone who had been so close to the top of a particular organisation like Ilya’s. They were obviously overly excited at the opportunity.
Only once had they actually allowed her to leave the room for more than a toilet break.
On that occasion she’d been taken to a cell where she’d been able to lie down and sleep for a few hours. Well, four hours to be precise, before they’d woken her and taken her back to the interview room to answer more questions.
She heard footsteps crossing the room and tried to make her eyes focus.
Maybe she hadn’t hallucinated the door opening after all.
“Miss Federova?” It was a man’s voice.
Niko tried to lift her head, tried to open her eyes, ready to answer more questions, but her body didn’t want to co-operate. Her mind was willing, sort of, but her muscles, limbs, even her eyelids were refusing to take instruction.
Everything hurt, yet despite that, she hadn’t complained once.
Niko understood that to these people, she was almost as bad as her brother.
‘Why didn’t you try and stop him?’
‘Why didn’t you try and run away?’
‘Why didn’t you go to the police?’
They just didn’t understand that when you were in the middle of a hurricane, you were just grateful for the moments of peace and quiet. Take one mis-step and you were just back in the pandemonium, being flung right and left, up and down.
It was one thing to risk your own life, but quite another to risk your child.
If that made her guilty of Ilya’s crimes, or complicit in what he’d done, then she’d just have to take whatever punishment they handed out. She sure as hell wouldn’t fight them.
“Miss Federova, are you Ok?” She didn’t recognise his voice, but his accent was American.
The man sounded concerned.
“I’m sorry.” She mumbled. “I didn’t hear the question. What was it?”
“I asked if you were Ok.” His voice was right in front of her face.
“Sure, I’m Ok.” She tried to smile reassuringly, but her lips refused to co-operate. “Do you have more questions? I can do more questions.”
“Miss Federova, my name is Ryan Tucker, and I’m part of the Guardians.” His voice was gentle. “Have you heard of us?”
“The Guardians?” She murmured.
Hollywood and Kellen were Guardians, weren’t they? Or was she still confused.
“I’m taking you out of here, Niko.” The man continued. “I’m taking you home.”
Niko made a herculean effort to raise her eyelids to look at him.
Dark, greying hair, warm brown eyes that crinkled at the corners, and a nice smile. It felt like forever since anyone had smiled at her.
“I don’t have one.” She whispered.
“Don’t have one of what, sweetheart?” The man looked confused.
“A home.” Niko couldn’t make her voice any louder or she thought she’d cry. “I don’t have a home.”
“Don’t worry about that.” The man smiled when he spoke. “We have somewhere for you to stay for now, and then you can decide what happens after that, when you’re all rested up.”
Niko looked at him in confusion.
“Aren’t I going to prison?” She asked.
“No, honey.” He reassured her. “There’s not going to be any prison for you.”
Niko watched in confusion as one of her interrogators walked up to them and unfastened the lock that had been keeping her hands chained to the table. A few more seconds and her feet were free of the chains around her ankles.
She looked up at the American waiting patiently.
“Who are you again?” She asked, still in a state of befuddlement.
He grinned as he took her arms, and gently lifted her to her feet.
“Just call me Tuck, Niko. Everyone does.”
As she regained her feet for the first time in probably six hours, Niko wobbled unsteadily, causing another man to rush forward to help her.
“Niko, this is Gregor.” Tuck smiled. “He’s been helping me arrange your release.”
“Thank you.” She murmured, knowing she’d probably forget his name.
“Where are we going?” She asked. “I need to find my son. He’s with a friend.”
“Don’t worry about anything.” Tuck helped her shuffle forward. “There’s a whole bunch of people waiting outside to greet you.”
Niko was hardly able to stand, let alone walk, but with the help of these two strange, but oddly happy men, she managed to hobble along the corridors and out of the interrogation suite.
As soon as she was through the doors, the sunlight hit her eyes, and she winced at the sudden brightness.
“Is it afternoon?” She asked, suddenly realising which three o’clock the clock had been trying to hint at.
“Yes, Niko.” Tuck reassured her. “You’ve been here for two and a half days. I’m sorry we couldn’t get you out sooner, but even with government backing, the Hungarians insisted they had to interrogate you before they’d let you go. There was nothing we could do to stop them.”
“It’s fine.” She tried to smile. “They were very nice about it. I’m just really tired right now.”
“Just a few more minutes and we’ll have you in a car on the way to the airport.” The other man reassured her. “You’ll soon be able to sleep for as long as you like.”
Niko was just about to ask why they needed an airport, when a door opened, and she heard her son’s voice.
“Do you think mama will like the flowers?”
“Roman?” She gasped, trying to see past the man in the doorway.
She tried to make her legs work faster, but they rebelled.
“Hey, steady now.” Tuck cautioned. “You’ll see him in a couple of seconds.”
All of a sudden it was as if everyone in front of her stepped aside all at once, and she could see Roman, held in the arms of the most gorgeous man on the planet.
She shrugged off her helpers and staggered the last few feet alone, falling into Hollywood’s outstretched arm as she gathered them both up in a hug.
“Baby boy, how I’ve missed you.” She kissed her son’s face repeatedly until he started to giggle. “Are you Ok, Roman?”
“I’m fine mama.” He smiled. “They said you had a boo-boo on your head.”
Niko smiled tiredly.
“I did.” She nodded. “But I’m all better now.”
She glanced up at Hollywood and smiled shyly.
“Hi.” She whispered.
“Hi.” His smile made her feel like she’d won the lottery.
“I don’t suppose you’ve got one of those kisses going spare, have you?” He murmured. “I’ve kinda missed them.”
Niko clamped her mouth shut and shook her head.
“I haven’t brushed my teeth for days.” She murmured through closed lips. “My breath must be rank.”
Hollywood slipped his hand into her hair as he held her face steady.
“I don’t give a …” He just stopped himself. “I’ll hold my breath, I promise. But no isn’t an answer I’m prepared to accept.”
He lowered his head and placed his lips over hers in the gentlest of touches.
Niko could feel her body melt into his, and for the first time in days, hell for the first time ever, she felt truly safe in a man’s arms.
No fear, no worries that her brother would catch them and punish her.
“Mama, you smell bad.” Roman’s little voice broke into their moment, and she pulled back, embarrassed.
“Yeah, I guess I must.” She tweaked his nose. “I haven’t had a shower in so long.”
“Come on, let’s get the hell out of here.” Hollywood handed Roman to Kellen, so he could scoop Niko up in his arms and carry her. “There’s a bathroom on the plane, and we can be up in the air in under an hour.”
Niko relaxed against Hollywood’s chest as she wondered what sort of planes had bathrooms.
“I haven’t got our passports.” She said suddenly, realising she wouldn’t be able to fly anywhere.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart.” Hollywood smiled down at her. “We’ve got them. They were in the glove-box in Ilya’s Mercedes. You’re all good to go.”
Ilya! She wanted to snarl. He’d killed her parents and her beautiful sister, and yet she’d never suspected. How stupid did that make her?
“You know you’ll never have to live in fear of him again, don’t you?” Hollywood murmured. “He’s gone.”
Niko tilted her head to look up at him.
“They wouldn’t tell me when I asked, but I assumed he’d be dead.” She said without emotion. “Who had the honour?”
Hollywood stared into her eyes, and she knew he was deciding how honest to be.
“He took four bullets.” Hollywood said quietly. “One of them was mine.”
“Then yours is the one I’ll remember.” She nodded. “That makes you my own personal hero.”
Niko felt Hollywood’s lips on her hair as he carried her the last few metres to the car.
Ilya was gone, she wasn’t being prosecuted for any crimes, Roman was safe, and she was being carried in the arms of the most wonderful man she’d ever met.
Did life get any better than this?