"Weapons Do Not Weep" Chapter 1 Nina's POV
Nina Kandinsky pressed her eye hard against her scope, the pressure to concentrate on the tight schedule she was on making her palms slick with sweat. She was sure she would have a ring around her eye to hide later as she honed in on her target and pressed the scope further against her eye socket. Inhaling deeply in preparation she put Liam Sokolova in the middle of the tiny bullseye that glowed red with it's own anticipation of the kill.
She knew only as much as her handler wanted her to know about Liam Sokolova. His height, weight, habits, and place of work. That's all she needed to know to effectively hunt him down and determine where would be best to take the shot. She wasn't paid to ask questions, only to follow orders. According to her orders, his time was up and the last few seconds of his life were ticking by in slow motion for her. She wasn't paid to have feelings and she certianly did not want to make her job more difficult than it already was. A deep veiled part of Nina paused though as her gaze through the scope displayed a scene of warmth and laughter at a dinner with friends. He was surrounded by people who definitely cared for him as they toasted to something unknown to her that caused them all to laugh in unison.
A bite of jealousy made her inhale deeply. Snapping her attention and emotions back to the task at hand she let a second pass and then pulled the trigger on her mmr rifle in one fluid motion. She watched as Liam's body took the impact with such force that his entire chair flipped backwards and he landed in a heap on the ground. Nina did not stay to watch the ensuing panic as she proficiently packed away her rifle, breaking it down into concealable pieces until she had it and her used shell casings slipped away in her large overnight bag. Slinging it over her shoulder she walked confidently out of the room, leaving it exactly as she had found it. They may be able to trace the origin of the shot but they wouldn't find a shred of evidence left behind.
This was the reason Nina was sought after for these high-profile hits beyond what the government demanded of her. She was virtually undetectable and the prejudice of gender worked in her favor. Code name Atlas kept even her gender a secret from most of the people who hired her. All they knew was that she was highly proficient in getting what they wanted done. Her rifle concealed in a louis vuitton overnight bag, hair disheveled, and lips as red as the white shirt she had just stained with the press of one manicured finger, not one person spared her a glance of suspicion. She walked calmly from the hotel lobby out onto the street to the car she had ordered to pick her up precisely thirty minitues ago.
She never used the same car service twice but she made an exception for this company. The drivers never asked her questions nor did they try and 'get to know' the stunning passenger in the back seat. That was good for Nina. She didn't need anyone asking her one question beyond her destination. As she slid into the back of the blacked-out Mercedes S560 she briefly made eye contact with her driver and gave him the destination of a cafe near her apartment. She wouldn't run the risk of anyone knowing the precise loction of her home.
As Nina pulled out her phone to text her handler "It's done", she expected to hear absolutely nothing from her driver for the rest of the ride. She put her phone away and briefly let her eyes float to the chaos at the restaurant next to the hotel, a siren mildly distracting her as she scanned the patrons scrambling and screaming like a distrupted ant bed of activity. A deep distantly familiar voice interrupted her concentration on the scene at hand and she realized suddenly it was her driver.
"I wonder what happened there."
Instantly suspicious, Nina kept her eyes on the scene to feign natural interest that any person would have in the panicked scene. She threw up her mental walls of iron and turned her caramel eyes forward to meet his dark shades in the review mirror. "I'm not sure. I just heard a ruckus when I was checking out of the hotel."
There was a long drawn out silence as her light eyes narrowed slightly at his reflection. He was seemingly calm and unphased as he pulled into traffic and sped away from the pandemonium just as the abulance and law enforcement arrived.
"Must've been a short stay for you to only bring an overnight bag and asked to be dropped at a cafe near by. Lover's spat?" Humor seemed to light on his tone as if he was taunting her. Nina remained deathly calm as his line of questions took a sharp turn for the suspicious. Crossing her legs, she ran nimble fingers along her leg before quietly slipping her black semi-automatic from the holster wrapped discreetly around her upper thigh. Her driver didn't indicate that he noticed this action as she moved the gun to rest on her lap, on high alert but not entirely sure this wasn't simply innocent questioning from an odd driver. She made a quick mental note to never order a car from this service again.
"It was short." She did not feel obligated to provide this imbecilic male with an explanation that was simply none of his business. If she wasn't trying to avoid suspicion and loose lips, she would've ignored him altogether but she wouldn't take the risk that he would tell the police he had picked up a peculiar person right after the shooting if they tracked him down.
He seemed mollified with her crisp reply and the remainder of the ride was spent in silence. She was just about to holster her gun as the cafe came into view when he cruised right past it, his foot laying heavy into the gas pedal as if he was begging for a reaction from her. In the blink of an eye Nina had cocked her gun and pressed it against the back of his head, unwavering and menacing as she gritted out her question.
"Who the hell are you?"
She expected various responses from this little punk who dared to toy with her but laughter was not one of them. A deep familiar laugh rolled past his lips that reflected in the reivew mirror in the form of a smirk as he continued to drive, to her horror, in the direction of her apartment.
"You don't recognize me? Wow, I'm hurt little sis."
Reaching up to his dark glasses, the action making her push the barrel harder against his scalp, he slipped them off of his face and tossed him into the passenger seat with an air of cockiness that would've earned anyone else a bullet. "It's your favorite sibling."
Irritation lined her face as soon as she realized she had her gun pressed against the back of her older brother's head. De-cocking her semi, Nina slipped it into her holster quickly and lifted a hand to fiercely slap the back of Alexei's head.
"You always were a fucking idiot. What were you thinking picking me up like this? You know I wouldn't have hesitated to put a bullet in your head when you stopped this car."
True to character he lifted his dark brows at her in the review mirror and chuckled again. "What can I say? I like to live on the edge. It's not like I could show up at your place and you would willingly let me in." He had a point. She slouched back against the high quality leather seat, it squeaked in protest, and rolled her eyes anyway. Whenever her brother appeared, trouble wasn't ever far behind and she didn't always have time to help him out of the ridiculous situations he found himself in. Plus, a woman was usually involved and that only added to the tempation to strangle him. Alexei was the only family she had left though and she continued to put her ass on the line to save his, if only to keep the reality of being completely alone in the world, at bay. He had his life and she had hers.
This was the first time she had seen him in two years. He looked mostly the same. He towered over her at six foot four. His bulky frame enough to make anyone feel intimidate. His brown hair always a mess of curls that he liked to call his 'bed head' that still seemed to look rougishly effortlessly handsome. His golden skin was more weathered than the last time she had seen him. Maybe from stress but that was just a guess. She didn't have any clue what he did with his spare time besides contracted driving for questionable orginizations and various privately run groups. His ice blue eyes were still focused on the road as she decided to ask the inevitable question that hung in the air between them.
"Let me guess. You seduced some politician's wife just because you could and he's blacklisted you and you want me to help you? Am I close?" Hurt flickered in his eyes before it quickly disappeared. She would've felt bad but she knew she wasn't far off. Alexei had bad habits with women who loved a pretty face and the nasty things he could promise to do to them in their lover's beds. He never could resist a challenge or a good time. She guessed you could say he liked to be bad. Nina used to be like that but she was quickly trained to supress such base desires now. They were usually dangerous and an utter waste of time in the end.
"I'll tell you when we're inside your place, Nini." Mild curiosity fused with rare emotion at his pet name for her kept her from responding to him. They had arrived at her apartment anyway. Being the expert driver he was, he quickly whipped into a parellel parking space in one go and turned the car off. Nina was already out of the car and on her way up to her place by the time Alexei had rounded the car and mounted the bottom step. They silently climbed four flights and she clenched her jaw at his ease to keep on her heels up to her apartment. He never had to try very hard to be in pique physical condition. It was like it was built into his DNA like their Dad. Nina had always been the one who had to fight to be where she was today. Her own body rebelling against the physical strains she constantly put it under.
She pulled her keys out quickly and unlocked all four of her locks. Alexei snorted behind her while he watched her push the door open to let them inside. "How do you explain all of these locks when you bring a man home little sis?" Nina scowled to herself at his probing nature. "You assume I bring men here? You know better." Kicking off her boots she walked straight through her apartment to her bedroom. "Touche! You still just get quickies at the bar huh?" He made himself at home and headed straight for her kitchen to hunt for booze no doubt. She ignored his jab. What worked for her, worked. Sometimes she had to release tension and she refused to show anyone where she lived. No matter what kind of blinding need she was experiencing. Stripping down when she got to her room, she pulled on a sweater and some pants before she slid her feet into warm fuzzy house shoes. Her curiosity caused her to rush into her laundry room and throw the clothes she had on during the job into the wash to eliminate gunshot residue. She silently wondered what kind of mess Alexei had gotten himself into now. Whatever it was, it was never good if he resorted to asking her for help. He was likely desperate.
Moseying out of her laundry room she reached up to pull her hair up into a loose ponytail and she aimed for a plush black armchair across from where he had taken up residence on her couch. Surprisingly it was big enough for his large frame. He had shucked his suit coat and shoes off and was peacefully lounging as if he didn't have life or death problems to share with her. He took a deep sip of the beer he was cradling and looked at her almost warily. It was a look she was used to seeing when all the fun of whatever situation he was in had disappeared entirely and he found himself stuck in the mess he created. Nina sighed deeply and slung her legs over the arm rest, fatigue settling heavy on her eyelids as she stared back at him.
"Are you going to share this newest disaster or am I going to have to do more guessing?" She reached for the bottle he had left open for her on the side table by the chair. Taking a matching swig of beer, she let the liquid soothe away the tension of the job and now the issue that was soon to be revealed.
"It's the Wagner group." The name of the private military company that was well known to be the most trusted by the Kremlin turned her veins to ice. "Dmitry Peskov hired me to drive for several high-profile jobs in Volgograd." He raised a free hand and rubbed at the back of his neck like he was almost ashamed to look at her. "I've been trying to get away from the less seedy side of my skill set and walk the straight and narrow, like my little sis over here." He raised his head again and winked at her but she only scoffed. "Straight and narrow my ass. We both know the Russian government's verson of straight and narrow is most people's morally gray area."
His blue eyes danced with amusement and he chuckled. "Exactly. It's perfect for me really." Alexei paused and grew serious again before taking another swig of his beer. "One job went sideways."
Nina's skin crawled. When things went sideways with the government that was never good. That's why she never messed up. Repercussions for screw ups haunted her dreams at night. She felt the beginnings of a migraine creeping into the base of her skull. Sitting up abruptly she slammed the beer bottle down on the table. "What the hell do you mean a job for the CEO of the Wagner Group went 'sideways', Alexei? You need to be a hell of a lot more specific."
Mirroring her sudden change in position, he sat up and placed his drink on the table as well, his large palms clasping together as he looked at her apprehensively. "In August I had one of my wild nights where I blacked out and woke up the next morning with absolutely no memory of the night before. I woke up beside Peskov's oldest daughter. He found out this month on the last job he had me contracted for that we had sex in his house. I never knew what the job was for, I just drive, you know?”
Nina rolled her eyes heavenward as if sending a silent plea up to some higher power to give her brother some common sense. It hadn't worked yet and she would bet that it hadn't been just one night either. Toying with danger was his favorite thing to do and Peskov's daughter was dangerous in the simplest of terms. "I should’ve made a bet that a woman was involved. I would be a few rubles richer right about now."
He ran his large hands down his slacks and plunged ahead despite her obvious irritation with him. "The last job just set me on edge immediately. It was out of range from the previous jobs and everything seemed off. The guys went in and I sat there waiting beyond the arranged time period for them to reappear. Coms went down as soon as they entered the building and it just made my fucking skin crawl. I got out and was about to go inside when one of them came out with his gun drawn on me. I shot him and left the others behind."
This time she picked up her beer out of sheer need more so than want. She took a long sip and stood up to begin pacing the expanse of her open concept living room. The migraine was full blown now and she felt a weariness creep into her bones. When was he ever going to learn his lesson? Probably never. Alexei had his own demons to wrestle with and she stopped telling him how to deal with them a long time ago. Instead she chose to be irritated when the repercussions of those choices were dumped on her doorstep. She stopped her pacing and let the bottle dangle between her fingers at her thigh, a look of exasperation and worry in her eyes. "So let me get this straight. You went off on one of your benders and almost paid the price and now what? You want me to go to war for you against the press secretary of the fucking Russian government, Alexei? Are you insane, stupid, or are we blaming this one on our demented parents as well?"
He didn't look surprised by her outburst. He didn't even look hurt. The haunting look that made his light blue eyes turn icy was the only indication that he had heard every word. Nina immediately felt a pang of guilt in her chest. They both endured their own kind of hell with their parents and he had never judged her for how she chose to live with her demons. Even if she was frustrated and downright scared at the thought of her only family being black listed by the government, she softened. Crossing the room she displayed an uncharacteristic sign of affection and sat down beside him, leaning her head against his arm, she let the worry in her chest create tears that she would never shed. He audibly swallowed and lifted an arm to wrap around her shoulders, pulling her into his solid chest as he sat back again. "I just need you to help me lay low for a bit. Disappear. They won't think to come here. Maybe some of your connections can help smooth this over for me?"
She didn't want to crush the hope in his voice but she had to. "This will be the first place they look Lex. They know we're related. They know more than you think. I need to get you out of here. I will get you out of here." Where? She didn't know yet. She chewed on her lip and took another swig of her beer, emptying it in one go as all the emotions she usually kept at bay tiptoed in. "I can't go with you. It'll just paint a bigger target on your back...and mine."
At this Alexei squeezed her tighter as if he was the one that was doing the protecting. "Aww come with me. We can ditch this place and keep hell at bay together like we used to." Something cold slithered into her throat. Dread? Anticipation? Memories? She wished she could be her own master. Go where she wished. Do what she wanted. Work for whoever she deemed worth her time. Was that reality though?
His tone was light but she could hear his heartbeat thrumming in his chest. She wished their lives were different. A seblence of normalicy would be nice. "I'll figure out something Alexei. I don't know what yet but we need to get out of this apartment tonight." The government had this address. If Peskov went through the proper channels he could easily obtain it. Alexei hadn't just slept with his daughter, he had killed one of his highly trained men. All of her swirling emotions threatened to suffocate her as her brain scrambled for an idea to get them out of this mess. The only thing that beat inside of her mind was what was drilled into her during training.
'Weapons do not weep Nina. Weapons do not weep."
