Make no mistake, my Elena. I will find you.
Olezka stepped out from the trees. He had ranged ahead of us, seeking threats before we stumbled upon them.
“There is a camp of Titus’s men up head,” he stated. “Would you like to go around?”
I smiled. “No, no. We should say hello, shouldn’t we?”
Excitement spread throughout the men, guns readying and smiles spreading.
We found them circled around a bonfire, like medieval travelers making a long journey. They had shed their weapons and rucksacks, which became easy prey for my men to make suddenly disappear.
It would almost be too easy.
“Gentlemen,” I greeted.
Their heads shot up and they leapt to their feet. When they scrambled for their guns, they suddenly found the places they had left them to be empty. Oh dear.
“Don’t worry yourselves about our arrival,” I soothed. “Who is in charge here?”
One stepped forward. The shortest of the lot with a long scar curling down his right cheek. “Give us our guns and make this a fair fight,” he growled. “Titus was right when she said you had no honor.”
“Because she is so noble herself.” I waved a hand at my men. They lowered their guns–they weren’t worried. They looked like children who had just stumbled into a candy shop. “Let us not resort to violence. Why are you here?”
The man hissed, his scar warping as he did so. “For the same reason you are.”
My smile grew. “I was afraid you might say that.” I shrugged off my blazer, passing it off to Olezka. “If a fair fight is what you’re looking for, let me present myself as a candidate.”
Like a Jack in a box, the man lunged toward me. His movements were brash and untrained. The actions of a lowly soldier, not anyone high up in Tatiana’s operation.
Killing him was easy.
His neck split between my hands like a twig.
“Anyone else?” I asked the remaining men as their leader dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
None of them moved.
"Pity. I was so hoping for a fair fight."
The other men came at me like a swarm of flies. Apparently, they didn't understand the principles of an equal fight, since it was four against one. When my men tried to intervene, I held up a hand.
I wanted to feel the ripping of flesh beneath my hands, the snapping of bones in my grip. These men had hunted my Elena...and the baby. They had sought to hurt something that belonged to me. They deserved nothing less than to die at my very hands.
That’s exactly how they ended up dying.
The first one came at my throat, thinking he might render me airless. I caught his wrist in the air, yanking to the right with fierce strength. The sound of his shoulder dislocating was buried beneath his howl of pain. When he fell to the ground, the others trampled him.
One down.
The second and third assailants banded together. One came for each arm. It was an effective technique; after all, how could I fight with no arms? However, they didn’t account for me predicting their plan and sidestepping easily to the side.
I tripped the third one as he went past me, sending him skidding to the ground. It wasn’t hard to step hard onto his throat, cutting through his oxygen with the heel of my shoe.
The second one went down as easily as his partner. When he turned to me, I snapped out my hand and grabbed his head. With a yank, I took him off his balance and held him up with only my fingers. He screamed as I pressed down and screamed even louder when I reached into his mouth and yanked out his tongue.
He died choking on his own blood.
The fourth one came at me last. He had picked up a large stick, brandishing fire on the end of it.
I raised an eyebrow, almost impressed by his flaming weapon.
He came at me, flames first. I dodged by a millisecond, feeling the heat brush up against me. It singed my shirt but didn’t touch the skin.
I thinned my lips. This was a tailored dress shirt that was probably worth more than the land we stood on.
The next time he went for me, I sidestepped again but turned and grabbed the back of his neck. He fell back into me, allowing me to tear the stick from his hand. As soon as he hit the ground, I held it to his chest, letting the fire eat away at his flesh and life force.
He was still alive when we left the makeshift camp but he wouldn’t be for long.
Olezka held out my jacket to me as we left.
“See if you can find anything that could lead us to Tatiana,” I said. “If not, let the animals have them.”
6
Konstantin Tarkhanov
The search continued for another three days.
Morale was beginning to wane as mud soaked further into clothing and bellies growled. I had little concern for the bitching of the men–they knew we weren’t leaving until I had what I had come for.
We found a few more pieces of evidence that Elena was close by as we traveled. A makeshift shelter out of branches, a torn piece of wrapper, a pile of cat shit–which I assumed was left behind so sweetly for us by Babushka.
“Boss.” Olezka approached me one evening. He used his gentle voice right off the bat which meant he was going to try and convince me to give up my plight. “I can continue to hunt for her. I will bring her, and anyone with her back safely. You have my word.”
“I believe you, Olezka.” I did not expand.
He cast his eyes over the men, cringing when he saw the growing exhaustion. “Konstantin...you are a Pakhan before you are a man.”
“Indeed I am. Which is why I make the decisions.” I nodded my head to him. “Do not worry yourself, Olezka. She is close by.”
He didn’t reply to that. It was clear he thought I was spouting bullshit. Instead, he asked, “Have you spoken to Artyom?”
“We will see what kind of state Elena is in when we find her,” I said. “From there, I’ll make my decision about Artyom.”
Olezka didn't ask me to expand. From the look in his eyes, he didn't think the decision I made about Artyom was going to be bloodless and kind.
On the fourth day, we came onto a small campsite.
The remnants of a fire sat in the middle of a tiny clearing, where leaves and rocks had been pushed away to soften the earth into the shape of a bed. A small bowl had been made from a curved piece of bark and was resting by the site.
Olezka bent down to the campfire. He inspected it. “This hasn’t been burning long.”
“Alright!” Artyom commanded the men's attention. “She’s close by. I want three men in each direction. You are to pull up every log, every bush. Nothing in this forest goes unturned, no hiding place goes unchecked. If you find her, yell.”
Instantly, the men began to move, their excitement heightened by the thrill of finding their prey and getting to go home.
I didn’t move.
Something about the campsite had held my attention. Maybe it was the fact that it was the first proof I had that Elena was alive and thriving in this forest, living easily amongst the wilderness. Maybe it was the odd domesticity of the natural home, from the bowl made of bark to the bed made of the forest floor.
Or maybe it was simply because Elena had not left this little area.
I knew Elena. I knew Elena more than she would like to admit.
There wasn't a single part of that woman I had not seen and adored, not a single cunning thought I hadn't been completely and utterly besotted with. She had always amazed me, interested me, but she didn't surprise me. I knew her too well for that.