Martina Panics
Nikolai looks at his watch, according to what the doctor said the operation should take approximately four hours. I have enough time to take care of that scheming bitch Martina and return before the little thing is out of surgery. He calls Dimitri, “Get to the Blessed Spirit Hospital, wait for any word on the Little Assassin. I’m going to the Bellini Reception.”
Dimitri is holding a greasy chicken wing in his hand he was about to put in his mouth. he licks his oily lips,“Why are you going there?”
“I need to take care of some business. Anton is coming with me.”
“Sure Boss.” Dimitri stares at the last chicken wings on the plate covered in glistening red sauce then sighs, that little chick really made some delicious food. I was looking forward to her becoming the new cook. He quickly washes his last bite of spicy chicken down with a gulp of beer. Tossing the bones onto the pile stacked up on his plate, he sucks on his short pudgy fingers covered in sauce. Wiping his hand on his shirt as he walks out of the kitchen he passes Leon, “Boss wants me to go to hospital where they are operating on the little chick.” Leon scratches his head, “Wasn’t she with the Boss?”
“I don’t know the details. She is in surgery now I gotta go. Leave me some of the snake soup.” He regrets not having it earlier but he was busy in the garage making the bomb.
At the Bellini mansion Martina is frantically searching the mansion for her father. When she didn’t receive confirmation from her guard he had killed Feng LiMei she began to panic. She knows Diego Bellini’s girlfriend Sophie because her brother Ivan does business with Diego occassionaly. Ivan has brought Martina with him to the Medici Club and has met Sophie a few times. So she stops her as she is walking towards the bar. Martina is beginning to break out in a cold sweat realizing her impulsive action will have severe consequences if her guard failed. She holds onto Sophie’s arm and with a worried expression she asks while apprehensively glancing around the bar, “Where is Diego.”
Sophie has had a few drinks and is in a foul mood, Diego has been ignoring her all night. “How the hell would I know! The horny asshole has been flirting with every woman here.” She pouts and holds Martina’s hand, “Martina, come have a drink with me I am so bored, but if I leave I know one of these ugly sluts will crawl into his bed.”
“It’s important Sophie, I need to find my father or my brother.”
Sophie puts her finger on her cherry red lips, “Hmm..I saw your brother, Ivan was with that big Russian blonde, what is her name..Karin. Yeah, they were headed upstairs.” Sophie winks at Martina, “Little Sister, I don’t think I would disturb them, she was hanging all over him and he had his hand up her dress.” Sophie giggles, she has fooled around with him behind Diego’s back, your naughty brother is such a perv..hahaha, so bad…but his devilish charm is hard to resist. Karin won’t be able to stand up when he finishes with her tonight.
Martina can’t tell Sophie she is scared to death Nikolai will retaliate and come to find her tonight. “I don’t care I need him.” She hurries through the crowd that is starting to move to the room where the auction is being held, desperate to see if she can locate her father. She asks a man walking past, “Excuse me, I am looking for Boris Rushnikov, have you seen him?” The man pushes by Martina without answering, Martina scowls at him, Bastard, he could have at least answered me! She thinks she could follow the group of men or go find her brother, she decides to look for her brother. Two of her guards are behind her and she tells them as she starts up the stairs, “Stay close to me and keep an eye out for Nikolai.”
They have already been watching for him, figuring that Stanny wasn’t able to complete the mission or he would have called. Artem tried his phone and there was no answer. It will be hard to protect her once the auction starts. The room will be sealed until the auction is over, the two of us will be the only men to protect Martina. Who knows how many men he will bring. She should go in and stay with her father. Fuck it! I am going to take her to the auction. “Miss, I think you are aware Stanislav wasn’t able to complete his mission. The best way for us to protect you is for you to join your father at the auction.” He lifts his wrist glancing at his watch, “In five minutes the doors will automatically shut and seal the entrance. Nikolai Naralov won’t be able to enter so you will be safe.”
Martina rushes back down the stairs, Safe.. She excitedly agrees, “Good idea!”
The three of them quickly run towards the door leading into the auction, the man standing by it holds out his arm, “Invitation.”
Martina fumbles in her purse, her hands are trembling as she pulls out the gold colored invitation. Relieved to be out of danger she smiles,“Here..here.. hurry..let us in the room.”
The man hands the invitation back and Martina’s heart is pounding as she steps forward anxious to enter and find her father. The man has a sneer on his face, what is this woman trying to pull! “This is the invitation to the reception. You need a black invitation to enter the auction.”
Martina’s eyes are wide and her voice is shaking, “Listen you big goon! You need to let me in, my father is in there, Boris Rushnikov. He will have you beaten to death if you don’t let me in ! It is urgent! I need to find him!”
“Unless you have the black invitation you can not enter the room.”
Martina pulls out a wad of money, “Take this. Let me go in.”
He scoffs when he sees the money. “If you gave me a million I wouldn’t let you inside without an invitaton. Scram!” Three powerful looking men in designer suits are laughing and speaking Arabic as they approach the door. The man in front of the entrance looks behind Martina at her guards. No longer polite because Martina was rude he has a threatening tone, “You know the rules, take the stupid bitch away. I am shutting the door in three minutes.”
Not willing to lose the opportunity to avoid Nikolai’s wrath as the three men enter the doorway Martina squeezes by the side of them then runs into the auction room. Her guards hold back the doorman but he catches her skirt with his outstretched hand tearing the thin material of her dress and tripping Martina. She falls down rolling on the carpet then scrambles up rushing down towards the front determined to search for her father. Daddy will save me!
Her father turns his head to see what is going on when he sees Martina. He gulps, what the fuck is that stupid nuisance doing in here! If I want to stay in the auction room I have no choice but to ignore the idiot and wait for her to be expelled. The rules of the auction are very strict, no one except the invited guests are allowed in the room. He bends down to hide from Martina pretending to tie his shoe as he sees several of Diego Bellini’s guards surround his daughter a couple rows down from him..
Diego Bellini also turns around as he walks to the stage. He glares at Martina then looks at the clock on the wall, the doors will automatically seal in thirty seconds. He motions to his guards to throw Martina out of the room so they drag her while she tries to grab onto chairs along the way. Her legs are getting rug burns and she is hysterical as she screams, “Daddy! Daddy! Help me! Help me! He is coming to kill me!”
The men in the room can’t see her face and wonder whose daughter is stupid enough to crash the auction. Boris, when he hears what she is saying, has a moment of guilt and decides to stand up to acknowledge his daughter, but his younger brother sitting next to him stops him. In a low voice speaking Russian he reminds Boris of the high stakes involved, “If you interfere you won’t save Martina, only lose the opportunity to salvage your crumbling organization. She is being dramatic.”
He tries to remove his brothers hand from his arm, “You..you bid on it.”I can’t let my only daughter suffer. How could I face her mother! Who did she provoke?
“Brother, I am not qualified to bid on the flash drive. Only the seven heads that are present. Anything else, I would help Martina. She is my niece. But we mustn’t draw Bellini’s attention our way it would be disastrous!”
Boris watches as Martina struggles with the strong muscular men holding onto her as she squirms. Damn spoiled girl! What trouble did you get yourself into.. He tries to calm himself, Martina has three of my best guards with her. Maybe Ilya is right she is being dramatic. Yes, who would dare hurt Martina, she is my daughter and Nikolai Naralov’s fiancee..
Martina’s cries can no longer be heard as she is thrown outside the door. She sits on the floor with her hands on her knees rocking back and forth while mumbling “I’m done for..he will kill me..”
Her guard says, “Miss, we should leave before he gets here.”
“Do you think I can hide from that man? Suddenly she stares at the guard with a crazed look in her red and swollen eyes, “We need to kill him first.”
“…”
The auction is set to begin in ten minutes, everyone is looking through the booklet depicting the items that are being auctioned. Diego goes through a side door into a small room. He has spent months organizing this auction and has taken care of every detail in a meticulous fashion. He prides himself on maintaining the rules and keeping the auction under control. He paces around, I would have kicked you out too Rushnikov but the door was closing and I can’t stop the automatic lock. I am so fucking pissed I had to act as though I didn’t know whose fucking idiot daughter that was that barged into the auction. I am the only one that knows of my secret escape route should anything go amiss. How can I pay you back for disrupting my perfect preparations? He has an evil smile, Yes, I can add an item at the end of the auction..your beautiful but brainless daughter, Martina Rushnikov!
When Nikolai and Anton approach the mansion Nikolai warns him, “I still want Rushnikov to win the bid for the flash drive so I don’t want him alerted, but I can’t let that fucking bitch Martina get away with sending the gunman.I won’t be able to look the Little Assassin in the face if I don’t make her pay.”
“What are you going to do Boss?”
Across the city, Rui wakes up on the couch disoriented as he slowly opens his eyes. He blinks several times to clear his vision as he rubs his stiff neck. Sweat beads trickle down his angular face as he tries to recall how he got back to his hotel room. He suddenly sits up straight..LIMEI…SHE WAS SHOT! Dizzy from the sudden movement he leans back on the couch attempting to piece together what he knows about the situation. He slams his hand on the arm of the couch, I need to go to the hospital..what hospital? Where did they take her? He stands up walking slowly over to get a bottle of water organizing his thoughts. Leng Shuai he must know..Bastard! Why didn’t he wake me up!
After taking two big gulps of water he reaches into his pocket for his phone to call him. Where the hell is my phone? Irritated because he doesn’t have his phone he steps over to the desk to use the landline. He sees his cell phone on the desk and the note Leng Shuai left for him. He calls Leng Shuai to get an update on LiMei planning on taking a shower then rush over to the hospital. He undoes his buttons of his shirt,why isn’t he answering, dammit. Picking up the note on the desk he reads Leng Shuai’s brief message, Blessed Spirit Hospital. Wanting an immediate update on liMei’s condition he calls the hospital, a woman answers in a polite voice, “Blessed Spirit Hospital, how may I direct your call?”
“I want information on a shooting victim admitted earlier, her name is Feng LiMei.”
The woman answers in an emotionless voice, “I’m sorry Sir, we can not give out any information over the phone.”
Rui tightens his grip on the phone, “I am her personal physician and was only now informed she was wounded.”
“I’m sorry Sir, we cannot give out any information over the phone. If you come in and present your identification we can answer your questions.”
He knows this is standard hospital procedure but he thought by saying he was her personal doctor he could find out some general information anyway. “Can you put me through to the floor.”
“Certainly but they won’t divulge patient information either.” She connects him to the floor where the operating room is located. When a nurse answers he asks again about LiMei and she is unwilling to cooperate. He slams his phone down on the desk.Fuck! He looks at his wrinkled clothes,I can’t go in this condition. I need to shower and get over there.
Rui grabs some medicine for his throbbing headache then takes a quick shower. When he is dressed he picks up his phone then hurries out of his hotel suite. Rui’s head feels as though it is about to explode extremely angry he was drugged when she was taken to the hospital I should have been with LiMei. I need answers! Who is the surgeon operating on LiMei? It should have been me!While waiting for the elevator he tries Leng Shuai’s phone again, why isn’t he answering! Dammit! When he enters the elevator it dawns on him, Henri Armand! That’s right! He called me originally he must be at the hospital with LiMei.
He calls Henri who is sitting outside of the operating room having a cup of coffee, waiting for news from Scorpion about the gunman. Henri’s phone rings he thinks it is Scorpion, when he see the caller is Rui black lines form on his head. He has a drink of his coffee, tempted to ignore the call he hesitates then reluctantly answers, “Did you sober up? “