You’ll have your information, she texted back and felt queasy. Her nausea had nothing to do with the vodka from last night either. She genuinely liked Nik and hated to meet him under these circumstances. If they could have met another way, another time she would be crazy about him and how tender he was with her. She’d spent half the night thinking of the kiss they’d shared and how it set her heart afire.
They were supposed to meet this morning to see another location in town but she hadn’t heard from him yet. She wondered if he was sleeping off the alcohol and then shrugged it off. He’d not seemed the slightest bit inebriated at all. It had been her who’d gotten tipsy. Maybe he was going to wait and contact her later in the day.
Nik held the bag of frozen peas up to his eye and leaned back against the couch. He was so thankful for Dmitri having his back and worried that he was putting Galina in danger. It had been quite a long time since someone had tried to kidnap him or get information out of him that he barely saw it coming.
Kissing Galina had been the best thing ever in his life.
The tender way she melted against him made his heart skip a beat. He knew it was crazy to be so infatuated with someone he’d just met, but they just seemed to click. He’d been enchanted by the way she tried to act all tough slamming back the shots of vodka, but he knew she was in way over her head. It had seemed the thing to do and they were having such a good time at the Peterhof Palace that he thought he would keep things going by having a few drinks.
In his mind he could have only wished or prayed for a kiss from his sweet American girl. Her large, soulful eyes had stared up at him, instantly making him regret the fact that he’d kissed her while she was lightheaded. He wanted her to want to kiss him and was afraid that perhaps she had reservations that were washed away by the strong liquor.
He’d made a promise to Dmitri that if he checked in often, could they keep it a secret between them. Nik wanted the freedom to take Galina out but also wanted Dmitri to know where he was at in case of emergency. As soon as Galina had stepped inside of the hotel, he’d texted Dmitri to let him know he was on his way and would be there within five minutes. The second he’d clicked send and walked past the alley way, it began.
Nik’s leg had been knocked out from under him with a swift kick at the back of his knee. He’d gone down like a ton of bricks almost face first into the concrete. As he rolled over, he’d been pinned and his pockets had been turned inside out. He wasn’t sure what they were expecting him to be carrying but it hadn’t been money. His wallet was left on the ground beside him wide open. He was still in the process of working on his programming for his pet project, Soyuz, but it was nowhere near ready to go. Soyuz he kept hidden carefully on a thumb drive with a backup file hidden in another location. He’d covered his work with finessing the programming on a satellite system.
“It’s not here!” he heard one of the males cry out in a despicable and horrific accent. Whoever it was, they weren’t Russian.
“You are supposed to pronounce it eto ne zdes’ – not edo. Why don’t you tell me what you are looking for?”
“Teach him a lesson,” he heard in perfect English just a moment before a fist slammed into his eye. Oh yes, this was not the first time he’d been hit. Nik tried to unseat the large man and almost had him off when Dmitri showed up, yanking his aggressor off of him. Both ran off but not before Dmitri landed a few hits of his own. He walked over and helped Nik off the concrete where he had gotten into a sitting position.
“My head is ringing,” Nik admitted. “Whoever that was packed quite a punch.”
“You shouldn’t go out alone anymore,” Dmitri told him gruffly.
“Awww big guy, you really do care – don’t you?” Nik joked and winced. “I think I need some Tylenol, an ice pack and some sleep.”
That had been last night and when he awoke this morning his eye was no better. It was swollen and purplish black. Part of the cornea of his eye was bright red making him look completely awful. He’d had the peas on his face, praying that the swelling would go down and knew there would be no hiding it from Galina. He would not be able to shake Dmitri again either. Pulling out his cell phone, he texted Galina.
How do you feel about seeing the Mariinsky Theater?
It sounds amazing.
I will pick you up at 6pm.
I can’t wait.
“Dmitri,” Nik said quickly, seeing the large man heading over to start another game on the Xbox. “Before you start playing Spyro again- I need two things from you: I need you to pick up something for me and do you like the ballet?”
Ignoring the glare from the other man, Nik called the theater and ordered three tickets for will-call pick up tonight. He got two of the tickets in a private booth that over looked the stage and the third ticket was not far away in another vestibule. Nik then made a couple of phone calls and gave Dmitri his bank card with instructions. He wanted to make an impression on Galina and his purple eye was not it.
Nik wanted to get Galina something to remember him by when she left Russia because he was certain he would never forget her smile or their kiss. He hoped to have the chance to kiss her again someday but he also didn’t want to endanger her. That was why Dmitri was coming tonight with them as a third wheel. One of these days, he was certain that if whoever it was coming after him didn’t get the information they needed- they were bound to leave him dead in an alley.
Six months ago, after the last attack, Nik had a will made and transferred money into an account for his mother so she would never have to worry financially. He also put a stipulation in there that if something happened to him, then his mother got everything, not just what he had set aside for her. He hoped that would not be the case. Meeting Galina, seeing her smile and feeling the joy that just being with her brought to him – things didn’t feel so hopeless, so dreary. He felt happiness and wanted it to go on forever. Things didn’t have to go any further, so long as he could claim her as a friend.
Galina watched as the beautiful Aston Martin pulled up in front of the hotel. She’d been so excited that they were going to the theater tonight and had been reading up on it all morning long on her computer. She was supposed to be going through files and researching Nik, but instead she found herself daydreaming about his smile.
The Mariinsky was supposed to be quite impressive. The theater had been founded in the 18th century and was once the Imperial Ballet of Russia. It was supposed to be the crème-de-la-crème of ballet. Galina was curious and had never seen a live ballet before; she’d only watched the Nutcracker on television repeatedly, much to her brother’s chagrin. He always wanted to change the channel when the Sugar Plum Fairy music started playing. Even now, she could hear the eerily mystical haunting notes of the music in her mind and had her humming as she had gotten ready to head out.
Shaking her head at her musings, she opened the Aston Martin’s large door and slipped inside. As she moved to greet Nik and buckle up, she gasped aloud.
“What happened to your eye?!” she yelped and covered her mouth with her hands in shock. His poor eye socket was completely purple and swollen in a round circle. “Oh, my goodness, Nik,” she breathed softly, reaching up to touch his face gently as he sat there looking down. “Does it hurt?”
“It throbs but I took some ibuprofen.”
“We can skip tonight if you are hurting,” she offered genuinely and then repeated. “What happened?”
“We’ll talk about it some other time, okay?”
“Of course. Can you see okay?”
“I see that you look absolutely beautiful,” he admitted and then apologized. “I’m sorry my eye looks so bad. I thought it was making progress healing with the ice packs.”
“Nik…,” she started only to be cut off by him.
“Galina, I want to take you out on a date, not just show you the theater. So don’t ask me to cancel or leave you here,” Nik said firmly before softening. “Please, would you go out with me tonight?” There was a genuin
e earnestness in his voice that made her feel wanted. He was so good to her the last few days and she found herself wanting to spend as much time as possible with him.
“Then we don’t want to be late, do we?” she said, nodding lightly and buckling up finally. She glanced over at him and noticed that he was wearing dress slacks and a sport coat. She was glad that she’d packed a nice dress just in case. Her dress tonight was in layers to help keep warm. The under-layer was a sheath dress that was pretty thick and covered from her shoulders to below her knees. The over layer was a diaphanous black material that was spotted with flowers. The edges were ruffled, giving it a distinctly dressy feminine look. She liked the material and it was easy to travel with because if it got wrinkled, all she had to do was hang it in the bathroom while she showered.
“No, we don’t,” he admitted with a small smile. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Not making me beg.”
“Would that have worked?”
“After that sweet little kiss yesterday – yes,” he said softly, his lip upturned as he stared ahead to watch the road. “I would have definitely begged for you to go out with me again.”
“Well, it’s not appropriate to beg,” she countered and then bravely said in a hushed voice, “But I might like it if you kissed me again tonight.”
“I’d like that too,” he admitted, reaching over the gear shifter to take her hand. “As long as my eye doesn’t scare you off.”
“No, but I suggest whatever happened to have caused it, that you stop… so it doesn’t happen to you again.” Galina saw his smile fall and really began to wonder what had happened. Did he run into a door or run into someone’s fist? A jilted husband perhaps? No, she thought, he doesn’t seem the type. In her dossier it had said that he’d been the recipient of several attacks, could one have happened after he dropped her off? That was a scary thought. How was she ever going to get the information she needed from him without betraying him? And if it wasn’t her- would they send someone else?
They pulled up in front of the Mariinsky Theater and Galina looked up in sheer pleasure. There was something about St. Petersburg where they believed everything had to be on a massive, grandiose scale. The theater was no different.
The outside of the building was illuminated from lights mounted down in the ground, focused on the grand columns in front. She could see hints of green in the light and assumed that the building was that shade everywhere. A large overhang covered the entrance doors and displayed a large marquee that proudly proclaimed they would be in for a real treat tonight. Swan Lake was being performed.
“Swan Lake? Really? I’ve never seen it,” Galina breathed happily and gave a little jump of excitement as she clenched Nik’s arm. He looked down at her, his blue eyes glowing, and instantly looked away. She tried not to show that his black eye bothered her but she guessed that perhaps she might have flinched. They stepped up to the ‘will call’ window to get their tickets. She saw him accept the envelope, open it and remove a ticket. He handed it directly over her head, causing Galina to turn around in shock.
Nik’s roommate was standing there looking extremely uncomfortable and glaring at Nik. He kept tugging at his tie that was hidden under his massive beard. Galina looked between the two in confusion.
“Thank you, again, Dmitri. We are heading up,” Nik told the large man and Galina heard him grunt in acknowledgement. She didn’t say a word as they headed up the steps to the first landing. Walking slowly down the enclosed hallways, she found herself admiring the golden swirls on the flocked wallpaper that seemed to be everywhere. They passed several doorways and came to theirs. Galina looked behind her to see several other couples walking down the hallways as well as the man named Dmitri. He stepped into a doorway and Nik opened theirs, letting Galina walk in first as he held a great velvet curtain aside for her.
Soft lights illuminated the interior of the theater showing rows upon rows of private boxes and balconies. There had to be at least six rows that encircled the massive building in the shape of a ‘U’ surrounding the stage. Their seats were on the first balcony over the crowd below, directly in front of the stage. She knew the tickets had to have cost a pretty penny…eh, ruble. Inside of their box, there were two large plush seats and a small table. There were a dozen red roses on the table and a bottle of champagne on ice waiting.
“What is this? What is going on that Dmitri is here with us,” she whispered, looking at Nik in surprise and confusion.
“A little something for my favorite little American,” he said tenderly. “I wanted to impress you. We’ll talk about Dmitri later.”
“Oh my goodness, just the tickets alone must have cost a small fortune. Consider me completely impressed right now.”
“The night is just starting,” he said with a smile that showed he was up to something. She wondered what it was and if this was what Dima was anticipating.
“What are you up to?”
“Take your seat and close your eyes,” he told her. Galina stepped forward and saw that the box they had was nearly private. There was a small lip and if you leaned far enough you could see others beside you. She closed her eyes and waited patiently.
“Don’t move,” he whispered in her ear, giving her goosebumps and causing her to jump. “Keep your eyes closed and trust me.” She felt something cold touch her skin and instantly raised her hand up to see what it was, only to have him push her hand back down to the arm of the chair. The cold was moved away and then back. This time she sat still and couldn’t help but grin at the game he was playing. It was like one of those tests where you fall back and the other person is supposed to catch you.
“I have to admit that I am an impatient person,” she whispered, hearing the crowd down below starting to thicken to a dull roar. She wanted to look around at the theater or take photos but she figured she could sit still for a moment.
“There,” he finally said and she felt the cold touching her skin drop a few inches to the top of her dress line.
“Oh, that is chilly,” she giggled. “Can I open my eyes now?”
“I think maybe you should wait just a second longer,” he whispered and she felt his breath against her lips. She instantly gasped at the intimacy just moments before his lips touched hers. She arched her neck and reached up blindly to cup his head as he bent over to kiss her. His own hand cupped her neck, his thumb caressing her earlobe. As he broke the kiss, she realized the orchestra was starting to warm up and she hadn’t even realized it.
She slowly opened her eyes to see his blue ones watching her mere inches from her. “I hope you like it,” he told her and stood up to look at where she sat. Galina looked down to see a single large tear-drop shaped ruby lying against her skin. The very top was a small diamond where it hung on a simple white gold chain. She looked at him and then at the necklace again.
“Nik, this is too much,” she protested and began to reach up to unhook the necklace.
“Leave it, the clasp is really snug and that is what was taking me so long to fasten it. I want you to have something to remember this time by when you go home.”
“I don’t think I can ever forget this, or you,” she breathed. “You’ve made me feel so welcome, so special, and I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you like it and you’ll wear it,” he said simply, taking his seat nearby. Galina abruptly stood and grabbed the corner of the table between the two chairs, pulling it backwards. She then quickly scooted her chair over next to his and sat down with a satisfied huff, smiling at him.
“There was too much stuff between us,” she told him, reaching for his hand. She laced her fingers in his as the lights went down in the theater. “I like this much better.”
“I do too,” he admitted, raising their hands to his lips to kiss the back of her hand. “Oh, here we go, the curtain is going up and they are starting.” Sure enough, Galina watched in awe as the massive curtain on the stage parted to reveal a few dancers on the stage, posing.
As they began to move gracefully, the music from the orchestra began to carry her into the ballet. She was enthralled by their graceful beauty and elegant movements as they danced. At one point, she felt Nik release her hand and it came to rest on her shoulder. She practically curled against it, feeling so treasured and pampered. As the curtain came down for intermission, she sat up straight and smiled at him.
“This has been incredible. Thank you again, Nik,” she repeated.
“It’s my pleasure. What good is money, if you can’t make people happy?”
“Dmitri didn’t look so happy when he met us at the front, so why is he here?”
“It’s as a favor to me.”
“Is it really?”
“No, but I don’t think you want to hear the gory details.”
“Actually, I’m thinking that I really do.”
“Galina…”
“Nik…,” she mimicked. “What is going on? Does this have something to do with you having a black eye?”
“He is here to protect me,” he admitted.
“From what? Why? Are we in danger?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Intermission is ten minutes so if you start now, it should be enough time.”
“Galina,” he said with a heavy sigh.
“You asked me to trust you, and I did. I know it’s not the same but,” she said softly, taking a deep breath. “Nik, I think something is wrong and it might be endangering both of us. Hear me out before you say anything, please. I’m trusting you with my life,” she whispered, suddenly extremely frightened. She wondered what a Russian prison was like and what they did with spies.
“Nik, I work for the CIA.” she breathed almost silently, watching him and ready to bolt at any moment. Her heart was fluttering wildly in her chest and pounding in her ears. She sat there staring at him, terrified. “Do you understand what I am trying to tell you?”
“You know what program I am working on, don’t you?” he murmured, swallowing hard. His eyes locked hard with hers.
Spying on the Billionaire Page 6
