Wish (11 page)

He grabs ahold of me, pulling my arms behind
my back so I’m not able to move.

“
I knew
the kid couldn’t do it
,” the guy I don’t
recognize says in Russian to Matthews.

Raslan, who is still running up the path,
pauses when he seems the two guys. He’s out of breath.

“
You got
her,
” he says. He doesn’t look happy about
it, though. In fact, he looks panicked.

“
You let
her get away
,” Matthews says from behind
me.

I jerk against him, but he doesn’t loosen his
grip.

“
But I
got her out of her dorm
,” Raslan says.
“
You guy can’t back out now. I killed
people for you. You never would’ve gotten her out of her room if it
wasn’t for me. She came with me willingly, right out the front
door.
”

The guy next to Matthews lifts his arm. I look
over and see him point a gun straight at Raslan. He pulls the
trigger before Raslan can even react.

I scream and I watch Raslan’s body fall to the
ground. It’s too dark to see anything, so I don’t know if he’s
alive or not.

“
Let me
go!
” I yell, jerking against
Matthews.

I hear more footsteps.

The guy beside Matthews shines a flashlight at
the person approaching. I recognize him. He was the guard who was
standing outside the window at the house in Russia where we were
being held captive.

He’s got ropes wrapped around Salvador’s
hands, and he’s dragging him along. Salvador isn’t going quietly
though. He is fighting hard.

“
Salvador,” I say, my voice
breaking.

“
Katerina,” he says. “Are you all
right?”

“
They shot Raslan,” I tell
him.

Raslan was trying to kidnap me, but I didn’t
want him dead. He was my friend for so long.

“
What are
they saying
?” the guy holding Salvador
asks.

“
Russian
only,
” Matthews says, tightening his grip
on my arm. I am definitely going to have a bruise where he held
onto me.

In the distance, I hear sirens.

Cops are coming.

Hope bubbles up inside me.

“
We have
to get going. The helicopter is waiting
,”
Matthews says to the others.

Helicopter?

He pushes me forward, and I nearly stumble,
but his tight hold on me keeps me from falling.

“
Salvador, what are we going to
do?” I ask him, speaking English.

“
Shut
up,
” Matthews says.

“
Don’t
worry Katerina. I will protect you
,”
Salvador says, answering in Russian. I guess he doesn’t want to
make them any angrier than they already are. It’s probably a good
idea, especially if they manage to get us on that
helicopter.

If they are successful, I will die. So will
Salvador. I have to at least try and save him.

“
Why are
you taking Salvador
?” I ask.
“
It’s not him you want. It’s
me
.”

“
He
betrayed us. His father will be dealing with him
,” Matthews says. “
No more
questions
.”

The thought of Salvador having to talk to
Rafael makes me sick.

Right now, I could get away from Matthews. I
have been trained and could definitely take him on. But what about
the other two guys? And the one has a gun. Could I get away and
save both Salvador and me? I have to at least try, don’t
I?

There are people out in the woods looking for
us. I can hear them. If I am going to do this, I need to do it now.
They will hear the commotion and find us.

So, I take a chance, and I fight.

Matthews loses his grip on me.

Salvador can’t fight, because his arms are
tied up, but I can. The guy with the gun points it at me, and I
kick it with my foot, knocking it from his hand.

“
Over here!” I hear somebody yell
in English.

They have an American accent.

Oh, thank God!

I don’t stop fighting. Somehow, I manage to
knock Matthews out. The one guy is holding onto Salvador, so I’m
only fighting one person.

Thank you, Tristan, for making me get up early
every morning to train. Thank you for making me learn more than
just running, because something it isn’t enough to just run.
Because, seriously, I’d probably be on my way to death right now if
he didn’t teach me.

I kick the guy in the stomach and he grunts as
he falls to the ground.

“
Dang, Katerina. You’re a ninja,”
Salvador says, his Russian accent sounding thicker than
ever.

The guy who has ahold of him lets go and takes
off running. The other guy stays on the ground, so I go help
Salvador take off the ropes that are binding him.

“
Thank you,” he says, as the ropes
fall off.

“
Katerina!” I hear Tristan
yelling.

“
I’m here!” I yell
back.

I hear somebody running towards us. I see
Tristan come into view. He shines a light on my face and runs to
me, throwing his arms around me.

“
I thought you were dead,” he
says, not letting me go.

“
Dude, she’s awesome,” Salvador
says from behind us. “She took on both of those guys. And one of
them had a gun aimed right towards her. She kicked it out of his
hand like it was nothing.”

More guys run up behind Tristan and he backs
away. They get Matthews and the other guy off the ground, cuffing
them. And they get a stretcher for Raslan.

“
Is he alive?” I ask, not walking
closer to him.

“
Yeah,” one of the paramedics says
to me. “The bullet appears to have missed any important organs, but
we need to get him to the hospital as soon as possible to be safe.
Are you going with him?”

“
No,” Tristan and I both answer at
the same time.

They rush off with his body, and Tristan turns
back to him. He puts his hands on my face, and gently caresses my
cheek. “What happened?”

“Raslan came,” I say, my voice
breaking. “He woke me up and said I needed to come with him. And I
trusted him, Tristan. I was half asleep. So I just ran with him and
didn’t realize until I was in his car that nothing made sense. If
something would’ve been wrong,
you
would have been the one to come get
me.”

“
I would have,” he
says.

“
They offered him money to take
me,” I say. “I tried to talk him out of it, but I couldn’t. When he
slowed down the car, I jumped out and I ran. But Matthews and
another guy were waiting for me on the path. They grabbed me and
shot Raslan. That’s when the other guy came with Salvador. I wasn’t
sure if I could take on three guys.”

“
But you did.” He’s now smiling
big.

“
Well, I only took on two,” I
clarify.

“The other guy ran,” Salvador
says. “He about peed himself. He was scared of her. It was
awesome
!”

“
He won’t get far,” Tristan says.
“We’ve got a small army searching these woods.”

“
How did you find out?” I
ask.

“
Savannah heard the door shut as
you were leaving. She saw your phone on the nightstand and called
me to make sure everything was okay. She figured you left with me.
And as soon as I knew you were gone, I knew you weren’t supposed to
be. So I called my boss. I wasn’t going to let you get far. And he
sent everybody here to protect you.”

“
Thank you,” I tell Tristan. “You
saved me. Again.”

“
It sounds like you saved
yourself.”

“
Because you taught me how to,” I
say.

“
Now that we got these guys,
things will be better around here,” he tells me.

“
What about Rafael?” I
ask.

“
It seems like a few members of
his team ratted him out to the Russian authority,” Tristan
explains. “I guess they didn’t want a guy who couldn’t manage to
keep one little girl. Also, they heard his son betrayed
him.”

I hear Salvador sigh in relief.

“
So this is over?” I ask. “Like,
really over?”

“
Well, there are still a few loose
ends to tie up. Your dad’s job is far from over. I’m going to stay
on board here, just in case,” he says.

“
Where are Dad and Alik?” I
ask.

“
They’re on their way,” Tristan
answers. “Want to go see them?”

“
Yes.”

Tristan turns to Salvador. “The authorities
will probably want to interview you.”

“
Okay,” he says.

“
What about me?” I ask.

“
They will want to talk with you
too,” Tristan says. “But they can talk to you later. I’m not
letting you out of my sight right now.”

I smile at his protectiveness. I think this is
why I fell in love with him. He reminds me of my dad and my
brothers. I know that he will always be here to protect
me.

“
What are you thinking?” he asks,
smiling back at me.

“
Just that I’m completely in love
with you.”

Tristan wraps his arms around me again. “I
love you too.”

This is exactly where I want to be
forever.

In his arms.

Here, I feel safe. And loved.

Complete.

A ninja.

I spend the day getting interviewed by
different people. I don’t know exactly who they are, but they all
seem to be asking the same questions. I answer them as best as I
can, wanting this to be over.

Dad and Alik came by the school and stayed for
a while. Once I finally convinced them I was fine, they left. They
are going to Russia, which I am glad for. Somebody needs to be with
Dimitri right now. Elana is still alive, but in very critical
condition. Things don’t look good for her. They expect her to just
be alive for a few more hours. But I’m praying for a
miracle.

I managed to talk to Dimitri on the phone
earlier. He was really upset, but I could tell he was glad to talk
to me. He is a strong guy, and I know that he will make it through
this. We’ve been through so much already.

Damon called Tristan, after he heard about the
kidnap attempt. Apparently, it’s on the news that a Russian
terrorist group tried to kidnap me again. They’re still calling me
Damon Hartley’s girlfriend, which is annoying. Especially
considering Damon won’t even talk to me. Tristan tried to get him
to, but he wouldn’t. He just wanted to know how I was
doing.

I also got to talk to my mum earlier, finally.
She sounded good. And I can’t help but feel thankful that she’s
okay.

When I walk into the student lounge later that
night, everybody stares at me. Jade is the only one to approach me
though.

“
I was so worried about you,” she
says, giving me a hug.

“
I’m fine,” I say, hugging her
back.

She releases me and steps back. “The news said
somebody tried to kidnap you again.”

“
They attempted,” I say. “But
didn’t succeed.”

“
Salvador says you’re a ninja. He
said you saved him,” she says, and blushes slightly when she says
his name.

“
She is a ninja,” Tristan says. “I
trained her.”

Jade looks at Tristan. “Thanks for saving my
cousin. And Salvador.”

“
What’s the deal with you two?” I
ask her.

“
We’re friends,” she answers.
“Good friends. Nobody else in this school likes me. I mean, besides
you. And he’s my age, so we have a lot of classes together. And we
have a lot in common. It’s nice to have a friend.”

“
Good,” I say.

I really did hate that she was always by
herself. At least now she has Salvador. He’s a good kid. At least,
he seems to be. And thankfully, he is nothing like his father. Now
that Rafael is captured, Salvador will be safe.

The door to the student lounge opens, and
Salvador walks in. Jade walks over to him without even saying
goodbye.

“
Am I really done with having
bodyguards?” I ask Tristan.

“
Really, you are,” he
answers.

“
Good.”

“
Damon is coming back to school
next week. Are you going to be okay seeing him?” he
asks.

“
I’ll be fine. He’ll eventually
forgive me so we can be friends again,” I say.

At least, I hope so.

I look over at Jade, who is smiling at
something Salvador said to her. The two of them look so cute
together.