Chapter Four
Around dawn, the doctor came back in and stood there a moment as he shook his head.
Gennadi had fallen asleep with his head next to hers and his hand held her much smaller one.
The dog was laying in the corner on a blanket Gennadi laid there for him.
The dog raised his head and watched the doctor get closer to the bed.
He didn’t growl but he stared at the doctor as he took her vitals.
At one point, Aleria groaned at the doctor’s touch but she hadn’t woken up yet.
Her dog noticed her distress so he got up and hurried to the bed. When he saw her not awake yet the dog laid down on the floor and watched the doctor carefully.
When the door clicked open Gennadi reached for his weapon and spun around. He checked his weapon as Sergi and Nikoli stepped into the room.
Sergi just raised an eyebrow at him. He walked over to the bed, looked down at Aleria and asked quietly, “Has she opened her eyes yet?”
The doctor shook his head. “No, she hasn’t but she’s not running a fever either. That is a good sign that the antibiotics are working.”
Just then, at the sounds of their voices Aleria opened her eyes a crack. She noted that someone had taken her sunglasses off at some point and she glared at the group standing around her bed.
Sergi raised his hand and told her, “You are safe here.”
“Where are my glasses?” she demanded to know without addressing his words.
Gennadi handed them back to her.
She quickly put them on her face to hide her eyes behind the sunglasses again.
Sergi noted the glasses looked old. The lenses were scuffed up and there was a small crack at the corner of one lens. Sergi dismissed them then placed his hands on the foot of the bed frame and leaned closer. “So tell me Aleria Dmitricoff, why did you really come here?”
Aleria scoffed. “Blin, you got the first name right but I was never a Dmitricoff. My mother made that clear from the moment I was born.”
Sergi stared at her. “What do you mean? You were born the youngest child of Greta Dmitricoff, were you not?”
She sat up in bed and pushed her pillow against her back then leaned on the headboard.
“Da, I am her child but I never carried her name. I was her mistake, the product of one night of being taken advantage of while at a drunk rendezvous. A bad seed if you like it to be said another way. She wouldn’t even look at me and I damn near starved to death in that house.
I caught the back of her hand more than not.
My mother was a cruel woman from the day she was born I think.
Her throwing me out at twelve was the best thing she ever did for me. ”
Nikoli grunted and asked, “Why do you always wear sunglasses even indoors?”
She glared at him and replied, “That is none of your God damn business.”
Nikoli’s eyes hardened at her words. “This is my hotel and you are a guest. I will not tolerate disrespect and you have shown plenty of that Missy.”
“I am not a Missy and I am NOT a guest either. I am a prisoner here,” she stated quietly. “You all have made that very clear.”
Sergi ignored her rudeness as he reached into his pocket and removed her notebook. Handing it to her, he said, “This fell out of your jacket last night.”
She looked angry as she reached out for it. “I suppose you read it. Is a woman’s diary not sacred to you people?”
“We had to know who you were and how you are mixed up in this mess,” Sergi told her steady voice that held no shame.
She glared at him and confirmed it, “So now you know.”
“Da, now we know.” Sergi stood up straight. “You need to rest and recover for now.”
Aleria smiled. Her lips said one thing but her voice said something else. “You can’t keep me here Mr. Constantine. I am not here willingly. I only came to warn you last night about the threat against you, and I will be leaving soon.”
Sergi nodded, then reached into his pocket again. This time he handed Gennadi a dog leash. “Take the dog outside and let him do his duty, then take him upstairs to a room.” He gave the order in Russian.
Gennadi paused before he took the leash from his hand. He snapped the leash on the rough rope that hung around the dog’s neck and led the dog to the back door.
Aleria’s fingers clenched into fists and she silently watched from the bed. No one in the room realized she understood Sergi’s command very clearly. And she didn’t want them to know so she held her tongue.
Tears gathered in her eyes but she never let them fall. She wouldn’t give Sergi the pleasure of seeing her distress. She tipped her head down and looked over the top of her sunglasses to glare at him.
The door opened and Felix came in holding a tray of food. He set it on her bed and took a step back.
Aleria peered down at the meal and saw scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, orange juice and coffee on the tray. Her stomach gurgled loudly at the scent of bacon.
Finally, after a moment, Sergi nodded at the food and told her, “Please eat, you must be hungry.”
Aleria reached for some toast and took small bites. She drank some of the coffee and groaned a little at the flavor. She finished the toast but that was all she could eat. She put the empty cup back on the tray and looked away.
Sergi sighed in exasperation. “There is nothing on that tray that will hurt you, child. You should eat more,” he said kindly.
“I ate what I could,” she softly replied. “I never thought you would hurt me with food.” She turned her head away from the men.
Felix moved the tray away from the bed but he paused to stare at the food left on it. Then he looked at Sergi and gave him a nod. “The information you asked for is in. Kirill has the printouts in security,” Felix spoke in Russian.
Aleria understood it. You don’t grow up in Little Russia without speaking the language. But that was the problem wasn’t it? They never asked where she grew up. She turned her head away and a single tear ran down her pale cheek.
Gennadi returned without her dog.
Aleria felt her heart hurt at the loss of her dog. She looked at Sergi and just shut down. Her free hand went to her other hand and she pulled the IV out. Blood stained the sheets then she moved to lay flat on the bed and her eyes closed while muting the rest of the room in her own mind.
Sergi stared at her and grimaced. He looked over at Nikoli and saw his look of worry but neither of them said a word.
For the next few minutes, the room remained silent.
Finally, Gennadi moved toward the bed. He touched her arm and felt her cold skin. In concern, he looked up at Sergi.
The doctor came back in just then. He saw her and paused. Finally, he rushed over to the bed and checked her vitals. He grew alarmed at the numbers. He looked at Sergi and asked him, “What happened here? She’s shutting down. Her heartbeat is slowing and she’s not responding.
Sergi shook his head. “She got like this after I rehoused her damn dog,” he gritted through his teeth.
“Well, we’re going to lose her if you don’t bring him back,” the doctor warned him. “I think taking her dog was like shutting down the only thing she was living for.”
Sergi turned to Gennadi. “Bring her dog back here. And hurry.”
Gennadi rushed out of the room.
The room remained quiet as the Doctor replaced her IV and she still hadn’t moved.
Out of breath, Gennadi returned a few minutes later.
Buttercup went directly to the bed and jumped up beside her. Licking her face and whining at her.
Everyone just stood there, hoping the dog could bring her back to them.