CHAPTER 62: ESCAPE

Ethan observed that this situation was just a normal Monday for Irina with how calm she seemed.

He hadn’t seen her flinch once even with all the bullets whizzing past them or even while she watched her men fall.

Him, on the other hand, was currently experiencing a seemingly unending ringing in his ears.

His sessions in virtual shooting games had been few and far between, so was his time in the range, plus those were toned down versions of what he was currently experiencing.

Ethan ducked lower behind the thick mahogany table, the sharp scent of gunpowder burning his nose as another burst of gunfire tore into the bulkhead.

This caused splinters to rain down and bounce off his shoulders.

Across from him, Irina calmly reloaded her sidearm, her expression no different from someone waiting for room service.

"You do this often?" Ethan muttered, half to distract himself from the pounding in his head.

Irina’s lips curved into the faintest smile. "More than you’d think."

{Multiple armed hostiles, two down, and the six remaining have been locked up in the yatch by me, so it’d take a while for them to escape.} Athena’s voice informed in his earpiece. {Oh, and small complication, It seems the big guns are about to burst through.}

Before Ethan could ask what she meant, the door to the lounge burst open.

And a buff man with a gas mask immediately walked through. His hands obviously held something by the way they were folded in half a fist, but before Ethan or Irina had the chance to check what it was, the man tossed it towards them.

The metal canister clattered across the polished floor, rolling to a stop between the overturned chairs.

"Gas!" Irina barked, her voice cutting through the chaos.

A thin hiss escaped the device, followed by a plume of pale green vapor that spread with alarming speed, curling upward.

Athena’s voice came sharp in his ear. {The air composition rapidly changing , it’s now filled with chlorobenzylidene malononitrile derivative, a potent knockout mix, you have thirty seconds until full effect.}

"No shit," Ethan replied, he could clearly see the gas filling the room and in no way did he assume that was safe to inhale.

Irina didn’t hesitate, she yanked her scarf up over her face and drew a second pistol, firing two quick shots at the gas-masked man.

He sidestepped with inhuman agility, advancing through the spreading cloud as if it didn’t touch him.

Ethan’s eyes were already burning. His lungs screamed with each shallow breath.

{I recommend you retreat,} Athena said, {I can’t clear it through the ventilation system fast enough, the north corridor is your cleanest exit.}

The masked man closed the distance, and Ethan realized with a sinking feeling that they wouldn’t make it to the door before the gas knocked them out.

Unless—

"Athena, cut the lights," Ethan ordered.

The room plunged into instant darkness.

Irina didn’t need instructions—three muffled shots rang out, and the man cursed, staggering as one bullet clipped his leg.

But the gas was everywhere now. Ethan’s vision wavered, the world narrowing to Irina’s silhouette and the looming figure of their attacker.

Before he knew it, he was completely knocked out and the last words he heard were of Athena’s screams in his ears.

_________

A sky full of stars.

This was the first thing Ethan observed as his eyes opened before he was hit by the cold wind and his ears registered the sound of waves.

For a brief, disoriented moment, Ethan wondered if he’d actually died.

The stars above were so clear, the night so still, that it almost felt like one of those dreamy screensavers he used to stare at while procrastinating.

Then the cold sand dug into his back, gritty and damp. The smell of saltwater hit his nose, and the sound of waves crashing pulled him the rest of the way into consciousness.

He blinked hard, forcing the his eyes to focus. The vast expanse of dark ocean lay just a few meters away, moonlight reflected across its restless surface. A line of palm trees swayed further inland.

Movement drew his eyes to the right. Irina sat cross-legged beside a small driftwood fire, her pajamas completely soaked and her hair slightly mussed from the salt spray. She was holding his earpiece in one hand as she looked at him.

"...welcome back to the land of the living, sleeping beauty," she said in a sarcastic manner, "it was nice of you to leave escaping and saving your ass in my hands but I’d say we’re equal now."

Ethan stayed silent at first, his mind struggling to catch up with the situation. Somehow, they had escaped—though he wasn’t sure how, considering he’d blacked out.

But he couldn’t deny that she had saved his life so he was grateful for that, "thank you."

Irina’s eyes were locked on him for a while before she sighed and tossed him the small earpiece, "thank your lady on the other end, she threatened to lock me up on the yatch with the attackers and blow it up if I didn’t bring you with."

Ethan caught the earpiece and put it back in his ear.

{Welcome back,} Athena’s voice came through, laced with irritation. {Do you have any idea how annoying it is to watch my operator collapse mid-firefight?}

Ethan sat up slowly, every muscle on his body was stiff. "I’ll try to schedule my next blackout at a more convenient time."

{Do.} Athena’s tone softened slightly. {Your vitals dropped hard after twelve seconds in that gas. Irina got you out, but... you were so close.}

She was more irritated at the fact that she was virtually unable to do much while Ethan almost died.

Ethan glanced toward Irina, who was poking at the fire with a stick as he said, "still, thank you."

She said nothing in response, so Ethan just got up from the sand and walked towards the fire she had created.

"Now then," Irina started as soon as he sat on the log opposite her, "do you mind telling me why you infiltrated my yatch?"

"Well, I was hoping for a meeting," Ethan responded, "but ended up getting caught up in a gun fight."

Through all the situations he ran in his head, none of them involved getting caught in the middle of a gun fight, or worse still, taking his first human life.

Unlike what he expected, he didn’t feel sad, scared or even regret as he had read or watched in various shows, he felt nothing.

No joy or sadness in the attackers death.

He just knew that he could either press the trigger or lose his life, no in between. And no matter what the situation was, he’d choose his life over and over again.

"My men wouldn’t have been caught off guard if you hadn’t provided the distraction," Irina suddenly interrupted his thoughts, "and as much as your actions have shown otherwise, I’ll have to ask you."

She looked up from the fire and directly into his eyes with a cold expression that would make anyone tremble.. Well, anyone but Ethan.

"Did my brothers send you?" She asked.

"No," Ethan replied without missing a beat.

But Irina picked up something from his tone, and even though she believed him, it told her something else, he knew her brothers and he didn’t fear them.

Usually, the mention of any member of the Romanova family, even if not directly, would trigger a certain reaction and everytime without fail, it’d be fear.

So she was pretty surprised that she was reading none of that from his face... Or maybe she was just reading wrong and he actually knew nothing about her brothers.

"As I said," he continued, "I was hoping for a meeting with you since there was no other way to get in touch with the queen of the underworld and I didn’t think I’d be able to find you again if I missed this chance."

Irina thought for a while, he didn’t seemed to be lying, or he was just that good at controlling emotions, either way, she couldn’t deny that she owed him... Or rather the lady on the other end of his ear piece.

She looked up, at the night skies before she said, "let’s get back to the city, my brother’s men would be here soon."

She stood up and stretched as she said so, "plus we can’t keep discussing while I look like this, I gotta get back in the underworld queen persona."

Ethan chuckled at her words before he also stood up, looked around and asked, "Athena,where are we?"

{We’re on the western edge of Catalina Island,} Athena replied. {About thirty kilometers off the California coast. Closest port is Avalon, but given Irina’s comment, I’d suggest the private docks near Hamilton Cove, less chance of running into her brothers’ men.}

How the hell they had drifted so far or even how Irina managed to swim with him till they reached shore, he had no idea.

Irina was already walking toward the treeline, her bare feet making barely a sound on the sand. "We’ll need a boat," she said without looking back.

He looked around, noticing how empty the place was before he replied, "I don’t think we’ll be getting one around here."

"Don’t worry," she said with a smile, "I’ve got a favor to cash."