LIMA

An excerpt of the book "The remote control"/

 

They stayed one night in Lima the Peruvian Capital, but checked out right on the next morning of the grand hotel, which they picked up at random.

After having booked a flight to Madrid, they traveled to Cuscoe in a hired cab carrying their belongings along, to pass there the couple of days remaining up to their planned flight.

They could have flown to Madrid on that same day, but it was Lee Chen Woe who decided to wait.

'We’ll follow the storm', Lee Chen Woe insisted, 'instead of running away from it.'.

They have managed to mislead their pursuers, who were definitely after them by now " and might even over passed them and thus, while their pursuers will be looking for them in vain in all the main European airports, they will be flying safely after them to Madrid and then to Tokyo.

On Monday morning having passed the two extra days, they rode back to Lima, straight to its air port just to learn that their flight was delayed once again, and no other company flew to Madrid on that day. The fact their expenses for twenty four hours full board were covered by Iberia, the Spanish flight company, did not matter at all, they didn’t have any money shortages.

Lee Chen Woe did not like the unexpected change in her plans, particularly in these critic circumstances. But as there was nothing they could do, they had to return to the city and took refuge in a small hotel on the city's suburbs. They kept indoors, just as they did in Cuscoe; having their meals in their room, making love in broad day light, or at night time, clinging to each other in a desperate and extreme urgency.                            

When the day came or more accurately the right time to leave, Lee Chen Woe woke him up at about eight thirty pm. They had to pack and get ready to check out, for everything was ready for their departure. They had two sets of genuine passports, American to be used up to Madrid, as Mr. and Mrs. Dean; the passport with which she left for Moscow, plus another empty North Vietnamese one, for Nick. As there was no need to expose their destination, they had flight tickets up to Madrid. Nick carried all the money Lee Chen Woe was wise enough to keep in her private safe. It was quite a sum, she did not touch of course her several bank accounts back in Montreal. That wise decision allowed them to sneak away in time.         

All they had to do was to pack, call a cab and leave for the air port. Time was getting short, the small alarm clock must have ringed in time, but who could hear it. They stooped over the open suitcase on their bed wearing just their underwear, while discussing the Gordins and their possible fate. After all, it was the most suitable topic to pass their time while packing.

Apart from it Lee Chen Woe missed them they were as dear to her as close relatives, which in fact she never had. Although she knew and was quite sure that they have informed center of her flight to freedom, but she could not blame then of course.

'They won't touch them, although they hate them as much as they hate me, just for their being Jews. But they can't afford it, they shall destroy the net if they'll dare to harm them. Andrei is a blind tool compared to them; he is a limited asset, compared to the Gordins. But above all, they have no one to replace me and the Gordins might fill the gap temporarily.' She concluded and made a short pause to think things over. 

'They might call someone from the States one of their sleeping agents over there, but he won't be able to do the slightest thing without the Gordins.' She added, glancing at her wristwatch, realizing how late it already was.

'I want you to dress up and get down and pay the bill’, she told Nick. ‘Take the gun with you and stay as close to the staircase wall as you can; take a good look around but don’t let anyone notice it. See if there’s any stranger waiting in the lobby, before getting down to the reception, okay Nickie?’ She warned him. 

Nick nodded his head without a word, dressed up, shut the bedroom door and crossed their suite, to do what she asked to.                             

As soon as he unlocked their living room’s door, it hit his face with a sudden thrust. He was pushed instantly backwards but managed to stay on his feet, just to face the intruder who shot him twice on the spot. The first slug hit his throat and the second hit his chest.  As Nick started to stagger the intruder caught his jacket’s lapel with his left hand, and let his lifeless body drop slowly and noiselessly to the carpeted floor.

Closing the living room’s door behind him the intruder passed Nick’s dead body, aiming his right hand with his gun and the long silencer in front of him; as he made his way slowly to the bedroom.  Before he managed to reach it the bedroom’s door opened up at that very second, noiselessly, and Lee Chen Woe stood on its threshold almost naked.

Seeing the hit man holding a gun in his outstretched right arm with a silencer at the end of its barrel, she did not panic; she knew quite well that if she’ll try to run away she is dead. She heard something and now she realized what it was. Nick was dead and the gun was stuck in his belt, way behind the stranger. Blood in tiny rivulets was gushing out from the corners of his mouth, she was able to see it, and quite a disheartening sight it was.                                 

Lee Chen Woe was standing in her underwear facing the deadly intruder, petrified, though she did not appear to be so.                

The hit man, an ugly brute, about six-foot tall with a mane of yellowish hair, was a Russian; she had no doubts about it, a typical Russian. His right arm was still stretched out before him, holding the gun in his hand at the height of his shoulders almost.

It's the same gun that had just shot Nick to death, just one short step before reaching the air port. One step before escaping the long arm of the murderous KGB, just one step before freedom.. She thought desperately.

But the Russian was watching her with much interest it seemed, now that Nick's menacing presence did not count anymore. He took his time ogling her from head to foot. She must have enchanted him in her slight apparel.                      

There is a very slight chance to survive yet, the very last one! She thought, fighting back her growing despair, the excruciating fear that was getting hold of her...

'I'm a prominent party member.' She said in fluent Russian, with the utmost tranquility she could gather. She did not have to tell him whom she was or where they were bound for; he must have had a detailed briefing, before the hunt after them had practically begun.

'There is an extra genuine empty passport and a flight ticket, now that...' She added pointing her finger at Nick's lifeless figure, sprawled on the carpet behind him.

'Oh,' the hit man uttered with a flicker of an amused smile, which turned into an intense lusty contemplative stare.                   

He did not turn back to look at Nick’s body of course, but he would hear more! He did not make up his mind yet! She concluded with growing hope. She knew she must not bring up words like death, life, or such words that might insinuate his profession or weapons in general, at that very moment. It might make him squeeze the trigger spontaneously, without a second thought. He was a hit man a professional one, a cold-blooded hound…! He must be in his early thirties although he looks much older, due to his furrowed face, an experienced hit man no doubt…                                               

'You shall replace that man, be my spouse for the time being..., You shall have an elated position with a real future in it. One does not last long in a profession as dangerous as yours.'

It was a fantastic offer, an incredible suggestion to make so utterly unrealistic; but there was nothing else she could offer him. If she will try to seduce him he shall grow suspicious, shoot first, wound her and rape her unconscious but warm body still, right afterwards; as many of those dirty ghouls do, or just screw her lifeless dead body...

'If you have the capabilities and the character to take on such an enterprise...' She went on challenging him. 'I'll be loyal and grateful to the end, knowing too well what a sacrifice it would be on your part!'                             

He laughed in her face aloud, contemptuously, but stopped abruptly and kept staring at her with smiling eyes full with self-confidence.

He is expecting me to beseech him, beg him for my life. My fantastic offer didn't beguile him in some way, just the bit I might need or are these the very last seconds of mine alive on earth… But he believes he may enjoy himself yet, humiliate me and torture me mentally...  He must be a pervert of some kind, as most of these wild beasts are!

She was on the verge of desperation once again. She hesitated for a friction of a second, not knowing what her next move should be. Should she burst out crying, shed tears, and kneel in front of him? She had never used such feminine tricks before; she never needed such means... Thoughts were flashing rapidly in her dizzy brain, but she watched him undecided giving up hope. She was at his mercy but if she has to die she shall die as her achievements and status demanded. No one made her kneel, no man managed to humiliate her before and no one shall. She thought proudly.

© Haim Kadman 1991 " all rights reserved.