While You Sleep

I picked up the phone and called the number in Washington DC for Rick's office. The number he'd always told me to call if he went out of town on an assignment and wasn't back when he said he would be.

The woman on the other end of the line asked me who I sought information on. I gave her Rick's name and she asked me who I was. When I told her, she told me that he was out and that the assignment he was on was scheduled to end on that very day and he should be back within a day or two and to call back then.

"But he's been hurt," I said.

"We have no information on his status or whereabouts, goodbye," she said.

The bitch was absolutely no help.

The doorbell rang and I let Donnie in.

"Why do you look so upset?" he asked.

"Do you want to have sex?" I asked him. Seriously, fucking him was better than talking to him.

Even trying to explain that I had a feeling that Rick was hurt and it was depressing me, was more than I was willing to try to express to him.

"No, babe," he said. "My nuts are still swollen and painful. And I'm not sure I can...you know uhm...perform."

"So why are you here?" I asked.

"I just came by to hang out with you and avoid my wife," he said.

I had traded away a life with a man who adored me and that I realized I'd probably always love, for a life of being bored with a guy I didn't even like, who treated me like a whore and let his friends fuck me. I was a fool.

* * * * * *

Rick

I started the Mustang and for once the roar of the powerful engine didn't comfort me. I knew that there was nothing I could do to keep up the speed we'd need and also keep the beast quiet, so I just let her rip. There was no tire shrieking burn out because I couldn't afford to let them know where we were.

Even before we'd made it the first block, Millie's bitching began.

"I'm not using this thing," she grumbled.

"Yes you are," I said.

"You can't tell me what to do," she quipped.

"Yes I can," I said back. "Now get under it." Piotr and I had removed the heavy, metal folding door that led to his storm shelter. It was a small door but it was enough that Millie could use it to deflect bullets from her. The metal was thick enough that small arms fire from a distance probably wouldn't penetrate it. And since the thing was being held at angle by the seat and the floor of the car, even larger shells to a certain point would be deflected.

My plan didn't include us getting shot at. My plan was for us to follow the wisdom of Taco Bell commercials and make a run for the border. Any time we met resistance, we'd back track and approach the border from a different direction.

"Why don't you have one of these?" she asked.

"Because Piotr didn't have two storm cellars," I said. "And even if he did, I couldn't see through it to drive. Now get under that thing and stay down."

"Or else what?" she asked.

"Or else I'll never answer your frigging question," I quipped.

"Ha," she laughed. "You never had to answer it anyway. I already knew the answers."

My plan hadn't survived the first two blocks. As we got halfway down the second block, another small group of soldiers stepped out from behind the hedges and started screaming at us. Gregor was obviously showing his hand now because this group had a mixture of the masked guys and the Pacmanistani army and they were working together.

"Millie, get under that shield," I snapped as I stepped on the gas. It was too late to try to stop and back up they'd already seen us and were leveling their guns.

The big V8 roared its most defiant note as the G-forces from the Mustang's rapid acceleration pressed me back in my seat. In a matter of seconds we were past them and even the sounds of their shots receded. I knew that I had to change direction at least twice to prevent them from getting a fix on our position or destination.

"Well, that wasn't that bad," said Millie, smiling at me from under the shield. "This thing worked. I had a couple of pings on it but nothing got through."

"I told you," I said. I smiled at her. Just then, a truck came at us at the intersection. I hit the gas again and the truck couldn't keep up with us. But they didn't have to. They had enough guys with guns in that truck to make short work of us.

"Get way down Millie," I said.

"You worry too much," she said. "You're doing fine. We didn't get shot back there and..."

"Get your fucking head down, right God damned now," I hissed. Millie's eyes opened wider and she bit her lip as the tears came out of her eyes. I was still jerking the wheel from side to side to keep them from getting a bead on us. After she got her shield up, I slowed down too. The truck barreled down on us and got pretty close. Just as they got to the point where it looked like one of the guys in the back could take a shot, I slammed on the brakes. The truck hit our rear bumper and two of the five guys in the back of the truck fell out.

I sped up and gained a little bit of distance. Then I slowed down and let the truck approach again. They caught up to us at the next corner. I jerked the wheel quickly, almost throwing the nimble pony car onto two wheels. The heavier, less maneuverable truck couldn't make the corner, but the driver really tried. He ended up flipping the truck over.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"I know you just don't want me to get hurt," she said. Her smile was back. "You may as well go ahead and tell me."

"Tell you what?" I asked.

"That your protecting me has nothing to do with your job. You love me," she said.

"Get down," I yelled, as another small patrol jumped out into the roadway. I heard the pings and saw the glass spider web as a couple of shots made it into the interior of the car.

"I might have to become the next Captain America," she said. "My mighty shield is still working."

"Yep, you might," I said. "Luck was with us. I didn't get shot that time either."

"What do you mean by, "That time," she snapped. "Did you get shot again, Rick? Why didn't you say something? You're the dumbest man ever."

"Where did they hit you?" she cried.

"The one in the shoulder isn't very bad," I said. "I can still use my left hand to stabilize the wheel and do all of the turning with my right hand. The one in my ankle is really bad. I don't think I'm going to be able to walk on it. It feels like the shot went through the bone and fractured it."

"I'll carry you," she said. "We can do this together."

"There are two more trucks flanking us to each side," I said. "One is keeping pace with us one block to our north. The other is a little bit ahead of us one block to the south. If I was them I'd move a truck full of men into position behind us and squeeze us to wherever they want us to go. So I'm thinking that's what they'll do too."

"What are we going to do?" she asked. For the first time, she looked scared.

"Normally, I'd kill all of those motherfuckers," I spat. "I've shot my way out of far worse cases than this easily," I lied.

"Well, can't you do it now?" she asked.

"Millie, I can't while I need to protect you," I said.

"I'm holding you back?" she asked. I just nodded my head.

"But if you're brave, there's a way," I said.

"What do I have to do?" she asked.

"Millie, the Russian border is one block away from us. If you look through those houses that little guard shack that's lit up by the bridge is safety. There are at least a couple of trucks full of armed men on that block. Plus the truck the other way and the one they're probably going to bring up behind us."

"Okay," she said. "What do you want me to do?"

"Millie, I'm going to turn very sharply and turn off our lights, it's going to very dark. Do you see that small shed that we just passed?"

"Yes," she said.

"When I turn, I'm going to slow down just past that shed and I want you to hide in the brush near that shed but don't go into it. Just go into the hedges or even one of the yards behind it. I'm going to take off really quickly and all of those trucks are going to follow me. I'll be able to drive faster and I'll start picking them off one at a time because I won't have to worry about you. When the trucks all follow me, I want you to go to the border and tell them who you are. The Russians are on good terms with us now. So if you tell them who you are they'll keep you safe. You have to get to a phone and call someone to send some help. Not just for me but for everyone else left at the palace. Can you do that?"

"Yes, but I want to stay with..." she began.

"Dammit Millie," I snapped. "You keep telling me about how we feel about each other. Why the hell would I want to have a relationship with a woman that I can't count on when things get shitty. If I have to keep babysitting you, I'll die."

"Okay, Rick," she said.

"Millie, it's going to be fine," I smiled. "Someday we'll laugh about this."

"Right," she said. "We'll name our first child, whether it's a girl or a boy, "Shed."

I jerked the steering wheel and the tires shrieked in protest. I could hear the sound of the trucks on the next block slamming on their brakes at the same time. The streets were so narrow that I could see the lights on the trucks and even the men in the back of them pitching forward trying to gain their balance.

Millie opened the door just a bit and rolled out into the darkness. As she got clear, I turned the Mustang's headlights on. They called attention to my position and everything in front of me, but Millie behind me may as well have been invisible. I rocketed forwards and shot a couple of rounds into the air making sure they noticed me. My change of direction hadn't taken them as much by surprise as I'd expected. The truck that had been flanking me from the south turned the corner and tried to come onto my street behind me, so I made a quick left and headed south away from the border and Millie.

I drove through the streets quickly, but not so fast that the trucks lost sight of me. For maybe five minutes we were back playing that same cat and mouse game. With all of the noise I was making and all of the sharp turns and erratic driving, I was sure that they were bringing everything they had to me. I laughed when I thought about all of the lies that I'd told Millie.

She was four years younger than I am but she may as well be a baby. How the hell did she think I'd shoot my way out of this with eleven bullets left for my Sig? I also only had one shot left in the magazine in it. And I wasn't sure if I'd be able to swap magazines while I drove with my one good hand.

She still had the beat up revolver that we gotten from Piotr. I was also leaking so much blood from the three bullets I had in me that I was having trouble staying awake.

I am not James Bond. I haven't been outfitted with any miraculous tech that's going to equalize the odds. I had simply lied to her. My only actual plan was to make a lot of noise and serve as a distraction so she could get away before they killed me.

If I was extremely lucky and they didn't catch me, I'd still bleed to death. And the way their noose was rapidly tightening in on me, I didn't see that I'd ever get close enough to the border to make it to safety myself. Those two trucks that had been flanking us had been in that area already to prevent us from going near the Russian border. We'd gotten as close as we could get to it when I'd let Millie out. The only thing that had gone well was the fact that the trucks changed direction with me when we got close to the border. Even if they would let me get close enough to try that again, there was no one left to provide the distraction for me. I was dead but I may as well take a few of them with me.

My next plan was to try to disable or wreck another truck so I could get my hands on more weapons and ammo.

Too late I pulled myself from my thoughts and noticed that there was a truck crossing in front of me about fifty yards ahead. If it turned onto the street I was on. I'd be trapped. Trapped meant dead and I hadn't given Millie enough time.

* * * * * *

Millie

As I watched the car take off and move forward, I began to think about Rick's plan. Maybe it was because for the first part since this happened, I was afraid. I couldn't really tell if I was afraid because I thought I was going to die or because, Rick had left me and I just felt alone again.

I ducked down as much as I could. I kept to the shadows like Rick told me. It took a while but the truck that Rick had shown me that had been to the south turned at the next corner and drove onto our street. He hadn't expected that but I was hidden. I think it would have been better if I'd hidden in the shed, I'd be warmer. The truck drove past the shed after Rick. But it stopped a few yards down and shot bullets all over the shed. Two guys got out of the truck and ran over to the shed. One of them noticed that the shed was locked and shot the lock off of the door. He looked inside and slammed the door back and ran back to get into the back of the truck and they took off after Rick.

I was alone again then. There was nothing but the darkness and the night. I smiled as I looked at the lights from the bridge and the border. It made me think about Rick's dumb unfinished poem. The line about, the night having nothing I should fear because he stood guard out here, made me smile.

I very slowly walked the equivalent of a city block. The thing that pissed me off the most was that he got brave at the last minute. That was just like a man. He hadn't been able to tell me how he felt the whole time. The only time he could actually be honest with me had been when he was about to kick me out of the God damned car. Well that conversation wasn't over. I could hear the sounds of car tires screaming and shrieking in the distance and lots of people looked out of the windows of their houses. But no one came towards me.

I walked towards the bridge thinking that everything was going the way Rick had planned and then I heard the sound of gunshots. Someone was going to town. I heard a lot of rapid fire shots.

"Do your thing baby," I thought. "Kill them all." I heard the sounds of the car's tires still screaming and reality suddenly hit me. Rick only had one gun. He'd only had a few bullets left when he got shot and he'd used two of them to kill the guy who shot him in the side. Rick had eleven bullets and he didn't have an automatic weapon. With a bullet in his shoulder, he only had one hand to drive with so he couldn't even drive and shoot.

The sounds were getting further and further away from me and...Suddenly the air lit up like it was the 4th of July and I heard an explosion. I looked around and I was already walking up the ramp towards the bridge. The soldiers on the Russian side of the border were actually smiling at me, but I was suddenly afraid. I'd made it to where I needed to be but fear gripped my chest. I did notice a man on the Pacmanistani side of the border look at me and then raise a phone to his ear. He pointed at me but it was too late. The Russian men escorted me into their small building.

"I'm..." I began.

"Relax, Miss Cameron," he said in heavily accented English. "You are safe."

Just as he put me into a chair a long car drove up and three men in suits got out and ran over to the building.

"Miss Cameron, I'm Ambassador Ward. I was able to get the Russians to help us. They've been excellent. They've gone above and beyond the call..."

"Get some soldiers out there and take care of this," I said. "He's still out there!"

"Miss Cameron, you need to calm down," he said. "I realize that you've been in a very stressful situation but..." Even as he spoke a sound like an earthquake coming from above the building shook it. I ignored it and spoke to the man in front of me.

"You don't realize shit," I hissed. "Right now, I don't need talk. I sure as hell don't need diplomacy. What I need right now is a bunch of men and some big God damned guns to kill all of those mother fuckers and..."

"That would be where I come in," said a man who appeared to be a soldier but was dressed all in black. "I'm your gun," he said. "Tell me where to shoot first."

"Let's go," I said.

"No ma'am," he said. "You have to stay here. But tell me where to go."

"Shit, just follow the sounds of the screaming tires and the gunshots," I said. "But I AM going with you."

"Captain, you can't just go in there guns a blazing," said the Ambassador. "We need to talk and try to avoid..."

"Watch me," said the captain.

He turned and went back out the door. I tried to follow him but he was walking quickly. As I got outside the door, I saw three jet black helicopters lift into the sky.

* * * * * *

Rick

As the truck bore down on me, heading straight at me, I waited for a moment, almost as if I was playing chicken. Another round splintered the glass right in front of me and rocked the seat next to me but didn't hit me. As more shots came through the window, I jerked the wheel to the right and plunged up onto the sidewalk and knocked down a fence. I was sure I ripped the Mustang's undercarriage out from beneath it but the little pony car just kept churning up the ground.

Suddenly the truck was behind me and I was clear. Another truck came out of nowhere and forced me to jerk the wheel in the opposite direction. A couple of bullets came into the car. My luck ran out because one of them hit me in the upper chest on the right side. It felt like I'd been hit with a red hot baseball bat and it became harder to breathe.

I tried to shoot back but my left arm was basically useless now and I needed my right arm to drive. I was glad the car was an automatic because my left leg had stopped throbbing and I couldn't feel it anymore. I was pretty sure that my body was beginning to shut down all of the useless parts from the blood loss. My chest felt hot where the bullet had struck me, but everything else felt cold and tingly.

If everything was going right, Millie should have made it to the Russians by now. I wasn't sure I had much more to give but I had to keep going to give her the best possible chance. I'm a fucking moron, I thought. While I had a few seconds, I took my right hand off of the wheel and used my nearly useless left hand to keep me going straight. I pulled out my iPhone and hit my voice recorder app.

"Millie, if you get this then I'm probably dead," I said. "It was an honor to serve you and your family and I don't regret a second of what happened. I'm sorry I was mean to you at the end but I had to make sure you got through this. I know how you think you felt about me. And I know how I felt about you but none of that matters anymore. If I did mean anything to you, there is one thing I'd like you to do. I have a daughter out there. Her name is Katrina. Please look out for her and let her know that her daddy loved her. I don't think that there are any people on earth who can't be redeemed but if there are, my ex-wife has to be one of them. My greatest nightmare is Katrina growing up and becoming the kind of woman her mother turned out to be..."

An explosion rent the air. I realized then that they'd shot something at me other than small arms fire. As I looked in my rear-view mirror, I noticed a guy in the truck with one of those Soviet rocket propelled grenades. It looked like he was reloading it.

I quickly turned the corner, drove forward a couple of yards and turned again in the opposite direction. I shut off the car and the lights and sat there in the darkness hoping they'd keep going. The first truck drove right past the street I'd turned down. The second truck slowed down and the men in the truck started pointing at me. I quickly restarted the engine and took off. Once again I drove over a lawn and flattened a fence. I squeezed the Mustang between two houses, destroying yet another fence in the process. I came out in the alley behind a garage that I'd just sideswiped leaving the Mustang's driver side rear quarter panel there. I got back onto the street and barreled down the road. I started to think that maybe I could ditch the car and try to find a house to hide in. With luck, I might find someone who had some knowledge of medicine who might be able to help me.