A Model Apartment

Suddenly she understood how vulnerable she was. The shadow could simply shoot her right now and her bodyguard wouldn't have a chance at helping from behind the door where he couldn't see. Thankfully the shadow advance another step, still soundless. Then another step. Why was the shadow so hesitant.

They were expecting the blond man.

Sophia took a deep breathe like a sleeping person rousing and she allowed herself to shift sleepily. Hoping her nudity, and the soft non-threatening sounds would lull the shadow, or at least clue the blond man. The movement froze the shadow and she finished her shift settling into what she hoped looked like a deeper sleep once more.

Subtle little snores came from her nose, and he did her very best to breathe deeply and evenly like a sleeper. After few breathes she saw the shadow shift closer to look at her and when the blond man spotted his foe he moved.

Sophia had one eye slitted open as the shadow came closer and she could barely see the blond man as he swooped in behind the shadow, his right arm punching repeatedly under the shadow's rising right arm. The shadow grunted and twisted to its right as the blond man darted around to the left still punching the shadow in the back Sophia seeing a glint of metal in the blond man's flashing hand.

The shadow stumbled and fell to its knees as it pivoted trying to follow the speedy figure hitting it from behind. The blond man planted his lead foot and kicked the shadow in the head pushing the intruder down and away from Sophia who jumped up and cowered behind the far side of the bed from the conflict.

The blond man pounced on the fallen shadow and Sophia heard the shadow grunt as the wind was forced from it in a man's panicked voice. The clatter of a metal object scuttled across the floor toward the door and Sophia heard a gristly, meaty noise followed by a wheezing gurgle and the blond man jumped up and ran to the doorway. The man on the floor gurgled and thrashed but didn't move aggressively toward either of them.

The blond man picked something up and darted out the door of the room, low with his hands in front of him leaving Sophia with the person making grotesque noises five feet away. Peering under the bed Sophia saw the lump of the intruder writhing in weakening distress, the sounds coming from him growing wetter and more feeble. Then all movement ceased, one final sputtering sound groaning from him and then silence. The complete stillness told her that person had just died.

Hesitantly rising from behind the bed Sophia approached the unmoving form and saw a dark, black pool slowly spreading from it. Blood most likely. Giving the body a wide birth she could not take her eyes from the creeping dark puddle.

The blond man returned, kicked the body and then began to search the corpses pockets.

"If you look in the dresser you should find something to wear. The bottom drawer has my athletic wear."

As the blond man pulled objects from the pockets of the dead man Sophia dressed in some dark track-pants, a dark hoodie and some socks. Swimming in the much bigger man's clothes she pulled the drawstring of the track-pants as tight as possible and rolled the waistband until she wasn't stepping on the hems.

The blond finished checking the dead man's phone as he had done with the last phone and then they left the apartment. Sneaking into the hallway cautiously they took the stairs down two floors then rode down until two floors above the bottom. Inside the elevator she asked where they were going.

"Back to the penthouse."

"What? That's where they are."

"They will leave when they don't find us. The last place they will look for us is right back there."

Uncertain of the intelligence of his plan she followed as he ran, not jogged, the block to her condo. Sophia didn't have shoes on but there was enough grass to run off the sidewalk. Managing to keep up, if not keep pace, she ran with him, hiding in the shadows the closer they got to her condo. Skulking in the dark, watching her building from the neighbouring building they scanned for danger.

"There is a door in the alley my key-card will open if that helps."

"It does."

Creeping through the shrubbery landscaping between buildings the pair hopped a low fence and found the garbage room access. Making sure the door was not being surveilled they entered, Sophia retrieving her key-cad from her phone's wallet case. Inside they were able to access the parts of the building her card gave access to.

"What's the plan?"

"Are there fire stairs?"

"Its twenty stories!" She gaped at him.

"I've seen you doing cardio training harder than this." He scoffed.

A moment of awkwardness followed and for some reason Sophia recalled then that his sperm stained her face still and she used his own sleeve to wipe her face as clean as she could while he watched, embarrassed by the whole thing.

Beginning the climb they both retreated into themselves as they switched into athlete mode and set the pace to climb the twenty flights steadily but not slowly. Sophia couldn't stop looking at her sleeve coated in cum knowing she still had more of his spunk on her skin and finding her despoilment titillating.

The climb was difficult late in the day after a great deal of emotional turmoil and some pleasant physical exertion, but they were both fit and healthy so before long they were near the top. Sophia was sweating in the thick workout hoodie, her breasts sticky with perspiration, rivulets falling down her back and face when the sound of someone entering the stairwell above them reached their ears with a clatter of the door's push bar.

The blond man's reflexes were incredible and he had her pressed back into a doorway far from the railing before Sophia registered that the sounds might be a threat. Booted feet thumped down the stairs and Sophia panicked thinking they were going to be caught, her card would only open the door at the bottom or on her floor.

The blond did something then that Sophia never thought she would ever see. With a knife in his teeth, he stepped up on the railing at the top of the landing they were on, then the athletic man reached his right hand up, twisting it so that his fingers gripped the cement of the flight of stair above them. Then he placed his left hand on the cement wall and with obvious effort lifted his legs one at a time to brace on the stairs and wall so that he clung to the underside of the stairs above her, hidden from view of anyone coming down the stairs from above.

Gaping at him she couldn't believe the agility, strength and conditioning it must take to get and hold himself in the awkward position but he was doing it right in front of her. The footsteps were on the flight above them, passing over where the blond clung. Instantly Sophia dropped to the floor and curled into a ball, trying to look as small and helpless as possible.

Choosing her role in an instant she blearily looked around for the source of the noise, pretending her junkie mind was unable to process what was happening.

"I'm sorry." She slurred at the man in full tactical gear and armed with a weird looking pistol with a long ammunition clip protruding from the bottom.

"Who are you?"

"I jus' needed a spot to... um..." Scratching at her arm she looked sheepish not wanting to tell him.

The warrior clomped down the rest of the stairs toward her, looming, all attention on the skinny girl crumpled in the corner, The blond man dropped onto the warrior with the knife flashing as he spat it out and snatched it from the air in one motion.

The soldier looking guy heard the sound and began to turn even as all the blond man's weight landed on his back and the knife plunged into his neck. The bigger warrior bellowed angrily and tried to pull the blond off his back.

Sophia reared back and braced against the wall, then kicked the soldier in the knee as hard as she could using the wall to push all her momentum toward the vulnerable joint. With the extra weight and the awkward stance the warrior's knee buckled and made a horrible cracking sound as he tumbled to the landing at her feet.

The blond stabbed him over and over all around the neck as fast as his arm could move while holding on the flailing man. Using her feet to ward him off Sophia pushed the huge man away from falling on her, his blood spurting from the wounds in his neck and arms as he tried to protect himself.

The blond man stepped away and used one had to pull the dying man off Sophia and roll him down the stairs. Gagging and retching the warrior rolled down the stairs and tried crawling down to the next landing before his strength gave out and he succumbed to his awful wounds.

Blood spattered both Sophia and the blond as they caught their breath after the altercation. Staring at the third dead person she'd ever seen in her life Sophia felt herself already growing more accustomed to the total stillness of a dead person.

Once again the blond searched the pockets of the dead man and looked at his phone after using the limp finger to open it. Seemingly not seeing what he was looking for he tossed the phone and motioned for her to climb the rest of the way up.

"This stairwell leads into the kitchen of the penthouse." Sophia informed him.

"Perfect. They won't expect us to come from there, if they are waiting." The tone of his voice told her he thought they would be waiting. "I think you should stay here, with his gun."

"No!"

"Its safer."

"I understand that, but I'm too freaked out to be alone. I'll hang back and watch your rear, but please don't leave me alone."

The bodyguard studied her for a moment and then nodded.

"If you have to warn me of something I can't see shout out the numbers on a clock face using twelve o'clock as my front." His intense eyes held hers as he tried to impart to her how important this was. "If a guy is sneaking up to my rear on my right you might say 'Five o'clock' and I'll know to defend from there. Can you do that?"

Nodding she affirmed by saying "Dead guy at your seven."

Glancing at the body down the stairs the blond confirmed. "Yes. Good. Stay back, stay alert and keep your body turned as small as you can toward any threat. Make yourself as hard a target to hit as possible. Got it?"

Nodding once more Sophia remembered playing laser-tag and hearing the same advice, but the price of a mistake would be worse than losing a point. Using her key-card to enter the kitchen the pair of them moved slowly and quietly. The blond man wore soft soled sneakers and Sophia had no shoes at all as they moved through the kitchen listening for sounds in the big penthouse.

At every doorway the blond man hesitated and listened for several moments for sounds before peering round the corner cautiously. Inch by inch they progressed through the penthouse searching for enemies. It was easy enough to clear the bigger front rooms but when they reached the halls to the bedrooms their nerves grew tight, so many doors and hidden nooks awaited them.

At the first door the blond lay down on the floor and looked under the door watching the slit of meagre light coming through the window in the room beyond. Sophia watched him as he scanned the crack for several long moments, the penthouse feeling deserted and yet every instinct telling her there was a stranger in her space.

When her bodyguard carefully rose from laying down he gestured for her to retreat back where they had come from.

"I saw a silhouette move. It wasn't much, but I saw it." He whispered right beside her ear.

"You could get in the room from its balcony." Sophia offered.

"Show me."

Taking him out to the big patio she showed him the line of small balconies outside each bedroom. The distance between each was about three feet. He could step across if he dared risk the twenty story fall.

"That room was the third balcony on this side." Sophia told him.

"When I'm in place go inside and roll something small down that hallway. I just need his ears listening that direction so something small, but loud enough he hears it."

On impulse she leaned forward and kissed him. Embarrassed she stepped away before he could say anything. As Sophia looked everywhere but right at him he stood silently beside her, completely still. After an awkward moment he clambered onto the railing over the twenty story drop.

Balancing on the railing of the big patio he gauged his distance and took a large step onto the railing on the first balcony. Perching there a moment he stepped off onto the first balcony lightly, landing without sound. Crossing the short distance to the next rail he repeated the process landing gently on the second balcony.

The next balcony was where he'd seen the silhouette. Taking more time and taking much more care he repeated his large step to the far rail and balanced for a moment. This time he crouched and took hold of the rail with his hands, posing like Spiderman before placing one foot gingerly to the deck. With excruciating care he settled his weight onto the third balcony and signalled to Sophia she cold move.

Crouched at the end of the hallway where the assassin waited she pulled off an old jade ring she had worn since childhood and rolled it down the hall, aiming for the wall across from the door a killer hid behind. The roll of the ring made a tiny rumble on the smooth tile floor of the hall. Her aim was terrible and the ring curled hard to the left toward the door instead of the wall. With a tiny tap that sounded deafening in the pregnant silence the ring bounced off the door and rolled to a stop on the cool marble tile.

Deafening gunshots exploded through the door. Bits of wood and chips of paint scattered everywhere and the wall across from the door filled with big black holes as it was riddled with bullets. Sophia immediately bolted to the best hiding spot she knew in the apartment.

When the gunfire erupted Luiz was ready. Holding his own gun to the corner of the glass door he fired and exploded the glass inward. Then he shoved his arm into the window and shot two times where he thought his enemy most likely sat.

Rolling across the window he switched sides and glanced inside. The other gunman scrambled for shelter in the bedroom and Luiz fired two more shots at the moving target. A grunt of pain told him he hit once, but movement and cursing told him he still had a fight on his hands. The balcony was a terrible location for a gunfight so he opted to go inside and face off with a wounded opponent rather than remain exposed and hemmed in.

Keeping himself as small as possible he rushed in the door firing off two more shots, one just before he moved and one straight into the room not expecting to hit anything, but he got lucky. The other gunman had stopped to check the hallway before running out of the room and Luiz's blind shot hit the other gunman in the shoulder. The impact slammed the assassin to the wall and Luiz saw him clearly, dark against the white wall and shot him until the other man dropped.

When the dead man settled to the ground Luiz waited for his ears to stop ringing, trying to listen for any approaching foes. When he glanced into the hall and didn't see any skulking killers Luiz checked the assassin's pockets and cell phone messages. On high alert for danger, not certain there weren't more killers in the apartment Luiz gathered intel on his enemy.

Sophia heard the other gunshots and could recognize that the gun wasn't the same one that had just destroyed the door. Hesitating she wondered if that meant the blond man had finished off the hidden killer. Due to the lack of shoes her sock clad feet made no noise on the ties floor and when she came around a corner the dark, hulking figure of another killer didn't hear her.

The big man was facing the other way scanning the living room, and watching the front entry. Panicked she allowed her momentum to carry her across the open hall behind the big man and carry on into the master bedroom where she was heading.

Not sure if her movement registered on the killer she sprinted to the walk-in closet, her destination. Darting into the closet she ran to the back and pulled on the low hanging clothes rack bar, engaging a lever Demyan had shown her once she had moved in. A panel released and Sophia pushed open the door to the panic room. Pressing it silently behind her she felt it click home silently as she heard a footstep in the closet behind her.

The sound of gunshot thudded against the bullet-proof door and Sophia immediately pressed the button to release tear gas into the closet. The coughing and cursing was muffed by the heavily insulated door but she heard the assassin move away, his cursing voice drifting out of the closet.

The gunshot told Luiz exactly where to go as he was sneaking from room to room. Running to the sound he followed the coughing and cursing to encounter a stumbling hacking man who smelled of chemical. Waiting for a clear shot Luiz took him out with a bullet to the head and the man never even knew Luiz was there, his last moments a torment of suffering he likely deserved.

Ducking into the nearest door Luiz closed it carefully so he could peer out through a tiny sliver and watch the dead body for anyone who came to check on their comrade. No-one came. When Luiz could justify waiting no longer he went to the dead man and searched his body as well. While he was doing that he heard the ding of the elevator.

Sophia's phone alerted her that the elevator had opened. From inside the panic room monitors showed her the front hall and the elevator. Demyan and his goons entered the penthouse and spread out. For the most part she felt relief, but there was a nagging doubt that she was safe, even though the blond man told her Demyan wanted her protected.

When the blond man was brought to Demyan and not immediately killed she decided to come out. When a goon found her and bought her to Demyan the blond man and he were sharing a drink and Demyan was congratulating her bodyguard.

"Six men? Farid and another, then these four? Hah! It's going to take them years to replace that talent!" Demyan clicked glasses with the blond man.

"Not so talented, really. Farid was the only one who challenged." The blond man touched his wounded side.

"And you had some help, for once."

Demyan offered Sophia a drink and she gulped down half the smoky liquor to try and calm her ragged nerves.

"Its true." The blond offered. "It would have been much worse if I hadn't had Sophia's help."

"Well done girl!" Demyan cheered. "Are you well? What's on your face?"

Sophia rubbed the sleeves of her hoodie across her sweaty, sperm stained features mortified to have forgotten.

"I don't know!" She sounded too shrill.

"My doctor is on the way, he can check you both out." Demyan moved on, for which Sophia was grateful. "Now, we need to get to the bottom of how they found both apartments."

"I think I can solve it." The blond said gravely.

"Oh?"

"Anybody else in your inner circle that knew about them both that isn't here right now?"

Demyan looked at his assembled goons.

"Just accountant types."

"Good."

The blond man pulled a phone from a pocket on his pant leg and dialed.

A goon flinched and the blond man pointed a gun at him.

"Him."

The goon looked shocked seeing the gun and all eyes on him.

"Knee." Demyan said and the blond man shot the goon in the knee.

The man who had flinched dropped and the men nearest him grabbed him and stripped him of weapons and phones. Three phones.

"Someone was co-coordinating the hit squad via text. I checked all their phones and found the common number each of them had communicated with at some point." Using his phone the blond dialed again and the goon held a now vibrating phone. Handing the phone to Demyan in moments the stern leader confirmed that phone was the mole's who was betrayed him.