Chapter 7: Clean and Dingy

KONSTANTIN

The odour of a clean sanitize room welcomes Konstantin as he wakes up from his bed. The shadows of people passing by back and forth outside his room thru the window blinds compel him to believe that he is not dead. A knock on the door propels him to shut his eyes, and a female nurse comes in to check Konstantin's vital signs. While his eyes are close tight, he realizes a lingering ache on his chest. When the nurse comes out of the room, he hurriedly opens the binder on his body and finds a freshly stitched cut the size of his hand underneath the plaster.

Konstantin expels a deep sigh. His heart is failing from the extreme anxiety he amasses from his dilemma. No one to blame but his own accord and now he is extremely fragile to resolve his troubles.

I need to save Irina!

The thought of her daughter in dire danger in the hands of Twelve is menacing. They may have no plans to kill Irina but the annoying and rebellious attitude of the kid may provoke her abductors to restrain her forcefully. He has to plan something fast or it will be extremely late to act.

I need to get out of here.

He scans the room and sees his items below the table beside his bed. Enduring the pain in his chest, he prompts himself to sit up and reach for his stuff and check the nesting doll wrapped in plastic. It is still intact. Pulling out the needle on his veins stings, yet necessary. He plops on his clothes while sitting. Konstantin breathes deeply before attempting to stand up. Inch by inch he tries to pull himself up grabbing into the IV rod provided by the hospital. He exhales a subtle breath of relief accomplishing the task on settling his feet. The next move will be how to get out of the hospital and find a place to recuperate while he plans to get his daughter back in one piece.

I can do this.

The pain he suffers in is manageable because of the medications he is under. Confident enough to take a few steps, Konstantin starts to strides in the pace of his heartbeat. Steady. He reaches for the door and grabs the knobs to release it, taking a peek outside to see if anyone can recognize him. He steers himself out of the door by holding up to the wall with his right hand while he clutches the wrapped nesting doll on her left. Konstantin put his chin up and starts to glide into the hallway. The people and nurses should not see him as one of the patients. A brave face makes a difference.

"Konstantin!"

BITTER PILL

The Bitter Pill office is still as dingy and fetid as it was from the last time Villanelle came to the place. She turns to Carolyn who looks sordid with the premise as well yet the woman is the one one who suggests they come for reinforcement.

Bear comes out of his office as soon as he sees Carolyn walk into the door. The woman looks ominous to him without saying a word. The classic stylish look and autocratic aura the woman demonstrates brings his irrational hate towards authorities. How does a woman like Carolyn get a brilliant child like Kenny is a puzzling story for him.

Kenny's father must be a genius.

"This is quite a surprise. If you are looking for Eve, she will not be coming here. She said her goodbye yesterday evening." Jamie says opening the conversation with a pressing tone to intimidate the guests.

Carolyn turns to Villanelle and asks, "Where is Eve?"

"I don't know," Villanelle replies shrugging her shoulders to emphasize her innocence.

"And I thought after yesterday you and Eve would be shacking up together," Carolyn inquires, recalling the last time Villanelle goes after the woman.

"You and Eve are dating?" Bear asks with eyes sparkling with curiosity. He finds it intriguing to know that Eve will want to be with the most dangerous assassin in the world like Villanelle.

"Why do we need Eve?" Villanelle asks as the constant interest about the woman begins to annoy her or that she feels like missing Eve more when people mention her.

"You suggested that we find Konstantin and as far as I can think of Eve is one of the best at that job." Carolyn clarifies to the woman who surprisingly does not mind working without her "favourite agent".

"I can look for that rat myself." Villanelle proposes. She can find Konstantin in every hole where the man might be lurking.

"Fine. We still need some people for research and I want to hire Bitter Pill for that grunt work." Carolyn explains and turns to Jamie who looks doubtful by the request.

"Why would you hire us? Isn't the MI6 the best place for investigation?" Jamie sarcastically questions Carolyn's motives. His gut tells him it will be dangerous to associate himself with the woman.

"Unfortunately, the place is littered with worms and I can only trust someone from the outside to accomplish this job without hinder," Carolyn explains vaguely to the man in charge. She wants the group to lend a hand without compromising the information she has.

"Are we going to be compensated?" Bear asks. The knowledge that they can earn money from tedious work is something he can look forward to in a job.

"Of course. Likewise, you'll be working closely with Villanelle." Carolyn states, feeling less burden to discover the group that can handle the new mission they have at hand.

"Deal." Jamie decides to agree. Eve mentions working with Villanelle before and he wants to discover why the woman is extremely intrigued with the killer.

"Good. I need you to find anything relevant to the death of this man." Carolyn hand over a large brown envelope to Jamie.

The man accepts the envelope and opens it, taking the pictures out which contains images of the deceased laying face down on a bed. His back was broken by a stone and blood is everywhere from his cut off tongue.

"Bloody hell, these are dreadful," Jamie exclaims, seeing the horrific pictures of the cadaver.

"Why would the killer cut his tongue off?" Bear asks at how strange the assassin serves fear to her target.

"She eats it," Villanelle answers the question casually which brings the people around her stare in disgust about the information.

"She EATS it?" Jamie reiterates Villanelle's words. He couldn't reckon cannibalism is apparently being done in this modern world.

"Yes. She cooks them and eats them." Villanelle confesses the unnatural habit that the assassin has. She knows the explanation behind the practice but will rather not explain why. Villanelle notices the apples at Bear's table. She takes one without asking for permission.

Jamie and Bear both stares at each other as Villanelle express a horrendous act so casually. For Jamie, killing is a tolerable awful work but eating your victim is overbearing the word murder. It's a monstrosity. Jamie plops his fist in front of his mouth to stop himself from vomiting forth his breakfast. The thought of catching a glimpse of human flesh cooking in a pan makes his stomach revolt from disgust.

"Well, I guess you are more informed than I expect you to be when it comes to Isobel." Carolyn expresses her amazement at the intimate knowledge Villanelle has. The two assassins apparently are not merely colleagues in the past.

"She's my big sister. I met her when I started training with Dasha. She was their "favourite" before I came." Villanelle imposes a point to say the word favourite as she recounts Dasha's words who tries to mock her apprentice. The Twelve has a surprising love for her unique acts and that is how Villanelle becomes creative with her own job.

"So why do you think Isobel would help Konstantin?" Carolyn asks the woman glaring at the apple that she has taken a large bite off.

Villanelle does not hear any words Carolyn has been saying. She keeps her focus at the red fruit and the bite she has taken. She sees the little secretion her action has made out of its flesh. She stated, "I should have fucked Eve before she left."