Loving the Mafia's Daughter

Chapter 19 - The Jump

“Surprised, Nikita? Think I would have run away and left my two children to defend themselves against Enzo?”

There were no words to describe how surprised she was. Her mother, after eight years, was standing on the other side of the bars. She saw it. Tall, brown hair, green eyes. Niki had her father's face shape and skin tone, but that was all she got from him. She was a similar image to her mother.

“But, how? Why did you come back? He said he’d kill you if you did.”

“You think he scares me? I’ve worked hard to end up where I am, so I can watch his face when his once helpless wife is the very person who will put him behind bars.”

This was revenge then. Not because she cared for her or because eight years had been too long. She had spent those eight years consumed in anger and revenge. Things began to click in place.

“So you ordered my arrest?”

She crossed her arms. “Yes. I needed to meet you.”

“You shouldn’t have come back.” Part of Niki would have rather kept that dream that her mother was gone living a happy life.

She looked a little hurt as she stepped forward, touched her arm and leaned in. “You’re my daughter, don’t think for a minute, I was going to leave you behind. But we’re going to have to help each other.”

“How?”

“The Crimson Spider.”

This could be her ticket. “Only if we take down DN.9 too.”

“Killian knows what to do.” Killian? Follow…trust… Killian caused the ambush at the warehouse. She gritted her teeth.

Her mother walked closer. “We’ll meet again.” She started to walk away and said, “Don’t fall in love, my gladiolus.”

Niki shouted, “Aren’t you going to get me out.”

Her mother stopped at the door and looked at her. “I can’t. However, I can only hold you in a cell for twenty-four hours before I have to process you into the system.”

She left.

Niki still felt shocked by the encounter. That woman looked like her mother, sounded like her, but she only saw a wisp of the mother she knew. It was as if she had faced her mother’s doppelgänger. She remembered her mother’s kind eyes, soothing voice, and gentle nature. That woman’s eyes were hard, her voice sounded forced, and there didn’t look to be anything gentle about her.

Niki didn’t trust her.

She put her hands into her jacket pocket and felt something cool to the touch. Covertly, she pulled it out. It was a pocket knife with a note. Niki read the note.

I ordered Dinner for you in an hour at eleven pm. Guard changes at eleven fifteen. Cameras will turn off at eleven three. Takes five minutes to restart.

Niki tore it up and flushed the paper down the toilet. She laid down on the bed and waited. Exhaustion was settling in, but she had experienced far worse exhaustion before. Her mind darkly thought of the pits where a man stood in the corner by a fire. If she fell asleep, he would burn her skin. She still held the burn scars on her thighs.

An hour later, she heard the door click and open. She sat up.

“Against the wall.”

She did as she was told, silently.

The guard leaned down and began sliding the food under the cell.

She lunged forward before he could do anything and pulled his clothes hard against the bar. His face fell forward, hitting the bar. He fell to the ground.

Working quickly, she tried lifting his hand to the scanner. His hand couldn’t quite reach for it. She dropped his hand and momentarily thought about cutting off his thumb. Instead, she gripped his jacket, and using all her strength, pulled his body closer. It was still too high.

Feeling the pressure of time, she gritted her teeth and took out her knife. Niki grabbed his thumb and cut off flesh of his thumb to obtain the thumbprint. He started to bleed and Niki ripped some of his clothes and wrapped the majority of his thumb that remained. She stood and up pushed it against the reader. Blood stained her fingers. She typed in the passcode and the door clicked open.

To the left, was the door opening to the main part. She pushed the scan button and entered the code. A guard was seated at a table in front of black monitors waiting for the system to restart. Niki walked over to the unaware man and slammed his head against the table. She took a hard left before having to quickly retract and press her back against the wall. Two guards were walking while in a deep conversation. Niki ducked her head and turned the corner, walking in their direction.

Her heart pounded with every step as she questioned if they would notice or not. She noticed the rusty blond hair, average height, perhaps late thirties. The second guard was close to the same age, with short and thick brown hair. As she neared, she kept her eyes lowered and ahead. They didn’t seem to notice her.

At least not until she was two steps behind them.

“Hey! Where are you going?”

The brown-haired guard began to yell, “Prisoner escaped!”

Niki launched herself forward and kicked the one that yelled square in the chest. He stumbled backward, gasping for breath. The blonde hair guard runs at her, but she ducks under his outstretched arms, causing him to collide with the cell bars. She turned and threw a hard left-handed punch. His face collided again into the bars and he slumped to the floor.

The brown-haired guard seemed to recover enough to draw his gun out. Niki hesitated. She lifted her hands.

“That’s right. Up against the bars.”

She turned facing the bars and leaned up against them with her hands still in the air. He walked over to her and grabbed her right wrist. She twisted, and with her left forced the gun out of his hand. Once in her possession, she hit the guard hard with it against the head. One firm hit caused him to fall to the ground unconscious.

The alarm started to blare. Apparently, her five minutes were up. The guard’s radio began to speak. Escaped prisoner from Cell 4, Block D. Highly dangerous, fire if necessary. Prisoner in east wing headed towards exit.

Niki took that as her cue to start sprinting. She rounded a corner knowing the exit was just ahead, it was the same side exit that she was brought through. Three guards lined up in front of the door. Niki shot one in the hand before using an open cell as her cover. His scream of pain echoed down the hall. A few bullets rang against the wall of bars. With precision she turned and started to shoot as she ran diagonally towards another open cell. The cell stunk and she momentarily looked around at the cell with mud stains on the wall. She wondered who the last occupant was and what they were doing.

There was a heavy pounding of feet as if a train was rumbling towards her. She knew if she didn’t do something soon, she would be trapped. She leaned over and shot a man in the thigh. Niki ran towards the last guard, which ended up being a female who was quickly trying to replace her clip. After punching her, she threw her against the two others, causing them to stumble and fall over each other. Niki punched in the code and used the flesh she stole off the guard, giving her dinner to buzz her way out.

She burst through the door as bullets began to rain on her. Niki slammed the door, ducking under as bullets shattered the glass above. Stumbling as she stood, Niki ran across the yard. The dim lights outside illuminated the glistening fence as well as the cliff. The building sat next to a small cliff. The door burst open with guards pouring out. Niki ran up a red suburban and jumped off of it onto the fence. The deafening sound made her cringe as the outside sirens began to ring. Searchlights landed on her practically blinding her. Still, she skillfully climbed over the fence, jumped, then rolled before standing and sprinting to the edge.

Shorts and yells encircled her as orders were ringing. Niki ran to the edge and looked down at the fast-flowing river below. It was high, and she could hear the water crashing against the rocks below. It was too fast. She hesitated. She could die in the water or die in prison. The gunshot that hit the dirt at her feet barely missing her made her choice.

She jumped.