Femme Fatale (The Dangerous Game Between Life And Death)

Chapter 3: Where is Elyse?

"Where is Elyse? Where is my baby?" asked Betty. Immediately Lucifer jumped into the underground bunker. "Betty, I lost her; but I promise...", "You what?!" Shouted Betty, cutting him short, "Calm down, Betty,pleaded Lucifer. "How can you tell me to be calm when you lost Elyse?!" asked Betty, crying. "My poor little baby," she lamented. Lucifer held Betty by the shoulder, saying, "Pull yourself together, Betty; I promise you, I will find Elyse; I will go out at dawn to find her, Betty, but for now, I need you to prepare yourself and Elysa to leave Russia, please."I need to call in a favor," he said, finally picking up his phone and, with his untraceable line, dialing a line.

"Lucifer, the morning star! How have you been, mate? Said the voice on the other side of the line. "Hey, mate, remember that favor I said I might one day need? I'll need your help tonight." "What do you need, Lucifer?" said the voice at the other end of the line, sensing urgency in Lucifer's words. "I need a ship leaving Russia tonight!" said Lucifer. "Let's meet in the dock by midnight," said the voice. "Thanks, mate!" said Lucifer, and the line went dead. Lucifer turned to his wife Betty and said, "I need you to be strong, Betty; take Elsa and head to the dock; you'll meet Richmond; I'll meet you there shortly." "What about you? And Elyse?" She asked. "I'll meet you there with Elyse; just leave with Elysa for now," he replied. Betty began to pack up some clothes and little provisions for them from the piles of provisions Lucifer had stocked the bunker with prior. Then she zipped up the bag, picked up Elysa, and placed her in the baby carrier she had strapped around herself. Throwing the second to Lucifer, she said, "Bring back Elyse in that." "I will; I promise!" Lucifer replied, looking straight into her eyes.

She nodded and started to head towards the door of the bunker. When Lucifer stopped her, "Betty," he said, closing the distance between them, "I need you to hold on to this," handing her a Glock 19, a standard 9mm ammunition, customized to fit her slender hand, gleamed with a matte-black finish, its suppressor and laser sight intact. "I need you to hold on to this in case you still remember how to use it. he asked. " Yes, she nodded.

(Flash Back)

"You keep your eyes straight on the target; your mind and heart beats must be in unison with your hand; keep your gaze focused; your hand straight, then c**k the gun and pull the trigger," he said, positioning her hand and posture to fit his description. "And above all, you must remain alert at all times; miss the shot, and you've given your enemy a chance to come at you—a chance to kill you," he whispered eerily into her ear when she shot at the target bottle some 150 yards away and shattered it with just a single bullet. "I did it!" She shouted happily, "Yes, you did," he said. He was proud of her.

"But I don't need to learn how to shoot a gun; I have you to protect me always," she whined adorably. "Yes, Betty, I'll protect you till my last breath; but if ever a day comes when unforeseen circumstances warrant me to be away from you even for a second, I don't want you to be vulnerable then," he said with a faraway look in his eyes. At a time like this, she wanted to hold him close like a baby; she tiptoed, stood on her toes, and kissed him. He was surprised; he loved her more whenever she was like this; he was melting; he was always vulnerable with her. "Stop distracting me, Betty; let's focus on your shooting lessons," he breathed heavily. He was hard. f**k!" he muttered. "What was that?" She asked playfully with feigned innocence, even though, knowing what she was doing to him, she was his weakness; she was and will always be, she giggled. "Let's begin," he said, smiling, and they started all over again. That was two years ago when Lucifer taught her how to hold and shoot a gun. He had said his job was a dangerous one, and these lessons would come in handy one day. How foresighted he was! Who knew a day like this would come?! A day when she would also need to fight for her family.

(Back to Present)

"Keep going, Betty! Do not stop or look back for me; I will definitely come back to you," Lucifer promised. Watching her drive off towards the dock, he picked up his phone and dailed the line again: "Hello, mate, my wife and kid are heading towards the dock now." "Alright, mate, I got em," the voice replied, and Lucifer hanged up and disappeared into the darkness to find Elyse. Lucifer searched every crock and cranny of Ulisa Kuznetsova Street, but not a trace of Elyse could be seen. It was a cold winter night; nobody could be seen outside; the bin had been cleared of refuses before he had dropped Elyse in it, so the Waste Disposal Company wouldn't have been there. He searched every single waste bin in the neighborhood but still couldn't find a trace of her. He racks his brain in worry; dawn was approaching, and that was dangerous enough for him and his family; they need to sail out of Russia before dawn, or else their lives aren't guaranteed; the Supreme would sniff them out; he wasn't a type to mess with, and neither was Lucifer!

Lucifer walked and worked quietly, blending perfectly into the darkness like a shadow; that was his specialty; aside from being a good marksman, he was a silent assassin, a professional hitman, the most dreaded in the mafia world, the Supreme Favorite. He was always the predator and sometimes the prey who devours the predator; he kept his family low profile, well hidden from all the enemies and allies he had acquired so far, except from two people who knew about his family, his adoptive brother Deamon and the Supreme, the king of all mafia bosses in Russia, who adopted them and trained them relentlessly into crude, vigorous, and cold-hearted assassins, cold-hearted at least before he found Betty and started to soften up, to the boss's displeasure.

Lucifer managed to keep cleared from all street cameras (cctv). "Elyse is gone! I don't have time to search the whole of Russia for her; her mother and sister need to stay alive," he said to himself, trying hard to convince himself that he wasn't just leaving his daughter in the cold streets of Russia while fleeing the country. "I'm sorry, Elyse, but Daddy needs to protect Mommy and your sister," he muttered painfully. He went out into the part of the street devoid of that many cameras, broke the car window's glass by the driver's seat and hacked into the car's ignition, got into it, and drove off towards the dock, where his wife and kid will be waiting for him. Different thoughts ran through his mind, and among them was the thought that he couldn't find Elyse, this breaking the promise he made to Betty: "Betty will never forgive me for losing Elyse, NEVER! He moans sadly. Screaming his lungs out, he banged repeatedly on the car steering. In desperation, frustration, and rage, he felt a heavy lump on his throat that he couldn't seem to swallow. It was the immense pain of losing his daughter; he felt like a failure. "What kind of a father am I?" He soliquize. We need to flee Russia tonight! "I'm sorry, Elyse; Daddy is so sorry!" He whispered, stepping on the accelerator to increase speed.