Hunting the Fox

Chapter 18

Kiera felt the taxi stop and Ryan say something to the driver, but Kiera was in a daze from the events. A buzzing sound muffled her hearing and she did not hear what Ryan had said to the driver. Something was tapping her shoulder lightly. Slowly she opened her eyes to see Ryan looking at her with deep concern.

"How are you feeling?" Kiera still could not hear him correctly, but she read his lips.

Swallowing she gave him a weak smile. Ryan turned to the driver and paid him.

"Kiera I'm going to need you to walk." Ryan instructed turning back to her and Kiera heard him clearly, "We have to walk through the lobby and look as normal as possible. Do you think you can do that?"

Kiera nodded slowly not sure, if she could speak. Ryan climbed out of the cab, and held out a hand for Kiera. Kiera looked at his hand in confusion, but shaking her head slowly she remembered what Ryan had said. She took his hand and let Ryan help her out of the cab. She noticed that he had his tuxedo jacket wrapped around something and tucked under his arm. I dawned on Kiera that he still had the gun.

Kiera almost fell when she stood on her feet. Her knees felt weak and Ryan slipped an arm around her waist quickly to prevent her from falling onto the ground. She fell against Ryan her head sagged onto his shoulder. He knew he was supporting most of her weight. She felt him wince as he caught her.

"Ok we are going to take this nice and easy." Ryan whispered into her ear.

Kiera nodded and Ryan stepped towards to the front entrance to the hotel. The door attendant opened the door, but did not ask any questions. Kiera did her best to walk, but she felt drained and lightheaded. It took every ounce of concentration for her to walk into the lobby.

The busy lobby made it easy to navigate their way to the elevators. Everyone was busy with their lives and did not notice the two people walking through the lobby. They waited at the elevator and Kiera glanced at Ryan to see him scanning the lobby. Kiera knew he was looking for anyone who might have followed them. Kiera's breathing became heavy and short as she started to panic. Ryan tightened his arm around to tell her everything was going to be okay. It helped comfort her and ease her racing heart.

Once they entered their hotel room, Kiera let out sigh of relief. Ryan eased Kiera onto the couch in the main room. Kiera slumped down on the couch holding her head in her hands. She heard Ryan walking into another room and back out a moment later.

"Kiera," She heard her name and looked up to see Ryan holding a glass of water and two pills, "Take these they will help."

"What are they?" Kiera asked in a weak voice.

"Aspirin." Ryan responded handing her the pills.

Kiera took the water and the pills. Popping the pills in her mouth, Kiera drank the water.

"Who is Victor and what does he want?" Kiera asked feeling a bit better.

"Victor Kostas is a diabolical man." Ryan said with disgust. Kiera watched Ryan lock the front door and then he sat down on the couch next to her. "He is the person who is responsible for my parent's death."

"What?" Kiera asked confused, "I thought it was an accident. That is what the report said."

"What did he want your parents to fund?" Kiera asked.

"I had no idea at the time, but it has something to do with a genetic virus." Ryan replied.

"What happened next?" Kiera urged Ryan to continue.

Ryan ran his fingers though his hair and sighed, "Victor asked, more like ordered my parents to fund his genetic research. My parents refused to fund him when they discovered that he was using his research for unethical reasons." Ryan explained. Kiera watched him and observed that he was telling her the truth. "I only discovered the information later after the CIA and MI-6 contacted me."

'Why would they contact Ryan?' Kiera thought and concentrated on Ryan as he told her the story.

"My parent's plane did not have an engine malfunction as the initial report suggested. Someone sabotaged the engine. The engine would fail when they reached cruising altitude. This way the chance of anyone surviving was zero to none." Ryan took a deep sigh. Kiera saw that this was hurting him and she laid her hand on top of his for comfort. "So when I took over GenFund, Victor contacted me demanding me to fund him. He said if I did not want to end up like my parents I should do what he says. That is when the CIA and MI-6 contacted me. They asked me to help them stop Victor by discovering what he planned to do with his research. I turned them down. I felt if they could not have prevented my parent's death."

"Was this before or after the funeral?" Kiera inquired. She needed answers.

"This all happened before the funeral." Ryan sighed deeply and Kiera knew he was going to confess something, "That is why I left you Kiera. If he knew about you..." Ryan swallowed hard and Kiera understood now.

"He would have tried to kill me." Kiera finished his sentence.

Ryan nodded and placed his other hand on top of hers.

"What have you been planning to do?" Kiera probed watching for any other signs.

"I wanted to get close to him and make him pay for what he did." Ryan replied with an angry tone.

Kiera saw the tale signs of anger in Ryan's face, but there was a lot more. He was holding something back.

'What are you keeping from me Ryan?' Kiera thought.

"Ryan," Kiera said softly squeezing his hand, "Why not contact the authorities?

"There was nothing tying him to the death of my parents." Ryan replied sighing, "I saw him at the event tonight and thought I could get him to confess." Ryan shuttered, "I never thought he would go after you."

Kiera could tell by his tone that he was feeling responsible for tonight. In addition, there was more, but she could not tease it out of him. His emotions were in conflict with each other. This made it difficult to determine the right path. She decided that his body language would tell her more. She watched for the unconditional muscle responses that would indicate a hot spot.

"What did you expect to happen, Ryan?" Kiera said with a hard edge to her voice, "He evidently knew that we were together."

"I should have expected it," Ryan sighed again and at the same time did not reveal anything, "I have a lot to learn if I'm going to make it."

'What did that statement mean?' Kiera thought.

"What do you mean by make it?" Kiera inquired.

"I mean as the CEO of GenFund." Ryan said quickly and Kiera knew he meant something else. His response was too quick. "Where did you learn how to fight like that?" Ryan changed the subject.

"Like I said before," Kiera said keeping the frustration out of her voice. "I needed to learn how to protect myself while living in Chicago."

"I do remember that, but your moves were similar to CIA close in combat training." Ryan added.

"How do you know about that kind of training?" Kiera asked slowly feeling panic rise up in her.

"An old friend use to work for the CIA and he show me some stuff." Ryan said with shrug. Kiera saw he was trying to hide something.

"A place in Chicago offered training similar to CIA, MI-6 and other special agency training. So I figured why not." Kiera replied.

She knew that there was not a lot more she was going to get out of him. Ryan was good at evading her questions. In addition, he was working hard at conflicting emotions.

"Kiera I'm sorry about tonight," said Ryan changing the subject again, "I got carried away and figured I could end it."

"Ryan we have to go to the authorities." Kiera pleaded.

"We will," sighed Ryan, "I will call them while you change."

Kiera knew was not going to call anyone. She saw how his eyes shifted slightly. Taking a deep breath Kiera patted his hand and stood up.

"I will be in the bedroom." Kiera said trying to sound hopefully, "You make the call."

Kiera did not wait for a response, but walked into the bedroom and closed the door. Kiera had to do something and quick. She undressed and put on shorts and a t-shirt. In the bathroom, she washed her face and mouth. Looking in the mirror, she was shocked to see how pale she looked. Tonight had been difficult, she could still recall pulling the trigger and seeing the hole appear in the man's right hand. The look Victor gave her as they left. This man was not going to give up.

Walking back into the bedroom, Kiera scanned the room for the tuxedo jacket. She saw it on a chair in the corner. Quickly she moved across the room and picked up the jacket.

'Please be in the jacket, please be in the jacket.' Kiera thought and felt relieved when her hand touched the cold handle of the gun. At the same time, she heard the door to the bedroom open and she froze.

"The police are sending a detective to take our statement." Ryan said from the entrance to the bedroom.

"That is great." Kiera replied trying to keep the tremors out of her voice.

She stood up and held the gun close to her body. She jumped slightly when Ryan pressed his body against hers. Kiera felt Ryan move her hair away from her neck and bite gently at the nape of her neck. In spite of the fear running through her body, she let out a low moan. Ryan took her earlobe in his mouth and bit gently.

Kiera pressed back against him tilting her head to expose more of her neck. Ryan kissed and licked down the side of her neck to her bare shoulder. It was difficult for Kiera to concentrate. Her body responded to his kisses and she wanted more. Ryan spun her around and kissed her deeply. Kiera hid the gun behind her back. Ryan ran his hand up her sides and gripped his hands on her hips. She kissed him back feverously, closing her eyes and felt his thumbs hook the inside of her waistband.

Suddenly the kissed changed, it felt familiar to her. A distant memory flooded her mind. The kiss felt similar to the one he gave her that night after his parent's funeral. It was a kiss filled with passion and love, but also a kiss of letting go. She opened her eyes wide at the knowledge of this.

Kiera brought her hand up and pushed him back with all her strength. At the same moment, she raised the gun pointing it at him. Kiera expected to see a shocked look on his face, but she was the one who was shocked. Ryan had done his best to give a shocked look, but he was not surprised at all. It was as if he knew she had the gun.

"Ryan I want the truth." Kiera demanded.

"The truth," Ryan chuckled running his hand through his hair, "Now there an interesting thing."

"I'm done playing game." Kiera said in a serious tone, but the slight tremor in her voice betrayed her.

"Kiera put the gun down," Ryan said standing relaxed, "You don't want to do this."

"Don't tell me what I want to do Ryan." Kiera said angrily, but then she saw that he was stalling. "What are you planning Fox?"

"My sweet Gazelle," Ryan replied in an unnaturally calm voice, "What are you planning? Do you plan to contact the police yourself?"

"You didn't call them." Kiera accused Ryan, "I knew it, but why?"

"Kiera there is more going on than you know." Ryan answered, "The police would only complicate things. Now lower the gun."

"Does this have to do with the G7 Summit?" Kiera asked and knew the answer by the slight surprised look on his face. "Dear god Ryan, this did not have anything to do with revenge. You are working for Victor."

Kiera saw she was partly right. It did have something to do with the G7 summit, but she was not sure if Ryan was working for Victor or against him. The slight surprise look on his face did not betray much more. Kiera's arms suddenly felt heavy and she stumbled backwards a bit as the room spun.

"Kiera it does have something to do with the G7 summit, but not what you think my witty investigator." Ryan replied and stepped towards her.

'What is happening to me?' Kiera thought. Her head felt heavy and her legs gave out.

She thought she was going to hit the floor, but something caught her. She turned her eyes to look up since her head would not more. Ryan was holding her. She tried to move, but her body would not response. She felt herself lowered onto the bed, her body completely limp.

"It is a good thing I emptied the gun before coming back to the living room." Ryan said softly and Kiera saw him pull he gun out of her hand.

'No,' Kiera thought, 'He knew all along.'

Kiera tried to speak, but could not form words. All she heard was a slight gurgling sound.

"Those pills I gave you were a time delayed muscle relaxer and sleep aid." Ryan answered her, "I need you to be out of the way when everything happened. This is for your own good." He said sadly and pulled the blankets over her. "You will be safe here."

"Oh god," Kiera thought looking up at Ryan with half closed eyes, 'What are you going to do Ryan?' Then everything went dark as Kiera' eyes closed and she passed out. The last thing she remembered seeing was Ryan holding her hand and kissing her gently on the forehead.