Just a few meters straight ahead he spotted her amongst the crowd, walking away at that same leisurely pace and he rushed after her with hastened steps. That had been the answer to his inklings! It wasn’t the event itself that astonished him, but now he understood that it was the girl that had piqued his intuition.
“That was well done, girl.” He spoke softly, so as not to startle or provoke her as he caught up alongside.
“I am not a girl.” She grumbled, not looking over at him.
“No, for certain. You are a fully grown and deadly woman.” He paused, trying to recover himself but unsure how to proceed. Anything he could find out about her would sate his curiosity about such a magnificent performance. Where had she learned to move like that? “You are clearly not one of them, either. So, where is it you are from?”
“As if it’s any of your business…” She scoffed.
“Listen,” he began, drawing up in front of her and forcing her to stop, but then not fully knowing what he intended to say next. He suddenly really wanted to get to know her, understand her mind and motivations. But how could he possibly explain everything he needed to in just a few captivating sentences to hold her attention so she wouldn’t overlook him? “You can put those talents of yours to better use. Make a name for yourself.”
“I already have a name.” She didn’t hesitate to give him a smart retort.
“And what might that be?” He replied smoothly, finding the source of his charm once more.
She glanced sideways at him; a look of distrust was expressed as she had only just been berated by another man seconds ago. But as her eyes met his inquisitive stare, her expression relaxed and she halted in her tracks. His overwhelming energy emanated outwards, surrounding her, and she could no longer resist his questions.
“Sara.” It was as if she had succumbed to a truth serum, her smoky gray eyes still locked with his icy blue ones, and she spoke very softly and clearly. “Sara Adrianovna Polo.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Sara. I am called Sacco.” He found himself smiling and tried with difficulty to remain stern.
“That’s not a real name.” She furrowed her delicately sculpted brows.
“It’s a title, I suppose… and my profession.” He placed a hand over his heart to express his sincerity.
“I’m not interested in titles, or what you do to earn a living.” Managing to break his spell, she brushed him away and continued along the vestibule.
The stalker was completely halted, bewildered by the fact that his charisma alone was not enough to hold her attention. Grown men and soldiers of all ranks balked at his presence, and yet this young woman found him uninteresting and unintimidating. Finding that he actually wanted to tell her his real name so she wouldn’t walk away, he struggled for the words. It had been so long that he had gone by Sacco that he almost didn’t remember.
“Ivan!” He called loudly, making several people in the area including Sara stop short. Striding over to where she stood staring at him in disbelief, he dared to put a hand on her shoulder so she couldn’t run off again. “My name is Ivan Antonovich… Zaytzev.”
“Zaytzev?” She raised an eyebrow. “Like… Vasily Zaytzev? The sniper?”
He gave one quick nod, not wanting to admit his link to the famous Soviet historical figure; that aspect of his background was not up for discussion at the moment.
“What exactly do you want?” She sighed softly, not as if she was annoyed but realizing that now she was ensnared. Although her expression was dejected, her eyes proved to him that she was fascinated by him, especially as she was now taking note of his uniform and arsenal.
“I want to help you.” He shook his head, that wasn’t really the answer. “I want to know where you learned to do that kind of stunt. If you’re already that adept, then I want to teach you what I know, and show you what I do.”
“And why would I want to do what you do?” She asked tentatively, leaning onto her toes in wait for the answer and cocking her head slightly.
“You’re still not convinced?” His expression now turned serious, as he had tired of her reluctant acceptance. In his heart he understood people through their most slight changes in expression or demeanor, and she was more than interested in his proposition. “Tell me, what exactly brought you to the bar this evening? You neither ate, or drank, or talked to anyone at all before that asshole bothered you.”
She attempted to hide her surprised and fearful face by turning her head away from him, but he would have none of it; turning her head back in his direction with a hand that seemed so big compared to her, he continued to hold her, to force her to look into his piercing blue eyes.
“Either you’ve come to cause trouble on someone else’s orders, or you are well on your way to becoming what I already am. We are one and the same, Sara Adrianovna. So, what do you say to that?” He narrowed his eyes, waiting for her reply and confirmation, exerting every ounce of his invisible willpower into her through his grip on her delicate face.
Sara spoke not a single word, but nodded her head slowly. Taking in the entire image of the strapping Stalker with her widened eyes, she tried to guess how many battles had made him the threateningly massive and hardened figure that he was. She could faintly feel his pulse from his fingers, and was lulled into a rhythm that aligned with his aura.
“Good. Now, come with me.” Slipping his grasp from her pale pink face to her dainty wrist, he led her into the tunnel and away from the station. She did nothing to protest or prevent him.
Chapter 23: Stay With Me
Sergio sat quietly, still absorbing the last words of her story. He wasn’t particularly shocked by the information, but still found himself in awe of the exact circumstances; how insanely lucky for her to have chanced an encounter with such an elite member of the Order – to think the legendary Sacco would be sitting in one of dozens of bars in the Subway when Marco happened to show her skills and for him to take notice of it. His head wavered slightly as his mind was trying to picture every detail. It was exactly as he had suspected: the veteran Hunter was near-instantly captivated by her and was reeled in, hook, line, and sinker. It was hard to understand what his intentions were beyond getting to know her and offering to show her his own abilities but Sergio didn’t really want to think too much about it.
“Have you ever thought to yourself,” Marco began anew, shaking Sergio from his thoughts. “That if you went back in time and done something another way that things wouldn’t have come out like how they are now?”
“Of course.” Sergio hoped she wouldn’t be asking him about any specific instances he had been through but the desire to hear her continue overcame him. “Why?”
“Could you imagine how different it could have been? If I had just… and how could I have known? He’d returned from worse sounding missions before.” Marco took in a sharp breath. “I would do anything, to go back, and follow him.”
Sergio understood she was talking about Sacco’s request.
“He always wanted me to come to Polis with him. But because of Nikolai, Dmitri, and Sokolov… I couldn’t just leave them. After all we had been through together, I wouldn’t have survived without them, certainly not without Sokolov after we left Realm – if I had been alone then I don’t know what would have become of me. But even after we were settled down in Avtozavodskaya; I could have left Nikolai in charge a long time ago, but it just seemed wrong to me. To just abandon them to live in luxury in Polis after everything we suffered through together.”