Out of Place

Siberia, 2012

The woman...didn't fit. Her clothing was the usual heavy bundles for anyone sane who ventured out in the middle of winter in Siberia. That wasn't the problem. Her eyes were dark over her scarf and under her fur hat, so that wasn't the problem. It was hard to define, but there was something about her that stilled all the low conversation for a moment as she stepped into the tavern's main room, closing the heavy door to ward off the elements and stamping her boots to clean the snow off. She was obviously aware of the scrutiny on her, but she was either immune to embarrassment or practiced at ignoring stares. The other denizens of the fleabag bar went back to their conversation, but kept an eye on her. Strange usually equated to bad in this out of the way backwater. She walked up to the bar and undid her scarf. The face that showed had strong Slavic features and a mouth that was set in a half smile, half frown. More than one of the surreptitious watchers took a breath. She was younger than she looked in the heavy clothes. Maybe twenty five? Maybe. And her face... It was pretty, not beautiful but memorable. It showed the faint signs of excellent reconstructive surgery. Very out of place in a hard living, hard working location like this Siberian town.

"You are in the wrong place, girl." The barkeep said softly in Russian. "Go home."

"No home. I was told to come." The young woman replied, her Russian understandable, but oddly accented. "Vodka?" The barkeep looked at her and she shrugged. "Is cold."

"Is Siberia in winter, girl." The barkeep said with a booming laugh. "It is always cold. It defines cold." He shook his head and his voice became speculative. "If you stay here, trouble comes."

"There is always trouble." The girl said calmly as she laid her scarf on the bar, took off her gloves and undid her hat, showing a huge mop of sweaty black curls. "It is cold out. I will stay. I won't start trouble. I am to meet... an acquaintance of friend. Vodka?" She asked again.

"Money?" The barkeep asked suspiciously. The girl quirked a smile and laid two ruble notes on the bar. The barkeep looked at them and paled slightly before nodding. The notes were not Russian currency. Both were also far higher in denomination than a drink called for. They vanished and the barkeep nodded. "Sit. I will get your drink." He stepped back to grab a bottle from a shelf.

"Thank you." The girl dusted off one of the stools by the bar with her gloves and sat. She stiffened slightly as a slurred voice spoke up from nearby. She turned and only someone truly paranoid would notice that her hand slipped into a pocket as she did. But several eyes did note it and hands stayed where they were, in plain sight.

"Pretty girl." A man clad as a worker rose from his seat and staggered towards her. "You want good time, pretty girl?" The whole bar went still again.

"No." She said quietly, not taking her eyes from him. She didn't move, one hand hidden in the folds of her jacket. More than one set of eyes narrowed at her stance. She wasn't afraid. Not at all. The drunk didn't notice.

"I show you real good time..." He said staggering closer. The smell of alcohol was strong as was the rest of him. He hadn't bathed in some time.

"Yuri..." The barkeep said softly. "Not in here." He warned.

"I take her outside." Yuri said with a leer. "What say, girl? Want ride?"

"Yuri..." The barkeep snapped, his hands also not moving and in plain sight. "You take one step closer to her and she will put hole in your gonads to match the hole in your head." A menacing bulge showed on the girl's jacket where her hand was hidden. About the size of an automatic pistol. "You..." The barkeep nodded to the friends of the drunk who sat watching. "Stop fool before he become mess in my bar!"

The group that had been staring at the girl and at Yuri jerked into motion, rising and grabbing their friend despite his cries and struggles. They pulled him to a corner booth and sat him down with a bottle, blocking his exit from the booth. Only when he was singing with his friends did she relax her stance a bit. When she did, everyone relaxed. But only a little.

"Yuri is always stupid. Worse when drunk of course. Thank you for not shooting him." The barkeep said with a sigh as he poured her drink. "Gunshots bring the constable out in the snow. The constable...does not like get called out in snow." He grimaced.

"Drunk is not a problem." The girl replied, her face still serene as she nodded to him. Her hand in the pocket didn't move. "Angry constable not good."

"This...is not good time, girl." The barkeep said as he set a full glass in front of her. "Many strangers. Many questions. Many problems."

"Always problems." The girl replied. "Strangers? You mean the two not natives in the booth at the wall?" She said as she picked up her drink. "The one at the table by the window and the one lounging against wall near fire?" She quaffed the drink and did not even flinch from the strong liquor. "My thanks. Good vodka."

The barkeep stiffened as a dark form moved from where it had been lounging to a stool nearby.

"You have good eyes." The man's voice was quiet and his Russian was good. "You got a name, tough girl?" The barkeep's hands were under the bar now and the man shook his head. "No trouble, just questions."

"Not your business." The girl said quietly. "I will meet my friend and go. I will start no trouble in this bar. I do not wish to meet the barkeep's shotgun." She said with a smile. That smile was...off. More feral than friendly. More predator than prey. "You do not wish meet his shotgun. Pistol versus shotgun means dead man with pistol." She said, nodding slightly to the bulge in the man's jacket under his right armpit.

"Maybe." The man didn't flinch at all. A fellow predator. "You...look familiar."

"You will cause more trouble than you imagine if you continue." The girl said calmly. "Maybe you will learn something here? Maybe not. But dead men do not talk." She finished her drink and spun to look around the room, apparently ignoring the man who sat nearby. But he did not move.

"Most of the time, no." The man nodded, rose from the stool and walked back to the wall where he lounged again. It was utter coincidence of course that his left hand was folded over his right arm right by the opening of his jacket. Of course it was. A small smile quirked her mouth but she did not speak again, simply waited.

Everyone seemed to stiffen as the outside door opened again. A slim form stepped in and the girl was not the only one who stared as she saw that the man wore no heavy winter clothing. Indeed, his leather jacket would have been summer wear in most places. Heavy as it was, it was no match for Siberian winter. He seemed unaffected by the weather as he shut the door. He wore a fur hat, but she could tell his dark eyes were assessing as they swept the room. He nodded to the barkeep.

"Mishka. Got any of that boar left?" He asked as in excellent Russian as he took off his hat. As soon as he showed a mop of dark hair, the tension in the room seemed to skyrocket. The girl found herself staring and jerked her eyes away.

"Da." The barkeep said with a nod. But he didn't move and his hands didn't come out from under the bar.

"No one will do anything in the bar, Mishka." The man said with a sigh. "They all know better. Don't we, people?" He asked, switching to English. Heads shook around the room, only the drunks in the corner seemed oblivious. "Good." He said as he sat in a stool by the woman. Mishka started working setting up a plate of food as the newcomer looked the girl over.

"What?" She asked quietly, not defensive, simply curious.

"Lasrian." The soft word was not a question.

"Once." The girl agreed. "No longer."

"You got out." The man said with a sigh. "Many did not."

Mishka put a full glass in front of him and, after a glance from the dark haired man, filled the girl's glass again. She looked at the barkeep and then at the man beside her as the barkeep set a steaming plate down in front of him. He started to eat as if he hadn't a care in the world. The girl, after one final careful look around, took her glass and drank. But... she paused. Everything was suddenly hazy, then green. She...relaxed. What had been in that vodka? She was...clear, but relaxed.

"Lets not cause a problem here that the constable has to take notice of." The man beside her said to nobody in particular between bites. "Fair enough?"

"You are a hard man to find." The man who had spoken to the girl earlier said in quiet English.

"I am not hiding, Jackson." The eating man said mildly as he finished his plate. He switched back to Russian. "Excellent as always, Mishka. Tell your wife the spices were marvelous. I'll see about getting you another boar sometime." The barkeep nodded to him and he rose from his seat. "Lets go." He said to the girl.

That sounded like a marvelous idea. She put her hat back on, then her gloves, then her scarf. The man beside her took her arm as she stumbled a bit.

"Easy there." He said gently. "Too much vodka. You will feel it in the morning."

"Won't make the pain go away." She muttered for his ears only. Then she stiffened. The man who had been lounging by the wall was now blocking the door. She felt the man beside her still into immobility. Not a good sign.

"You still angling for that promotion, Jackson?" The man at her side asked calmly in English. The tension in the room soared. "Or do you just have a death wish?"

"My bet is on death wish..." The girl slurred a bit.

"My bosses are getting antsy." The man called Jackson said quietly. "You know how they get. They want an answer."

"I gave them the answer." The man at the girl's side said calmly. "The same answer I gave Mossad..." He nodded to the man who sat alone at a table. "MI-6..."He nodded to one of the figures in the shadowed booth. "The SVR..." He nodded to the other on in the booth. "And all the others. The answer was 'No'. I will not work for any of you."

"Hayden..." The man blocking the door sighed. "You know what they are going to do."

"I know what they are going to try." The man called Hayden retorted, still calm. "The same thing the Chinese did." To the girl's surprise, every one of the shadowy forms seemed to wince. Jackson in particular seemed to pale a bit. "Get out of the way, Jackson. Now. I will hurt you." It wasn't a threat. It was a promise.

The man at the door sighed, lowered his hands well away from his hidden weapon and stepped away. One of the figures in the booth spoke up, it was female and her voice was cold. The girl paled a bit at the voice, but did not move.

"Neutrality is stupid." The woman said calmly. "You cannot win alone." Her Russian held a Muscovite accent.

"No." The man called Hayden replied easily. In the exact same accent no less! "No, I can't. But I can keep your superiors from making the exact same mistakes that the Agency did in Lasria. And I will."

"Hayden..." Jackson said, his tone disapproving."That is classified information."

"So?" Hayden replied. "Mishka doesn't talk as you all well know. Everyone else in this room knows exactly what actually happened. Except the drunks, but they are too busy singing."

Indeed, none of them had even noticed the tension in the room, all they noticed was the bottle they were sharing and emptying. Jackson sighed again, shrugged, and moved slowly to the bar.

"I need a drink." The man said to nobody in Russian. "Anyone else?" Nobody moved and she shook his head as he laid a pair of hundred ruble notes on the bar. As Mishka poured his drink, Jackson spoke mildly. "On my way in, I saw some shadowed forms near one building, Hayden. They didn't look like locals. My bet is the Chinese again."

"I will take that bet." The man in the booth who had been watching silently spoke up. His English had a pronounced London accent. "He irritated the DSGE too. Not hard to do, mind you. But they have few scruples at times." The Englishman looked at the girl and then at Hayden. "You take her out there, she is going to get shot."

"Been shot." The girl slurred. Everything seemed to still and she spoke again. "Not problem. Better than being a lab rat." Jackson stared at her, and then he went completely pale.

"Marlena?" He asked, dazed. The others all stared at him and he swallowed. "Oh my god, girl... I am sorry..." One of the figures in the booth froze that the name 'Marlena'.

"Your...regrets...mean nothing to me..." The girl snapped, her ire blowing through whatever had been fuzzing her. "Marlena is dead. She will stay that way."

"Hayden..." Jackson said , swallowing. "Do you have any idea what the Agency will do when they find out she is here...?"

"She is not here." Hayden replied calmly. "And your search teams, satellites and dog trackers can't find me. What makes you think they will be able to find her?" He paused as the woman who had spoke rose from her booth. She walked forward, her own face ashen. "Captain Irina?" He asked calmly.

"I... I thought you dead, Marlena. You changed you hair, your face...is different." The woman said slowly in English. "What happened?" She nearly begged.

"Marlena is dead." The girl said softly in Russian, but the anger in her voice was clear. "Liars... all liars..." She shook her head. "Russian, American, Israeli... All liars... No one cares..." She staggered and Hayden caught her with one arm. His other did not move.

"Easy..." Hayden said softly. "Let's get you to a bed, girl."

"Some of us care more than others." The Russian woman said sadly. "Politics be damned, some of us care." She shook her head as the girl let out a moan. "I never lied to you!" She pleaded.

"No." The girl said softly. "But you never told the truth either. I am not angry. I am sad, Aunt Irina."

"Aunt?" The incredulous question came from several throats. Hayden just shook his head.

"My...sister... She come to me..." Irina said softly, her words halting. Her face intent on the girl's. "Family in trouble. Danger. She ask for shelter for her daughter. I say I can shelter whole family and she leave Marlena, go back to Lasria to get them. She... she not come back. I go to superiors, they unhappy, but accept. They promise you safe. I go back to work. Two year later, I told you dead. Lab accident." She begged the girl. "Marlena... please... what happen?" She begged. Marlena looked at Hayden who shrugged.

"It is going to come out." He said softly. "Now is as good a time as any."

"I did not work in a lab, Aunt Irina." The girl said softly. "I lived in a lab. I was a lab rat. An experimental animal." The woman's eyes bulged so far they seemed almost about to fall out of her head. "They took me in the night. They took me to a place like a hospital. I woke in a cage. Others were all around me, screaming in pain. Screaming as they...changed. I didn't... They wondered why. They tested..."

"No..." Iriana said, her face horrified. "No. How you escape?"

"Escape? I didn't escape!" The girl snapped. "I was stolen. By them!" She waved at Jackson who gulped. The glare that Irina leveled on him should have rendered him down to ash. "English speaking men wearing black. Came in the night. They gassed and I woke tied in a car. Then a plane."

"Let me guess, Jackson." Hayden said quietly in the silence that fell. "The Agency heard of another like me. One who was changed, but not. So of course they sent a team in to 'acquire' the subject."

"I don't know." Jackson said, his tone equally quiet. "I saw a report on her. Her transport vanished mysteriously en route to the States. That is all I know." Probably the truth. Hayden glanced at the man at the table, who remained silent.

"Well, as of now, she is my problem and my responsibility. Anyone who tries to hurt her or take her will answer to me." Hayden replied evenly. He stilled as Irina stepped closer. "Captain Irina..." He warned, his hand falling to his side.

"You will protect?" Irina asked, her English broken. He nodded. "Marlena.. I..."

"Marlena is dead." The girl snapped.

"You have no reason to trust me, Katuska as I called you when you were born." The Russian woman said sadly. "You have many reasons not to. But we are family. Now... and always..." She pulled something from a pocket. It was a small doll, made of wood. An antique matryoshka doll, one that usually had other dolls inside. "I found no obvious trackers." She cracked the doll open and a smaller doll was nestled inside it. Four times, she opened smaller dolls. Then there was a tiny hand painted doll inside. She plucked it out with two fingers and tossed it into the fire! Marlena stared at her as Irina started putting the dolls back together. "The smallest doll had been dipped in a rare isotope, to track me. I recommend you test, just to be sure." She said with a savage smile that became tender. "This doll was your mother's, Marlena. I have kept it close... Ever since I hard the news of Lasria. If you ever need me, you call or send the doll." She held out the doll.

"I..." Marlena looked at Hayden who shrugged again. "You will get in trouble."

"I am always in trouble, Marlena." The older woman said with a fond smile. "Family trait, no?"

"Family trait. yes." Marlena said with a faint smile as her hand darted out to take the doll. Irina did not move as Marlena and Hayden moved to the door.

"Be well, my little katushka..." Irina said quietly. When she turned to the bar, her face was stone. "This not happen." She stated.

"Nothing happened." The man at the table agreed. Jackson and the man in the booth both nodded.

As they left the bar, Marlena shook her head. She hadn't expected to ever see her aunt again. And like that? They walked into the wind, Hayden seemingly unaffected by the weather. Then she paused as several shadows carrying distinctive shapes -AK variant assault rifles- appeared from the shadows of a nearby building. She leaned close to Hayden and he shook his head. His cold voice cut through the wind like a knife.

"Silly. Bringing guns to a glaive fight...?"