Bittersweet Endings

I sighed again was we sat on the plane. It was loud, it was annoying, and it was coach. Jacoby sat next to me, fidgeting quietly in his seat. The reason for being in coach, we didn't have much money left after paying for the transport of the Lamborghini Diablo. Jacoby didn't trust airport parking garages, I didn't blame him.

I wanted to scream as another baby erupted into tears. Why couldn't mothers keep their children quiet. I hadn't gotten much sleep and even though it isn't needed I felt tired.

Maybe it was waking up to a rush of adrenaline, or maybe it was just the stress of what was happening. I wasn't sure, I was going with a combination of both.

Jacoby had informed me of what he had heard. I wasn't surprised about Bettina being behind it. I wasn't surprised Dimitri had went with them willingly. What surprised me was how Jacoby and I were the targets. Him being the difficult one and me, supposedly, the easy one.

It pissed me off. I wasn't easy, I just chose not to fight. I was going to prove them wrong, even if it meant bring forth the powers I kept hidden. I was going to show Bettina never to underestimate a member of Vipor.

"Nicolette?"

"Yes." I said looking away from the window and towards Jacoby. He was tense, it was clear to see he wasn't taking any chances and relaxing.

"We'll be landing soon." Even his words were tense.

"Jacoby. I know it's hard, but you have to relax. Being stressed and tense will only hinder you. Understand?" I asked, turning to face him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah. It's just hard Nicolette. You know my temper." He muttered grabbing my hand and kissing it.

"That I do, which is why I'm warning you." I smiled at him, receiving a smile back.

"Alright, where do we start?" Jacoby asked as we pulled out of the Moscow airport. It was snowing, not unusual for this time of year and Russia.

I shut my eyes. Picturing the base the two men held in their minds. It was underground, or at least the tunnels looked to be underneath the earth. Outside of their base was snow, lots of snow and a small house. A very small house surrounded by similar versions of it. They were using the house as cover for the base.

"What are you doing?" Jacoby asked, I could practically hear him smirking.

Without opening my eyes I answered, "Finding their base."

"Did you acquire a power I don't know of?" He asked, curiosity in his words.

I opened one eye and looked at him. I closed my eye again and focused. "It's not a power. I'm using the images from their minds and my knowledge of Russia. I'm trying to put them together and figure out a village name."

"Oh, you can do that?"

"If you shut up then maybe." I joked. I heard Jacoby laugh quietly as he turned on his music again. I groaned but ignored it. Like every other car ride with him I would eventually tune it out.

I went back to the images. The part of town it was in was small. Something was moving in the distance and people were by it. It was hard to tell what it was from the distance he was at. Then it hit me.

"Pechora!!"

Jacoby slammed on the brakes and looked over at me. Cars behind us honked loudly. Jacoby stepped on the gas when I stayed silent. He muttered an apology to the car, saying sorry for making her stop suddenly.

"Care to explain?" He asked once the traffic was flowing again.

"The images are of a small little remote town, or village. It was also by a river, the Pechora river. Pechora it's self is a rather large town in Russia but for those villagers who didn't want to urbanize they moved farther south, closer to the river. The base is hidden in the village, underground, most likely using the river for water transport." I said excitedly.

"So we have to go to Pechora?" Jacoby asked, slightly confused.

"Yes and no. We have to go to Pechora to get to the village. We can't be seen driving the Lamborghini to a town that small."

"Is the car safe there?" He asked, suspiciously.

"I don't know." I admitted and Jacoby glared. "I promise you if anything happens to the car I'll fix it or replace it. We have to do this."

"I know. I won't expect you to replace it. It's just a hard concept to grasp. I haven't let this baby out of my sight since I got her." He said rubbing the dashboard.

"Why do guys call cars girls?" I asked, suddenly curious.

"Cause it would be weird to say I love it and then call it a dude." He said seriously and then he laughed. "That's only part of it. The real reason, I don't know we just do. It's a guy thing, you'd have-"

"To be a guy to understand it. I know." I said cutting him off.

A four hours later we were in Pecharo. Mainly because there was no traffic allowing Jacoby to speed down the roads at over a hundred miles an hour. I didn't sense the difference in speed. We could have been going sixty for all I cared.

The window was open. I was trying to locate my pack. I wasn't having any luck. Zander must have been too far away to hear me, or they were alseep.

Zander was the alpha male of the pack. He was in charge of over fifty wolves, which is a huge pack for Russian wolves. He was a great leader, a great wolf, and a great friend. I had rescued his great-great grandfather from a bear trap when he was a pup. The pack has been at my side ever since.

"Any luck?" Jacoby asked as we found a parking garage.

"No. He didn't reply but I do hope he got the message." I muttered rolling up the window.

Jacoby had the car parked in the bottom ramp. It was one under ground level. It was hidden in a corner, away from the lights and almost not visible from a distance. Just for added help he covered it with a black car cover.

"I think it's safe now." I said walking toward the stairs.

"I sure hope so." He muttered joining me.

"You think we'll find them alright?" I asked.

He knew what I meant. Would we find Dimitri alive? Or any of the others that might have been taken from the base? Jacoby shrugged his shoulders, but his eyes held hope. He wasn't going to give up easily, I could sense that for sure.

I gripped his hand and began pulling him along faster. I had something to prove.