I reached for the door knob to my hotel room, noticing that it had been tampered with. Whoever broke in did brilliant job at making it looked untouched, but I was no fool. When I twisted the knob to enter on in, it felt off, and that was a good as any sign to step forwards with precaution.

I always kept a semi-automatic pistol strapped to my thigh along with a knife on me. Usually I’d use one at a time, but desperate times called for desperate measures and I pulled them both out, holding them together as I slipped into my room.

It was empty.

This was not going to be pretty.

I quietly walked over to the en-suite bathroom, ready for a fury of rounds to burst through the door. There was nowhere else the intruder could be hiding, and yet, the bathroom wasn't occupied either.

I caught myself in the mirror just before turning back to my hotel bedroom. My hair was drenched, and my mascara wasn’t doing me any favours by collecting in a wet smudge under my eyes.

If I had the time to wipe my face down, I would have. But I needed to check for any bugs planted around the room. Lowering my weapons, I was just about to look behind the bathroom door first before I left, and that’s when the intruder jumped out of nowhere, to the spot in front of me.

I was expecting her to knock me out, or even give me a black eye at least.

But she didn’t, not even a little bit.

I had my pistol aimed to her forehead, and she hadn’t even moved yet, not even a flinch. She just stood there in the threshold between the bathroom and the bedroom. Her entire face was covered in a black balaclava, and her body concealed in a stealth suit. She clearly came for a fight and yet …she hadn’t attacked me yet.

I made a dumbfounded sound that was clearly my confusion showing.

“Are you going to attack me or what?” Was this a new tactic now? Stand still and almost get shot? Ridiculous. The only reason I hadn’t pulled the trigger yet is because, well, I actually didn’t have an answer to that either. Perhaps the news on Hiroshima was throwing me off my balance, perhaps I was feeling generous with people's lives today since so many were already lost.

Looking at her, I figured she was either a KGB operative, or one of the infamous Spetsnaz agents I kept hearing about as I gathered intel on this part of the world. That was the Soviet’s equivalent of the HIVE, an elite group of field operatives.

For now, I put her down as a Spetsnaz since I was a HIVE.

The Spetsnaz put her arms up, with her fingers spread open, her hands were empty. So, this was going to be one of those meetings … I looked at her carefully, she didn’t move an inch. The way I saw it, she was allowing me to inspect her.

With my knife still in hand I stretched it out towards her, circling her carefully. I spoke to her in Russian, “You broke in here, what was your plan?”

“I needed to meet with you, Seelenschlucker,” she said in a thick Ruskie accent.

And Oh, this was certainly unexpected. I could barely contain my surprise at that name she chose to call me by. I was getting Sigma flash backs, God it had been some time since I saw that man.

“You thought breaking into my room was the smart thing to do?” I huffed, taking off my wet coat to hang it by the door beside me. I couldn’t be bothered to aim my weapon at the woman anymore, she clearly wanted to talk if she used that nickname to get my attention. Plus, I was curious about what she had to say, but she didn’t need to know that.

“I don’t have time to waste talking to you, I’m checking out soon,” I said to urge her to explaining herself quickly. It would be foolish of me to stay in the same hotel room after being discovered by a spy like this. Who knew who else knew I was in Sevastopol, and I didn’t have the patience for another break in like this one.

The woman dropped her arms, then faced me, “You have eyes on you, I couldn’t meet you anywhere else,” Eyes? I turned slowly to the woman, my coat still in hand.

“Who the fuck are you?” The woman took off her baclava, she seemed to really want me to trust her. As if, she knew I’d give her the chance to explain herself once she revealed herself. I didn’t understand her current tactics, was this a Spetsnaz thing? Whatever it was, it was working.

She was a brunette, with a chiselled jaw and beautiful green eyes. She must’ve been from the south of Russia, those types were mixed with oriental blood if I was not mistaken.

“I am no threat. I’m here to help you. I have a card I wish for you to take, it has a number on it. Call it before the day is over and follow the instructions if you wish to know more,” she said rather ominously, her thick accent not helping to ease the situation for myself.

And a card of all things? Was that really a good reason to break into someone’s room?

“That’s why you broke in here, to give me a card?” I said.

The Spetsnaz was now reaching for it now from her left pocket. I raised my knife towards her in warning, I didn’t want any funny business going on.

With a close eye, I watched her hand disappear into one of her pockets on her jacket. Turns out it really was just as she said, she was giving me a card.

I let her hand dangle in the air, holding the small white rectangle out to me before I took it. I was still wearing leather gloves on, which meant that if the surface of the card was laced with anything deadly it could reach my skin. Some spies were tricky like that.

Flipping it over, I saw the number printed across it. And a word printed in black simple letters:

P a r a d i s e

I didn’t get it.

“Who sent you?” I asked, but the woman probably wouldn’t answer me, what she did instead smile at me, as if my question was some kind of joke.

I frowned. “What makes you think I’ll call? This could be some elaborate set up,”

The Spetsnaz stepped closer to me, unafraid of the knife, or any other weapons I had quite possibly had on me. Did she think she was better than me? I could see it in the smirk she was making, she was a cocky one.

“You will call, you can’t resist a legend, can you?” She said, like it made all the sense in the world.

I let out an embarrassing strangled noise, surprised by her words. Legend? I looked at the card, and then at her face. I only ever regarded one thing as a legend in my books.

Hands fell heavy on my shoulders, the Spetsnaz was holding me down, then started … patting me over.

“Wh-what?” I stammered, stepping back, looking at her strangely. She didn’t seem to understand my discomfort. She came at me again, and grabbed my chin, pulling me in close for inspection.

I could see how long her eyelashes were, and the nick of a scar underneath her right eye.

I winced when our faces almost touched, I was ready to slap her offending had but she was quicker and moved back the moment I tensed up on her.

I barely registered what she was doing next, and just like that, she was heading for the window.

“Wait! Did Sigma send you?” I cried, but she was already diving out the window effortlessly, her body used to the practice of escaping through unconventional routes apparently. Windows weren’t much of an option for myself, I preferred an old fashioned doorway escape.

Having reached the window, I leaned over it, looking for her. The Spetsnaz already had her balaclava back on far down below, speeding down the end of road till she vanished around the corner.

Christ. Something told me I’d be seeing her again, and I highly hoped that wasn’t the case.

All I had left of her existence was the card she left me, held tightly in my hand.