Mikhail could only hear his breathing, controlled and measured.
He knew the dock like the back of his hands. He cut through different containers inorder to cut the runaway Adrian off.
The narrow path between the steel that stank of oil and sea salt. Adrian was going down the stairs fast looking behind him . Mikhail stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking at the panicked Adrian with a smirk. Half way down the stairs, Adrian noticed him, he came to a stao, startled.
Mikhail looked at him closely. Water clung to lashes,a pale gold darkened by the rain. He was wearing a simple jeans, white t shirt under the dark jacket he was wearing. He was completely drenched.
Mikhail mind cataloged everything in seconds. He had no visible weapon, his stance was untrained and his hands were trembling. Probably wrong place at the wrong time. But he was still suspicious.
" Who sent you?" Mikhail asked, voice low.
" No one. Mr. Mikhail," Adrian answered his hands shaking," I came from the beach, I love swimming at night."
Mikhail looked at the ocean , it's current raging . No sane person would do that.
Mikhail stepped up the stairs closer to him.
Adrian seemed to notice his disbelief.
" I swear on my life," he said," I just heard a noise while walking back home so I came to check it out."
" You heard noise at night and decided to come to a dock famous for having men with guns."
Adrian looked embarrassed.
A thin smile touched Mikhail lips. He may be lying or just stupid, but there was something about the way he said it. His voice never wavering once despite him trembling.
Behind him another shot cracked. The echo more near to where they were. Mikhail turned back to scan the dark then he looked back at Adrian.
" Go home Adrian. This isn't a place for you to die."
".. I."
A scream tore through the air cutting him off. One of Mikhail's men came stumbling around the corner, blood in his sleeves, shouting that the eastern flank had fallen.
Mikhail cursed under his breath, grabbed Adrian wrist before he could react , pulling him up the stairs and back on the the containers , as a burst of gunfire tore through the the air hitting the place they had been. His man was torn into sieves by the bullets. He was probably bait.
Adrian gasped the sound swallowed by the increasing rain,as shards of concrete hit him. From the bullets.
His body pressed instinctively again Mikhail, seeking shelter in the space between wall on man. His hands went around Mikhail waist pressing his front against Mikhails back . Mikhail felt a tremor ram through Adrian, maybe from fear or cold, he couldn't tell. Something tightened in his chest in a way he had never felt before.
He leaned back wards looking up at Adrian who was looking down at him and whispered in his ear," stay down, don't move until I tell you."
Adrians eyes widened then he nodded. Mikhail tapped his hands for him to release him. Adrian removed it slowly, as though caressing him, Mikhail shook that though out, he was probably just imagining things. The kid must be scared.
Mikhail pulled another gun from inside from coat pocket, motion smooth and professional. He replaced the bullets on the other one . He moved to the edge of the countiner right above the stairs and fired two rounds toward the direction the other bullets came from in the shadows.
He did notice behind him , Adrian demeanor had changed not showing the usual fright he had while with him. He moved behind him and stood there smiling looking into the shadows. He waved his hand as though signaling for anyone seeing it to go away.
Mikhail waited for a returning round but all he was met with was silence. The attackers were retreating.
He looked behind him, Adrian was still there but looked shaken , but was staring at him as though he had seen something unreal.
" Are you okay?"
He asked his eyes looking at him up and down holding his arm.
" I'm fine."
Lighting flashed illuminating them , relief passed through their faces. Adrian looked almost translucent in the flash of light, skin too pale lips parted breathing in roughly. He was still holding Mikhail's hand, he leg ho slowly. Mikhail felt the lingering heat disappearing as Adrian let his hands go.
He should have walked away, left the boy for the authorities and gone back to clean up the mess in the docks . But something held him back as he looked at the boy.
" Give me your phone," he said extending his hand.
Adrian looked at him confused but gave him his phone. Mikhail put in his number for his personal phone.
The sound of siren could be heard approaching faintly in a distance, the police had now noticed what was happening by the sea.
Mikhail looked at him again, really looked this time. The boy didn't fit the chaos around them, and yet he didn't crumble either. Even soaked, trembling, his gaze met Mikhail's with a stubborn steadiness that felt far older than his face.
Probably trying to appear brave, he mused.
He gestured towards the road leading inland," there is an alley behind the warehouse. Go. Don't come back here."
Adrian hesitated, then said quietly, "You saved me. Thank you."
Mikhail turned away. "Don't thank me. Just forget you saw any of this."
He didn't watch him leave, but he heard the soft footsteps fading into the rain.
When the last echo of engines died, Mikhail stood alone among the wreckage of the night. His men were already cleaning up, murmuring reports into radios, loading the wounded into waiting cars.
The police had been paid off. The commissioner was a greedy man.
He pulled off his gloves and looked down at his hands ,steady, as always. Only the faint smell of gunpowder clung to them. And yet the image that stayed in his mind wasn't the fight, or the loss of territory. It was the flash of mismatched eyes in the dark, the way they had looked at him frightened and curious all at once.