The Kind

Chapter Two

At five am the next morning a tall thin woman with dark sunglasses and sleek black hair that rested on the shoulders of a long leather coat was waiting outside the doors of the Martial Law Fitness Centre. At ten past five a stocky man in his early fifties, with the suggestion of white hair around the back of his head, emerged from inside the building to properly open the gym for the day. Nikki wore the toned body of decades of fitness training, but with a slight rounding where he had begun to put on some weight. When he saw the woman waiting outside he blinked twice, then tried to find his best ‘owner’s voice’.
“Welcome to the Fitness Centre ma’am, we’ve just opened. You can come inside now.” The woman’s high heels clicked on the concrete sidewalk as she closed the gap between them. Nikki had been a professional fighter in his day, and was not a man easily taken to intimidation. Despite this, he felt a chill up his spine as he saw the woman’s face, even covered as it was by the sunglasses. 
“I want to see Sarah Richards.” Her voice was cold – Nikki felt the shiver again.
“She’s not in today. You can come back tomorrow,” or never, he added silently.
Slowly the woman reached up and slid the sunglasses free. She cast her eyes about the windows of the gym, not taking in any of the advertisements for cheap start-up packages or new trainers wanted.
“I think we can do better than that,” she said, and her face twisted into something resembling a smile.

Sarah never woke up before Viktor. Even when her phone began to ring loudly at 5:20am her consciousness fought the trip back to reality for just a few seconds longer.
“Why is your alarm on?” Viktor’s disgruntled voice pleaded. “You’re not working today.”
“It’s not the alarm,” Sarah breathed directly into a cushion. “We’re still in the lounge room, remember?”
That explains the crick in the neck, Viktor thought bitterly as he adjusted himself against the arm of the couch. As Sarah’s voice replaced the intrusive ringing he resisted the urge to fall back asleep.
“Hello, who is this? Nikki… no, I’m not working… what? Slow down Nikki. No, I’m not meeting anyone at the gym today… what?! That’s crazy. Ok, ok, I’ll be right there.” Viktor heard the familiar beep of the ended call and kept his eyes shut. Whatever happened next could be communicated through his eyelids.
“Viktor, wake up, now.” Something had Sarah concerned – that much was clear. “Someone attacked the gym, Nikki’s in a panic.”
“I thought people paid him to get violent at that place?” Inwardly he groaned: sleep deprivation was damaging to one’s sense of humour.
“It’s not funny Viktor. It almost sounded someone threw a street lamp through the front window.”
From where she sat, Sarah couldn’t see Viktor’s eyes fly open. The unfamiliar sensation of adrenaline at half-past five in the morning was battling the rest of his senses for control of his body.
“Ok then,” he finally managed. “I guess we’d better go see what trouble Nikki’s in. I’ll get the car ready.”

The scene that greeted the pair of them outside the gym was unlike anything they had imagined. At least six police vehicles and a rather large truck from the city construction crew were parked outside the centre, complete with flashing lights to compliment the still rising sun. True to his word, a steel pole was protruding from the glass front of Nikki’s establishment.  The lamp portion was presumably hidden somewhere deep inside, probably lying on top of a none-too-cheap piece of workout equipment. Shattered glass was the unifying element in the whole mess, and could be found just about anywhere anyone cared to look.
“Oh my God,” Sarah breathed as she brought the car to a stop. “Who could have done this?” Rhetorical question or not, Viktor had no answer for her, so chose to say nothing.
On seeing them get out of the car, a very flustered Nikki pushed through a line of police officers – one of whom appeared to be taking a photo of the scene on his iPhone – and waved the couple down.
“Sarah, thank God you’re here!” he yelled.
“Nikki, what happened here?”
“I was hoping you could tell me. This woman was standing there when I opened, said she wanted to see you. Of course I told her you weren’t coming in, that’s when she did this!”
Sarah’s eyes went wider still. “But how?! Who could do this? And what did she want with me?”
“I wish I knew, any of it. The police are useless: they keep saying it must have fallen on its own. They think I made up the story to claim insurance or something!”
“Oh Nikki, I’m so sorry…”
“Listen, Sarah, there’s something else. Before the crazy woman left she gave me this.” A small envelop crossed the space from his hand to hers. On the front was a single line, handwritten:

You kept me waiting.

“She told me to give it to you. Then she just disappeared. I only looked away for a second and when I looked back she was gone,” Nikki said, shaking his head.
“Viktor, what do you think…” Sarah’s voice caught in her throat. Viktor’s face was darker than she could ever remember seeing it. His eyes were locked on the envelope she was holding. Something about the situation had him very unnerved.
“Open it,” he said quietly. She was more concerned about his strange reaction than the mysterious message, but both Viktor and Nikki were desperate to see inside, so she tore it open. The same handwriting appeared again.

S,
It’s time.
Love, V.

Sarah seemed to choke. “Viktor, is this a joke?! These are our initials: did you write this? What the hell does this mean?” No reply was immediately forthcoming. The words, like most of the blood in Viktor’s face, had drained away.