Chapter 3: The Discovery

Reaching into his jacket, the soldier brought out a golden orb. Dimitri snatched it from him, and held it up to the light.

He asked breathlessly, "This is what you found?" The soldier nodded. Ivanov's face lit up with a kind of insane joy. Deep down, he felt complete, and instinctively knew that his search was finally over. Turning on his heel, he stepped out of the tent. Walking over to the Captain, he conferred with him briefly, and then the captain shouted orders to his soldiers. The protective circle then broke ranks as the guards scattered to break up the camp. Everyone continued to remain alert, however, and kept their weapons within easy reach. Once everything was packed and the boats had been boarded, Ivanov turned to the fisherman.

''We are leaving. You are going to navigate us back to New Providence. If you try anything, I will kill you. If I suspect that you are plotting something, I will kill you.'' Seeing as he didn't really have a choice, the fisherman decided to try a bargain.

Tentatively, he quavered, "If I take you back safely, will you let me go?" Dimitri considered the frightened fisherman, a mere tool in his quest for power, soon to be one of the countless who had died, sacrificed so that Ivanov could get  closer to his goal.

His facial expression held no semblance of guilt, or something akin to pity. "I do not bargain. Do as I say, please me, and you might live." The fisherman's entire countenance brightened, and he eagerly ran to the boat. Ivanov had already notified the Prime Minister that he was leaving and wished to do so quietly, and now the boats drew up to the dock. From there it was a short drive to the airport. Once there, Dimitri was escorted towards his private plane in the center of a tight knot of armed soldiers, all trained in military warfare. Their circle was so tight and impenetrable, that nobody who thought to look twice would have noticed the scared young man being pushed along.

He would have tried shouting, had not the hard pressing of the pistol into the back of his neck decided differently. When everyone was safely in the plane and it had taken off the fisherman realized that his last chance of escape had slipped through his fingers, he seemed to give up. Clearly he wasn't going to live. There was no point in prolonging the agony. The sooner he died, the sooner he would be out of this nightmare.

Having come to this conclusion, the fisherman turned to Dimitri, who had been watching him with interest. "You're going to kill me, aren't you," It was a statement rather than a question. Dimitri smiled. "All good things must come to an end, musn't they?"

"I don't see how this is a good thing."

"It is completely normal, as you aren't the one who will have the pleasure of watching the killing."

"Since you're gonna kill me, can't you just get it over with?"

Dimitri sipped his glass of champagne thoughtfully. It was always amusing for him to watch people give up on surviving, to resign themselves to their death. He considered for a moment before answering. "If that's what you really want, I suppose that I can accommodate your wishes."

He continued, enjoying the look of terror on the fisherman's face as he realized that Dimitri meant it . "I always try to cater to my guests' every wish. How exactly would you prefer to go? Would you rather have a quick bullet to the skull? Or would you prefer a drawn out torture? Since we are on my plane, I think it would be easier to clean up if I shot you through the head."

Motioning his hand to a guard that stood behind him, Dimitri got up and left the cabin. The guard hefted his rifle, aimed, and fired a single shot. The fisherman's final wish was fulfilled. A few minutes later, Dimitri returned. He sat down and eyed the body on the floor.

"I wish he hadn't given up so quickly," he remarked to no one in particular. "It's so much more fun to torture them when they still want to live." Reaching for his champagne, he began to take a sip, only to find that blood from the fisherman had splattered into his glass. Disgusted, he set it down and called for another glass.

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