He held the empty bottle up for one of the waitresses to retrieve and replace it with a fresh one. The girl quickly brought a new bottle, but fumbled with the cap, and he grew impatient. He ripped it from her hands, tore the cap off, took a really big pull of the bottle and wiped his mouth off. His hand swiftly came across his own face and hit the girl square on the mouth. She stifled a cry and scampered off. Miki choked down her own scream and sat straight up in her chair. This caught her off guard. She was shaken, and Ivan noticed.

“Don’t worry. I would never do that to you. She had been terrible waitress all night. You understand, yes?”

Miki nodded, but she was going numb. She tried not to look at the girl in the corner. One of the others had a wet rag and was wiping blood from her mouth. Miki ached to help her, but she had to concentrate on Ivan and her mission. What has she gotten herself into?

“How much is going to cost?” He suddenly asked her.

She suddenly came to her senses.

“What? How much is what going to cost?”

He smirked at her.

“You know,” he said, looking at her crotch. Now she understood. She had to think. They told her what to do when that came up. There was a signal they used here, so that a price was never actually said aloud. Prostitution was highly illegal, so a working girl had to take precautions. She had to remember.

Ah, yes, now she got it. She placed two fingers of her right hand into the palm of her left hand; the signal for two thousand. Was that dollars? She wasn’t sure of the currency here. In fact, she really didn’t know where “here” was…

He nodded his approval, and then moved in closer to her.

Breathe through your mouth, Miki.

“You have room, yes?”

Miki only looked at him. Was it going to be this easy to get him out of here? She couldn’t afford to look too eager.

“I might have a room on the other end of town.” She said in Russian. He looked pleased.

“Oh, you speak my language.” He said back to her in Russian.

“Oh yes, in more ways than one.” She said coyly, then leaned back to pretend to drink the vodka. She forced herself to smile. That was in character, wasn’t it?

Ivan looked her up and down with a very appreciative stare. She could see the wheels turning in his head, and wondered if this is what men looked like when they are undressing a woman with their eyes. She decided it was, and crossed her legs while turning her hips to the side to give him a look at her ass. She put one arm up on the back of her chair and braced her head with her hand, pinup model style.

Be careful, she told herself. Don’t get too far into character.

“I am Nicolai.” He suddenly announced, holding his hand to his chest. For a split second, Miki almost thought she had the wrong guy. But then she realized that someone who does what he does for a living probably doesn’t give his real name a hell of a lot.

“Nice to meet you, Nicolai” she replied, carefully pronouncing his fake name back to him. “I am Masami.”

Her com link was buzzing instructions to her to hurry up and get him out of there. His entourage was going to be there soon, and he would not go anywhere without them once they are at his side. This was her only chance.

She swallowed hard to try to gain courage, then leaned over to her mark and whispered in his ear.

“I want to get out of here.” She tried her best to look alluring.

If I had a nickle for ever time a woman told me to get lost, I could buy Manhattan.