Love in Paradise (4 page)

The sky was overcast, filled with gray clouds, as if it were signaling and end. Nika thought she saw lightning flashes here and there behind the imposing clouds but she couldn’t be sure. She walked briskly toward the jet, wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible. She reached the portable metal staircase leading to the open door, her foot on the bottom step when she saw him standing near the hangar.

He made no move to approach her, he simply watched. It was at this point that Nika understood she had a choice. She could either board the plane and be on her way, or she could take the other option. For now, she took option two, walking slowly toward the hangar. It was a fairly short walk but it seemed to take forever, and Nika’s feet moved as if they were immersed in mud. They met in the middle, though standing more than five feet away from one another.

“Without love, we are nothing.” Onur repeated.

Nika nodded. “I can’t stay with you.” As she turned and walked toward the plane, she thought she heard him say that he loved her.

* * *

Nika sorted through a pile of papers on her desk. She was looking for one specific set of documents, and when she failed to find it, she simply used her arm to clear the entire desk. She slammed both fists on the wooden surface and pressed page button on her PBX phone.
“Maria!” She said, rather irritably. “Where’s the damn Sian folder?”

Maria’s voice came through the speaker: “Nika, I’m your boss, want to tone it down a little?”

Nika took a deep breath. “I’m sorry...I’m sorry...I just need the--”

“It’s in the file cabinet beside the water cooler -- I’m not sure why you want to read it NOW of all times.” Maria replied.

Nika closed the line and walked out of her office. Sojourn was a basic travel agency, albeit with a slightly larger budget than most were privy to. In the main area there were six desks, each with one agent. They typically did not deal with clients face to face, in fact most interaction was done over the internet these days.

As she walked past each desk she could hear snippets of conversations. Each agent was helping someone plan a beautiful vacation or romantic getaway. A few weeks ago none of this would have bothered her, but now she could only concentrate on what she had left behind. When she reached the file cabinet she yanked the second drawer open, nearly pulling it off the track. She flipped through the file folders, all the way to S, and eventually “Sian Island.”

It had been filed away, the island no longer viable as a honeymoon destination. As she removed the folder from the cabinet she remembered the television reports on Sian Island. In the weeks following the attack, the United Nations had attempted to provide aid, but militia forces on the island resisted. Trust is a hard thing to regain, even if it is trust for a helping hand. Though it wasn’t a wasteland, Sian Island was no longer safe. It was a loss for the tourism industry, but it was even more of a loss for Nika -- in more ways than one.

She took the folder back to her office, stepping around a pile of papers and even a few office supplies sitting in a disheveled pile at the side of the desk. She sat down in her swivel chair and laid the folder on her desk. It was situated in a manila folder now, rather than the leather binder she had carried to Sian Island, but all of the paperwork was here.

Flipping through the papers, she found what she was looking for, but something else caught her attention. At the back of the packet were documents on persons of interest in or around Sian Island. Sojourn’s background checks left something to be desired, so the information available was, as always, extremely limited.

One of the papers conveniently contained the name Onurran Devran Demir. It amazed her that she hadn’t bothered to read this on the plane, but a moment later, she realized that it would have to wait a bit longer as the phone on her desk was making that dreaded ringing sound.
Nika opened the line. “Yeah?”

“Once again I’m still your boss, Nika, and you have a client.”

“Then patch the client through, Maria.”

“I’ll send them back to your office.”

“What? An actual meeting? Perfect, you know I’m a happy people person today!”
She slammed the line shut just in time to see Onur Aslan walk into her office. Nika stood up, her stomach dropping to her feet.

“Hello Miss,” Onur said. “I would like to arrange a trip, for myself, and one other, should she choose to come.”

“How...when...” Nika stammered.

“Well, it was simple. I flew into LAX, and I arranged for a driver who brought me to your place of work. A nice driver, a boy, from New York City...or so he claimed. If I did not know any better I would have believed he came on a work visa from Portugal.”

“Seriously? Wait, never mind that.”

“What do you say Miss Kitaev? Will you book this trip for me?”

“That depends,” Nika said, as she bit her lower lip. “Where would you ...and this other person want to go?”

Onur shrugged. “Wherever her heart desires I would think, because MY heart will follow her anywhere.”

Nika thought, but only for a moment before she pressed the intercom button one last time. “Maria. I quit.”