Chapter 5
After 10 hours of travelling, they finally arrived to the capital of Hungary. Before the train stopped, Clint took Natasha in his arms (although she protested loudly) and jumped off the moving vehicle. He hurried to the fence and climbed through it. Only then did he put down the girl, who tried to slap him immediately, but he blocked her hand in an elegant style.
“Why did you bring me here? To kill me? To hand me over to your boss?”
“Do you think I travelled for 10 hours only to kill you here?” asked Clint quietly.
“I’m hungry and tired. If you don’t want to thank me that I saved your life, then don’t, but at least don’t ask dumb things, okay?”
“Okay, but don’t forget, I’m a highly-trained assassin, and I know many ways to murder my possible murderer!”
Clint smiled but didn’t say anything. They were walking towards the Danube. The streets were quiet, all having cobbled stones. Natasha was curiously watching the mid-18th century buildings, the statues, the green iron gates, the gargoyles and was listening to the different sounds that came from the main road next to the Parliament. Cars were honking, birds were chiriping and people were laughing in the spectacular sunset. However, she always had an eye on the agent walking next to her, who seemed expressionless.
“Have you ever been to Budapest?” he suddenly asked.
“Not until now, how about you?”
“Yeah, a few years ago. With an old fella, on a mission. “ Tears appeared in his eyes.
“It’s a shame he died right after we succesfully completed our quest, having a “heart attack”.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”, said Natasha. She never said that before, but now, she truly felt sorry for the man.
“Anyways” Clint cleared his throat. ”We need a place to stay, until I figure out what to do.”
“Don’t look at me, you should know where to go.”
Clint coughed and all of a sudden, he turned sharply right into a shadowy gateaway. There, he rang the doorbell three times. After a few minutes, an elderly man appeared. He had short, silver hair, receding hairline, wrinkles, a moustache. He was wearing a red cardigan and glasses. When he saw Clint, se smiled widely.
“Hello Clint, nice to see you again! Oh, and you brought a girlfriend!
You should have said that earlier, so I could’ve gone to a beauty salon!”
“Err, no, she’s definitely not my girlfriend.”, said the agent with embarrassment and slight disgust. This earned an angry grimace from Natasha and a chuckle from the older man.
“Mr. Lee, we are looking for an apartment, could you help us?”
“Well, lucky you, I have one! Follow me,” said the man and lead them to the stairs. As they were climbing the stairs to the fifth floor, the man started to talk kindly.
“At 8 PM, I’m going to the airport to fly to a comic con in San Diego, then I am going to stay in New York until March. How long would you like to stay?”
“We haven’t really planned.”
“Fine, you stay as long as you want, just don’t forget to leave the keys under the door mat when you leave. Here we are! I have to go now. Bye!”
“Goodbye! And thank you!”
The apartment was very small. It was an open space. The living room/kitchen had one bed, the bathroom had a tiny shower. The walls were dirty and moldy, like in every old house.
But they were safe.
Balázs-Blénessi-Pataki Kincső
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