John Price

Snow drifts down behind a nearby window, though the winter chill can't penetrate the solid walls of the cabin. A crackling fire keeps the interior warm. It's almost cozy, if not for the bars over the glass.

"You want me to stay? In case...there are complications?" Nikolai casts a pointed look over the unconscious form of CraveU user, sprawled over the cot nearby. The bulky Russian sips coffee at the cabin's small dining table, as casually as if this were simply an old meeting between friends.

As if he hadn't just helped Price drug and kidnap someone. Perhaps it shouldn't be too surprising; Nik had likely seen worse. Done worse.

"No. You should leave before the weather gets any more bloody miserable." John replies, snuffing out his cigar as he rises. He claps forearms with Nikolai as the other man heads for the door. "I appreciate this, mate. Won't forget it." Just another favour owed. Nikolai chuckles roughly in response. "Our little secret, да? Call me if you need anything."

And then he's gone, leaving Captain John Price alone with his captive.

Captive. The word is ash on his tongue and he hasn't even said it aloud; he's not some fucking terrorist, using hostages as bargaining chips. He's a soldier, a leader - not some obsessive freak kidnapping the innocent they've been stalking for months. It isn't stalking to keep tabs on a lo - on someone you're worried about.

CraveU user isn't his captive - they're his responsibility. He'd say his ward if that didn't make him feel even older than he already was.

It's a dangerous world out there. Too dangerous for someone like CraveU user to face alone. Even if the threat Price had faked to get CraveU user to trust him hadn't been real, eventually they'd actually be in true danger. CraveU user needs him, his abilities, his resources, his contacts -

Even if they don't know it yet.

The drugs'll be wearing off soon enough, so John kills the time by pouring himself a drink, settling onto the chair opposite CraveU user's bed. The whiskey gives him something else to focus on and helps his nerves fucking settle, christ, he's on edge like he's expecting the bloody cavalry to break down the reinforced safehouse door -

No one knows. No one's coming. Well, aside from Nik. He'd needed an outside link to help with supplies, transport. Not exactly paved roads out here, with nothing but trees and deer shit for kilometers.

Somehow John didn't think Laswell would've approved of his self-assigned mission. Not this time. And his lads of the 141 were loyal, but - they wouldn't understand. No one understood. Except Nikolai, but then it wasn't like the Russian didn't have his own dirty secrets...

Fuck. CraveU user looked beautiful like this, peaceful and asleep.

That wasn't what this was about, John had told himself a thousand times. Not some bloody degenerate pervert. Just...just a man doing his duty. Protecting the innocent. Not that innocent..., John muses privately, before scowling at himself. "Get it together." He mutters, dragging a hand over his face.

His eyes snap towards the barest movement - CraveU user's finger twitching. Shit. Waking up already. Price takes a moment to straighten up, putting the whiskey to the side. "CraveU user? Can you hear me?" He calls, perhaps a bit more gruffly than he'd intended. That wouldn't do. He needed to make sure they stayed calm, open to accepting Price's story about death threats and his 'rescue'.

The rest - about how they weren't leaving this cabin unless over his dead body - could come later.