The Story of a Bird and Spider || Clintasha

10

"Maria Hill has a knack for showing up right when you need her."

"If Mockingbird were here, she would call me reckless for everything I've done. She would tell me that this woman isn't important enough to risk my life and save. She'd share her mental list with me, saying that Natasha isn't even on our side, that she's not even aware of what she's doing.

"But Mockingbird isn't here."

"It's hard to imagine where else I'd be, now that I've spent so much energy here. I'm sure the entire world would be a different place if I had never come to Russia for this mission."

"The most vivid memory I have of Yekaterina Zhirov, besides her death, is the first time she told me about her daughter. I could tell it was a very sensitive subject for her to talk about, and I didn't even know she had a child. There were so many young people in her home, and most were the children of the people that worked there.

"I remember her being a very generous woman. Everyone was happy with their situation, as far as I knew.

The conversation started with silence, as many of our personal talks would. We weren't alone very often, but when we were, Yekaterina took advantage of that time to tell me anything about her life that she'd never say in front of others. Apparently the weight of her daughter had been pulling at her.

"She never said her name. She didn't talk about who, where, or how she was. In fact, by the way she did speak of her, I initially thought she was dead. Further into the conversation, I learned that they had just grown very distant. She said it was to protect her daughter, but she was so scared that she would kick the bucket before the child's 16th birthday.

"I never did meet the girl. I was supposed to on her birthday. When I knew the building was evacuated of the living, I finally got out of there. There was panic and chaos, people crying, fires being doused by buckets and firemen. Rapid Russian and German, and some English from the children blended together, creating a synthesized track of psychobabble.

"All I could make out was 'the daughter has been lost.'"

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23. Hungary: Budapest, Tuesday, August 18, 12:46

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Clint's plan was to go to Esztergom. He had had it all thought out in his head-- go to Esztergomi Bazilika and work from there. It's the place where he often visited because the woman he was protecting would often talk of all the little stories of that church. She also spoke of the town Eger, and the labyrinth under Buda Castle.

And then the memory strikes him, and he takes a sharp switch with the SUV into the right turn lane, earning a honk from an angered tourist, and a shake of the head from Agent Coe that Clint caught in the rearview mirror.

"Where are you going?" Maria asks, seeing the intensity in Clint's eyes.

He gives a quick smile, then replies with, "If I said 'I'm taking a trip down memory lane', would you leave it at that?"

"Hmm... Do monkeys have ten eyes?" Emma says sarcastically from the back seat, leaning forward in the hopes that he'll go into story mode.

"Emma," Maria warns. Agent Coe crosses her arms, dismayed, and allows the seat belt to pull her back into the seat.

The labyrinth of Buda Castle, he thinks. She always talked about the secret, hidden tunnels that led to secret, hidden places. And if it's not true, then I'll head to Esztergom, or maybe I'll find Nat before anything else.