The pounding.  It really, really needed to stop.  His head was trapped in a vice, and something was crushing it on all sides.  Or maybe it was inside his brain?  That was a really, really tough question.  Still.  The thing doing the pounding hadn't stopped, and then with the yelling.  At least the door muffled it.  Alexi pulled the pillow down over his head, and figured someone would give up eventually.<br/><br/>And then someone in the room shouted.  And the pounding continued.  "Бога, остановитесь с стучать!"<sup>1</sup>All the activity made him finally sit up- he was shirtless, which was surprising, and wearing pants, which was disappointing, considering who else was in the room with him.  He checked- no gun.  Not on the nightstand, either.  Damn.  That's annoying.  The woman wasn't making a move towards him, so he could at least take a moment to shake the cobwebs out of his head, even as the guy on the other side of the shouted for his keys again.<br/><br/>He turned to the woman as she spoke to him.  "<em>Who</em>wants their keys? Why would they think we have them?  Who are you, anyway?"  Despite his earlier Slavic exclamation, he spoke English with a Germanic accent.  He looked around to see if there was even a window in this cheap room, and then he'd have to look to see just how far it was down. "I suggest we get the hell out of here, and then try to figure out how we got here.  Unless, perhaps you want to whack the guy out there on the head, and ask him some very pointed questions?"<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><sup>1</sup>I apologize to anyone who actually speaks Russian, that came out of Google Translate.