10

10

         Two men, dressed in black, were sitting in front of a long, mahogany desk. One of them had blonde hair, while the other had red hair. Standing in front of them was a bartender, wearing a white shirt and red vest, wiping a flute glass. One of the men looked at his friend, then took his glass.

         “So, what do we do now?”
         “Well, it’s just about time, really,” the other man said. “But who cares about that. I mean, everything will go smoothly as we planned. No need to worry.”

         “Are you sure?”

         “Why not?”

         “…” Just trust him.

         “So…” The blonde man turned to his friend. “How does it feel to be once again alive?”

         “Not bad.” Not that good, actually, being haunted by that feeling of death…

         The blonde man smiled – he either didn’t know his friend was lying or he didn’t care – and turned to the bartender who was done wiping the glass.

         “Say, you won’t be closing too soon, right?” he asked. “Someone said he’d love to drop by.”

         “No, of course not,” the bartender answered with a smile. “It’s forbidden for the bartenders of this bar to kick out customers, even if they’re drunk.”

         What a good bar.

         “Who is it?” the red haired man asked, curious. “A new member?”

         “No, just someone who said he’d love to have a talk with us,” the blonde man said. “But if you’re talking about a new member, we do have one.”

         “Who?”

         “Like I know,” the blonde man answered. “But well, I call her Kalinka. Maybe you can, too.”

         “A she?” The red haired man sighed and looked away. “Time sure is ending.”
         “Don’t say that,” the blonde man said with a chuckle. “I like her – you will, too.”

         That’s not always a guarantee, is it…

         The bartender only smiled as he listened to the conversation between his customers – isn’t that how bartenders usually are, gravely silent behind the joint when it came to personal problems?

         “Hey, give me a Kir.”

         “Yes, coming, mister.” The bartender quickly turned to the shelves and took a bottle of white wine. The blonde man emptied his glass, then he turned to the door, which was opening silently. The bartender quickly turned to the door and threw another smile.

         “Welcome.”

         His new customer turned out to be a brown haired man in white shirt and beige jacket, buttoned in the middle, and he was wearing a necklace with a white shell as its pendant. He sat down next to the blonde man and turned to the bartender.

         “Get me something strong.”

         The bartender, as he took a bottle of Cassis, wished he could ask if the customer has eaten or not – should he hasn’t, he could get him something lighter – but perhaps the order wouldn’t change even if the question is asked, he thought. He poured some white wine into a glass with wide mouth and then poured some Cassis in. He took the mixing spoon and started stirring the cocktail, then he served it in front of the red haired man. The blonde man turned to the new customer as the bartender turned back to the shelves.

         “Are you the one who called?”
         The brown haired man nodded. The blonde man observed the man next to him – he had a rough-looking face, and from his appearances, he seemed to be somewhere from the East Europe. Let’s see, in East Europe, there’s Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Poland, Bulgary, Romania, Hungary… All were once occupied by Russia, so…

         A Russian? How interesting…

         “What would Rodina’s son need from me?”

         “I heard you’ve got ‘it’.”

         “It?”
         “Your Matador, sir.”

         The bartender slid a glass of orange liquid to his Russian customer with a smile, then he stepped back and took the wiping cloth. The Russian looked at his drink for a while, only to notice there was a worm under his glass.

         What kind of service is this?

         “What on earth is this worm doing here?”

         “Ah, that,” the blonde man said. “They said if you get that bug in your glass, then good luck will be with you. Am I right, bartender?”

         “Yes, that’s true,” the bartender answered. “I hope luck will follow you, sia.”

         “…”

         He turned to the blonde man sitting next to him, then a grim smile was drawn on his face. He rose his glass, confusing the blonde man a bit.

         “Well, before we talk, then,” the brown haired man said. “Let’s wish for the best of luck.”

         The blonde man smiled, then he rose his glass of Cardinal.

         Toast for good luck.

         “Let’s.”

~•~

         “Do you know that the objective has just changed?”
         “Really?” Megan kept typing on her computer, ignoring Dave, who has been standing next to her all the time. He kept looking at her for a while, searching for a reaction or kind, but the only reaction was to type something on her keyboard. He sighed – perhaps computers do make people more solitary – and looked out of the window.

         “They said, look for something they call a…”

         “Oh, that,” was the only reaction. She glanced at him for a second, then she typed something and a new screen appeared. He sighed and looked away.

         She really is ignorant… or does she hate me or is she that busy?

         “Why would they want another when we’ve had one, actually?”

         “That’s an easy question,” she answered. “Avaritia. What else could it be?”

         He sighed – he felt a bit stupid in front of her. However, what she said was trie after all – avaritia, that is.

         “So, where do you want to start?”

         He turned to her and sighed as he walked over to her.

         Good thing she knew.

         “I was just going to ask.”

         “It’s going to be a bit difficult,” she said with a cynical smile. “But well, don’t worry. I can always find you guys something.”

         Being optimistic is good sometimes, but being too optimistic isn’t that good, too.

         “Then go find us something.”

         “Okay,” she said. “Expect some information tomorrow morning, okay? I have to go find somewhere to hack.”

         “So you won’t be sleeping?”

         “Nie.”

         Dave sighed – he knew he wouldn’t get to convince his friend to get a good night’s sleep and just did whatever she must did the next morning – and walked towards the door. He opened the door and turned to glance at her, only to see that she was already typing something with a very, serious face. He sighed silently, again, and walked out of the room, leaving her doing her thing very seriously.

         Try to remember. Try to remember.

         Try to…

~•~

         Frederich was wearing his beige trenchcoat when suddenly he noticed a red screen appeared behind him. He quickly walked back to his seat and looked at the screens.

         What the heck is wrong now?
         He quickly knew the answer – there were only two words blinking on the screen for him to see, ‘error 97’. His eyes widened as he could feel his heart beated faster.

         How is this possible? I’m the only one who knew about this new system and nobody else but…

         He kept typing as he suddenly felt something inside him snapped.

         But…

         He kept typing as he could feel his heart beated faster and faster in anxiety. By the time, he was just typing in everything he could remember about that shitty system – passwords, codes, links, everything.

         “Let’s create a totally secure system, Fred. Maureen always complains about our system being broken, remember?”

         “Eh? But Aria is doing one already…”

         “Is it wrong if we make something better than hers? Come on, you’re a great geek, and she’s just a general scientist! You should be able to surpass her!”

         “Oh, well…”

         “A bit more,” Valkyrie said with a smile. “Just a bit more. Break gate ten, then enter the codes to get into the safe, and well, then I should get it.”

         And what on earth is the passkey again…

         “Let’s just make a code of our own.”

         “That will be a bit difficult, won’t it?”

         “Hey, relax. I’m the best computer geek, remember?”

         “Well, I said it. But still, tell me at least how it’s like.”

         “Of course, we’re partners in this one.”

         Frederich could feel his heart beated faster as all the memories came back to him, as fast as water gushing down in the Niagara Falls.

         The code. Coal, golden, mahogany…

         “Coal, like your hair.”

         “Then yours is golden, too.”

         A bit more, Valkyrie thought as she smiled cynically. Just a bit more. The keys are…

         Azure, then sap, and…

         “The sky is the limit for this security?”

         “No, to match it with my eyes.”

         “Damn.”

         The screens disappeared in a flash, making the rooms felt like there were much more space in it than before.

         One of them smiled in satisfaction, while the other cursed…