11

11

         “So here’s how it goes. I’ll go fool the British, and you guys keep her. Get it?”

         “Yes, Li.”

         “What should we do after that?”

         “Just hide somewhere in one of our hideouts. Make sure nobody else is watching, and keep the usual habits like all others do. That way, they won’t notice something strange and suspect that hideout.”
         “Okay.”

         “If you guys have to move out somehow, make sure you have no trace left in that place. That’s why, wear shoes or slippers all the time, and keep the glove on. Wipe everything that can be wiped everyday.”

         “Yes.”

         “Good, we got it.”

         “Is that all we should do? No special orders?”

         “Do you need help? Or maybe we should do a bit threatening?”
         “Of course. Give me – or give them – threatening calls, try to do it everyday. Use either public phones, or go to different telephone cafés. You get me? Make sure you’re not tracked. Hide the IP. Don’t forget to reveal that you have her.”

         “Yes.”

         “Now, what will you do to convince them, Li?”
         “Oh, that’s something simple. Just leave it to me. Now go, go there, dear.”

         Someone in a black coat walked slowly, to a group of men who were sitting on the chairs surrounding a wooden table. The men were armed, despite being dressed neatly, as they had guns in their pockets. On the table, there was an emergency lamp, the only source of light in the room, a few bottles of beers, and a set of playing cards. They could be playing poker just now. A man cloaked by darkness then smiled and turned away.

         “I’m entrusting this to you guys, okay?”

         “Leave it to us.”

~•~

         The next morning

         Giuseppe was sitting behind his oak desk, drinking coffee from a white mug to keep him up for the day. A peaceful morning will make you feel sleepy, and London’s mornings are peaceful until the rush hour.

         But, the peace didn’t last long.

         “Giuseppe.” The mahogany door placed a few metres in front of him opened, and a blonde man in blue trenchcoat stepped into the room. Giuseppe quickly recognized him and stood up – the way to greet an old friend.

         “Hey, Frederich. Morning. It’s a bit, well…” He stopped for a while, searching for the right word for someone who hardly ever visited him. “Unusual, no?”
         “Well, of course,” Frederich said, feeling no offense against his friend. “Especially to find out that my invulnerable, with apostrophes, system, has been hacked.”

         “…What?” Isn’t it surprising to find something totally secure has been broken?
         “Yes, that’s the truth…”

         “Didn’t you say nobody but you knew about this system?”

         “Yes, I did,” he said. “But I forgot to mention that there is someone else who knew.”

         “Someone else?” Who doesn’t hate it when someone is lying? “Who?”

         “Someone who is supposedly dead,” he said with a thin smile. “I honestly don’t know if she’s still alive…”

         “W…wait.”

         Someone, a she, who should be dead. Who is it?

         “Do I even know her?”

         “Of course. Very well even.”

         Giuseppe bit his lower lip and started thinking again. It must be someone quite distant, since it took quite some time for her to be remembered.

         A she, someone I know, should be dead.

         Someone that should be dead? I only knew men.

         …

         Or…

         “Sheesh, that woman… Are you alright, Frederich?”

         “…Kyrie?”

         “She’s alive,” Frederich said as he looked out with a smile. “Well, at least it looked like it.”

         “But…”

         “Hey, drop that attitude. I’m just fine.”

         “You know you just had a heart transplant, so you have to be careful! Don’t get too tired, don’t eat oily foods, don’t…”

         “You sound like my grandpa, Giuseppe.”

         “She… nearly killed you and ran!”

         Giuseppe sighed loudly as he sat back and took back his cup. Frederich only smiled as he sat down in front of his friend’s desk, then he looked out of the window again.

         “Did the two of you program it together?”

         “Yeah, she had the idea to do it, so we did,” Frederich answered as he looked out. He could feel his mind flew back to the time, the time when everything was still peaceful…

         “Well, I guess there’s no looking back now,” he said as he stood up. “And I can’t track where she is, too. Seems like she managed to change her ID or whatever.”

         “Try to.”

         “Well, of course. Besides, won’t it be good if I find her?”
         “…”

         Frederich turned to his friend and gave a smile, then he walked opened the door and walked out. Just when he walked out, he was almost struck, by a blonde man, whow as having a rather difficult time walking. He turned to the man, who has walked into the room. Giuseppe was startled – another shocking news for him – and walked to the man who just entered.

         “Marquis, what happened?”

         “Ah, I’m just fine, boss,” Marquis answered in a low voice. “But well, they got away with the doll.”

         The two older men quickly turned to him, their eyes as big as marbles.

         “…What?”

~•~

         KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

         Megan sighed loudly as she blinked her eyes a few times, to force them open.

         KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

         Her senses slowly came back to her as she felt took over her greatly. She sighed and took the alarm clock placed on the bedside table, which read 8:15 AM.

         Room service? I do wish they know I’ve only slept for three hours…”                                                                                                                                                                                                   

         She sighed and sat up, then she yawned once and walked to the door. She opened the door and forced a smile.

         “Morning.”

         “Morning,” a woman with blonde hair said. “I heard you don’t get much of a sleep.”

         “Of course I don’t,” Megan answered with a sigh. “Because I have to find some information, and well, you see. There are a lot of things in the database.”

         “Well, thanks,” the woman said. “Thanks about that. Now go have your sleep…”

         “It’s fine.” She smiled as she felt the spirit rose in her. She wanted to quickly finish what she started, then go back to have a good rest. “Let me tell you what I find. I have to destroy my IP I used, so I’ve copied it to my iPad. Here.”

         She pulled her guest in and closed the door, then she pressed a button which turned red and took an iPad covered with a black cover placed on the desk.

         “They have what we’re looking for, from what it looked like,” she said as she tapped the iPad a few times. “They call give it weird names – EVA something, ADE something…”

         “It’s protected information, right?”

         “Yes, but our jobs are always dirty.”

         She smiled as she handed the iPad to her friend. The blonde woman took it and looked at it for a while as Megan walked back to her bed.         

         “Marquis Redhorn?”

         “He’s the one who kept it,” Megan said with a smile. “Well, I guess it’s not that bad. Kill him, and we can get it.”

         “They could’ve told him to run with the doll to somewhere diddiccult, do you get what I mean?”

         “Well, if that does happen, let’s just track that Marquis guy. There’s a name, a face, and all needed is just a location. I can even hack the governmental services and…”

         “Hey, don’t, don’t.” That’s a bit too far, even for something you’re told to get. Better not do that unless there’s no other way, right?

         “So?”

         “We can do it the easy way,” the woman said. “Leave it to me, and well, you can take this as your vacation. Go somewhere you want, meet that idol of yours, what was his name again? Frederich? Just go, enjoy yourself.”

         “And for the rest?”

         “I can take care of it,” she said. “Just enjoy yourself.”

~•~

         “So they beated you up, left you unconscious, then ran away with the doll?”
         “Yes,” Marquis said with a sigh. “I’ve hidden the doll in my storage room, but well, they shot the lock and broke in…”

         “Let me see how fatal the wound is,” a man in white coat said. He had the stethoscope hanging from his neck and an ID card clipped on his beast pocket. Marquis didn’t resist – he started to unbutton his shirt as a nurse took the doctor’s tools.

         “Well… it’s quite fatal. You’ve given yourself emergency, I can see.”

         “Is it that serious?” Marquis asked. “Isn’t it just some bruises?”

         “But this bruise might affect your organs inside,” the doctor said. “But more than that, you looked fine…”

         “Ah, they hit my head,” Marquis said. “Can you please look at it, because it’s kinda painful even now…”

         “Oh, of course. What did they use to hit you?”

         “I… didn’t see, since I was hit from the back…”

         RIIIIIING

         Giuseppe turned from his friend, who was being treated by the experienced doctors, and picked up the ringing phone behind him. He could quickly hear the soprano voice of the friendly operator from the other side.

         “A call from the public line.”

         “Put me on.”

         There was silence for a while, but then he could hear some blurry sounds, like radio’s static, before a deep, serious voice took over.

         “We have the doll. Do you want it, or do you not?”

         Giuseppe turned to look at Marquis and smiled to him, then he turned back to the phone. Marquis quickly understood the expression and smiled, too. Must be something good.

         “Of course.”

         “Then you’d better stay put, or we’ll add another hole in her head. Just wait for the instructions.”