2

2

         Moscow, 0900 hours

         It was just another peaceful day in the busy office, placed in the heart of the country. It was a place where all the mighty people come and do their work – dirty ones or not.

         But for trainees, doing dirty jobs are unnecassary. At least, that’s what their naïve ideology said. Some of them just sit around in the front, waiting for the others to come and they will handle their absent or sort.

         “Ah…”

         And today’s trainee could see a blonde man walking towards him with a woman in military clothes. Who cares who she was, knowing the man should be enough.

         “Ivan…”

         The blonde man quickly noticed his acquaintance sitting behind the absent desk, and crossed a finger on his lips. The woman turned to him, confused.

         “You two know each other?”
         “Eh… It’s not really that. I was testing him back then.”

         “Oh.” They arrived in front of the table and the woman put a thumb on a screen. A small LED lamp gave a green blink – she must’ve been identified. The trainee nodded slightly to her with a thin smile as she turned to him.

         “So Ivan tested you. Did you pass?”
         “Ah… yes,” the trainee said as he looked away, in fear to look at her eyes. Usually people do that for respect, or because they were facing someone very powerful.

         So the woman should be powerful.

         “Is he good, Van?”

         “Not bad for someone who didn’t come out from a military school,” Ivan answered. “A bit more training and he’ll be about my capability…”

         “Oh,” she said. “I was hoping that he’ll surpass you with a little training.”

         “…”

         She turned to the trainee, who was now afraid, and gave a smile before she walked away. Ivan quickly followed her until she showed him the back of her hand as she walked away. He quickly stopped and turned to the trainee.

         “Idiot!” The trainee quickly got something hard on his head from his senior. He quickly turned to him with a sour face.

         “What?”

         “You’ve misbehaved badly!” Ivan complained. “That woman, you don’t know who she is?”

         “Someone from here…”

         “That’s obvious!”

         Ivan grabbed his junior’s collar and started to shout on his face. As usual, juniors get abused, but this time for a different reason…

         “She’s a first rank agent, Georgia Polanski.”

         Oh. A first rank…

         Eh? Wait?

                                                   ~•~
         KNOCK KNOCK

         “Excuse me.” Georgia opened the heavy mahogany door and peeked in. She could quickly see a man with thin hair sitting behind a huge black oak desk. His face had some wrinkles, marking his journey in life, and a few strips of his hair lost their colour. Standing next to him was a younger man, but still old, who was pouring some coffee out of a metal jug. The old man quickly turned to her with a smile.

         “Ah, finally, Georgia,” he said as he stood up. His legs were still strong despite being rusted by age – must be the result of some training and excercises. “I’m expecting you.”

         “You want to see me, sia?”

         “Why, of course,” he said as he turned to his assistant. “Can you leave us for a moment, Felix?”

         “Yes.”

         The man nodded obediently and walked out of the room. Georgia entered the room and stood a few steps from the desk, in a very composed manner. He looked at her for a while, then he looked out of the window mounted just behind him. From there, he could see the streets of Moscow, which were growing empty as everyone was already at work. Georgia looked at him for a while, then she sighed silently. Waiting is always boring…

         “Something you want to talk about with me?”

         “Actually,” the man said as he glanced back at her. “It’s about Joseph.”

         “…”

         She quickly felt her heart flinced a little, but of course she didn’t show it at all. She kept her expressionless face as she smiled.

         “I’m all ear.”

         “You know, he’s a good boy,” the old man said with a slight sigh. “Very skilled, very fast, blends himself easily, very caring. The kind of perfect gentleman.”

         “Yes.”

         “That was why he got promoted so easily,” he said as he took out something from his pocket. “You remember when you were in the forest for the test with him? You were extraordinary, so was him and… who’s the other one?”
         “Vladimir Nekrósky.”

         “Ah, yes. Nekrósky.” He turned out to be taking out a long, thick cigar. He then took a lighter from the table and lit it. “I’m too old now – I can’t remember too many faces.” Yeah, and it should be thanks to his smoking habit.

         “Too bad, you’re the only one left.”

         “…”

         “How about each of us keep two of the doll, that way, we will always remember each other no matter where we are!”

         …Remember each other… huh?

         She could feel the emotion building up inside her, but she didn’t show it on her face. That’s what being an agent takes – you have to hide everything.

         “Is there anything else?”

         “Not really,” the old man said as he turned to her – finally. “There’s just a small favor I want to ask from you.”

         “Then…” She gave the best smile she could give at that time, even if she wasn’t feeling that great inside. “I’d love to help as much as I can.”

~•~

         KNOCK KNOCK

         “Giuseppe,” a blonde man called as he opened the door. “Am I being called?”

         “Why, yes, of course,” another blonde man said as he looked up to the man who just entered. “Marquis, sit down.”

         Marquis closed the door, then he sat down in front of a seemingly heavy desk. Giuseppe looked at the man sitting in front of him as he smiled.

         “Mission.”

         “Great,” Marquis said with a smile. “Leave it to me.”

~•~

         “Think about it, Georgia.”

         “Sa.”

         She closed the door and heaved a silent sigh of relief, but the relief didn’t last long.

         “Georgia.”

         “Oh,” she quickly turned, not showing any expression. AS if it was just something normal and not surprising, when any other person could’ve fainted from a heart attack. The brown haired man sighed and looked away.

         “Sheesh, I was expecting a better reaction…”

         “You want me to go ‘kyaaa’ or anything like that?” she asked with a cold voice. “Dream on.”

         The man gave her a cold look, then he shook his head with a sigh. Some women are sometimes, unbelievable scary, indeed.

         But, aren’t all women?

         “Not really. Just, maybe… a little talk.”

         “A bit talk?” Georiga looked at her workmate for a while, confused. This could sometimes mean as a trap, but women should be able to look through it. Sometimes there are things necessary to be talked about, after all.

         “Fine.”

         “A walk?”

         “Can you do it quickly?”

         “Fine,” he sighed as he took out something from his pocket. Perhaps she was still suspicious, even if there was really something to talk about. She watched him patiently as he searched for something in his jacket’s pockets, until he finally took out something.

         A doll. A small, small doll, no bigger than the palm of her hands, carved out of wood. It had the shape of a girl with straight brown hair, wearing a black dress. It didn’t take her long to notice what it really was.

         “A karakuri. What’s with that?”

         “A gift,” he said. “From Merlin and Dimitri.”

         She looked at it for a while, examining the details. Her eyes were painted black, and the lips were straight, giving it an impression of an expressionless doll. Like how dolls should be, right?

         “They should’ve given it themselves.”

         “If you’re wondering how frightful you are,” the man said. “That much, until Dimitri didn’t even dare to see you.”

         “Oh, really?” She took it from him and looked at it for a while. Perhaps the doll was being expressionless after all, but there was something she liked from it.

         Innocence… or to be precise, blankness. An unexplainable blankess, shining from the doll’s eyes. She gave a thin smile and grabbed it.

         “Give them my thanks.”

         “Of course,” he said as he turned to the door and opened it. “See you later.”

         “Later.”

         He opened the heavy door as she walked away, until he suddenly stepped back and turned to her. He must’ve forgotten something.

         “Oh, I almost forgot,” he said with a smile, happy to have remembered it. “They said, ‘don’t turn into one’.”