Scene 4

They didn’t have to walk far. Anicka’s flat was a stone’s throw from the cathedral. As they approached it, making their way through the throng of tourists, Robin cheerfully turned his head towards Anicka and announced:

“We’re almost there!”

He winked.

“Oh, I see,” she answered sardonically. “You’re religious fanatics.”

He laughed as he waited for a lull in the crowd.

“Sort of. But not the kind that meet in a cathedral.”

Anicka followed him as he guided her around the entrance of the cathedral and towards the row of pubs standing in its shadow. For a moment, she thought they would go farther through the alley that parted the buildings, but Robin walked straight towards the Blue Mozzetta.

“Ok, this is a joke, right? I don’t want to become a bartender.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t.”

He cleared a passage through the closely packed tables in the front, but no matter how careful he was, he nudged the chair of a large man, who promptly spilled his drink.

Anicka was following close behind, but she stopped dead as the man started to look furiously around in order to find the culprit.

“Lady! Watch where you walk!”

“It wasn’t me! It was him!” she exclaimed, pointing at Robin. He had turned around, his arms folded across his chest, looking smug.

“Nice try!” the man replied.

“But…” Anicka started.

“He can’t see me,” Robin whispered confidentially.

Anicka looked at him in horror. This was turning into a class-A hallucination.

“Come on,” Robin beckoned and she entered inside after him. She had been here before, once or twice, but didn’t particularly know or like the place. Her drinking days were over. She followed Robin up the stairs, towards the tiny first floor that only boasted two tables, which were full at the moment. Different faces turned casually towards her. They seemed to be looking straight through Robin.

The toilet doors were small and unobtrusive. People’s attention died down when she hurried towards them in Robin’s wake. He opened the door to the men’s room and waited for her.

“Don’t worry, nobody’ will see you next time.”

She wanted to say something, make a sarcastic comment, slap him and run away… but she didn’t. This whole thing was too damn strange. She swallowed audibly and went in after him.

She barely got a glimpse of the ancient wooden walls and the smell of the room, when the door closed behind her and everything changed.

Anicka felt a warm breeze breathe through her hair. Suddenly the sun was shining in her eyes, and she blinked, hard. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

A beach. A frigging tropical beach. There were palm trees and hammocks and clean white sand; the blue-green water lapped quietly at the shore, it’s surface glittering with thousands of silver diamonds reflecting the rays of the afternoon sun.

Anicka’s pinched her thigh viciously, hoping to dispel all this nonsense.

“You’re not dreaming,” said Robin, amused.

She turned towards him, mouth agape. His elegant clothing stood out, odd in this holiday picture.

“What the…”

“It’s a gift for us. One of the bonuses.”

“Wealthy boss?” she joked feebly.

Robin grinned.

“The richest. Come on, Leo should be in.”

He turned to the right, towards a small house covered with bright-green vines sporting crimson flowers. The windows had no glass and the door was just an empty frame. Mesmerized, she stooped for the low entrance and stepped inside.

A man was sitting on a low couch, frowning at what looked like a pane of glass in his hand.

“Leo, may I present the new arrival?” Robin announced cheerfully.

“No time,” Leo mumbled, not bothering to look up. He swiped over the glass as if it were a tablet of some sort. “Youssef is going to spill the beans.”

“What? Man these IS guys must have gotten to him!”

“Yeah. Irony is he’s going to try to frame us as terrorists.”

“But he’s got no chance…”

Leo put the tablet down on the table in front of him and looked up.


“It doesn’t matter. If we get targeted, we’ll be followed. What do you think will happen when agents see us disappear at the entrance of the pub?”

“Holy shit.”

Leo nodded.

“Worse case scenario, Youssef brings some evidence that can be interpreted the wrong way. But these days, with the fear of terrorism at every corner, one witness is more than enough to raise suspicion and hinder our work.”

Robin passed a hand through his hair, grimacing.

“What do we do?”

“We go talk to him. Now. Though we could really use Mia on this one.”

“Shit, it’s her free day!”

“I know, and I’m not calling her in unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

“Where’s my brother?”

Leo raised an eyebrow.

“Where do you think he is?”

“Frigging hell, he’s obsessed.” Robin murmured, sighing. “You can’t get hold of him?”

Leo shrugged.

“He’s not paying enough attention to his thoughts.”

“No matter, he’s not very good at persuasion anyway. At least not the mental kind.”

Anicka was frowning, trying to make some sense of all this mumbo-jumbo. She refrained from pinching herself, though she was sure this couldn’t be real. What kind of frustrations was she processing with this dream?

Leo gathered his coat from the couch and headed past her without a glance. Intercepting the furious stare she threw at his back, Robin exclaimed:

“We should take Anicka with us. She’s a greed-eater, she could be useful.”

Leo turned around, frowning.

“I doubt Youssef is after money and besides, she can’t go anywhere until she’s taken the oath.”

“You’re not leaving me here!” Anicka cried out.

“You’ll be perfectly safe,” Leo assured her.

She defiantly put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

“I know nothing of you guys, I don’t understand any of this fairytale stuff, and you are afraid you’ll be framed as terrorists! I won’t bloody listen to you!”

Leo sighed, looking terribly annoyed.

“We don’t have time for this. We’ll explain everything when we get back, I promise.”

Anicka stamped her foot, irritation flooding through her.

“The hell you will. I’m coming with you.”

An impatient scowl appeared on Leo’s face.

“Listen, young lady. You haven’t taken the oath, you’re not going anywhere.”

“I don’t care!”

“I’ll make you stay!” Leo shouted, eyes aflame.

Anicka opened her mouth to protest, but Robin forestalled her, putting a hand on Leo’s arm.

“Remember your own oath, man. Never against our own.”

“She isn’t one of us, yet,” Leo said between his teeth.

“Come on, man, she’s as dedicated as any of us, you should have seen her place. You read her file, didn’t you?”

Before Anicka had any time to inquire what file, what was in it, and how they got it, Leo shook his head, capitulating.

“Fine, you’re coming!”

He took a step to the door, then turned back, pointing a menacing finger at her.

“But you’ll keep your mouth shut and let us do our work!”

“Fine!” Anicka snapped and followed them out the door, fulminating.

Behind the house, six wooden chairs were anchored in the sand in pairs of two, all facing one huge palm tree in front of them. She looked from the chairs to the tree, but didn’t see why anyone would want to sit staring at it, let alone six people seated as in a classroom. Was the tree going to start talking? She thought she wouldn’t be surprised if it did.

“Robin, you take the back?” Leo said. “I suppose I’ll have to explain a few things on the way to Miss Impatient here.”

“Me? Impatient? Why don’t you…”

“Sure thing!” Robin asserted loudly. He took a seat on the second row and grinned, like a guy holding a bag of popcorn while watching something particularly entertaining. Anicka glowered at him and then at Leo, who had taken the left front chair. He motioned at the seat next to him.

“Well, are you coming?”

“Oh, bloody hell,” she spat and sat down, reluctantly. Before she could ask how in the name of god these chairs were going to transport them wherever they needed to be, Leo extracted a car key from his pocket and made a motion in the air as if to ignite the engine of a car.

Anicka blinked, and then they were in a real car. Muzak was flowing eerily outside. They were stationed in an underground parking lot. As they drove out, she could make out the sign: “Parking Greenplace”. They were back in the city.