Sicarius

16.The dawn.

"The key to such power is ambiguity. In a society where the roles everyone plays are obvious, the refusal to conform to any standard will excite interest. Be both masculine and feminine, impudent and charming, subtle and outrageous. Let other people worry about being socially acceptable; those types are a dime a dozen, and you are after a power greater than they can imagine."

― Robert Greene.

Kaden.

I call Skylar as soon as i hang up my other phone call. i figured out how to get her out of florence even though i'll have to pull a favor. The girl did get me out of the country so i owe her that. "i said i'd call" i say almost whispering. This is not a secure line and i'd like to keep my words well chosen in case i need to explain them.

"You really can't live without me can you? I mean I miss you too but this is getting embarrassing. We haven't even been on a date" she says in a sarcastic manner. i smile to myself and looking out the window I speak carefully.

"I promise you a date once you're here with me. Now, to do that, you'll have to go to the docks and find Amandalina, she'll tell you what to do."

"i haven't seen her in a while, where is she?" she asks and with the code i already figured out, if anyone's listening, nothing out of the ordinary is going on here.

"let me get the phone number... wait" i say slowly and hope to hell  she's paying enough attention, that's all i can do, hope. i put the phone down on the table and tap with my pen on the glass window. tap hold tap tap. tap tap. tap tap tap hold. hold hold hold. tap hold tap. hold tap. hold hold hold.

"it's 479 Atlantis city" i make up an address off the top of my head, i make sure it's an absurd one. "the you get the city i said?"

"yes, i got it. remember that date, i expect payment." and with that she's gone. She knows Morse, so she knows to go to the Docks in Livorno and find a boat called amandalina, where a person who owes me will have their chance to pay up.

-------------------

For two days, surveillance is all i do. no one's figure out where i am yet and quite frankly i'm beginning to think Skylar's been caught. i shouldn't expect a smoke signal but when all i do is sit around watching and noting somebody i can't help but think. in the past two days i've collected a good deal of information, being as careful as humanly possible. this is the part of the job no one brags about. many gain a hell of a lot of weight while surveilling. at night, while the target sleeps i stay up, thinking of how to carry out this favor i owe for having Seymour pull Skylar across the border. he's got a shit ton of money, he owns a shipment company and transports cargo across continents be it by sea or land. really nice guy, can be a dick though. His daughter is arriving in Moscow tonight and it so happens that her escort service was recently attacked. Seymour thinks someone's out to kidnap her. I'm keeping an eye on her until Seymour makes it back to Moscow and his personal detail can take care of her. So.... i guess i'm just babysitting. i get in the car i rented for a whole week, a BMW M6, fully loaded with enough ammunition, should the case arise. i go to the airport and wait with my head down until i see the 13 year old walk along with her body guard to me. i shake hands with the man who thanks me for helping out when they're low on man power.

i can't drive them to my hotel so i drive straight to their private home, 46 minutes north. Inside the house i check every entrance, every alarm, every security camera and stay up for another 2 hours while the girl and her bodyguard sleep.

at exactly 4 in the morning i get a call from Seymour. "your daughter's safe" i announce.

"good, your little girlfriend is giving me a fight and doesn't want me to take her to the address you gave me and i'm not about to get my balls smashed again. she left 10 minutes ago"