Nightswan

Chapter 33

- Alpha - 

Alpha paced back and forth in front of his desk, hands clasped behind his back with his eyes toward the cement floor. He didn't have time to deal with this today—nor did he particularly care. His real job made him want to tear his hair out, and now here he was, dealing with more underlings who begged for his time. With the recent expansion of the U.S. asylum program, fewer refugees were needing Total Eclipse's services, so the past two months had been anything but lucrative. They'd had to move their people via some more extended routes since TE's contacts within the Flight refused to give up the information regarding the Flight's operations. All of them said it'd be too obvious should something happen, and Alpha knew they were correct—even if he didn't want to acknowledge it.

With a knock on the door, his second-in-command entered. Bravo had a military cut very similar to Alpha's, except Bravo's hair was a lot darker. He had hazel eyes contrasted with Alpha's brown, and a scar from a past fight stretched from his temple to his jawline. The younger man sat in one of the wooden chairs in front of Alpha's desk while Alpha leaned against the desk with his arms and ankles crossed.

"This better be important," Alpha said.

"We have more information regarding Nightswan."

"Please tell me it's validated."

"By two of our sources."

Alpha waved his hand, signaling to Bravo that he should continue.

"Outside of the description which you've been given, we've learned he has a tattoo on his arm that's in a foreign language. He has a wife and a dog, and they live on the east side of Manhattan, near a park."

"There are plenty of people who have tattoos on their extremities, dogs, and wives—although that last fact is an interesting one indeed." Alpha rubbed under his chin. "If that's the best you can do, then get out of my face. I had other plans for the evening, and they did not involve dealing with you. You do realize that our profits are down fifteen percent?"

"I am well aware," Bravo said. "The tattoo looks to be Italian."

"Do you have anything else worthwhile. A name, maybe?"

"Haven't heard from our source on that," he said. "Just that his wife's name is also something foreign-sounding. 'Vasilda' or something of the sort. Source just referred to her as 'Vasi.'"

"What does our other source inside the Flight have to say on this information?"

"He's confirmed that rumors have spread among the Flight that Swan's got a girl, but Swan refuses to talk about it with anyone. Probably for good reason." Bravo snorted and moved one of his legs so he could rest an ankle on his knee.

"'Vasi,' huh?" Alpha rubbed under his chin again. There were only so many women in the world with names like that. He pulled out his phone and typed "Vasi" into a Google search. After a few moments, some tabloid articles popped up on Vasilisa Andino. Sister to Thaddeus Andino, who was the business mogul at the head of Andino Incorporated. Vasilisa's birth parents had passed away, but she was adopted into the Andino family via Thaddeus's older brother and his wife. She was present at the very private wedding ceremony for Thaddeus's marriage to Liliana Hamill. One article had one photo from the wedding—simply of the bride and groom, standing beneath an archway of white Christmas lights with the New York skyline behind them. No mention of the bridal party or any other guests, which Alpha found peculiar, but he was more interested in the fact that no tabloid had news of Vasilisa's marriage. It was like it had never happened.

How many "Vasilisas" were there in the world? Not many. Alpha zoomed in on a picture of her and studied her features—gorgeous girl, definitely. If he were years younger, even Alpha might've been tempted by her. He didn't have time for women, though, and he wouldn't for the foreseeable future. Which was perhaps unfortunate.