See author notes below the chapter!
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"Alexander, do you read me? Alexander? Do you copy? Alexander? Alex, do you copy? Alex?" Rodion is currently sitting under a foldable, red umbrella. He was in front of the triangular signage of LAVO: ITALIAN RESTAURANT. Located was the restaurant at the upper level of the hotel's main entrance. He had his hair gripped to make it seem he was crazy or, overthinking stuff. But he was actually hiding himself using his arms, so he could try to contact Alexander.
Unbeknownst to him, Alexander is currently... busy.
Rodion huffs, "Alex? Can you read me? Who's doing 'this' to you? Alex? Hey, seriously, no joking around. Speak, goddamn it. Alexa-!"
And, shortly after, that's where he realized he disrupted the public. He flinched and turned to him when an old lady hollered on a table next to his.
"Oy! Can you keep it down?! I am trying to do some work here! Go and act somewhere else if you are practicing for a play! Your acting is terrible, sir." The white-haired American elder jabs at Rodion with her walking stick. She wore a pink blouse with a light pair of pants and sat under the umbrella outside the casino. She grunted and goes back to her papers and coins.
Rodion stared at the old woman for a moment then sighed in relief, "I am... very sorry, ma'am, uh, do you need anything?-"
The old woman only grunts. She ignores Rodion and keeps counting her pennies and quarters. He studies her table, noticing a pile of US dollar bills piled up beside a folded New York Times magazine. The heading read: "Okinawa reports small virus outbreak in a resort." The magazine has a colored picture of what seems to be a raw image from a witness. It features several ill students being aided by the unaffected. Rodion read the heading and thought, "Could be another underhanded Crimson Chamber strike." He checked again, then notices the date of publishing - August 4, 2022.
Rodion felt something off with the news.
An assault on a group of students, only requiring a 'programmable disease' that targeted a small group on a remote resort in Okinawa Island, Japan. Strange, huh?
He began to contemplate the magazine's headline and thought, 'This was six years ago... huh. I remember we took the year off in 2022. As long as we did not try anything funny that opposes the explicit rules of the Crimson Chamber, we would be okay. But this... this is haunting. Who would assault a group of students with a 'programmable virus'? Guess they adapted Hobbs and Shaw's CT-17 Snowflake virus and... I'll just go. I have been standing here for too long.' He sighed, giving up as he rises then places the chair under the table, before walking away from the old woman. Mixed thoughts had bombarded his mind as he did.
The old woman was counting her pennies in silence. So, when she senses the Russian man walk away, she pauses then glances at him. She gazes at the light traffic flowing on South Las Vegas Boulevard. She lowered the pennies in her palm and looks behind her, noticing a man. He looked to be in his mid-40s, and he gets up while wearing a clingy t-shirt, blue shorts, and boat shoes. He wears a pair of aviators as he strides between the occupied and unoccupied tables.
He passes by the old woman. The moment he was ahead of her, he slips his hand behind his waist and holds up four fingers. Four? What did he mean? Why were four fingers raised?
'Four minutes. Rodion Ivanovich is here,' the 'old woman' stared at the four fingers before he dropped them. He strode away as he trails Rodion, without a sound. To blend in and hide, he sometimes pauses and pulls out his phone, acting as if he's texting someone.
YOU ARE READING
SIBERIAN TIGER
AksiDuring his childhood, Rodion Ivanovich is abducted from his normal life and is given to the KGB to become one of their deadliest weapons. But when he grows older, he somehow finds his salvation and plots to obliterate his new past along with new al...
