"Pavel, I owe you one. The other night the kids were so delighted to have had you as a baby sitter...Have you got anything on tomorrow night?" asked Anna.
"Should I come dressed or..."
"Pavel, we’re going to dinner together in a public place, besides it is not that hot, they would arrest you...how about the Lebanese restaurant… Koura...that was the name, wasn’t it?"
"Yes. I love Lebanese food…and afterwards, what will we do?"
"When?"
"After the restaurant."
"Would you like to go to the cinema?"
Pavel sighed. It was useless, he thought to himself, he’d just pretend he hadn't heard that.
"I was imagining a close encounter of the fourth kind..." he said hopefully to Anna.
"Professor Doko, you always let your imagination run wild. The babysitter stays until midnight and then she has to go...even if Spock from Star Trek were to materialize in front of me, I would not accept his gallant company. I have a long and troublesome history with men and you, even if you are my best friend, are no exception," Anna said, laughing.
"What a pain in the neck you are!” said Pavel. “You could at least say we'll see what might happen. If there isn’t an earthquake, an invasion of locusts or a volcanic eruption in the streets of Sofia...we could try. I'll pick you up at 8:00 o’clock, my dear. Wear a tight dress, high heels and no lipstick: I'll try to kiss you when you least expect it!"
"Goodbye Pavel, see you tomorrow!"
"Goodbye to you, beautiful lady."
After the conversation, Pavel sent Mark another text message:
"QSX happy to hear from u. QRV dispatch tomorrow."
54
"Who is Stefano Allegri to you?" Jago C. Green asked Anaïs curiously.
"Mind of your own business, Green!" the woman replied bluntly.
"Why does the Italian architect of Lausanne want to see you?"
"Really! Shut up. It's my business, and the next time you eavesdrop behind the door I will get violent, just like two years ago with one difference. I am now a trained agent and you are a tame lab rat."
"It's not a personal matter, Anaïs. You are part of this organization and procedures require you to declare the people you frequent regularly; they could endanger you and the mission. Why isn’t he on file?"
"Simply because we have not seen each other in nine years, that's it. Have you got any news about Savannah from the informants?"
"The cameras have taken pictures of him at the station in New York City at night. He definitely took a train, but we don't know where to. You need to evaluate all the departures in a two-hour time span and look for a connection between his life and a probable route of escape...it will not be that easy; Interpol has issued his photo to all member countries but there have been no matches so far. He’s not stupid; he hasn’t passed through the airports, or used his credit cards."
"What about the autopsy on Reed’s son? Did they find anything useful?"
"Not for our purposes... So, who is Allegri?"
"The file with the complete psychological profile and biography of Savannah,” snapped Anaïs, ignoring Jago’s question with a sneer. “The file with new details from the British Secret Intelligence Service. Where is it? You promised to get it for me!"
"Here it is, but I'll only give it to you if you tell me who that guy is."
"My ex-boyfriend. At that time I was attending college, is that enough? And why he wants to see me again after so long? I don’t know. Among other things we parted badly, I was fed up with his “perhaps” and his “buts”; he was too attached to his mother’s apron strings and besides he hated mountains...and I love them. Satisfied?
“As you may have heard,” continued Anaïs, “I’m meeting him when I return to New York to look for Savannah...and I'll tell you this: I intend to see his girlfriend, the model. Maybe she can give me a lead, even if she will surely not know anything."
"When are you planning on going? You’re still in a bad shape."
"I'm leaving in three days and now, with your help, I want to get up and try to figure out where I am and what Biosketch Technologies Inc. does."
"Colonel Reed gave me strict orders not to let you move."
"I don't give a shit about Reed’s orders. As far as I know, "Transtem 1.1" is of public interest and is followed by the media. I’m very interested in scientific projects, what's wrong with that?...And who, if not you, can explain the company and its scientific activities to me? Or does Reed have something serious to hide? Why call me here and not to headquarters. Strange, don't you agree?"
"Exactly, but you can’t go anywhere; you stay here and you get some rest." Jago said, knowing he was lying.
SkylineP92 got out of bed; Green saw that she became suddenly pale and caught her.
"Anaïs, stop being stubborn, you’re still weak. You might pass out."
"Jago, I'm all sore, that’s true, but please help me get dressed. I cannot think of leaving this place in three days without regaining the ability to walk."
With grace and without malice, Anaïs took off her shirt and stood naked in front of the hacker, who immediately took a bra and a pair of panties from the cabinet with an astonished look.
"Thank you," said SkylineP92. "While you're there, could you also pass me my clothes? Don’t tell me you are embarrassed after you almost undressed me in the forest. Don't look at me that way!” Anaïs laughed at Green. “Thanks. Now please help me put on the T-shirt and sweater...slowly...what terrible pain. OK OK. I can manage with the pants...here goes..."
"Are you happy now?" asked Green.
"Not at all, give me the details on the "Transtem 1.1" project. I have a lot of things to learn before I go..."
"What? You’re leaving?"
"I asked to be transferred to Mayer’s astrophysics department. I want to lock myself into the universe and study in an ivory tower; I don’t enjoy being a secret agent anymore and I have no one to share my emotions with...so it's better to rationalize them in frequencies and binary codes watching the stars."
"Look SkylineP92, I’ll give you a quick tour at lunch time to avoid the cameras, the staff will be in the cafeteria, but on one condition: you have to pilot a plane for me. I would like to fly with someone that I'm seeing this weekend, and I have to tell you frankly that I want to have sex with her."
"Always straight to the point, eh!” said Anaïs. “OK, agreed, and where does this person live?"
"Santa Fe, my idea is to meet her at the Santa Fe airfield and take her for a scenic ride. Afterwards you’ll leave us on the ground and return back alone. You organize the details, the aircraft rental and fuel is on me."
"Okay Jago, now give me the Savannah file, then come and get me when the staff are in the cafeteria. I know something about the project, so be ready, I'll have lots of questions for you."
Jago C. Green left Mark Savannah’s dossier on her bed and returned to his office.
Anaïs put the documents on the table, then sat down and began to read them.
After about an hour she had a clear picture of the former British agent’s psychological profile and she was sure he would not stay hidden for long; he was a resolute and active guy and therefore he would have find a way to quickly re-enter and remain in the world of the living.
‘You’re really a complex subject Savannah, based on what I've read I really don’t understand you at all: you are a cold, cynical and self-centered person. You have been trained to carry out the bloodiest of tasks, you have a terrific curriculum vitae that would dwarf anyone here at the CIA, but you did not kill me, instead you intentionally left the knots loose and the keys to the garage in plain sight.
‘However, Colonel Reed is right: we’re very similar, we have the same IQ, problems relating to the opposite sex, we’re stubborn, independent and we don't care too much for discipline, rules or the established order, and we don’t recognize authority, especially if it is not up to its task, and you love to fly. Well, maybe you also like mountai
ns. Why have I failed with you? I've been cursing myself since I came here. I absolutely have to go back to visit Aisha and resume hunting...’Anaïs had not finished thinking this through when Jago entered the room.
"SkylineP92, we have to go, we have only a short time." Jago C. Green came and took her gently by the arm, "Do you feel like walking? Do you still feel dizzy?"
"I'm fine, let's go. Take me to the laboratories Jago. I have a badge to access all corridors, so I can move freely in those areas."
Seven minutes later they were in the laboratory that produced the scaffold: Anaïs was glued to the wall in the only corner that escaped the eye of the camera, while Green simulated a routine inspection.
Everything on the production line was automated and ended with the special packaging of the scaffold, which was then conveyed to a special refrigerated warehouse.
On the way out SkylineP92 asked Green, "How many people work here?"
"No one, it’s all run by the central unit that runs the entire production process; every hour a technician enters to do several quality control checks on the product and to make sure that there are no problems or interruptions in the production procedures."
"Interesting, did you develop the software?"
"Yes, with my team that, for obvious reasons, you cannot meet.”
“In a moment we will enter the second laboratory, the doors you will see on each side of the corridor are hospital rooms, the operating rooms, the infirmary, the stockroom for medicines and the refrigerated vault-warehouse."
"Vault?"
"We work on mesenchymal stem cells and the new tailor-made tissue must be kept with the scaffold in safe conditions before being transplanted in order to avoid any form of industrial espionage. Here we’re! I’ll enter now, you enter when the camera moves away from door. The blind spot is to the side of the blue cabinet, you have to go straight there and nowhere else."
Anaïs came in and flattened herself against a laboratory cabinet: she saw that there was also a customized production line for each tissue in this second lab.
They s less than three minutes and then they went out to the corridor again.
"Is this area managed by the central unit?" asked Anaïs.
"Yeah, although three technicians carry out quality and production controls every half hour, it takes five weeks to get a tissue ready for transplantation."
"Have you ever had problems with transplant patients?"
"No, thank God. Only an extremely low percentage of cases following the transplant had minor infections that were quickly eradicated with a drug cocktail. Our patients are followed by accredited university hospitals located in different states, and each patient is equipped with a tablet to which we download the applications for his or her daily monitoring from our server. The patient diary is a communications application that enables the patient to stay in constant contact with the hospital and with our scientific team."
"What I’ve seen is really impressive. Well done, Jago."
"It was the Colonel’s idea. He has been trying to get government funding for many years. I owe a lot to him. Among other things, we’re also ready to launch tailor-made production on an industrial scale. We’re now able, through the automation of the culture processes, to put at least one thousand customized tissues into production every day. Do you realize what that means?” asked Green.
Anaïs nodded slowly.
“How about a bite to eat?” asked Green.
"Sure, I'm hungry. Let's go eat."
55
Anna had insisted on going first to the cinema and then to dinner at the Lebanese restaurant in Dr Peter Beron Street.
At 9:00 pm, they were sitting at Koura and eating lamb Kibbee with chopped corn and hummus and the traditional chickpeas.
"You know Pavel, I didn’t find the movie very interesting. I was expecting more considering the reviews, the plot was obvious by the end of the first half. First the guy rejects her and so he loses her, then he searches for her around the world like a crazy guy and finally he saves her from prostitution..."
"Actually, I didn't like it much either, though the actors were amazing and the photography was very poetic; even when it showed horrible and violent images."
"Have you ever fallen in love with a prostitute?" asked Anna.
"What a strange question. No, I’ve never frequented them and, quite frankly, it makes me feel a little creepy. But I know a Greek angiologist who is eighty years old and very famous who married one forty years ago. They have two children and only a few close friends know their true story. I have known him for many years; unfortunately, we see each other very little as he moved to Ireland to be close to his eldest son."
"I’m very curious. Could you tell me something about them?"
"Every night when returning from the hospital, he had seen her walking on the sidewalk, this was back in the sixties. During the day she worked as a waitress at the port of Athens and in the evening she was a prostitute in the upper city, beneath the Acropolis.
“She was always elegant and beautiful and the only thing that betrayed her real job was her not so ambiguous postures and the fact that she strolled up and down the street.
“One evening he saw her refusing a proposal from a truck driver, and instead accepting one from a man who had come out of a tailor's shop who he recognized immediately: it was his neighbor, a married man with three young children. Do you know what a scandal that was at the time, the angiologist could not get her out of his head and she became an obsession for him, so he decided to talk to his friend who visited her every Wednesday, he wanted to know everything about her.
“On his way to work one morning he stopped his neighbor with an excuse. After he had sworn not to tell anyone about his meetings with the woman, the man told him that she was very sensitive and he was not ashamed to pay her because she made him very happy. So my friend got his courage up and one evening and tried too… after six months he asked her to marry him. To avoid gossip and scandals, he asked to be transferred to Germany and they moved to Mainz."
"She got very lucky. I wonder if she did it for money or for love," Anna said with an air of doubt.
"They have been together for forty years, Anna. However it works, and this is important. It is not too late, what would you like to do now?"
"Could you offer me a nice herbal tea at home. Have you got an infusion set?"
"Sure! I’ll pay the bill and we can go," Pavel said, he could not believe his ears.
When Anna went into Doko’s room at the university hostel, which in fact was a studio apartment, she was astonished by the order and cleanliness with which Pavel took care of his kingdom.
"Pavel, you always manage to amaze me, what a neat apartment you have! Tell me where I can find the herbal tea, I am going to prepare it."
"In the first cabinet, thanks. The kettle is in front of you."
Anna boiled the water and then poured it into two cups in which she had put filters.
A few minutes later, while they were sitting on the couch, talking about this and that, she stood up to take the cups, she put her cup on the table and sat down next to Pavel and came near to his lips, saying, "Maybe it's too hot, would you prefer these?"
"Anna, look, if you are doing this because I've done you a favor, let it be. I don’t want your pity…what was in the hummus?"
"You're so nasty, come here and shut up."
Anna began to kiss him and put her hand in his pants that she had wisely unfastened.
Pavel, amazed, unbuttoned the top three buttons of her blouse without parting from her tongue and squeezed her left nipple between his fingers as he slid his right hand between her thighs.
All of a sudden, as he sank his face beneath the mount of Venus, it was as if a spell had suddenly been broken, she jumped up and said, "Pavel, I'm sorry I cannot do this. It's late, I’ve gotta go."
"And you leave me in this state?"
“The babysitter leaves at midnight, can you take me home or shall I take a
taxi?"
Pavel stood up, he refastened his pants slowly and without looking at her face, he went into the bathroom to wash his face then took his coat and the keys to the car.
They did not speak the whole way and when they stopped in front of her house, Anna said, "Thank you, I'm sorry, I…I'll call you tomorrow."
"Goodbye," said Pavel abruptly. He felt a sharp discomfort in his legs and at the same time in his soul. "Do as you like, to be honest right now I don’t care, you surpassed all limits tonight. I'm not your personal toy."
Anna looked into his distraught eyes, she had not done it on purpose, but once again Pavel was the shoulder for her to cry on, not a man to make love with.
She pushed open the door of the car and headed for the front door. Pavel watched her go in and then went home to take a cold shower.
56
Early the next morning, Pavel was still in a bad mood, so he decided to go to his bunker to finish the new smartphone for Mark.
He was hard at it till late morning. Finally, everything was ready, working properly and tested: he packed it and sent it anonymously by courier to the Dallas address.
Pavel decided not to talk to Anna that day.
57
At eight o'clock in the morning, finally rested, Mark arrived on the third floor of the Southwestern County Medical Center. He was thinking about the fact that he would no longer become a famous psychiatrist and that he did not care at all; instead he was worried because he had no intention of hiding his entire life under special surveillance like Davis in Argentina.
The issue was very complex, not only because he had to resolve the problem of Colonel Reed, who wanted to flush him out and kill him, but he would also have to rehabilitate himself with the British secret intelligence service and avoid ending up in some extremist unit at the agency that would happily make use of him for espionage operations or worse.
Black Hawk Day Rewind: An action packed spy thriller (Mark Savannah Espionage Series Book 1) Page 12
