Seeing no sign of a tail, Lena decided to relax on this unimportant corner for a moment. She watched Red-hat walk down the street, stopping to greet a young lady, then again stopping to pet a dog. After a moment, he moved forward again, only to stop and look in a local store. Seeing something he liked, apparently, he walked in, and Lena lost sight of him, “Dammit.” she thought, they always took forever in these stores.
She leaned against a wall, smoking her cigarette. It wouldn’t have been that big of an issue, truly; she had smokes and she was tightly bundled against the occasional chill, but she had been cooling her heels out in the open air for, what, almost an hour and a half now? She wanted to get moving and get this meeting over with. In an effort try and stave off the chill and boredom alike, she resolved to people-watch some more. It was an easy conclusion to come to, since it was what she was supposed to be doing, anyways.
She watched another old couple, a younger man reading a newspaper across the street, a few girls skipping rope a block away, and a young woman taking artsy photos with an old camera down an alleyway. Nothing out-of-the ordinary. A few more minutes passed, and then a few more. The old couple had finally moved on, as had the girls skipping rope and most others who were out for the day. The man reading the newspaper still sat there… but why wouldn’t he? He was reading. The young woman was still taking her artsy photos of the cracks in the wall, “Artists,” Lena smirked to herself, ignoring the fact that she did similar things as well.
Red-hat finally exited the store with a brown bag of goods under his arm, and began walking back down the street. He had a gift for fading into the crowd, and Lena admired his ability to do so. She allowed him roughly a block-and-a-half of headway before she began slowly traipsing after him. But as she did, she took one glance at where the man reading the newspaper was slowly folding his newspaper and standing. “Gotcha,” Lena thought.
She did the best she could to curb her excitement as she switched gears. She wasn’t 100% sure that this man was following Red-hat, but he was by far the most solid lead. She only needed a few more signs, and she had her man. After a few blocks of Red-hat ambling down the street, and Lena moseying slowly after while watching Newspaper-guy do the same, Red-hat finally stopped for a breather. “Come on…” she thought. “Come on… give me another sign.” Just a moment later and Newspaper-man stopped as well, to look at a particularly interesting crack in a nearby wall.
“Yes!” Lena thought, that was all the proof she needed. Granted, she was supposed to wait for three signs, but knowing herself, she had likely missed one. Suddenly, she realized that her shoe was magically in need of re-tightening (these things happen, after all). Bending over to take a few moments, she noticed Red-hat, just a few blocks ahead, take off his black-fedora and inspect it for cleanliness, “That’s the signal.” Lena cheered at herself; she would no doubt get kudos for her progression. As if sensing her pride, Newspaper-man happily pumped a fist in the air, cheering for her benefit, before disappearing inside of a nearby store. “It’s going to be a good day,” Lena congratulated herself.
Lena slid into a booth at Dritte, on 6th Street. She picked one near the back and away from the windows to provide her and the one meeting her some measure of control of the room. It was just easier to see anyone entering and where everyone was choosing to sit just in case it surreptitiously correlated with them. She knew it was highly unlikely at this juncture, but the future could hold a very different set of circumstances, so she may as well get used to it. Unfortunately, an older woman with a headscarf was sitting in the furthest-back booth, reading a book, so Lena couldn’t get the absolute best option. It wasn’t really all that important, just so long as security was assured.
Soon enough, Red-hat and Patrick entered and slid into the booth across from her. In his typical sardonic tone, Patrick congratulated her on her success.
“I guess you don’t suck as much as you used to,” he smirked. “Keep it up and we’ll make a master out of you yet.”
“What, I’m not already?”
“Oh yes,” Patrick laughed. “Basically. I mean, between that time you exercised one of the three skills you have correctly, and the fifty times you didn’t, you’re basically me with tits.”
“Mean.” Lena pouted.
The three made idle conversation for about fifteen minutes. In truth, Patrick and Lena talked, while Red-hat stared out the window, and occasionally laughed under his breath. She couldn’t tell if he was being snide or just not amused in general. After a few more moments, Patrick decided to get down to brass tax.
“So, here’s how this is going to go,” he said, switching to a more serious tone. “Grandfather wants to meet with you in a few days.”
“Awesome!” Lena exclaimed. “I’m so…”
“I’ve kept him apprised of your performance and progression,” Patrick interrupted, “and he is sufficiently impressed. He’s recommending that I spin you up on some more intermediate-level training. That means we will be working more together.”
“Intermediate level?” she asked, “After the Interhostel, I couldn’t possibly fathom what that might look like.”
“That was pretty much a one-off.” Red-hat said, “Far less about training than other things.”
“Like what other things?”
“Like giving you a picture of how big and complicated the world is, and how bad the world can get for someone that steps outside of the lines.”
“I… um…” Lena stuttered. She didn’t know precisely how to respond to that.
“You have to understand a few realities. We have to be able to trust that our agents and assets will do what they say they are going to do. Most of our agents go through years of training after years of vetting. Those agents are highly trusted; yet they are still routinely followed and monitored, regardless. When an asset comes to us from a position of convenience, rather than a position of trust and respect, we have to go to certain lengths to ensure they stay on point when they are out of our control. This is because, simply put, we have no reason to trust them. At best, these assets are working for us because of the money or the adventure. But the best case isn’t generally the norm: most work for us out of fear. And we know from experience that while neither money, adventure, nor fear can buy loyalty or respect—fear comes pretty damn close to the next best thing.”
“I suppose,” Lena stated honestly. She couldn’t disagree with his logic, but she hated it all the same. “So what sort of training will I be getting?” she tried shifted topics.
“Well, that is going to depend on a few things.” Patrick said, “Because there’s a few realities that are concerning us, and some potentialities the three of us need to get hashed out before that question can be answered.”
“Like what?” Lena asked, as a prickle raised on the back of her neck.
“It comes down to loyalty.” he continued with a knowing look. “You either have it or you don’t… and you know what I’m talking about.”
“Remember this, Lena,” Red-hat said using her name—which he never did. “Your answers to the following questions are going to change the direction our relationship is headed. Be open and honest with us, and our relationship will improve. Hold back, and things will become more complicated. And if you lie to us, your relationship with Grandfather will also change.”
“Okay.” Lena said, but her unease was quickly rising.