Bob immediately rose from his chair and picked up his phone. He dialed a number as he gathered things from around the room.

The number didn’t ring.

He stopped the call and dialed a second number.

“Linda.”

“Bob!”

“Are you ok?”

“I’m fine! The Director stepped out on an errand, I’m still in her office.”

“How is she?”

“Not good, she’s in critical condition. Just arriving at the hospital as we speak. But…I’m worried someone might try to finish the job.”

“...do you know what happened?”

“No, just that a bomb went off under her car. But it can't have been just any old bomb…the Director had a lot of tech in that car. It's as tough as a tank...or was. The whole block should’ve gone down before her car was breached.”

“Any ideas on who or why?”

“No idea, right now all we have is the wreckage of the car. ILS has plenty of enemies so it’s too early to narrow them down. I’ll send you what we have, as well as anything the ILS comes up with.”

“Thanks, does ILS have anyone on the Director yet?”

“I was going to call you first.”

“Good. I’m going to stop by the hospital. Meet me there. We need to act very carefully.”

“Understood.”

Bob’s eyes narrowed as he donned an ILS security helmet and walked out the door.

As Bob drove away from the hospital he pulled out his phone and dialed another number.

“Markus.”

“B-Bob, oh, um, nice of you to call? Just…great day we’re having…yeah?”

“...What happened?”

“Urk, ok yea I don’t have an excuse ready.”

“...”

“Ok, um…so, you remember when we started the bank?”

“Yes.”

“And, um, how I promised I would only bring in my own money? Stick it to my dad and make something of my own?”

“...Yes.”

“So, um, it turns out…that…some of my money…may not have been my money after all…”

“...Get to the point.”

“Hah…well looks like Daddy wants to take away my toys.”

Bob held back a sigh.

“Can you hold him off?”

“...should I be honest here?”

“How long do we have?”

“Come on, don’t give up on me that easily! L-Look I still have Ivan with me, you know!”

This time Bob didn’t hold back his sigh.

“And the bank?”

“So, right…the angle he’s using is trying to expose my connection to villains…so…looks like we’ll have to hold off on the fun, at least until I can dodge some of the scrutiny…hah, I’m actually sorry about this, Bob.”

Bob’s eyes narrowed.

“I don’t think it’s your fault this time.”

“...you know that sounds way scarier than the alternative. Can you like, just get mad at me like usual?”

“...just try to drag it out as long as you can.”

“H-Hey, you’re kind of scaring me, Bob, what’s going on?”

“...I’m not sure.”

“You’re not sure?!”

“Just keep me posted on any major developments.”

“R-Right.”

Bob ended the call. He let out a deep breath. He wanted to cover his face but he forced himself to keep eyes on the road.

This was starting to get annoying.

His phone rang again.

“Ivan.”

“Friend Bob! Good to talk with you.”

“What’s up?”

“Mr. Markus forgets to tell you something. There was an assassination attempt.”

“Are you both all right?”

“Da, it’s no problem! I recognize the method and stopped.”

“You recognized it?”

“Da, small Vrudasynth gas emitter on my side of the car. Red Colonel loved these, we used a lot back in KGB. Felt weird to disable one! It was too small anyways, we trained immunity to such tiny amount. I think they might be scared to hit someone else, maybe they don’t want to kill Markus?”

“I see, I’m glad you’re alright.”

“Thanks Bob! Stay safe out there.”

“You too.”

Bob ended the call and sighed deeply.

He never had fun traveling to Siberia.

Bob walked down the stone halls. Water dripped from the ceiling, pooling on the floor, occasionally blown about by the draft. The air was heavy and damp, and he was pretty sure that was mold on the wall over there.

Five star Siberian accommodations.

The guard led him to a cell, unlocking it and returning down the hall. Bob stepped inside.

There was a man lying on the bed. He was thin and haggard, his hair and facial gray and overgrown. He wheezed for breath. Bob walked over to the bed and gave a salute.

“Red Colonel, sir.”

The man wheezed as he laughed, before it turned into a cough.

“Ahaha…It is Dimitri these days. And who might you be?”

“Bob, former KGB. I served under you back in the day.”

“Ah…I think I remember you. You were always well prepared. Well then…”

The Red Colonel grunted as he pushed himself, sitting up and against the wall.

“Why are you here, comrade Bob? Not to visit your old traitor boss I think?”

Bob shook his head.

“Someone tried to kill Ivan with Vrudasynth gas. We made that in-house, we were the only ones who used it.”

The Red Colonel let out another wheezing laugh.

“And you think I know something about it, all the way down here?”

“Everyone else is accounted for, one way or the other. You’re the only one left who might know something.”

“I see…you must be truly desperate to come to me…hmmm…”

The Red Colonel stared off into the distance, rubbing his chin.

“You thought of something?”

“Maybe. I don’t know who is making Vrudasynth. I don’t know anything happening outside these days. But I used to.”

He let out a sigh.

“You see, Bob, during my time in the KGB I came across something. A set of incidents and counterrevolutionaries, all disconnected and coincidental. But when considered all together, it felt like they were leading to something. Nothing concrete, just a bad feeling. But one I couldn’t get rid of, da? So I investigated. And I didn’t have all those medals for nothing.”

“What did you find?”

“Not much. They were very thorough. But enough.”

The Red Colonel’s eyes narrowed.

“There was some sort of organization operating within the Soviet Union. Even within the KGB. And not just those CIA dogs. I’m pretty sure they got infiltrated too.”

“What kind of organization?”

“That’s the thing…I don’t know. I honestly couldn’t come up with much. Maybe I was too famous by then, they certainly would’ve been watching me. So I did the only thing I could and tried to interrupt their plans. And for what? All that accomplished was landing me here.”

The Red Colonel laughed again as Bob went silent.

“What? Did you think I actually wanted to kill the Premier over the KGB’s budget? That the Soviet Union just coincidentally fell over and died shortly after? All I knew was the peace deal was part of their plan and our glorious country’s future was not, so I threw a grenade at it. I hoped a big enough mess would force them to react, reveal the traitors in our ranks.”

The Red Colonel looked straight at Bob.

“To be honest, I thought it was you. Came out of nowhere, unbelievably clean background, always prepared and always under the radar. I thought it was you all the way until you started asking me questions today.”

He laughed once more.

“Looks like we were both duped, eh?”

Bob let out a sigh as the Red Colonel chuckled.

“Do you have any leads?”

The Red Colonel shrugged.

“Any leads I had are decades out of date. But if you want to check my notes, I buried them in my own father’s grave. Assuming they didn’t tear that up too. I’m sorry, comrade Bob, I would help you if I could. Unfortunately, I am exactly as I appear.”

Bob let out another sigh.

“Thank you anyways.”

“Before you go…”

The Red Colonel held out a shaky hand.

“Help an old man, would you?”

“...I’m going to bring them down. Don’t you want to watch? We could probably get you out of here at this point.”

The Red Colonel…no Dimitri shook his head.

“...I’m old. I’m…tired…Bob. What is out there for me now? I failed, my life, my country, and my cause are all gone, never to return. And now I’m just a weak and useless old man with nothing and no will to find something. I’ll be honest, Bob, I broke a long time ago. I only hope…that you will not end up the same.”

Bob and Dimitri watched each other in silence for a long moment.

Bob sighed once more.

He reached into his pocket.

He held out his fist.

And left a pill in Dimitri’s hand.

“Best of luck, Bob. I hope you have a better fate than I.”

Bob nodded and left the cell, and then the prison.

For the last time.

As he stepped out of the prison, Bob dialed another number.

The ILS was decapitated.

EL Bank was frozen.

A shadow organization he knew nothing about.

The only potential leads were decades out of date.

It was time to call in the big guns.

“Xiong Huang.”

“...I already know what you’re going to say, Bob. Someone came after your little hero girlfriend and now you want big sister Xiong Huang to teach those bullies a lesson, am I right?”

Bob tried not to sigh, but Xiong Huang did it for him.

“Bob, I’d love to help, but I can’t this time.”

Bob’s eyebrow raised.

“You can’t?”

“I already know who did it. Eternal Night has an agreement with them, going way back.”

“And that matters to you?”

“Oh, I took great pleasure in ‘renegotiating’ with all of daddy’s friends. But this one, this one is different. That was an Immortal Heaven Blood Pact, signed with the blood of my father and the elders. And that’s…well, some things are sacred. Even to me.”

Bob was silent for a moment.

“What would it take to break?”

“Look, Bob, I’d love to help. I still owe you, I’ll go as far as saying I don’t even hate you. But, well, if you ask me to do this…breaking an Immortal Heaven Blood Pact is not something you do just for a magic flower or two, or even to repay a debt. Especially when it’s my father’s blood on the page, no matter what I think of him. Can you offer me something worth more than that?”

Bob rubbed his chin and furrowed his brow. Silence hung in the air for a minute.

“Bob?”

“...Can you tell me what this pact requires you to do?”

“...Nothing, or rather that’s the point. We have nothing to do with each other and we both keep it that way.”

Bob covered the receiver as he let out a sigh, his shoulders loosening slightly.

“Ok, I’ll think of something else. Thanks anyways.”

“...Bob. Try not to die, ok? That’d be boring.”

“Thanks, I won’t.”

“Hey, don’t thank me, I just think it’d be boring if…oh you hung up already. You’re really annoying, you know that?”

Back in her room, Xiong Huang stared at the television as a reporter covered the scene of the bombing. She looked down at her phone. She let out a sigh.

“...you better not die.”

Bob sighed as he opened the casket, sitting in a hole six feet under. There it was, a small red book. Countless secrets from the past the KGB wished to hide.

He could only hope it had the one he was looking for.

Either way, this was going to be very annoying.