Brendon and I walk down the shipping docks. The clamoring of steel crates being hauls around echoes through the open area. It's rather warm out, the sun bright shining down. The courier is standing out by a truck talking to the driver. "Suspect in sight," I say.

"You know what to do," Macy says through the earpiece. The courier knows how to get in contact with Elsa, he's the closest one we have. And from there, we can find Kelcer and then stop the attack from happening. Brendon will be displayed as the man in charge so he's the face they know to look out for. I would just be viewed as a middleman, therefore, not important to remember. "And Way, don't think about ditching your piece again."

"Yeah, yeah, don't need to tell me twice," I say.

20 feet away from him, the truck driver rolls up the window and starts pulling out. The courier starts writing on a clipboard, shuffling along when he notices the two of us walking near him. He straightens up when he sees us. "Is there something you need?" he asks in Austrian.

"Information," I reply in Russian. It catches him off guard but he's amused.

"I see," he says, now in Russian. He's lightened up a bit. "Well, what can I provide you with? I may not have the-"

"Elsa Beurn," Brendon states with an accent. Again, catches him off guard.

"We would like to get in contact with her," I say. "My employer," I subtly gesture toward Brendon, "would like to arrange business with her. Word on the street is you can tell us how."

The courier focuses on Brendon more directly but he still talks to me. "I know Elsa but not any of that information. She has a mediator to talk to me for her. We rarely speak directly and even less do we see each other face to face."

"Anything else will not suffice," I say. "We must meet with her in person. And rather shortly. Business calls and we can't stay around waiting."

"Understandable," the courier says. "She is having an arrangement with other businesspeople over the weekend. There is an art gala in Vienna at the Grand Hotel. She will be there and open to talk business."

Brendon shifts his stance. "Nothing sooner?" her questions.

"Well, she's a busy woman," the courier says lightheartedly. "And this is a rather close event that I know about. I'm not really told a lot, just enough to arrange things for the bosses."

Brendon glares at me so I speak up. "That will not do, I am afraid. We will be out of the country before the end of the week."

"Then there's nothing else I can do for you," the courier says.

Brendon turns around and starts walking away. "That will be all," I say, turning to leave, walking after Brendon.

Leaving the docking area, we're out earshot for sure. I glance behind me, making sure there's no one following. "Did you catch that?" I ask once we're well away, speaking normally and in English.

"Yes," Akari says. "That will work perfectly. So, Gerard, you know what to do?"

"I'm going to need a tux," I say. "And the invitation. I'm sure this kind of thing isn't welcome all."

"That will be taken care of no problem," Macy says. "Meet back at the hotel promptly."

By the evening, we finished a sitrep report. Akari is working on setting up the invitation information for me. I honestly don't know what they're doing but I know it's important. Akari is the backbone of this operation. After everything wraps up, they leave and Brendon and I are just in the room. He's occasionally texting Sarah. "How's everything with her?" I ask.

"It's just wonderful," he says. "I'm really happy and she is too." He pauses. "I just feel terrible lying to her about my life."

"Well, it's not like when you met you could just tell her who you really are," I say. "It's classified for a reason. And when you guys first hooked up, neither of you expected a relationship out of it. But then it happened and you couldn't just get out of the lie."

"Yeah, it spirals out of control," he says. "I don't know, it's like, I'm happy and I don't want to ruin that. I don't know how she would react."

"I understand," I say. "Well, I don't really, but I empathize with you."

"Thanks, man." He sits up. "Okay, since your down showering, I'm gonna go."

"Hey, uh, I'm going to be heading out soon," I say. "Probably before you're done."

Brendon stops, glancing at me. "Oh, okay, Where are you heading?"

"Just a restaurant, meeting with someone."

He raises an eyebrow at me. "Like a date?"

"Nah, I would hardly call it that," I say. "The guy, Frank, I'm meeting with him."

"For dinner?" Brendon asks.

"Well, it would have been for coffee but we had to go talk to the courier," I say.

Brendon nods along. "Yeah, makes sense. Does Macy know?"

"Macy is my boss, not my babysitter," I say. "We're still allowed to do things, have a life outside of work."

"I'll take that as a no." He walks toward the bathroom. "If she asks-"

"Tell her I was gone before you came out. And that's not a lie."

Brendon shuts the door and I finish getting ready. Casual dress, button-up shirt, jacket, slacks. Nothing too fancy but still nice. I grab one of the key cards to the hotel and both my cell phones, then I head out. I arrive outside the restaurant a little earlier but Frank is already there.

"Hey," Frank says when I approach him. A smile spreads across his face. "You're early."

"Yes, but so are you," I say.

"I took the bus and the next stop would have made me a bit late so I figured worth waiting the extra 10 minutes."

"Well, let's go in."

After we're seated and have ordered, the waiter takes out menus. "Anything exciting happen today at your lunch in?" Frank asks me.

"Not really, just accounting," I say. "How about you?"

He gives a shrug. "Had a nature photography class," he says. "We got to go hiking, it was really nice today so I enjoyed it. We were taking pictures and then working on lighting with the sun and how that affects shadows and the reflections. It's...you probably think that's boring."

"Oh, not at all," I say. "After an afternoon full of crunching numbers, I enjoy hearing about this."

He smiles gently. "Well, I'm glad."

"So tell me about yourself," I say.

"Um, I don't know, what do you want to know?"

"You're in Austria, tell me about that."

He eases up a bit. "There was this movie I saw when I was a kid, the two characters we traveling the world together and their last stop was Austria. For some reason, ever since then, I decided I wanted to go to Austria." I smile encouragingly at him and he continues. "Then several years ago, I met someone online, they were from Germany and we talked every day. A few years ago, she moved to Austria and I was really jealous of her. She told me that now he had two reasons to come to Austria. So during college, I always wanted to take a study abroad to come here and senior year, I had everything planned out to make it happen."

"Very nice," I say. "You meet up with your friend?"

"Yeah, she's actually the one I'm staying with now." Frank takes a sip of his water, the ice cubes clinking to the side of the glass. "So I'm here for school, you have business?"

"Yeah, I doubt there's much more I could tell you about. I live a rather boring life."

"Well, when you're not on business, you said you're American?"

"Yes."

"Which part?"

"I live in D.C. You?"

"New York," he replies. "Not that far. I honestly was expecting you to say something on the West Coast like California or Nevada."

"No, we're a little closer than that," I say.

"Any family there?" he asks.

"Just a brother, three years younger."

"What about your parents?"

I stiffen up a bit. "They, uh, they passed away when I was little. Car accident."

Frank's face drops. "Oh-oh my god, I'm sorry,"

"It's okay, you weren't aware." I pause. "So my brother and I, we used to live in Nebraska. But then our only living relative was our grandmother and she lived in Ohio. Going to college, I stayed locally but when I got out, I had a bunch of job offers right away."

"I think knowing all those languages had something to do with it," Frank says, "just a wild guess."

I smile at him. "Yeah, you're right, it was. The best one was for Toyota. Two years ago I switched to this company and that's when I moved to D.C."

"Impressive," he says.

"What about your family?."

He thinks for a moment. "Well, I'm from New Jersey, lived there basically my whole life. No siblings. I then went to school in New York. I plan on living there when I was done with school. Or moving here. I'm not sure yet but I have like two semesters to figure it out."

"If you want to be a photographer, I believe New York offers the best options."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. I don't know, I'll see where life takes me."

"I like your attitude."