Is this destiny?

~ Germany, Frankfurt ~

3:24 PM

Oni and Jesse are sitting on the outdoor terrace of a café in the historical area of Frankfurt.

All the buildings in the street around them are hundreds of years old, proudly displaying their medieval architecture and details.

The cobblestone road is wide enough for vehicles and pedestrians and the sidewalk is not clearly distinguished. The motorized vehicles are rare, and even the bicycles move slowly in order not to disturb patrons in many cafés and eateries which have their seating set up on the street.

This street is popular with tourists. Other than the breathtaking architecture and eateries, many souvenir shops are available along the way and people are walking in groups, most of them with their cell phones and cameras pointing in the right direction to become the next big Instagram sensation.

Across the street from Oni and Jesse is their target for this mission: a four story high residential building.

An apartment on the third floor is one of the locations marked as a potential base where Shadow Ravens keep their historical records related to missions.

Based on the floorplans, Oni and Jesse can see that the remodel was done seventeen years ago and at that time, four apartments were combined into one. Shadow Ravens don't use security cameras, and if not for the information Mathew's men collected, Jesse would never guess that this is a spy-base.

Sarah and Aiden extracted the information about residents in the building, so anyone else coming in and out of the building would be a visitor or a member of the Shadow Ravens organization.

The plan for this afternoon is that Jesse and Oni observe people getting in and out of the building and take note of non-residents while pretending to be a couple. This is a mandatory step because information Mathew collected on the members of Shadow Ravens has names and descriptions, but only few files related to personnel have photos attached to them.

Jesse's plan is to put pictures together with names and to collect a comprehensive information on people and locations before they make any other moves. It is not prudent to attack an enemy you don't know, and as much as he wants to get his answers, he knows that it's not wise to rush.

Oni is doing her best to avoid looking at Jesse while keeping a generic smile on. She remembers her excitement about the 'couple' part of the mission, and how she was coming up with different reasons to reach over the table and hold his hand in hers, but now it's just… difficult. Jesse is usually not a chatty person, but this silence is suffocating.

"I'm switching to scenario 3.", Oni said before grabbing a map of Frankfurt from her bag and walking away without giving Jesse time to respond.

Jesse frowned. Why can't she just sit obediently by his side?

'Scenario 3' means that she will approach someone and ask for directions like a tourist who needs help to find a museum. Ideally, she would get to join that person at the table for some time, so in the case that Shadow Ravens are observing them, it will appear more random. They agreed on this scenario if they suspect that they are noticed. No matter how much Jesse looks around, no one is glancing their way and he understood that she is just acting out.

Jesse exhaled in frustration. He hopes that she does not do something that will blow their cover.

"Excuse me… can I have a minute of your time?", Oni asked in a broken German a young man who was reading something on his phone.

The young man lifted his gaze and smiled. "English?"

He can't be more than twenty years old and his unruly short blonde hair and light blue eyes together with thin lips remind Oni of a typical German person of Scandinavian descent. He definitely looks local, that is why she approached him.

Oni smiled in relief and switched to English. "Ah, you speak English? That will make things much easier."

His smile widened, showing his slightly uneven white teeth. "I speak a bit. How can I help you?"

His English was broken and laced with a heavy German accent, but Oni understood him.

"It's my first time here, and I was hoping that you can show me where can I go tonight and have some fun.", Oni gestured to the map in her hand.

The man glanced behind Oni toward Jesse. "Fun for couples?"

Oni understood that the man noticed them. Well, there are not many patrons in this café.

She shook her head, while telling him that she and Jesse are not a couple. "That is my brother. He is here for business and I tagged along. But he is mostly in meetings and I am stuck in a hotel room." She leaned closer to the man and said in a whisper: "Just between the two of us, my brother is not much fun."

The man glanced at Jesse and observed Jesse's frown before turning to Oni. "I can see that."

He gestured to the chair next to him, offering Oni to sit down. "What kind of fun are you looking for?"

Oni smiled while taking a seat. "I have no idea. How about you tell me what you do for fun? … After three evenings in front of the television with only room service keeping me company while my brother is with his business partners, I am open to suggestions… By the way, my name is Tanya…"

"My name is Robert…", he introduced himself with a handshake and started talking about nightclubs and restaurants.

By the way he smiled and overall body language, Oni concluded that he is interested in her. That will make things much easier.

And just like Oni expected, it didn't take long for Robert to offer her to take her out tonight. "I have nothing else planned, and I can show you around... we can have a dinner and go dancing..." Robert glanced at Jesse and added: "If your brother does not come to hit me."

Oni stifled a laugh. "He is grumpy, but he will not hit someone just because we are talking."

"But I don't want to talk to you. I want to feed you.", Robert said matter-of-factly.

Oni laughed.

Jesse watched Oni and Robert from his table with an unreadable expression. He can see them talking and smiling and laughing occasionally. Less than five minutes later, Robert ordered a drink for Oni and they continued chatting in a good atmosphere. The more they laughed, the darker Jesse's mood was.

Jesse told himself that this is how it will be. Oni is an attractive young lady and it's normal that men will show interest in her and he needs to get used to it. But Jesse could not get used to it because the more this went along, the more his chest ached. He thought that this will be easy, but it is not.

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