S.V. Redkin – The Perfect Match (страница 2)

“That was some spy work right there,” Lizzy smiled.

Marco looked inside the envelope.

“Well, it’s all in there: the money, the passports, and the key.”

“Where are the instructions?”

Marco took out a white sheet of paper and looked at it. “I guess this is it.”

***

When they drove back to the cottage in their new car, their old car was gone. They entered the cottage and found a new laptop on the kitchen table and a brand-new iPhone with a charger.

“It says here that we need to turn on the computer. There will be a link to a Zoom meeting on the desktop,” Marco said as he looked at the piece of paper.

“All right,” Lizzy said, opening the device. “We could’ve done it on the phone, though.”

The computer screen lit up and they saw an empty desktop with only one folder named The Link.

“That’s foolproof27,” Lizzy said with a smile.

She clicked on the folder, saw the link, and double-clicked. A Zoom meeting began. The host had already started the meeting, but both his or her camera and microphone were deactivated.

Marco and Lizzy were looking at the screen, waiting for something to happen.

“Are we supposed to do something now?” Lizzy asked, frowning.

Marco looked in the sheet again. “It just says open your computer and use the link.”

“Hello,” she said to the screen. “Anyone there?”

The host’s window showed that the image had started to upload. Someone was joining the meeting. Finally, they saw a pixelated image of an old Black woman in a room with white empty walls. She was saying something, but there was no sound. Marco pointed to the screen, to microphone symbol that was crossed by a red line.

“Your microphone is off,” Lizzy said to the lady.

The woman jerked28 and looked at her screen.

“Oh, my goodness,” they heard her cheery voice. “Is it working now? Can you hear me?”

“Yes, we can,” Lizzy said.

“Good, I’m still getting used to these bells and whistles29,” the lady said, smiling. “What happened to the good old face-to-face, right?”

Marco and Lizzy both nodded, agreeing.

“Anyway, Lizzy and Marco, how are you kids doing?”

Lizzy and Marco looked at each other. “We’re fine,” Lizzy said.

“Oh, good,” the lady said. “My name is Yana. I represent the Committee and I have a lot to tell you today. So, get comfortable.”

***

The next day, Lizzy woke up early in the morning, surprised that she actually slept for a few hours. She felt reinvigorated30, but there was a feeling that she had forgotten something important. She looked at Marco who was sleeping peacefully at her side, and then got up.

She decided to do some yoga, something that she had not done since the day her life dramatically changed a couple of months ago. It seemed that the body remembered all the asanas to relax the brain and the muscles. She was doing the exercises in her underwear and felt the sunbeams on her skin. It was the first time she felt any sense of normalcy in the past two months.

She was still getting used to the idea of being with Marco, which was extremely hard since he looked so much like Mark. It was still confusing, but for some reason she could not explain even to herself it felt right to be with the copy of her ex-boyfriend. It did not feel like she was somehow desecrating Mark’s memory. On the contrary, it felt like she was given another chance to build her life with the same man who happened to have a back-up copy in the parallel world. But… it still confused the hell out of her. She would definitely spend some serious time with a therapist discussing this conundrum if she could.

After a quick shower, she sat down in the kitchen with a cup of coffee to read what Yana, the first leader of the Committee they had met so far, had sent after the meeting. It was a file with the names of people that were connected to Dolion and who were supposed to be actively involved in virus distribution. According to Yana, they had the original variant of the virus. Dolion called it Potestas Dei (Power of God). It was very surprising to learn about that because Lizzy and Marco were under the impression that they had destroyed the virus.

“It takes many variants to get the one you really want,” Yana had told them during the meeting. “Dolion had the final one and you destroyed it. There are still some people who can create a more powerful version and that is why we need to eliminate any trace of it.”

Lizzy looked at the geography of the locations of the Dolion’s Gang–that was what she named it–which was in the file. No wonder they needed passports. It looked like they would have to do a bit of travelling.

“They have a few centers where they develop their new variants. Fortunately, we infiltrated31 our people in all of them. Still, it will not be easy to do what we want.” Despite Yana’s cheerful demeanor32, it was obvious that what she was talking about took a lot of doing.

Lizzy checked the places they needed to go first. Those were two destinations in the US and did not even require travelling by plane.

“We are working on the way to use the uniqueness of your blood in, say, a less dramatic way. So, we will be meeting at some point soon to do some tests.”

Without getting into too many details, Yana had explained Lizzy and Marco that the Committee had been in touch with Peter’s team and monitored their activities in the parallel world, so they knew how Lizzy got rid of Dolion and his virus.

Lizzy went over the highlights33 of the meeting in her head one more time: the gang was around the world, she will go through some tests, and they will travel. So far, things did not sound complicated. The thought was both comforting and disturbing. Today’s list of things was also straightforward34: they would go to the specified address, change cars, and someone would drive them to a research facility the Committee had. They would take some of her blood and would do a few tests.

Her life had changed so much over the fleeting period of time. Those changes were making her a tougher person. She was not sure whether she liked that person, but she had to embrace35 the metamorphosis36 to survive. She felt a pang of nostalgia for the life she had, and a tear spilled down her cheek.

“Should I make us some breakfast?” she heard Marco’s voice.

She wiped the tear, turned to Marco, and smiled. “Good morning, sleepyhead.”

When she said that–just for a split of a second–she saw a man standing behind Marco. It was the man from her dreams. She suddenly remembered that she had seen him again last night in her dream. She shut her eyes and opened them again. The man was gone.

“Are you ok?” Marco said.

“Yeah, just a … I’m hungry. Let’s eat already!”

They started to make breakfast together and the image of the man slowly faded from her memory. She could still remember what he’d been wearing though–a black kimono.

Chapter 2

Super Lizzy

The place at which they arrived with their new driver, Tom – a young man who had picked them up not too far away from the cottage – looked like a regular bakery. There were some patrons37 inside, enjoying freshly baked pastries and hot beverages. Lizzy tried to remember what day it was and why there were so many people out of office so shamelessly38 enjoying this nice weather and this cozy place. She could not. It did not really matter, but it smelled amazing. Any day you are alive is a good day, she thought.

They approached the counter. Tom ordered three espressos to go, without asking Lizzy and Marco whether they wanted anything. Then he showed them to the table in the corner, next to a female customer who was reading a book. They sat down and waited for the order without exchanging so much as a few phrases. Tom had been taciturn39 all the way to the bakery and did not seem like he was going to turn into a chatterbox40 any time soon. So, Lizzy and Marco were just sitting and waiting for whatever was going to happen.

“Tom,” the barista announced from behind the counter. “Your order’s ready.”

Tom stood up, took the order, and proceeded to the exit, without returning to the table and taking the coffee with him. Lizzy and Marco watched him with surprise. When they were about to stand up and follow him, a lady who was sitting at the table next to them turned and smiled.

“Hi Lizzy, Marco,” she said. “It’s good to finally meet you. I’m Irene.”

Irene was a white lady, about the same age as Yana. She had an intelligent face and looked like a university professor in her brown horn-rimmed glasses, and a beige jacket over a white blouse. She was the second leader of the Committee.

“Tom is leaving and I’m afraid you’ll have to spend a bit of time with me now,” Irene said. “Would you actually like something to drink?”

They went back to the counter. Lizzy ordered a macchiato and a scone, which she had been craving for some time. Marco got himself a cup of tea and a chocolate croissant, which for some unfathomable41 reason he had never had.

“How on earth 42have you never tried one?” Lizzy couldn’t give it a rest43 on the way back to the table.

“I don’t know,” Marco said, sitting down. “Let’s see if I was really missing anything.”

Irene was patiently waiting for them to enjoy their beverages and food with a smile on her face. Marco realized that he had missed a lot and announced that he was going to have a chocolate croissant every day for the rest of his life. Both ladies applauded his decision.