Humility

by Magdalene Hornbeam

  - Iron one, you are completely right, my brother's sacrificed, but I know him as I know myself, he makes no nonsense work. If it was revenge, he would cut off the heads of those responsible, having received the money. My brother has seen something that has made him go the way of the kamikaze without opium. Do not be arrogant, because now you are pathetic. You do not know what they were doing in the farm "Communications" without your knowledge.

  - I'm not arrogant, Hyulal, I simply utter the truth out loud. I also admit that there is another reason for the behavior of your brother. As I expect the cleaner number 35 to call and seek you again. So do not waste time and get into my e-mail. She may have sent you an email.

  - Baz, go, go, without me - Nigel started putting his socks on. - We'll go down to the lobby bar. You will call on the phone at the reception to your mother, and I'll have a Scotch. Your brother has to work a little on the new laptop.

  - Why don’t we take smartphones, and we play with laptops? - Baz was not happy.

  - Answer yourself, you will become an engineer, right! By the way, you will not address me by my real name. You can call me "Iron one" as Hyulal says.

  They left the room.

  ***

  Anna managed to withdraw money from the bank, to buy suitable clothes, to rent a room in prepaid hotel and to take a shower. She dried her hair and sat for a while on the bed because there wasn’t a comfortable chair in the room. She dozed off. Then Black X18 and Black X18 appeared before her.

  "Anna, you have to go to the office of "Marketing and Social Strategies" and introduce yourself to the employees. Eisenstein’s office has been destroyed, the room of his secretary and his special room, too. There is only one victim, his secretary "- the White Angel was insistent.

  "First, let me see what we can do for Illal and the situation in" Anthill "and then I'll take care."

  "No, you first have to show up, when it is still working time and the employees are waiting for the chief of the Special Department to arrive."

  "So this Head of Department can temporarily take matters into his own hands."

  "No, no. He met "mediator „in Hong Kong, and now they bribed him to remove you from office and sent you in Bolivia. “

  "How will he send me, I have the power of attorney, I can send him."

  "There are dozens of ways that savvy players can remove such a naive person like you. Do not delay. Go, show up and present yourself to the employees, let them on a leave and lock all the offices before the plane of the Spec chief arrives with his most trusted people. "

  "How many people are coming with him from Hong Kong?"

  "He started with two, but there will be ten people. Eight people are of the Corporation, and more exactly of the "mediator". "

  Anna was startled. As if her angels were beside her, still talking to her, the three of them. She immediately called a taxi.

  While traveling in a taxi she had a long conversation with Nigel, about the departments, employees, superiors and which employee should be appointed as a new technical secretary, how to convince the accounting department to immediately release all on a leave. Finally she asked:

  - Maybe I should first call again the representative of the Corporation within the camp, to find out about the negotiations with Illal?

  - No, there is no need, Hyulal just contacted our cleaner number 35 and gave an order to evacuate the people. Once completed, she will contact us again. You take care of the things in the company. Apparently you still have some feeling, if you are in a hurry.

  - Yes, I have a hunch that someone close, someone of your employees is coming back from Hong Kong with impure intentions.

  - I sent the chief of the Special Department in Hong Kong to find out who the members of the Board of sponsorship Corporation are - the last he said after a pause. - Anna, how do know these things?

  - I called the office on the phone and I introduced myself, then they told me that are commanded by the chief , who arrived from Hong Kong, which says to wait for him, even if his plane was to be delayed.

  - Well, keep me in touch!

  Anna did not know whether she convinced him, but wondered to herself what lie she was able to make up. She felt very exhausted. Then she called Dr. Musa Ziyad.

  - Musa, are you at work or not?

  - Yes, in the tomographic study. You … how long will you stay in London?

  - Maybe a few more days. I'm exhausted. I’m planning to come to Paris to pay the money I owe to your hospital to see if they still keep my place the Sorbonne.

  - I'll come to pick you up. Now I'll buy two tickets for a round-trip Paris - London.

  - I'm not sure, you can lose your money. Anyway, you spent so much on me.

  - Do not worry. Why do I earn so much? - To help my relatives.

  - Well, OK, see you soon.

  It seemed that Musa gave her energy. While he was left alone, cheated and robbed in Sofia, now he had many friends. She felt happy. She was already mentally prepared for the meeting with the employees in the famous company "Marketing and social strategies."

  ***

  - Mr. Muller, I can already report on the development of the circumstances - the bespectacled tall man spoke indifferently. - I found the authorized person in the spare room of the large wing of "Marketing and Social Strategies" together with an employee, temporarily performing the functions of a technical secretary. The other hundred employees were let on a leave for a week and all offices and laboratories were sealed to protect against leaks of information.

  - You managed to talk to Mrs. Anna Zanesheva, right? - Interrupted nervously the "mediator".

  - Yes, it turned out that she was aware of my arrival, and she was not far from thinking that I should take over management of the company. But considerations were in favor the directions of waiting and that the police has no conclusion about the death of Eisenstein and has not been issued a death certificate. In this sense, the lady does not want to enter into conflict with the law, neither to appoint nor dismiss employees.

  - Okay, let's assume that formally she cannot appoint you as a governor, why has she left all, lest she has plans to close the company?

  - I didn’t have that impression. But she said on Sunday she would fly to Paris and there she would await for the conclusions of the death of the Iron one.

  - But the heads of departments… how did they obey so quickly… after this lady has no legal grounds to dispose of?

  - She was very convincing, she gave equally to everyone - three thousand pounds in advance, not to worry about their wages. She brought the money in cash.

  - But how did she manage to withdraw so much money. My information is that she is a poor East European woman!

  - From the company’s bank account. My first job was to check, I have my own ways. The second was to make sure that she had bought a plane ticket. On Sunday, she is flying to Paris, so things will prove easy.

  - We should not underestimate the situation! Mrs. Zanesheva had called the "Anthill" and might be interested much more in the company's activities than she had shown.

  - She told me a novelty that I wanted to report on recently. She told me that a sniper in the camp and had eliminated the terrorist and now they were clearing of explosives, and all were evacuated to a nearby village.

  - You see - she is aware of the latest information! It is true!

  - After our conversation I intend to call the commandant Fritz Mueller, to get detailed information. The Video feed of the London office with the camp in Bolivia was interrupted after the explosion and death of the Iron one, so there no information here.

  - You will not call the commandant! He would call himself, once there everything was quiet and calm. Now, you should in no way show up own initiative and creativity, not to arouse any suspicion in Mrs. Zanesheva. Keep in touch with this lady only and try to make her trust you completely.

  - We are friends with Fritz and this person will not understand anything, so ...

  - It is not recommended. Call m
e no more, we will correspond only through emails. The "Mediator" too abruptly and dismissively hung up the phone and made it clear that the chief of the Special Department should listen to his advice.

  ***

  The chief Executive of the Corporation calmed down a little after the conversation with the spec head, but the problem remained. "Tycoon" had called by "Anthill" that no later than two days he will be back in Hong Kong and had convinced "hedger" and "banker" to call an extraordinary meeting of the expanded Board of the Corporation. Technical secretaries were already taking care for the organization. They quarreled with the «General» on this occasion, because he was given the task in a pretty rough way, it was about finding the adopted son, the commandant who had escaped from the camp. He was sure that at any moment this fact will become available to the general public that he had been elected by kinship and he had breached of trust.

  After the big bankruptcy years ago, when he had to change his appearance and change his name, the "mediator" was in a critical situation for the second time. If the board decided not to trust him as CEO of the Corporation, they would find their abuses with the "general" and this time he wouldn’t be able to get away of this confusing situation. With an Arab prince, uncle of Fritz, they had long broken their relations, and the "general" was not a faithful partner. He would betray him right away.

  He called at the detective agency that was doing the search of Fritz Muller. The experts at the agency cooperated with Interpol and could not find anyone. But they did not guarantee how long it would take.

  ***

  - Hyulal, my son, why don’t you call me? What happened to Illal?

  - We lost him, Agha, Illal is already is with Allah.

  - Hang on Hyulal, I will adopt your little brother Baz, too, is he there with you?

  - Where? With me? , Agha, where do you think I am?

  - I think you're in London and you're just fine. How is that wretched woman for which Musa across the whole world?

  - As always, you are right in your assumptions Agha – we are in London, we are still with Baz. But I’m looking for a ticket to go and at least bury my brother Illal according to the customs, as I could not help him alive.

  - Hyulal, here in the mosque there came to me a messenger of "Islamic fist", where we first served. Illal contacted them, ordered to enter the computer with them.

  - Well, Aga, I'll call you what I have done.

  - You didn’t tell me …Is that woman with you?

  - She is not with us, do not worry!

  - Ask her, Hyulal, ask about everything, and do not do anything on your own.

  - Agha, this woman will not accept the Islam, do not fool yourself that there is something between us.

  - I know, son, I know, but I learned something about this woman, she is very smart, she is like your mother, consult with her about those things which I do not understand ... There appeared to me angels, they told me please, son ...

  - Aga, are you crying?

  - I am, son, crying, I lost a son, how I cannot cry…

  The old Salafi cleric disconnected the line and Hyulal encountered the colorful eyes of the bearded Nigel. They sat at a table in the lobby of the hotel. The Iron one drank scotch and the handsome black man was sucking on a straw some fresh orange juice. Eisenstein has been trying for an hour to convince the former supplier in the camp "Anthill" not to give up and “spill the beans” now, when he could no longer help his twin brother. He realized that he was talking with AlBukri and expected to be aware of what they said, but instead of that Hyulal called someone.

  - Hello, Musa, what are you doing? I'm calling you to tell you that Illal ended his life.

  - I know Hyulal, Anna told me. My condolences. Sunday I’ll be flying to London to bring her back to Paris if you want to meet, come to the airport, I will have only two hours to the flight back home.

  - Okay, I'll come, I want to talk to her, what time will you arrive?

  - At 18:20 Greenwich time and at 21:00 we are flying back.

  When Hyulal met again the eyes of Nigel, he saw nothing good in them. So it briefly informed him what he had spoken to AlBukri and the doctor. He expected that the Iron one will start convincing him not to go to the airport, but he did not hear anything like that.

  - I'll come to the airport to see Anna - said and then added: - And she should transfer two million dollars from the company accounts, yours and those of your brother Illal for the participation in "Anthill" and compensation from reality "Sahara" to your little brother Baz. By the way, are you following him what he is doing at the hostel and when he is out?

  - I do not follow him, he is a grown-up adult, let him do what he wants.

  At that time, a beautiful blonde woman with juicy bust sat at the opposite table, crossed her legs and began tempting Hyulal with unequivocal glances. He had his hair straight, he was wearing smart clothes and making some good impression.

  Nigel turned and looked at his seductress, then returned to his previous position, looked mocking at his companion and said:

  - I see that you get lucky, I will leave, and I’m going upstairs. Call if you think of something. We'll see you at the airport.

  But they both stood up. Eisenstein laughed. Despite his lighthearted attitude, he was puzzled. Recently he had read that the fighters from «Islamic fist» captured girls and women and use them together, they often raped them even group and Hyulal acted like a freshly-graduate English rich boy from an elite boarding school. The fact that he was not drinking alcohol, was easily explained by his religious bigotry, but his attitude towards women was strange.

  They parted without even saying goodbye.

  ***

  Nigel Eisenstein unlocked the hotel room but didn’t switch on the lights. But he felt someone’s presence. He pressed the power switch. The blond woman from the lobby was sitting on the stool next to the nightstand. When the surprise no longer controlled him, he recognized her.

  - Nigel, you have lost your shape, Hyulal knew immediately who I am, but he took into consideration that I was disguised and said nothing.

  Anna took the blond wig off, pulled out with a male gesture her artificial bust of her décolleté and stood up. He sat on the wide bed, but said nothing. She continued:

  - You will not come to the airport, neither you, nor he. There are cameras everywhere. I talked to Mo Lin, the representative of the Corporation, who now operates in the camp. Illal has probably died, killed by a sniper, but still they have not seen the corpse. The officers from the specialized military unit sent by the Corporation there without your knowledge, have not yet given access. Mo Lin proved to be one of the five Executives of the sponsor Corporation, headquartered in Hong Kong and still he has not seen the dead terrorist. They were still checking the hospital for bombs, where the hostages were held. But no more on this issue. I've come to tell you what we have decided to do. We will put you first in psychiatry, as a man picked up by the street, and then you will be transferred to the neurology, as a patient who got a stroke, with a wrong diagnosis, unable to contact.

  - And who are you to decide my fate?

  - Me and Musa. As far as I can get, Moonlight has not shared with anyone that you are alive. This rare red beard that you’ve grown is very suitable for the legend that we invented.

  - Even I, with my connections and contacts cannot fabricate such stuff. Let alone a French doctor.

  - You and I cannot, but some people of the underground can. I only have the information in which Scottish hospital I can find you in a month.

  - Who connected you with the underground?

  - A friend of Macedonia, Alexander Batashki. He told me that you know each other.

  - What if something goes wrong?

  - If something goes wrong, you will die and no one will grieve for you. Whoever is alive will get the money that you have earned and will make projects. This will probably be me.

  - You are about to beat me in your sense of black humor.

  - It’s no black hum
or, but realism which is even close to naturalism. I did not see even a single subordinate employee of yours to grieve, or at least to have the courtesy to express regret for the tragic loss of the famous Eisenstein.

  - Isn’t it the case … that you have dug at Dr. Musa Ziyad, like a leech - not to stay as I am, lonely?

  - Do not bring Musa into the matter, and tell me how it did happen that you trusted me, having trusted no one so far in your life.

  - You're like me, you are not connected to anything and anyone, and you can be free, but also have dignity. And I started getting to know what humility is!

  - And if you have lied yourself and I am just using you.

  - There is always some percentage chance that I have not assessed correctly. I’ve had that in mind when it decided it offhand. I can take even more and greater risks, don’t you think?

  - Well, Nigel, if after a month I do not come and pick you from the hospital, you should know that the sharks from the Corporation had me and ordered to be killed. Then call Batashki. And beware!

  He understood. Anna had also overcome her fear. With a sharp grasp, she understood that if the fear disappears, one can easily achieve inner peace that balance on the rope above the abyss of life, which is true humility. Since he met her, Nigel no longer felt fear. Reason is sufficient to protect the individual. If one is not constrained by fear, the mind may find solutions.

  Anna put quite deftly the artificial bust in her bosom, then she put on and set her blond wig. She left the room as quiet as a mouse.

  ***

  - Hyulal, go back to Nigel at the hotel! On the bedside table in his room I left a platinum credit card with a large limit. Below is the piece of paper with the code. Take them and say goodbye to the Iron one. You will not come to the airport, we will not see each other. Buy tickets with Baz and go to Bolivia to bury your twin. Look for me no more, I'll find you when it is necessary - Anna spoke from the taxi, which was on its way to the airport.