Pavlov forgot to mention a few details.

For example, that there will be children in the fucking hall I have to cross to reach the safe. Children, who are screaming and running around.

Not for long, though, according to the visibly pulsating nerve on the security guard's temple. They are on the verge of being thrown out. If I were their teacher, I'd be worried.

But she's not. She's a small, plain-looking woman, standing in one spot, smiling, as if everything was just peachy. She's not even trying to discipline the children; she's too busy ogling me. Teachers these days!

Okay, I have no time to muse over the terrible state of our education system. I must get the code, and I must get it quickly.

Crossing the hall feels like playing Pacman. I try to avoid the small, screaming ghosts who change their directions every two seconds, following an erratic pattern.

I'm not very successful at it. Damn, these kids are good. One of them bumps my knee, and I nearly fall over. When I kneel by his side to check if he survived the impact, I also notice something.

Someone's blocking the door on the other side of the hall.

It's just an elbow. Nothing else is visible, but it's enough for me to recognize him.

Duke.

My pulse quickens in a second. I didn't expect him to be here. But the fact that he is can mean only one thing.

He came to kill me.

There's no way to shoot me down in a room full of children, even he won't risk that, so I still have time to run. But I can't leave without the asset. Pavlov is not someone you want to disappoint more than once. He has an agenda, and I promised to get him the vaccine by tomorrow.

There's a decision to be made, and I'm as quick as always. The kid who almost brought me to the ground has already run away, but there are plenty of other children around. I just have to catch one. I know Duke. I know him better than myself. With a child held hostage in the room, he won't try anything funny. He has principles. His codename is kinda revealing his personality. Noblesse oblige. He's going to let me go.

I take a few steps to be shielded from the guards' field of vision by the statue of a bearded dude with a suitably scornful look on his face. A little girl is running in my direction, happy and carefree, having no idea what I'm planning. No one has a clue. Not the guards. Not even Duke. I'm that good.

I reach for her hand, slowly, trying to grab her without being detected.

"Mint. Stop."

The command is coming from the mouth of their useless kindergarten teacher.

I comply without thinking. I stop. I don't even understand why, I simply have to. It's not even a conscious decision. My nervous system orders me to do so.

I stare at the woman. She doesn't even look nervous. She's standing there, wearing the same strange smile she watched her class destroying the place with.

She apparently knows my old codename.

I pull my gun on her. It's not a conscious decision, either. It's a reflex.

"Who the fuck are you?" I ask her, pointing the Glock at her face. She doesn't even blink. She doesn't care to answer, either.

I don't have time to play games. I see Duke's left hand emerging from behind the doorframe.

His left hand is dangerous, everybody knows that. And it's seldom empty, so it's time for me to change tactics. I target one of the kids, and I repeat my question with more emphasis.

"Who. The. Fuck. Are. You?"

The woman shakes her head, with a mildly indignant expression on her face, as if I were some minor annoyance she encountered on her school trip, like a runny nose or an untied shoelace.

"Now!" I yell at her.

She still doesn't seem properly scared, but, at least, she opens her mouth.

"I am the voice in the darkness," she answers in a deadly calm voice.

I almost drop my gun. Just when I start to convince myself that I'm hallucinating, she goes on.

"I am the hand that leads you to safety."

I stumble a few steps back. My mind goes blank in an instant. I take a shaky breath, and I try very hard not to faint. It would look seriously uncool on the CV of a cold-blooded mercenary king.

Out of the corner of my eye, I sense movement. It's Duke. He came forth without even trying to look for cover, like a total idiot. As if he was sleepwalking.

I could shoot him easily if I weren't frozen.

But I am.