The name was unfamiliar, but the weight with which it was spoken drew Aurelius silent, nevertheless.

'More moving parts.' Aurelius clenched his jaw, looking at the ground. 'Why now?'

He looked up at Damian and fierce eyes. "Who?"

Damian leaned his head back and turned it from side to side. "Uzbec is a man known in the underworld as the Shadow of Death. Wherever he goes, people drop dead like flies and out come the most horrible stories I've ever heard. Or actually, he's like a ghost. He's not tracked through any physical description or a signature. It's just that when something horrid happens in Arkryk, it's connected to him. Uzbec could be a sadist of the highest echelon, but the much more terrifying possibility is that he doesn't take pleasure in torture and killing. He's just very, very proficient at them. As far as I know... or knew, he had disappeared. Retired, I thought. Well, he's back now."

"If he's that good, how would you know that he's back?"

"Obvious," Amadeus chimed in from Aurelius' peripheral vision. "He's baiting a reaction of some kind."

"So? He's barely on my trail, let's just do what we set out to do. Why are you so down all of a sudden?"

Damian rubbed his eyes. "Look, whatever we do from now on, it could be what he expects and if it is, then all our plans are fucked."

"He won't expect us!" Aurelius yelled out.

The claim his year's work could be ruined by a single man coming from retirement didn't bode well at all.

"Sit." Damian gestured to a chair opposite his. "Aurelius, please."

Aurelius drew a breath and took a seat. "Go ahead. Tell me what you want to tell me."

"By now, Uzbec has gone through a lot of the evidence you've left behind. If we're lucky he has yet to figure out your identity. Still—"

Aurelius leaned his elbows on his knees and stared at Damian. "My mother..."

"She's safe. Don't worry," Amadeus said hurriedly and turned to Damian. "Tell him."

Damian nodded. "She's safe. Even if he's figured it out, Orpheus might not know."

"Then we need to hurry!"

"What we need to do is to calm down and watch ourselves," Damian said so calmly it only riled Aurelius up more.

"While they go kill my family?"

"Look, Aurelius, they probably don't know where she is. They could probably find her meaning their threats aren't empty, but I doubt they have her pinned down. In other words, we're in a race, but if we take a headstart and trip..." Damian paused and shook his head with a severe look.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Aurelius put his hands to his forehead and massaged his temples. "Fine. I promise not to do anything rash." He raised his head and eyes both the thoughtful Amadeus who was looking out of the room's window and Damian who was looking at the floor. "What more do you need from me?"

"First things first, what evidence do you think you might've left behind?"

"Nothing. I left nothing. I talked to nobody outside business. And when in business I killed everyone who saw me. If I didn't I'd have been outed by now."

Damian was unsatisfied. "Think back. Is there anyone who you lived with during your travels? Anything might link you to the liveD."

Aurelius shook his head firmly. "Ever since I started going after Nexus bases, I—"

It dawned on Damian as well and his expression twisted. "The flagpole..." He looked away when he mentioned it. "You did it for someone in particular, didn't you?"

"There was a girl... and her little brother."

"How old?"

"19, the girl. 15, the boy. But they won't say anything," Aurelius hurried to add, trying to convince himself more than anything.

"Sometimes they don't need to..." Damian looked sad. "You can't go now. We're going ahead with the operation. Just with more caution even than before."

"Will he torture them if he finds them?"

"I don't think he'll need to." Damian couldn't even meet his eyes as he said it. "But that might not be a bad thing. He won't kill anyone unnecessarily. If she tells him everything she knows, they'll most likely live." Aurelius nodded in response. "What else could he know?"

"I suppose, he could maybe figure out that the attacks were done by a single person," Aurelius muttered, his mind still on those two. Then he realized something that made him fill with hope. "He doesn't know about you." He looked at Damian and Amadeus, both looking back at him.

Suddenly, it seemed like things might work out, after all.

***

"He's likely been acquiring partners as of late," Uzbec stated, scratching his beard as he sat behind a desk.

"He?" The envoy asked, tilting her head. She was a thin woman. Approximately 27 years of age. Thin blonde hair tied into a ponytail. Sharp hairline. Eyebags, hidden under a cosmetic product. She smelled of flowers. A perfume. Ylang ylang. She was close to Orpheus. She had likely worked for Nexus all her life. Her shoulders were square and her legs were tightly held together. Her lips were tightly together. She seemed to be a virgin. At least by what Uzbec could tell at a glance.

He turned in his chair and looked at the city in the distance. Doresh. "Yes, the attacks were done by one person. The ones I have looked at thus far at least."

"How did you come to your conclusion about the partners?"

"Irregular activity, shifts in the underworld, cases with matching descriptions. Footsizes and blood spatter on scenes. He could be branching out or acquiring allies. I lean toward the latter."

"For what reason?"

"History."

"Except for one case."

"The first? I think it's disconnected. Doesn't fit the image. The liveD is a methodical man, assuming that he is a man. His slaughters are efficient. In and out. He undoes life. He does not impale people."

"I am afraid Orpheus still wants you to investigate it."

"I will reconsider it then. Anything else?"

"You say the attacks are by an individual. What motive could he have? How is he connected?"

"Revenge is the most likely. If he's connected it is to a rebellion of some kind."

"And Numen?"

"I have eliminated the possibility. The damage is too small."

"Tens of bases have been annihilated. A fifth of the whole."

"Too small," Uzbec emphasized. "That's all."

"I would like to—"

"That is all."

"I understand."

"Oh, before you go. I will give reports to Orpheus in person from now on. If he sends you again, he will get your head back in a box."

"May I ask why?"

"No." It was her scent. "Get out."

The woman followed orders.

Uzbec turned back and pondered over the matter with the first case. He felt that something large-scale was about to happen. Still, perhaps it would be worthwhile.