Leo and Heidi

Somewhere toward Speyer, Germany

He was thinking about what to tell Evan. He knew that Evan’s grandfather was a mercenary after his time in the army. He owned a small company that operated across Europe, making various contracts from time to time. However, he never asked for any details.

He also knew that Evan had been trained from an early age by his grandfather to join him in the ranks. But because Evan did not have the attitude nor the required team spirit, it never worked out in the end, as he chose to pursue a different career. The training he got from his grandfather never left him, though.

Now that Evan was a successful business owner at the young age of twenty-two and had more money than he could spend, Leo knew that he could help them. Not only financially but also by providing the intelligence, they lacked through his grandfather. Evan just needed to be pointed in the right direction, and if he found something interesting enough, he would get to the bottom of it.

Similar to the call made to Sebastian, the call did not want to connect for a long while. All the time the waiting sound played, Leo could hear some weird mechanical noises in the background as if the ring passed through some pre-call process. The call finally connected, and a cheerful voice answered, “Hey, man! How is it going? I thought you were a goner. Could not find where you vanished off to.”

Evan’s greeting surprised Leo, as he did not understand how he knew it would be him calling, so Leo asked, “How did you know that it was me on the phone? I did not manage to say a word.”

“Who else would call this line? Especially at this ungodly hour? Do you know what time it is back home? Few people know this number, and telesales has not yet found it in their books. So tell me, what happened to you? I did not buy that story for a second: you found a job at some German bank. Especially after I learned that someone took you to the hospital after a car accident, did some chick run you over?” Evan asked, changing his tone from mocking to serious.

“The chick is right here!” Heidi shouted from across Leo.

“Uhh, spicy! Who is that?” Evan asked without missing a beat. Meanwhile, Heidi glared at the phone, silent, not answering his provocations.

“That was Heidi. Her family recovered me from the hospital and took me back to Germany to get better,” Leo answered instead of Heidi.

“It sounds like you have Stockholm syndrome, man. Are you alright? Are you held in a sex dungeon against your will?” Evan laughed across the phone.

Leo facepalmed himself and groaned, “Common, you know me better than that to ask. Would I be calling you then? We are in some deep shit, man.”

“No, probably not,” he allowed. “Let's get to it then. What is up? What did you screw up so bad that some random Germans had to snag you out of the hospital bed naked and asleep to take your broke ass back to their fancy Germany? Can I not imagine it was connected to the car accident? What did you do this time?”

“Long story short, an organization is out there to get me. As it turns out, I have unknowingly stepped on certain toes. And before you ask, I will not get into details over the phone. That is not why I am calling. I am calling to warn you. They will come after you as well. I think you need to lay low for a while,” Leo explained.

Evan paused and did not say anything for a few seconds, thinking it over, “Okay, sounds like you are in deep shit then.”

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“And just like that, you believe me?” Leo asked, disbelieving that his cheerful friend would take his word for it.

“Look, after you vanished without a trace and my grandfather could not find anything, I understood that whatever was happening was not some prank of yours. Do not take this the wrong way, but you are not that smart,” Evan explained.

“Well, yes, you are right there. It is not a prank,” Leo sighed.

“So we started digging as we wanted to understand what happened to you. And you know what? We could not find shit. You can find something on Putin even, but not on you. That was a huge red flag. So yea, I believe you. Though I will not lay low,” Evan interrupted to ask. “Where are you now? I can help.”

“We are going to Speyer, Germany. Do you know where it is?” he answered.

“I will find it, do not worry. Do not do anything stupid,” Evan said.

“Glad to hear it, then. Do not involve your grandfather, though. He does not need to know more than he already does. Less risk that way.”

“Sure, sure. Do not stress about it. I will come alone. Is this line secure?”

“I do not know. For now? We bought a burner,” Leo explained.

“Good. Hang on to it, then. I will call you when I am in the area. Let me gather my stuff before I go. Keep it tight,” Evan finished, hanging up on them.

Leo looked up from the phone and saw Heidi’s frowning face. She did not look impressed and said, “Some chick? What is wrong with him? He talks like a braindead jock from a soviet city block. I cannot believe you associate yourself with such degenerates.”

Leo laughed and said, “You are not wrong, well, not fully. He had an unconventional upbringing. His family is from the military. At least it was. Now his grandfather runs a mercenary company, and Evan is part of it. Kinda.”

“So what? Is he some kind of soldier?” she asked.

“Not exactly. More like a young, good-looking man with the training and the means to put that training to good use,” Leo answered, giving Heidi the phone.

Heidi frowned again, took the phone, put it in her pocket, and crossed her arms, “We will see about that. Why did you disclose where we are going?”

“As I said over the phone. He will be able to help us by gathering intelligence and dealing with our lack of transportation, funds, and other problems we will surely find along the way. Or can your uncle help us in that regard?” Leo asked, raising an eyebrow.

Heidi flinched and said, “You are probably right. Yes. Sorry, we need all the help we can get. We cannot turn to the clan for anything we might need, and good, old uncle Sebastian is just an older man living in some hole. It is just that I am not used to accepting help from someone I do not know. I do not enjoy owing favors.”

Leo understood her and said, “I understand, though rest assured it is not like that with Evan. He is a low-key guy. I have known him for ages.”

Both remained silent for a minute, brooding about what to do next. Not able to sit still anymore, many more questions plaguing his mind, Leo asked, “So what do we do now? I just cannot sit still and do nothing.”

“Same here. Though, there is not much we can do. Do you want to play snake? This phone most likely has it,” Heidi said and took the burner out of her pocket, trying to find the game she mentioned.

“No, no games,” Leo answered, pulling out the sizeable leather-covered book they took, hiding in the rags. “Let's glimpse what the book has written in it. Have you read it before? Viktor said it would aid me.”

“No, it is my first time seeing it,” Heidi answered, putting the phone away in her pocket and moving closer to Leo.

Opening it, they saw that it did not have any author mentioned. The pages were yellow from age and filled with ink stains. It was written by hand, though the words and language made no sense.

Various diagrams covered parts of the pages, filled with colored lines that made even less sense. Leo could swear that the text and the graphs were moving after staring too long at them. Seeing that he could not read the book, he asked, “Can you understand? It is just gibberish for me.”

“No, same here,” Heidi answered and closed the book, tucking it away.

“This is going to be a long night then,” he said, leaning against the trailer wall, understanding that the book was a dead end for now.

“Yes,” Heidi agreed. “I hope that uncle will know more.”