Julius followed Alexei into another room provided by Mr. Tage. It was far enough away from the others so they couldn’t eavesdrop.

“What’s on your mind, Julius?” Alexei said.

“I think we need a new perspective—about Black Iris, I mean.”

“How so?”

“The meeting with the Shadow Dealers was a screwup. There was something about Jony and Hunter that didn’t sit right with me,” Julius said.

“Agreed. I wouldn’t send them for pizza, let alone trust them with matters of importance,” Alexei said.

“That brings me to my next point, and you will not like it.”

“I’m listening,” Alexei said.

“We need to open a dialogue with Black Heart herself,” Julius said.

“That’s not a good idea!”

“I know it’s not ideal given your history, but we’re out of good options.”

Alexei thought for a moment.

“If we do this, she will want something in return, even if what we do benefits her.”

Julius shrugged.

“Boss, I support you regardless of any decision you make,” Julius said.

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Alexei’s thoughts drifted far back to a young woman he’d met with black hair and a great smile. He had been in Prague visiting his cousin, Miroslav. During a late breakfast at a sidewalk café, he’d seen her sitting a table away. She was studying. He enjoyed having coffee with his cousin, but he watched her. When Miroslav stepped away to pay the bill, Alexei made his move. He walked over to her.

“Hello, my name is Alexei,” he said.

“Je mi ľúto že tomu nerozumiem,” she replied.

Alexei was Russian, but he spoke several languages. He recognized it as Slovenian. She didn’t understand what he was saying.

“Hi, my name is Alexei” he replied in Slovenian.

The girl with the black hair smiled back.

He then left his cousin and spent the day with her instead. He learned that she was a local university student studying history. Her name was Dahlia Verk. She was an idealist, and she told Alexei of a protest that she was attending later that day; she invited Alexei, and they attended it together. Later that week, he moved to Prague.

“Boss, are you okay?” It was Julius’s voice.

“Yes—I was lost in thought,” Alexei said, snapping back to the present.

“How do we contact her—Dahlia, I mean? I don’t want to go through Melissa’s contacts.”

“I don’t either. Dahlia and I have a digital dead drop that we can use. We promised each other that we would use it only if there was a great need to get in touch. I doubt she even monitors it. I’ll make the call, and please return to the others. I will rejoin the group once I send the message.” Alexei said.

Julius left without another word. Alexei made his way back to his laptop. He booted into a secret partition. After navigating a slew of hidden file structures, he found the file he was looking for. He opened it. A crude webpage appeared with two boxes. He entered “Calamitous” in the first box, and “Compassion” in the other. After a few moments, a web page appeared with a graphic of an old notebook with a hand-drawn black heart. He typed in the following message:

—D, we need to talk. I still remember the fire in a young woman’s heart. The girl who helped ignite a revolution that gave so many a fresh start. The idealist who stole my heart. I still think on the summer of ’89. The year that changed our lives, before we drew apart.

Love,

—A

Alexei walked back to the sitting room with a heavy heart.