He felt all the bones in his body tense. The fingers of his metal arm clenched into a fist as his blood was pumped through his veins at high pressure. Anger burned inside him and he followed his instincts without thinking. The metal hand hit the hard punching bag with full force, tearing it from its ceiling anchorage.
The training device literally follows through the room and clapped noisily against the wall, as if it were a flyweight. As the sack sank to the ground, a series of curses escaped his throat.
He staggered back as if automatically until his back pushed hard against the bare, cold wall behind him. His legs trembled slightly, causing him to sink to the floor. He leaned his head against the rock behind him and held his forehead with both hands. His head hurt even more with every second he was trying to waste on his past. It was like trying to prevent him from remembering, from withholding his former self.
The silence that had laid over the room was torn as a loud knock sounded. He flinched slightly, but then rose slowly. Before he went to the door, he wiped the long, dark hair from his face and made as neutral a facial expression as possible. He opened his room door slowly and then looked into the face of a man who looked all too familiar to him.
"Agent Barnes," he was addressed directly. "Agent Sokolov," he replied and immediately tense up. What did his supervisor do outside his door? "What can I do for you?" he continued, since this behavior did not look like Ivan Sokolov. "Please come with me," he ordered him with a hard face.
Knowing that there would be problems if he protested, he followed him without another word. The agent led Barnes through countless corridors of the building and up several stairs. Eventually they came to stand in front of a black double door. He immediately recognized it. What were they doing in front of the office of the KGB secret police bosses? Had he done something wrong? His missions were all successful and he couldn't think of anything else he could have done.
"We'd like to talk to you," Sokolov made an inviting gesture in the direction of the door. Barnes swallowed. Then he put his hand on the door handle and pushed it down. He hadn't expected the sight behind the door at all.
"Sit down", the man asked, sitting behind the desk, but his words were more like an order. He dropped onto the last free chair and looked right into the face of Nikolai Ivanov.
He turned to Agent Barnes and said, "We've found you a partner!" His eyes widened and he followed the man's hand movement to the person on the chair to Barnes left. He briefly examined the person and then began to shake his head quickly: "No, no way! I work alone". He wanted to rise, but Ivanov looked at him with an icy look: "Stay seated, Barnes." The man's voice didn't allow any discussion, so he slowly let himself sink back to the seat. His jaws grinded hard.
