When he walked out the room to smoke a cigarette and let the young ones sleep, Spy found Minnie watching the pool from the balustrade, her thoughts somewhere else. He approached her with such a stealth that startled her.

"Fuck..."

"You are identical to your father. Just that he only cursed when things got ugly."

Minnie didn't say a thing in a long while. Yes, she was just like Engineer, Spy thought. The same blue eyes, the same blond hair–when Engineer had hair–, the same hands used to work. She resembled the father and the boy to the mother. The older sister turned out to be mixture of both. It was rather curious.

"I can't believe he and Mom used to kill for money." Minnie finally muttered. "I always thought they were pretty normal people. Dad at least...I thought they were the kind of parents who punish you when you get home late or when you got bad grades, who took you to the cinema on weekends...They seemed normal people..."

Spy kept his eyes on the embers of his cigarette.

"Don't judge them for their past. They are decent persons indeed. They did all possible to leave all that behind and have a peaceful life for them and you. Even if that meant forgetting about earning a lot of money and having an exciting life. They aren't that bad, don't you think?"

Minnie curved her lips.

"No...I guess..."

Spy tossed his consumed cigarette and squashed it under his shoe.

"And why didn't we know you?" Minnie asked, turning to face him, even though there wasn't much to see. "Why did you never go to those gatherings or sent mail?"

"I didn't leave my job when the team was dissolved, so I had no time for get-togethers. The life of a spy is not easy. You get involved in lots of problems of difficult solution. Also, we cannot leave the job just like that and live happily ever after."

"Did you care about your teammates?"

"Sure I did. More than you can imagine. That's why I was alert for each movement, even if they couldn't see me."

"Hope you don't mind me saying, Uncle, but your job sounds like a big shit."

"Watch your language. You're a lady."

However, he said that with a smile which he passed to the girl. He lit another cigarette. How much could that guy smoke in a day?

The flame of the lighter had just ignited the tip of the cigarette when a beep was heard. Minnie though he had a mobile phone until she saw him placing his watch near his lips.

"Red."

"As blood." a man replied. He also had a non-American accent.

"Any news?"

"Some, yes. When can I see you?"

"We still have like two hundred miles. We stopped to spend the night in a motel. The children were tired."

"The children? Engineer and Pyro's? Are they alright?"

"You will have the chance to see it yourself. They are with me and Gwen."

"That woman's finally coming?"

"Trust me. She will be good to us."

"Well. Anyway, this is starting to become a daycare."

"I know, I don't like it either, but there's nothing we can do about it. See you."

Spy hung up and noted that Minnie was looking at him with curiosity.

"There's more people?"

"Yes. If everything goes right, you will see them tomorrow. Don't mind what he said: I am sure that he is dying to meet you and your siblings."

"Oh...Hey, what's that 'red as blood' thing?"

"A countersign. We change it from time to time. We believe there could be someone interfering our communications, so we make sure there are no impostors."

"Sure. A spy thing...That's a cool watch."

"Thank you. See? Being a spy is not that bad. You have fairly good devices."

Gwen turned around in bed and noticed that Irene had her eyes open and was looking at her.

"Aren't you sleeping?"

"I can't." and she supposed Wilbur, by her side, had only closed his eyes.

"Yeah. Sure."

"...I thought Spy didn't want the police to get involved..."

Gwen slowly drew a smile when she saw in which direction the girl's eyes were looking at. Her open backpack. Of course. The badge peeped out perfectly, as if it tried to escape and show itself in front of Irene. Well, that was no secret, so she had no problem speaking.

"There are two kinds of police: those we have to keep away and guys like me who have our particular interests."

"And what interest do you have in Uncle Tav?"

The badge was a thing but that, that was a very different one. Gwen took her time to answer.

"He did something bad he has to pay for."

Irene vaguely remembered Uncle Tav. She retained some memories but years had made them blurry. She remembered well when he sat her or her siblings on his lap or told them to sit around him and told them stories about pirates and monsters, his peculiar breath, his loud laughing and the patch that covered his eye; a wizard did it, he used to say. Demoman, they called him now. That meant their dear uncle not only handled alcohol bottles, but also explosives.

Irene's imagination overflew with stories about criminals and fugitives. She was convinced that Uncle Tav had robbed a bank some time using dynamite or blown up a mall. He had probably killed people.

She felt even worse than she was. The people she had grown up with, her family, were all criminals. Who knew what her own parents had done, which Spy and Gwen hadn't told them about.

"Don't worry. You'll see they're both alright. And your uncles too. They're tough nuts to crack.

"I hope so. But I can't stop thinking...that if something happened to them...Our uncles were our godparents...And they are too...What would become of us?"

"No. Halt. Stop right there. Don't think about it. Not even as a joke. Your parents are fine, believe me. Even if they're not, you won't go to an orphanage. You have so many people looking after you. Your parents and uncles were blood brothers and that means not you nor what they most cared about in the world will have trouble."

Irene felt Wilbur was cuddling against her and shifted into a kind of uncomfortable position to caress his hair.

"Try to sleep. We will leave soon in the morning."

"And where are we going?"

"To see your uncle. Well, what's left of him, because those two little monsters..."

"Wait, what uncle?"

"Medic. I don't know what's his actual name. He's German. Ludo? Wolfgang?"

"Ludwig?" Irene couldn't help jumping, startling her brother.

"That's it. I think."

"We're gonna meet Uncle Ludwig!"

"You're so excited." Gwen smiled amused.

"So, so much! I've never seen him, but he always sent me presents for my birthday and Christmas. Books about Medicine, plushes, a gorilla's heart preserved in alcohol...You know what? I'm studying to be a nurse and it's because of him. We're off to see him! Wow, I wonder what he looks like, if he'll be glad to see us..."