London, England – Present Day

Anna leaned against the car, holding her arms closer to her body as she breathed out in the cold air. It fogged, blowing away slowly on a lazy breeze as she kept her focus revolving on the barbed wire fence, the rotating guards, and the car parked far enough away for her to miss specific details but close enough to notice the two suited men sitting inside it. With a shake of her head she turned back to the guard towers and raised her hand in a wave to the man marched out of the building between two uniformed guards.

He waved back and both the guards stood straighter as a buzzer sounded from the gate. It clanked back on wheels wobbling in their tracks to give Anna a better view of the man. With a handshake to the guards on either side of him, he adjusted the strap of his bag over his shoulder and walked toward her.

Auburn hair buzzed close to his head and, even from a distance, she noted a slight hitch in his movements to match the gauntness of his frame. They smiled at one another as he came within am arm's length but she stayed on the car. When he got closer, the bag dropped to the ground and they enveloped one another in a bear hug that competed to squeeze the air from their lungs.

"You came." He hugged her tighter before pulling back to see her.

"Don't be so surprised Tom Branson." She chided, punching at his arm. "Three years is a long time but I have an excellent memory."

"Yes you do." He picked his back off the ground, flicking his gaze toward the other car. "Pick up a tail for yourself?"

"They were here when I showed up." Anna rounded the car, clicking the locks to let Branson into the passenger seat. "I think they're waiting for you."

"Probably." He sighed, settling in the seat to pull his belt to buckle. "They'll be around for awhile."

"I won't like it any less the longer they're there." Anna got in, turning on the heater to help ward off the chill.

"Where'd you get this ride?" Branson reached forward, smoothing his hand over the dashboard. "It's beautiful."

"It is and from someone who didn't need it anymore." Anna reversed the car to get out of the parallel space and drove onto the road, noting the other car matching her movements. "So how long can we expect your shadows to stay around and be a bother?"

"They visited me once every two weeks for three years so…" He shrugged, "They saw me more than you did."

"Then they think you're still sitting on the money?"

"That and they want me to roll on some of the other crew." Branson shook his head. "I said I wouldn't. I served my time and that was it for me."

"Good." Anna checked the rearview again. "They're about to watch the most disappointing car chase ever."

"Why?"

"Do you want a chase?"

"No."

"Good, because there won't be one." Anna pulled to a stop at the light and faced Branson. "There's also a few things I need to tell you."

"Really?"

"Really. You probably won't like them but you'll have to live with them if we're going to do this." Anna turned to him before the light changed, "Understand?"

"Sure."

"First," Anna ticked up her finger on the steering wheel as she went forward again, the car with the detectives a few back from theirs. "You don't talk to any detectives or constables or anyone without me or a lawyer present at any time. I don't care why they're following you or what they say. You keep your mouth shut."

"No problems there."

"Second," She turned onto the motorway, taking them through the light morning traffic. "Whatever friends you made before prison or in prison stay there. You don't call them, write them, or use smoke signals to contact them. I won't have that mess on my doorstep or in my flat. You want to go back to that life and you're on your own. I won't write you, call you, sit behind you in court, or visit you in prison. Understand?"

"Got it." Branson propped his head on the car door. "I'll assume you've got a number three. I can feel it."

"Last is, you work for me now."

"What?"

Anna shrugged, "I got you a job working for me, technically. But the guy in charge of me has the right to dump you on your ass if you don't do the work. You show up, on time, or you're on the street. You get six months to live in my flat but you better be looking for your own place and work on getting back on your feet. You don't miss a meeting with your PO or anyone else who schedules with you."

"Six months?"

"It's what I owe you, as family, but I'll not give you more than that." Anna pulled them off the motorway and into a lot for a fast food place. "Are these terms acceptable to you?"

Branson snorted his laugh and shook her extended hand. "Got it. I promised you in our last phone call, I'm clean and clear."

"You'd better be serious." Anna looked down at their hands. "You know what this means to me and if you go back on it-"

"I may've been in prison but I remember what the Smith Shake means." Branson shook firmly and then released. "I'm not going to blow this Anna."

"Good." She pulled up to the menu. "What do you want?"

Warsaw, Poland – One Year Ago

Anna checked the phone held in front of her face and then shook her head, "He's already got himself in prison?"

"He's not good with rules." The tree trunk that handed her the phone shrugged, "And he's got a record."

"I thought those came standard." Anna sighed, tucking the phone away. "Know anyone willing to get me in and out of a prison unsupervised?"

He shrugged, "I might know a guy."

"Really?"

He gave another massive shrug. "We all have guys."

"Right." Anna rubbed her hands together, blowing in them. "Want to give me his number so I can also know a guy?"

"Sure." He pulled out another phone, flipping through the contact. "But why go to prison? He serve his time and come out."

"I need to draw the others out and a funeral's the best way to get everyone in the same place at the same time." Anna pulled her new phone out and took the number the man showed her. "What name do I drop to get an appointment?"

"Mikolaj."

"Nice name."

"After saint you call Nicholas." He gave another heaving shrug that almost created its own weather system. "My mother, she like church."

"Greek Orthodox?" The man nodded, "Saint of the lost souls. Very appropriate for your particular business."

"And yours." He dug into his pocket and pulled out a chain with a dangling medal of Saint Nicholas. "For you."

"Is this where you tell me your mother gave that to you on her deathbed?"

"My mother lives in the country with her grandchildren."

"Your children?"

He shook his head, "Never marry. These I keep for special people. Tells me not to kill them later."

Anna took the chain and quickly put it around her neck. "It's not irradiated or anything as a tracking device so you can send someone after me, right?"

"You do this for my boss and our work done." He leaned forward, whispering in Polish now. "I hate Karol. You are doing a favor for us and I'll support that. If you ever need help, I give you one favor to go with my boss's generosity."

Anna held up the tiny medal. "I won't forget."

They parted, with him leaving first and Anna waiting a few minutes before pulling out the phone and dialing the number Mikolaj gave her. She put the phone to her ear and it connected on the first ring. "I hope this is Piotr because Mikolaj gave me this number and he would like you to help me get into the prison where you're holding a man who used to work for his boss as soon as possible."

With an introduction like that, it was that same afternoon that Anna found herself escorted down gray, cinder block corridors to a guard station. Knocking her knuckles on the window, she gave a short wave of her hand and studied the squirrelly, rail of a man as he approached the glass. When he slid it back Anna shrugged and spoke. "Piotr?"

"Yes." He wiped his glistening palms on his trousers and Anna suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at the jumpy man as he left the guard station and motioned her to follow him under a security camera. They took refuge out of its line of sight as it proceeded along its timed pan of the corridor ahead of them. Anna followed its path until the man cleared his throat. "You have the money?"

Handing over a roll of bills, Anna folded her arms as she waited for the man to satisfy himself with the count before he stuffed it deep in his trouser pocket. "As I said on the phone, half now and half later."

"I remember." He coughed to clear his throat, "Mikolaj said you need to get into a cell? To get at one of the men in here?"

"That's right." Anna rolled her shoulders, "I'll need the footage scrubbed as well. I can't have anyone knowing I was here."

"I can do that." He checked his watch. "But I can only give you ten minutes."

"I don't need that much time."

"No?"

"No." The man eyed her, the doubt clear in the raise of his eyebrow, and Anna sighed. "I've not got time for you to doubt me."

"I…" Piotr shook himself and nodded at her. "I can't let you take weapons. Someone could get them and then…"

"I don't have any." Anna went to move but Piotr did not clear out of her path. Her jaw tightened and she forced herself not to bite out the next words at him as she spread her arms and legs. "Do you need to search me for weapons or are you going to allow me to walk down that corridor and kill a very bad man? Because if you're not going to help me then there really is no point in either of us having this conversation and even less reason for me to waste the precious time I've got."

Piotr looked her over before nodding and stepped out of the way. "He's the last cell on the left. Got himself held back today for fighting."

"He'll not be a problem child much longer." Anna removed her jacket and pointed at Piotr's jacket and hat. "I'll need to borrow those."

"I can't-"

"I'll not get any blood on them, I promise." Anna held out her jacket. "And if I do, you can keep my jacket in exchange."

He reluctantly unfolded himself from his jacket and Anna worked her hair under the hat to ensure none of it spilled out. When the jacket sat on her shoulders and Piotr held her jacket he flashed her five fingers. It only took another nod for Anna to proceed down the corridor to the last cell on the left.

As she approached the bars, she noted the man in the corner, holding a rope in his hand and mumbling his way through a prayer as his fingers moved over the knots. Anna almost snorted as she entered the cell and removed the hat and jacket to leave on his bunk. "How lucky for me you use the chotki."

He barely had time to turn, almost rising off his knees, but Anna's swift side kick caught him in the stomach and left him falling onto his hands. When he tried to rise again, Anna snatched the chotki from his fingers and brought her elbow up to catch on the man's chin. It sent him tumbling back and a front kick smashed his nose with enough force to knock the man's head against the cinderblock walls behind him.

"I'm not usually this physical with my prey." Anna took two steps to cross the distance between them, wrapping the chotki twice around his neck and pulling tight. "But you dislocated my arm so this is a little more personal."

He whimpered against the rope at his neck, gurgling as his hands batted at her arms to dislodge him. Anna merely wrapped one of her legs over his shoulder and locked his arm between his body and her leg to keep him immobile. As he continued to struggle Anna pulled back as if trying to control a horse with her grip and wrapped the ends of the chotki around her hands until it bit into her skin.

"If you're worried that I won't appreciate the irony of what I'm doing," Anna pulled the chotki taut as the man choked against it. "Don't, because I do. Almost as much as I hope that you found some kind of forgiveness from the god you worship because you'll be standing for His judgment soon enough."

Anna tugged again, her leg tightening as the man's arm sought the final throes of effort while his face blued from lack of air. "And don't feel lonely. You'll friends'll join you in Hell very soon."

He collapsed forward and Anna barely avoided getting her leg crushed by his bulk. Her grip did not slacken on the chotki until the man's body shuddered and her nose crinkled at the nitric scent of urine. Moving the pillow from the bed under his mouth and nose, Anna release the chotki to leave next to the body before removing the skin-like gloves from her hands. It only took a moment to toss them into the pathetic porcelain bowl and flush with a catch of her boot on the handle.

Grabbing the jacket and hat, Anna arranged them to keep herself invisible as she crossed the corridor back to where Piotr waited. His shoes scratched the floor as he paced and Anna exchanged his jacket and hat for her leather one. She did not meet his eyes as she dug into her pocket and extracted the other half of the payment, rolled like the first. This time Piotr did not count it but ushered her quickly from the prison through a service entrance and shivered with her at the exit.

"Now Mikolaj and I are square, yes?"

"That's up to him but I'll be sure to tell him you were most helpful." Anna faked a salute at him, "Thank you Piotr."

Burying her hands in her jacket pockets, Anna walked away from the prison and did not look back.

Three Days Later

Sun broke through the clouds, forcing Anna to keep her sunglasses up when she did not have her eye on the scope. Lifting them back into her hair, Anna peeked at the scene before and adjusted the parabolic microphone to catch the conversations that passed at the graveside of the man she killed at the prison. A funeral attended by all of Karol's men and most of Horus's. In fact, the father and son stood close enough together to present a united front but the twitch of Karol's hands betrayed his desires.

Anna pressed one of her fingers to the earpiece and held the parabolic microphone with her gloved hand while she leaned into her elbow to continue looking through the scope. A moment of static forced her to adjust the microphone again and squinted at her potential targets as the voices came through after the recitation of the eulogy in Polish and a series of prayers in Old Salvonic.

"It shouldn't have happened this way." Karol's voice crackled through the microphone and Anna forced herself dig her elbow into the frozen ground to stop from dropping the microphone to pull the trigger and end the life of the man less than a mile from her position. But she held fast, waiting through the cold.

"He got himself imprisoned for being stupid. It was what he brought upon himself." Horus shrugged his shoulders, his large overcoat moving with his motion. "Whoever killed him left a message for us to leave him alone. It was personal and not against us. Whatever fate he suffered, he brought it on himself."

"He was my friend."

"He was an idiot and what happened to him, he earned." Horus pulled at his gloves before crossing himself and turning to Karol. "I'd suggest you find new friends, boy, or you'll only be left with idiots around you."

"Is that advice for when I take your spot?"

"If you ever proved yourself capable of doing what I do," Anna pressed harder on the earpiece to get the definition to the bite in Horus's voice, "Then you'd know that you've already cocked it up. You've brought the Vashta Nerada to our door and that was the message you missed in your foolish friend's death."

"Did I bring the Vashta Nerada to our door or did you?"

"If you've an accusation to make, boy," Horus adjusted his coat, facing Karol at the side of the grave. "Then I'd suggest you put yourself in a position where you could defend yourself against what would come against you if you're wrong."

Karol only snorted at his father. "You think I couldn't find those to support me against you? Against how old you are? Against the ancient system you represent? They're tired of you."

"Prove that with your actions, boy." Horus shook his head, nodding at the tree trunks shadowing him. "If you can prove it then you can have it. But I don't think you can prove it."

Anna drew back from her scope, watching the trio of figures moving away from the grave before turning back to the four men that joined Karol. She shifted the microphone and took the view through the scope again as the men crowded around Karol. They almost blocked her microphone but Anna managed to catch what they said as she let her breath fog out slightly and almost obscured her view through the scope. It took a moment to clear the scope before Anna could see them again.

"He hired her. There's no other way they got to him." Karol grumbled around his group. The same ones Anna recognized from that night. With the coffin behind them it was the perfect recreation of the six men who ruined her life and killed Ethel right in front of her.

"What now?"

"We run shifts, dipshit." One of the older ones knocked the youngest most on the back of the head. "We keep Karol safe. Whoever's not guarding him stays as a duo. She can't take two at once."

"She only got Jakub because he was in prison. She can't get us."

"Don't be an idiot Szymon." The older one slapped the younger again. "That's what Jakub thought and how he's buried with the chotki she wrapped around his throat. The same one she'd wrap around our throats if she could."

"Only because she had one. She can't take two, Igor."

"She's the Vashta Nerada, Szymon."

"Shut up, both of you." Karol snapped at both of them before pointing at the arguing two. "You two go to the club. I'll have Natan and Patryk with me first. We'll switch tomorrow."

They all nodded and went their separate ways. Anna pulled back slightly before focusing the scope on the two walking away without Karol. Leaving the microphone on the ground, she took stalk through the scope again and fired twice. The suppressed shots, adjusted for the weight of the suppression on the firing of the projectiles, carried over the distance and pierced the coats of the two men. Neither of the men noticed as they got into the same car and Anna pulled the firing mechanism again to ping against the bumper of the car.

As she sat up, the car speeding up to pull away, Anna checked her phone and watched the three dots align on the map as it pulled away. She tucked the phone into her pocket as she broke down the gun and stored it in her bag with the parabolic microphone and the other accouterments. It took her a moment but she cleared the space, leaving no trace, and packed into her tiny rented car to follow the tagged car and men to their club.

Waiting on the street outside, Anna gauged the ebb and flow of the patrons of the club, slinking in the back entrance on one of the local band's smoke breaks and sequestered herself on the catwalks above the neon lit stage. The music shook everything, rattling the metal catwalk just enough to cover Anna's footfalls, and gave her the opportunity to inspect the room from above.

Despite the blue lighting, the thumping of the music, and the general din of noise below, Anna quickly spotted her targets. They took up space at a round booth, sprawling a bit on the overstuffed sofa seats there, and met with a series of people in various states of dress. Her eyes narrowed as she watched the body language of what she quickly gathered were a series of business meetings with suppliers, possible competition, and possible members of the next generation of their industry. Each of them shuffling in and out of the club with their conversation covered by the general noise and chaos.

As the small hours of the morning approached, the occupants of the club dissipated. Anna tracked them, using the last dregs of the music to escape the catwalk, and scoped the remainder of the building as quickly as she could. With the staff moving about as they cleaned and closed shop, it gave Anna ample time to slip and slink her way around until she had full measure of the place. It took her no time at all to gain a line of sight on Szymon and Igor as they continued lounging on the sofa seat as the workers and employees slowly exited the club to leave the two all alone in the echoing space.

With careful precision, Anna exited the building and blocked all the exits. Each one took a little planning but her careful study of the building and its layout left her at the advantage as she entered through the back door again, jamming it closed just so a quick jerk would leave it inaccessible. The kind of movement someone desperate might make in an escape attempt.

But she need not have bothered. When she reentered the club, she noted the slight sway to the two men's bodies and almost snorted to herself at the stink of alcohol already wafting from them. Drawing out the karakulak, Anna aimed and threw it solidly to strike Igor through the shoulder. It sunk into his skin and deep into the wood that divided the cushions behind him.

The howl he let out alerted Szymon to her presence but he had no time to react before Anna repeated the motion with the bandit knife. It sank through his skin and solidly through to the sofa as well. As their howls harmonized into a cacophony of gasps and grunts as she flicked out the rybicka knife and approached them. Neither had time to speak or beg before Anna stuffed the cloth napkins from the table into their mouths.

When they tried to reach for her with their available hands, the blade slashed the arteries in their upper arms to leave their suit jackets in tatters. They grabbed for their makeshift gags to stem the flow but Anna bent and cut again, leaving both of them sliding sideways out of the booth as their trouser legs darkened and they could no longer walk or stand. Their whimpers were nothing as they slipped on the dampening floor and Anna ignored them as she took position at another table to leave her bag there.

Their sounds grew quieter as Anna removed the rope and disappeared backstage to access the catwalk she utilized earlier. Swift knots and careful use of pulleys allowed her to drop the rope to where the two men only twitched and spasmed on the floor. The same floor she gingerly crossed, avoiding the spreading pools of blood when she hoisted both men by their ankles and dangled them from the ceiling.

With the two knives still buried in their shoulders, Anna wiped the small one quickly and left it in the rope she tied to the leg of a table to keep the two dangling as they tremored through the loss of blood. They could not even speak as she rifled through their pockets for their phones and unlocked both using their dangling thumbs. Resting them both to her own thumbprint, Anna walked away without a spot on her as they drained like stock animals.

A draining process that had a host of policemen gathered outside the club the next morning. All of them arguing quickly in Polish left Anna confused but she followed enough of the conversation, especially when Karol arrived with his surviving two goons in a raging panic. A panic that turned to furious abandon when Anna texted him with one of the phones - perhaps Igor's? - and he read the message. One of the crime scene cleaning crew barely ducked the thrown phone when Karol exploded into an untempered tantrum only quelled when Anna repeated the message, this time from the other phone, to one of his bodyguards.

She waited, watching the scene, and answered the phone when it rang. "I was wondering when you'd get the message."

"You killed three of my friends."

"Yes, I did. Something you should've considered before you killed Ethel." Anna watched Karol's face as his voice laughed through the phone.

"She killed herself. Her end was better than yours. I make you suffer."

"I'm sure you'll try." Anna checked her watch, "Meet me at the warehouse when Ethel died and we'll settle this."

"Do you think you scare me?"

"Yes, I do. And you should be scared." Anna bit the inside of her cheek. "You've got two hours. Be there and we'll finish this today. If not, I guess I'll have to hunt you down myself and we both know that won't be pleasant."

Anna ended the call, leaving both phones on the rooftop, and made her way to the rental car. She managed the midmorning traffic with ease, her hands steady on the wheel as she forced her breathing to even, and arrived outside the building. The sight of it, dark and gutted but still looming above her, almost gave Anna the chills but she grabbed her bag and proceeded inside.

Once through the door it was routine. She was an expert about her mission and nothing distracted her as she checked for the stability of certain sections, possible pitfalls in the floor, and confirmed the arrangement of the accouterments she needed. All those things she managed in readiness when a car crunched over the gravel, rubbish, refuse, and broken glass outside. That was when she allowed herself a single moment of fear, anticipation, excitement, and nerves before sinking back into the shadows of her prearranged location to wait.

Wait as the two, Natan and Patryk, entered first. Wait as they inevitably found the first sets of traps she laid. Wait as they triggered those, laughing themselves and each other at the simplicity of it before their pride led to a fall. A fall that snapped them both into modified man-catchers. Traps that knocked counterweights from the support beams to lift both men into the air as they scrabbled and struggled against the tightly braided string wrapping its way around their necks. String that only tightened the more they struggled.

Then she needed only wait another moment before Karol entered. Before he tried to find a way to free the men, before he inevitably fell into a trap of his own. But this one only triggered a weight to knock him upside the head. It dropped him to the ground, dazed, and Anna flicked out a bit of rope to catch his hand near his neck. With his hand trapped Anna kicked away his gun and dragged Karol back into a chair before tying him in place.

He blinked blearily at her and Anna dodged when he tried to aim spit at her. It only dripped off his chin before Anna shoved his tie into his mouth to leave him partially choking on the material as she checked her knots to ensure he could not escape the bonds of the chair. Then she lifted her head to watch the last shudders of the two men above her before leaving Karol in the building.

The muffled cries echoed out to Anna's car as she opened the trunk and managed the gas-powered generator in two hands to heave it into the warehouse. It gave Karol a start when she dropped it near him and Anna wrinkled her nose at the tang of urine in the air. His eyes were full of fear as Anna connected the leads to the metal of the chair and grounded one before attaching the other to the generator. With a flick of the switch and a tug of the line, she watched a moment as Karol and the chair seized and shook in place.

When she turned it off, the generator still humming but no longer giving a current, Anna tugged the tie from Karol's mouth. He heaved for breath and widened his jaw as if to speak. But Anna shoved the tie back in place and faced him. "I'm not interested in anything you have to say. This isn't one of those kinds of interactions."

His eyes pled with her but Anna pointed upward, to where his two friends stopped their jerking. "They were lucky, you know. Them, the two at the club, and your friend Jakub in the prison. They went relatively quickly. You…" She shook her head, "I don't plan on you going so quickly."

She flicked the button again, counting silently before turning it off and watching Karol's body sag. "The worst part, for you, is there's nothing you can do. No one's coming to save you and no one'll find you here. You're all alone. Just you, me, and whatever fate waits for you on the other side of your heart giving out."

Anna paced again, crossing her arms over her chest. "Initially, I thought I wanted to hear you beg to be released. To beg for your life like you've probably made so many people beg. But," She turned back to face him, "I realized I don't care. Whether you beg or not, whether you cry or not, whether you shit yourself to death or not I don't care."

Flipping the switch again, the count lasted longer this time before she turned it off. His eyes, cloudier now, followed her as Anna pointed toward the hanging pair above him. "That, is your doing. All of this is your doing. And I really hope you remember that as you die. That you did this to you."

The clatter of the chair as it rocked against the shocks counted out for Anna until she turned off the generator. "I was turning over a new leaf with this job. I thought I could turn the darkness I've carried around for a long time into something good by coming here to protect Ethel. But," She leaned over, ensuring Karol faced her. "I think the darkness makes us who we are. And I've found I stopped looking for monsters under the bed, in the closet, or hiding in the shadows when I finally realized that the monsters were already lying await in my own soul."

She stood, "And this is how I'm making peace with my demons. I'm riding myself of the monsters that remind me of me. Monsters like you."

Flicking the switch, Anna took a breath. "You should've stayed out of the shadows. That's where the Vashta Nerada feeds."

With one final check to the generator, Anna left the warehouse. But she never had time to reach her car as Mikolaj came out of the back of a limousine that pulled up behind her. They eyed one another a moment before he stepped aside to allow Anna to get into the rear of the car.

She stared down Horus as he smiled at her. "You did good work."

"Your son's not dead yet."

"He will be soon and then I get someone to remove bodies. We have funeral for him, and his friends, and then my organization will regroup." He sighed, shrugging in his overcoat. "The police sweep this under the rug, you see. Call it retribution killings for violence."

"Something you'll help with I'm sure."

He gave another shrug. "We give them evidence that points them toward some opposition. We run everyone in circles."

"And your men'll have a nice little gang war to get them over their grief?" Anna snorted, "If you're here to offer me a ride to the airport, I've got my rental car."

"And I've got gift of making sure police know nothing about your role in any of this... Messy business."

"I'll take that as professional courtesy." Anna let her head rest back a second, "What you said, about things like this being in my bones, did you mean it?"

"Of course. I don't waste words." He handed over an envelope. "For the work you did. And your excellent record."

Anna hefted the envelope and raised an eyebrow, "Not to sound ungrateful, but this feels light. Too light considering the deal we made."

"I not go back on it, if that is your worry." Horus leaned back on the seat across from her. "Instead we make arrangement. To avoid anyone tracking the money or me through you."

"I'd be more worried about the other way round."

"Either way," He waved down her comment. "This makes sure I get update on my grandson and you get your money over the next ten years."

"Ensuring you stay alive for the next decade or trying to twist my arm into being your Guardian Angel?"

"Neither." Horus pointed out the door to where Mikolaj stood sentry. "I'll send him to England every year. He meets you in place you pick, at time you want, and he gives you the money."

"What do I give him?"

"Updates. How my grandson is doing. Subjects he like in school. Sports he plays. Music he listen to. Things a grandfather should know."

Anna pursed her lips, "I'll not tell you where he is."

"I know."

"And I won't let you find him."

"I know that too." Horus tapped the side of his nose, "I did hire Vashta Nerada. I know what kind of woman that is."

Anna looked out the car window, squinting a second before taking a deep breath. "If that's the deal we're making now, then you'll tell everyone that Vashta Nerada is dead. That she died here in Poland."

"I can do that." Horus frowned, "But why?"

"Because, as of this moment, she is dead." Anna extended a hand folded her fingers toward herself, as if bidding Horus come to her. "I'll take another part of the payment now, if you don't mind."

Horus handed over another envelope and waited with an outstretched hand until Anna shook it. "To the death of the Vashta Nerada."

"I'm sure you'll weep bitterly over it."

"I wanted to hire you on."

"I remember." Anna climbed out of the car and nodded at Mikolaj. "I'll be seeing you around."

"See you in a year." He nodded back before climbing back into the limo with Horus and driving off.

Anna watched them go, counting through the money in the envelopes again, and climbed into her car to leave the warehouse, the city of Warsaw, and the country of Poland behind forever.