CIA Tip #2: When meeting with someone, choose a lively place so that you won't look suspicious while talking about serious matters.
We entered a lively restaurant, the yellow lights slightly dimmed. A waft of garlic and tomatoes filled my nostrils, arousing my half-filled stomach with my previous meal of noodles and crackers from the flight. I looked around, searching for Amelia.
A lady with short creamy yellow hair waved at us. She wore a bright white knitted sweater completed with a lilac scarf. I recognized her immediately as Amelia through the turquoise blue eyes enlarged with black hipster glasses.
"Hey Alfred! Hi Liên!" Amelia waved energetically at us.
"How was the flight Liên?" Amelia asked. Her thin lips curled into a smile.
"Not too bad. I slept well since there weren't any babies on board," I answered, while putting my messenger bag on the back of my chair.
A waiter passed by us, wearing a white collar shirt, black pants, and a black vest. A black bowtie completed the outfit. "Hello, I'm Julian. I will be at your service today. Anything to drink?" He spoke English with a slight Spanish accent.
"Water would be fine for me," I answered. Although I bought 950 USD with me, I have a habit of monitoring what I spent.
"Water for both of us too please," Amelia chimed in brightly. Julian excused himself with a slight bow.
"Hmm...what should we order?" Alfred was flipping through the menu. I'll have a butternut agnolotti with a sage brown butter. Oh also, two chocolate soufflés and a chocolate tart for dessert. I know Amelia wants to try the spaghetti arranbiata." Amelia nodded eagerly while sipping the water. "You, Lien?"
"I'll take the capellini with crab." I hope the meal wasn't too heavy. I didn't want to sleep tonight with a full stomach.
Julian returned, carrying a brown tray with three glasses of water. Each glass had a thinly sliced lemon floating among the ice. "Here you go. Are you ready to order?" He took out a worn notepad and a pen from his chest pocket.
Alfred picked up the large menu with the restaurant's name written in fancy script and quoted our orders.
Julian placed his notebook back into his chest pocket and collected our menus. "Alright, your order will be here in no time. I'll be right back with the bread and the olive oil." We thanked Julian for his wonderful service towards us and resumed to our conversation.
Amelia turned to me. "Are you ready to become a student?" Amelia's eyes sparkled as soon as she turned to me. "This should be an easy task for you. You've been to, aircraft stations in England, haunted villages in Kenya, underground drug factories in Thailand, and even brothels in the Philippines! Becoming a student is nothing compared to what you have done in the past before!"
"Well yes, but that's still a difficult task. I need to make sure that no one finds out about my true identity," I replied. "Anyway, what are you guys doing right now?" I decided to see if I could help out before school started next week.
"We're currently trying to track down Leon. Leon's going to visit America in a week or so. He's helping his friend open a new casino with his buddy Enrico in Las Vegas. They're coming here in about a week or so," Alfred explained.
"He's the drug dealer of ketamine, meth, and cocaine, remember? And the leader of the triad named Fo Long. But it's going to be difficult with his two body guards, David (方德政; Fong Dut-Jing) and Wilfred (言為信; Yin Wai-Sun). They never let Leon out of their sight," Amelia added.
"Ah, Leon, I remember. And his buddy Enrico. Enrico's from Macau. He operates all the casinos in Macau."
We continued chatting in hushed whispers about Leon and Enrico until our dinner came. Like I hoped, my capellini with crab wasn't too heavy with butter and oil. The cappuccino soufflé, on the other hand was sweeter than bitter, generously sprinkled with powdered sugar.
After my first meal in New York, we drove back home, discussing about our plans on our next jobs. We offered advice towards one another and exchanged information about each of our targets.