I was going to be home late today.
It had turned into a strangely long day, but more was yet to come. The sun was setting as I made my way through the Aversque Boulevard and to the thinner streets going down north. With the turns I made, I changed my appearance a little.
My bangs went back into a ponytail, my sleeves rolled up. I reached into my bag and also pulled out the rings and piercings, they made me a little more calm when I wore them.
Soon, I was reaching my destination.
In the shadier parts of the city where neon and chrome signboards glowed and drunk salarymen, drunk youngsters, and drunk cops and gangsters all patrolled the streets, I made my way through the stores. Through one lane and then the next, until a run-down cafe entered my sight.
The bells on the door jingled as I pushed the door open.
Pale yellow lights lit the beautifully adorned cafe. A mix of green on the plastic plants and a shade of mahogany highlighted with black on the furniture added a charm to the place that one would see at high-end establishments.
My eyes scanned the empty cafe as I waded through the strong smell of coffee to the counter seats and settled down.
"You're here," the barista said. A tall and burly man, an ex-pat from the USA. "What can I get for you today?"
"A custom order, please."
The barista slid a cup and a key card alongside it, discreet as ever. I sipped on the coffee. It was… instant coffee. My eyes narrowed as I glared at the man.
He just shrugged back.
"Whatever."
I sighed and finished the coffee before slipping the keycard up my palm and getting off the seats. I left to the back of the shop, towards the restroom. In the middle of the two restrooms, on the wall, was a small crack.
The keycard slid into the crack, and I pushed the door open. It was not a high-tech fancy location or anything of the sort. No walls cracking open nor any sudden gates appearing from nowhere. Just a normal door, disguised smartly.
As soon as I entered, the lights inside were flipped on their own. The door behind me shut back to a lock and my eyes fell on the red-haired girl at the very center of the room. Sitting with her legs resting on top of a table, the girl was sipping on some cold coffee and tapping away on a laptop.
There were multiple other desktop computers and a bunch of servers layered along the room. Wires flowed everywhere but were arranged with a lot of care to not ruin the aesthetic of the place too much.
Cafe Gnosis.
"Oh?" The girl looked up at me and smiled brightly. Girl… was perhaps not the right word, but I had picked it up thanks to someone else. She was a grown woman by all accounts, an adult.
"If it isn't, my favourite customer!" She said with a bright smile and pulled her legs off the table. The girl, or rather, the woman pointed at the couch next to hers and asked me to sit.
I didn't hesitate and took a seat. This place was almost as familiar to me as my home at this point. It was a location that I found myself at every few days.
"Peridot, why are you serving instant coffee at the front?"
Peridot looked at me with an amused gaze.
"That's your concern?"
"I pay for it."
"Go ask Jack that. He uses a different coffee for people he dislikes." Peridot scoffed and tapped at her laptop, her face returned to a smile within moments and in a high-pitched tone, she asked. "So, how did it go with that call last time?"
"Yes. I wanted to thank you for that," I said as I stretched my hands and reached for my phone. "John and James Mayer… they were quite the foolhardy duo."
"Sure were. How did they piss you off?"
I raised a brow at Peridot's question. "Are you going to sell that information?"
"Do you think it is worth selling?"
"Possibly."
"Then I might. How did they piss you off?"
I chuckled and looked away. There was no need to answer her.
This was Peridot. Obviously a fake name. The owner of Cafe Gnosis, and one of the best information brokers of the city. By all means, there was no one better for me than her.
The two of us spent a few minutes in silence. Peridot kept tapping away at her laptop. It was only after a bit that she placed the laptop down that she turned to me and properly straightened her back.
"Sorry about that," said she. "Now then, dear customer. As I mentioned on the call, I have traced back the funds that Nick's gang was receiving."
I crossed my arms at her words.
Nick. The first of the bastards that I was after. He was quite literally the smallest unit in what I could still not see, but a lead was a lead.
After trying so many places.
Finally. It seemed there was some hope.
My revenge…
There was hope to get back…