Chapter LXVI. A Legend in Vienna

The Danube River originates in the Black Forest in the German city of Donaueschingen and makes its way for 2,872 kilometers across several European cities to its final estuary in the Black Sea. One of the most famous of these cities is Vienna, the capital of Austria.

A few months ago, on the imaginary timeline, in one of the suites of the Ritz-Carlton, Vienna, unusually in this area, a few seagulls hovered around the hotel, around the windows of a private suite, and in the streets and alleys around it, All the time, tirelessly.

Inside, a woman, in her mid-50s, sat on a bright white sofa, wearing a modest black dress, dyed her hair black, of moderate length, and thin body, showing signs of poise, sobriety, and luxury.

He sat right opposite her, on a single sofa, with one foot on the other, wearing a black formal suit, he was not used to wearing this uniform, suffocated by the tie, he wanted to be freed of it, but this meeting and the nature of the negotiations required it.

Baibars: Ma’am, I appreciate your deep sorrow, my deepest condolences to you, but What is done is done., unfortunately.

-Thank you. We now have something more important than sadness. Crystal is our right, our property, the lost legacy of our Prophet.

-So, you should have taken it back a long time ago.

After a moment of silence, he added: If it had been like this, the big master would have returned it to you, before he was killed.

The lady: He had his own convictions, which do not represent us, and he is now dead, and it is in your hands, we know that.

-He laughed: A lot of people know about it, in fact, I am surprised I have not heard it on the news yet.

-She said firmly: How much do you want for it?

-It is priceless, madam, and my plan with the big master is against what you ask for.

-This is none of your business if you want to get out of here alive.

-He laughed out loud, and said: Have you ever faced death face to face, did you experience that feeling when he holds you tight, and then for some unknown reason lets you go, leaving some bruises on your body as a souvenir? If you have not, you have missed out on a lot of fun.

Overconfidently, he added, “If I had known that we would descend to this level of absurdity in dialogue, I would not have strangled myself with this tie all the time.”

He was silent for a while, then said in a disapproving tone: That plan drawn up by the big master, I wonder how it does not suit you!

-I do not object to your plan, what we want is a slight modification of it, let Robert be the new big Master, but the crystal will be ours.

She approached him with a little envy: the crystal of the Children of Israel, its place is in Israel, not in Malta, nor where you hid it, you must be well aware of that.

Baibars: Well, we can agree on this, I am not interested in the crystal, nor your alleged legacy, all I am interested in is destroying the algorithms, which are still in Malta. They have a huge database, and even with the crystal gone, they can still do a lot. I want to destroy their copy from the algorithms, with all the databases that they have. you are helping me with this, and I guarantee you will get your crystal back to its rightful place.

-She put her back on the seat cushion: How do you expect us to help you in this?

-I will complete my plan with the Grand Master, I will prepare Robert to succeed him, and bring him back to Malta, and you will lead him to destroy their copy of the algorithms with all the databases, and after the task is carried out, the crystal will return to you.

Madam: On one condition, Robert will not be harmed, and you will give us sufficient guarantees that it is in your possession.

He took out a piece of paper from his pocket, placed it on the table, and wrote the following coordinates on it.

40.879069,29.112375

Then he rose from his seat, politely asked permission, and left.

-She stopped him and asked: Is what was said true?

-about what?

-Birds, have you discovered that through it you can learn the language of birds? As did the Prophet of God Solomon?

-He smiled: I have to leave; I have done my work here…

She interrupted him, in a weak feminine tone: Please, I need to know, did you really do it? Did you speak to the birds through it? Are those gulls hovering around us talking to you?

He turned his face toward her: Madam, stick to the plan, I will take care of your son Robert’s safety, and make sure he passes the tests alive. When I ask of you, send whoever you want to these coordinates, to make sure it is there. In return, you will bring him to Jerusalem and follow my instructions, and after I make him the big master in the alpha headquarters, you will lead him to destroy the algorithms and all the databases.

Mother: Do not you think you should check your accounts about his memories!

Baibars: Dear, he will not remember me, his suspicions were not proven, and he was a teenager preoccupied with what was more important than a strange man, secretly meeting his mother.

Late in the evening, a few hundred kilometers from Vienna, and ten kilometers from Innsbruck, an old farm, from the twelfth century, surrounded by meadows and woods, by candlelight, Katrina left the bed, escaping from his hands, half-naked.

A voice came from behind her: Have you lost your mind? We are not done yet, go back to bed, right now.

Katrina: My dear, Baibars is very suspicious and careful to observe, if you left any little mark on my body, he will notice it tomorrow. You do not know how much effort I put into making him drink so much that he does not notice me acting my longing for him every time I meet him.

-Damn him, he will not notice, that idiot, come back at once.

-My love, do not rush, and do not give him a chance to notice anything strange, so he begins to analyze the situation and draw conclusions. Make him think that he is the one who controls events, and manipulates everyone. Nothing numbs his mind and makes him wonder in your hands, you can shape it as you like, except the ecstasy of control, his deep desire to manipulate those around him, it is his fatal weakness.

She added: Do you know that he thinks he convinced me that I am the descendant of an Ottoman prince with those ridiculous papers?

He gets angry, he wants her, as cannot keep his lust for her. Taking advantage of something she just said, in order to go back to bed, he says, “you act longing for him? You once loved him, shared with him the murder of the old master, stole the crystal, and then pretended to bed him under duress?

-My love, it was a whim and it ended, my relationship with you is older than my knowledge of him, I have always been your property. If it was not a task entrusted to me, none of this would have happened.

What if you did not discover his love for that Turkish girl? Would you come back to me?

She looked at him firmly, serious, frightening, in a tone of a mixture of pride, pain, and cruelty: Damn Khadija, damn him, you know, I just remembered another weak point in him, he does not always give a woman’s madness its due.

In a threatening tone, she added, “You should pay attention to this.

-Well, how are we going to get the crystal back from him?

– I know where he hides it, a small uninhabited island in the Sea of Marmara, on a stone’s throw from the Princesses Island.

-Why do not we kill him now and get the crystal back and finish this case?

-Do not be in a hurry! if we killed him, Headquarters Alpha will look for whoever killed him, they will know that there is a player bigger than him, and they will chase us. Let them finish each other, let him prepare Robert to succeed his grandfather, and destroy their algorithms, then, it is our turn.

-I hope it is all worth it.

-It is, my dear, there is no one qualified to break algorithms like him, he will succeed I am sure, the crystal and its copy of the databases will become our property, they will pay all they have in Israel for it, the inheritance of their prophet, what fool men they are.

-She added: Just make sure they give you the task of stalking, you have to be there, do not let anyone doubt our relationship, not even those closest to you.

He walked towards her, and while she was not aware of it, he embraced her and began kissing her lips passionately and longingly.

-She snubbed him, pushed him away: Damn you, when are you going to learn to control your lust? I told you not to.

He hugged her again, held her with his hands, carried her to the bed, trying to escape from him to no avail, tore off what she was wearing, and fixed her, unable to move, nor to escape, I quickly surrendered to him, groaning under his body and in his arms, caressing his hair, “my love, whenever we were together in the morning, I woke up with my ribs smashed, and I realized then why they called you “the hammer…”

At the height of his lust, he kissed her neck, turned her face towards the window, her eyes fell directly on something outside, and she said, groaning below him: What a strange sight!

The hammer without turning: what is it?

Katrina: That seagull outside the window! What brought it here, so far from its home.