Chapter 11

Sylvia was lying on her bed and looking at the white ceiling. She was sure now that the recruitment thing was just a hoax and that she and the other girls were, in fact, prisoners. The reason about why they were here, she didn't know for sure, but she suspected that this couple that she had met in Brazil had something to do with it. Why else would they have shown her their pictures.

When she heard a noise at the door of the room, she looked at it, and then she saw how a guard opened it. It was the same guard as from earlier in the day.

"Get up!" he said with an unpleasant voice.

Sylvia got up from her bed and by the gesturing from his hands, she knew she had to walk over to him. He made her go past him and when she stood in the corridor, she saw that the door at the other side of the corridor stood open.

"Get inside, somebody wants to talk with you!" the guard said and he even pushed her towards the open door.

She went into the room and then the door was closed behind her again. She looked in the mirror, and noticed how naked she still was. In a way, it made her smile, but she also had felt how the guard's body language had changed. His demeanor towards her had changed from friendly and helpful to hostile and commanding. Playtime was over it seemed.

She went sitting on the chair and waited for what would happen next. Luckily, for her, Sylvia didn't have to wait long and when the door opened, a man in a black suit walked in. She immediately recognized him as the guy she had fought with, in the gym.

"Hello," Sylvia said and smiled at him.

He didn't say anything back and just walked to the other side of the table, looked at her and then sat down. Sylvia kept on looking at him and waited patiently for what was to come.

Agent 1 looked at Sylvia and noticed that she was looking back at him, and he saw that she looked at him like she knew that the fun part of her stay on base was over. She didn't look scared or anything, but it was just the way how she looked at him that told him that she was expecting to find out the truth now. Well, he hoped she would also tell him the truth.

"So, Miss Dumond, any idea why you are here?" Agent 1 asked her in a voice that was very business like.

Sylvia moved her body backwards on her chair and crossed her arms in front of her stomach. "No, Sir," she said. "However, I'm sure it isn't because I'm being recruited."

Agent 1 was in a way pleased that she was like this, her body language told him that she was getting offensive towards him, but her answer still showed respect.

"That's a pity!" he said. "I had hoped you would have a clue about why you were here, so we could end it all quickly."

Sylvia looked at him, but didn't say anything. She was sure she would be answering a lot of questions soon enough.

"I hope you don't mind me calling you Sylvia?"

"Of course not," Sylvia said. "And how can I call you?"

"Sir ... Sir would be fine for now," he said.

They both looked in each other's eyes for a moment and then Agent 1 blinked and said, "We went over you polygraph, and it showed us you didn't lie to us. That's something that speaks in your favor ... for now. However, you showed us things that I want some answers about."

Sylvia still didn't say anything, but Agent 1 noticed that Sylvia started breathing just a little faster. So, she wasn't as cool about this all as she tried to make herself look about it.

"First I want you too look at something," he said and pushed a piece of paper towards her.

Sylvia took it from the table and looked at it. On the paper were three chemical formulas written down: Au2S3-C2H5OH-C3H5(ONO2)3

"Can you tell me what those formulas represent?"

"Umm," Sylvia let out while she was thinking. "It's been a while, but if I'm correct, the first one is for Gold, the second one for Ethanol and the third one ... Umm ... It looks like something for an explosive substance ... Nitroglycerin maybe?"

Agent 1 smiled crooked at her and said, "So, you still know the things you have learned in University!"

"I have a good memory, but that last one was a bit of a gamble. However, the first one was very obvious." Sylvia said and smiled back at him, also because she was pleased about herself that she hadn't forgotten the things that she had learned at the university.

"So, if you still know your chemistry, why did you decide to work in a bank as a secretary?"

"Why?" she said with some surprise in her voice. "Well, because it's an easy job and when you are done after work, you don't have to think about it anymore."

"But you could make much more money when you would go to work in a laboratory!"

It was now Sylvia, who showed him a crooked smile. She uncrossed her arms and leaned her body forwards, placing her arms on the table and locking her fingers in front of her.

"Well, I'm sure you have already checked my finances, and you know I don't need to work for money ... I'm rich!" Sylvia said.

"Sure, but that still doesn't explain me why you want to work in a bank."

"I thought it would be obvious ... because of the social contacts you have there. Money alone doesn't make you happy, it's your friends that make you enjoy life!"

Agent 1 thought about this for a moment, he looked at her eyes, and they showed no deceit or anything. Those brown eyes just looked like they were smiling at him.

"Well, it sounds logical," he said to her, trying to hide the fact that he was admiring her somewhat. "However, we also found a bank account on your name that gets a 250 EUR cash deposit every month, where is that money coming from."

"That's the rent money of Sofia," Sylvia said. "I let her pay me rent, and she always pays in cash. However, I put it on that bank account and will give it back to her if she would ever move away or need money."

"Why do you do that?"

"Sofia doesn't know that I'm the owner of the place that we are living in, she also thinks that I pay rent for it, and so we split the rent. She doesn't know that I'm rich you see."

"Why didn't you tell her?"

"Because ... when people know you are rich, they often just want to be friends with you in the hope they would get something out of it." Sylvia then sighed and said, "I know that I should have told her by now, but I don't want to take the risk that our friendship would change, if she knows about it."

Agent 1 could understand this explanation. However, it brought up another question concerning Sofia. If she was paying her with cash, where was that money coming from, because they hadn't seen any cash withdrawals of that amount from her bank-account? He made a note about this and would give it along to Agent 8 after his talk with Sylvia.

Agent 1 looked at Sylvia again, and then said, "You know, you surprised me with your fighting skills. I have seen many fighters in my life and fought against many good ones. But you, you are very good as well, way too good, in fact."

Sylvia smiled, because she had been expecting a question about this and said, "Well ... I have my dad to thank for this."

"Your dad?"

"Yes, he made me start training from my 10th birthday with the bodyguards he had. And because he had many over the years, I learned many fighting styles, and it seems that thanks to my genes, I had a knack for it."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, my mum was a gymnast, and it seems that I inherited her genes for sports."

"Well, you sure are very flexible. But ... where did you learn Krav Maga?"

Now Sylvia almost giggled and said, "A bodyguard, who was also a friend of my dad, taught me when I was 16 and ... because he was only 24 ... we ... well, we became a little more than good friends, and I saw him until my 20th birthday. He was really good at it and also a really good trainer. And again, because I picked it up easily, he taught me some very... <giggle> ... special moves."

"Are you referring to the last move you did against me?"

"Well, that is one of those special moves!"

"Hmm, and that move when you took my knife away, what was that?" Agent 1 asked. He just needed to know it, because that had been a stance he had never seen before.

Sylvia thought back to the fight for a moment, and then she said, "Oh, that. It's something I picked up in China. I Shaolin priest thought me that move."

"A Shaolin priest? How did you hook up with him?"

"He knew my dad and looked after me on my trip through China. When some hoodlums attacked us on our trip, he seemed surprised, but impressed with my fighting skills, and I loved the way how he fought. And so, I persuaded him to teach me some of his fighting style."

"You persuaded him! Umm ... so, it was Kung Fu like I thought," Agent 1 said, more to himself than to Sylvia. "That brings me to another question I have for you. What did you do in that year in China and afterwards in the USA?"

"Oh, I was just exploring the world. After I got my university degree, I just wanted to see something of the world before I would get stuck in the day to day things of an ordinary life," Sylvia said, and then she became sad and said, "If my parents hadn't died so suddenly, I would also have traveled through South America for a year. But ... after I had to return to France ... I ... Well, I just didn't feel like traveling for a while. My current trip to Brazil was the first one in years."