Olympus

Chapter 20

Havana, Cuba

Sunshades, shirts and shorts, and with a cup of mojito in hand, Ricardo and Megan looked just like every other normal tourist couple in the roadside restaurant they sat down to wait for Ricardo's contact, Sammy on the sunny afternoon.

However, anyone who took a closer look at the duo would realize that there was nothing normal- or coupling- about them.

For starters, they had barely said a word to one another for the past half an hour they had been seated together; or smiled; or shared any facial expression for that matter that would indicate that they even knew of their proximity to one another. All Megan did was concentrate on the fashion magazine in front of her without turning a page, and Ricardo's attention was on his phone; holding the device up to put down again every five minutes like he was searching for a signal.

Also, while the two were seemly not paying the slightest attention to one another, they showed too much of it to the other occupants of the restaurant. Behind the facade of reading the magazine, Megan's eyes darted to and fro everyone sitting in tables around them: who they were, what they ordered, what their facial expressions told of what they were saying; and sometimes she was actually able to overhear their conversations in its entirety. In short, she was getting a read on the personality of the other couples in the restaurant.

Ricardo, on the other hand, was more hands-on in his approach. Under the guise of taking a selfie or landscape shot, he would capture the faces of a couple of people in the restaurant and then use a facial recognition software app on his phone connected to Os Buscadores' global servers to find out who they were and if there was anything of noteworthy interest about them.

So far, no one had stood out for the couple.

"Are you sure your friend is going to show up, Mr. DiSanto?" Megan suddenly asked after taking a quick glance at her watch. "I mean, it's been almost an hour since we got here and still, nothing."

"He'll show," he assured her, checking his phone to seemly confirm it, "Sammy's just used to being a bit of a latecomer, that's all."

"A bit of a latecomer" was certainly not what Megan would choose to describe someone who left her waiting for about an hour. More like an uncivilized, unprofessional entity, if you asked me, she thought to herself, very annoyed.

Truth be told though, it wasn't that she minded so much that Sammy was late. In fact, if she was being honest, he had been the furthest thing from her mind before she mentioned him. What bothered her was the company he had forced her in: Ricardo's.

Thing is, after the Rio mission and the "whirlwind of emotions" affair that was the interrogation afterwards, Megan had been having a sort of mixed feelings about Ricardo.

On one hand, despite the fact that their meeting had all been because of Item 13, it still brought a smile to her face whenever she thought of their conversation together and the fun they had had at the party, which if she was being honest, was the first she had in a very long time.

However, that train of thought always led her to the other hand where she recalled that Ricardo was just blatantly manipulating her throughout the entire encounter and she couldn't trust any single thing he said or did even as the aura she had gotten from him then- and still did whenever she stopped to observe him- testified to his sincerity.

Hence, her dilemma.

God, this is annoying! She slammed the table with her fist, startling everyone in the restaurant, including Ricardo.

"Megan, are you okay?" he asked, looking somewhat worried.

"Of course, I am," she returned, her snap much harsher than she had thought it would sound.