Infiltration of Bar "Samuel"

Eugene stood in silence while glaring at the hand of Madam la Avise. The woman also did not move an inch, patiently waiting for his answer. At first, Eugene's expression was the true definition of tabula rasa, but as the realization of her words slowly build up in his mind, first his brow was raised and then the mouth opened a little.

"Take… hostage?- WHAT!? Are you out of your mind!?" finally hissed out the man in half-whisper, simultaneously searching for curious gazes around. Luckily, no one heard of this woman's bizarre suggestion.

"You are free to interpret my words as you wish, but the fact stands, this is the only way to find your brother." the woman calmly explained, making Eugene grab his face with both of his hands.

"No, this is not! I mean, we do not even know if he was here! What do you mean by this is the only way? Are you dumb!?"

Even though Eugene's cocktail of thoughts came out as a delirious blabbering, it somehow offended the woman, and she loosened up her hand, "I am hearing it from a boy who is not able to connect words into sentences." Afterwards, she turned away and mumbled, "As I said, you are free to interpret my words as you wish, and thus act accordingly."

"And where the hell are you going?" Eugene crossed his hands, as soon as the lady marched towards the crowd yet again.

"To save your brother, of course."

Her tempo did not dwindle, it was not this fast to begin with, but Eugene still felt the distance of every second. Despite her arms being slim and weak, she was willing to commit to her crazy idea even without Eugene. The man could bear the sight of her silhouette disappearing behind countless bodies in front of the bar "Samuel" and thus, after a time interval that did not last for even half a minute, Eugene caught up to the lady and marched besides her.

"Can you at least tell me the plan?"

"Well, that's simple. All I need is a diversion to sneak through the police. And your role is one of a bait."

"Bait? And what should I do?"

"You are the smart one here, perhaps start a fight?" caustically proposed the woman, making Eugene click his tongue. But upon a second thought, this idea did not seem half bad. If the fighting starts at such a crowded place, all police and worker forces will be drawn out of the entrance. Truly, a foolproof plan! But somehow, the rising enthusiasm on Eugene's face erased the smile from the woman's cheeks.

Eugene tapped the shoulder of one quite bulky reporter. And as soon as Madam la Avise whispered, "Do not tell me you actually-", Eugene slapped the face of this man. The sonorous clap spread through the crowd, and even the police officers squinted at the suspicious sound. The bulky man's face gradually turned red, he made a few heavy blinks at Eugene, who had an audacity to furthermore wink at him, and swung with his heavy fist. Unfortunately for the man, Eugene appeared to be quite agile, he evaded the strike with ease and crouched through the flock of people, not forgetting to take the lady's hand.

There were, of course, some consequences from the man's attempt of retaliation. He hit a few more people, whose reaction did not differ from his own that much. They tried to attack the bulky man, despite his impressive and honestly intimidating size. From their attack, more people got hurt and joined in to the chaos that was expanding at an astounding rate. People were screaming, some ran off, but most remained within the crowd to battle in this one for all.

The police whistles joined the melody of the street brawl, but they were too insignificant for anyone to notice. Thus, the police were drawn from the entrance and after a while, the remaining workers either tried to help the law or hid inside the bar.

Eugene giggled at the mess he provoked, "This was indeed quite easy! You see? The entrance is clear, lets go."

He pulled the hand of the woman who was still exploring the ruckus behind them, her hands were wide open and mouth was lacking of any words. For the first time, Eugene was able to completely silence this arrogant lady, due to which he entered the bar "Samuel" with his chest up front.

"I am honestly impressed, you were not quite as brave in the back alley." finally, snapped out of awe Madam la Avise without missing an opportunity to mock the man. Eugene frowned, but her face was barely able to hold in the excitement.

Eugene shrugged at her words and, in an attempt to further savour his success, answered, "Well, the circumstances were different and let's be honest, without me, you would already drink coffee with Arnold."

"Anyway," suddenly, her expression changed to the usual cold and calculative one. She turned away from Eugene and marched down the hallway while speaking, "We will leave compliments for later, for now, let's proceed with our plan. We do not have much time."

"With pleasure if I knew the goddamn plan!"

The lady ignored Eugene's complaint, instead facing forward like a bull at the sight of red cloak. Knowing her stubborn nature, the man only shook his head in disappointment, but followed her.

Even if she did not want to admit it, his help is as essential in their investigation as this woman's intuition or whatever she used to deduce the situation. Eugene still bore many doubts regarding her, it did not feel like they were getting closer towards knowing the truth, but her presence felt convincing enough for him to continue.

As the man was observing obscure paintings here and there, that were reminiscent to the one he had at home, madam la Avise was also scanning the surroundings with her keen gaze. She was not looking at paintings or potted plants, which were feeling sick from the lack of natural light, the woman was more interested in a long carpet that went through the entirety of the hall, and patches of floor that were peeking out of it.

"Look at this." she said and pointed at a carpet bump.

"Yeah, you would expect the cleaning service to be less sloppy."

"Before spreading the accusation of third party negligence, think of the reasons why it is here."

Eugene raised his brow, thought for a little and asked, "Is this some kind of philosophical question?"

"That's not it," the woman sighed and then pointed at the black footprint further away, as if someone was riding a bicycle in this hallway, "Look over there. And right at the entrance to the bar itself, there is another bump. Does not it look to you as if someone was dragged out of here?"

Eugene rubbed his chin and hummed for a little. Such filth at a place like this seemed unnatural indeed.

"This explanation does not lack sense, maybe we will learn it from the owner of the place…" Eugene gasped and proceeded talking, "Shit, we are supposed to take him hostage! How do you plan to pull this out?"

The woman nodded and finally shared her plan with Eugene, "We will walk in, enter his office and lock it until he tells everything that happened here."

"...Excuse me?" Eugene squinted at the woman and threw up his hands, "This is genius! But would not there be police and workers inside? They will definitely notice us!"

"So what?" genuinely asked the lady and tilted her head to the side, "We are already inside and came here through the main door, meaning that we must not be strangers. Moreover, they must be busy cleaning whatever mess is left inside, considering they did not even fix a carpet in the hallway. And finally, if they approach us, we will have your negotiation skills to brush them away."

"This should not be this simple!"

"And you should not be this doubtful, lets go already!" she exclaimed and entered the bar. Eugene jogged after her in an attempt to stop her, but in the end found himself inside.

The room was unusually dark, which is no surprise, considering that it lacked the natural lighting and several light bulbs on the ceiling were broken. But the state of chaos in the room was clear as day. Several tables were stacked on one another and contained through holes. The bullet holes could be seen in western and eastern walls and even paintings, destroying the noble aesthetic of the place. And even though it should have been awaited, Eugene was still scared upon looking at the few patches of blood, that are being cleaned by either clerks of the premise or special units.

Luckily, the woman was right in her assumption, and barely anyone even ascended their eyes at the two. Those few that witnessed their appearance, simply ignored them or were distracted by coworkers. And so they walked past everyone, casting heavy gazes here and there, and reached the office of the owner. The woman knocked at the door, but shortly after opened it and together they went inside.

The room did not feel spacious and the ones to blame were over the top collection of the owner. The office was decorated with several fossils of lizards and birds, an entire shelf was dedicated to plates that looked like ostriches' eggshells. And by the table sat a man, filling in documents and sweating profusely.

Eugene first observed owner's bald head that was red like a roadlight, but suddenly the owner jerked his head and their gazes met, which made Eugene look elsewhere. Fortunately, the sightseeing wonders were abundant here. The bald man, on the other hand, was still looking at them.

"Who are you?"

"Good afternoon, Monsieur," answered madam la Avise with a slight bow, "Our names are irrelevant, all you should know that from now on you are taken hostage."

The owner still gazed at the two for a while, but then outstretched his hand towards the phone. Eugene jumped from surprise and in a sweep dash pressed against the handset, blocking the way of the owner's hand.

"I am sorry for the inconvenience, my colleague is quite rough with her words, huh," Eugene nervously giggled, "My name is Eugene Dagaz, you probably heard of my last name?"

"Dagaz? So you are the death surgeon's relative! How did you get inside, who let you in?"

This time, the woman made a step towards the table and said while pointing at bones of prehistoric beast on display with her elbow, "We will answer all your questions shortly, but for now I would like to make an offer. Regarding your hobby, of course."

The man raised his brow and asked with a hint of interest in his tone, "And what kind of offer?"

"La Avise family is ready to exchange some fossils they have on hold in exchange for the information regarding the incident that happened here. Quite a fair deal, is not it, Monsieur Samuel Faust?"

The man slowly leaned on his chair and after seconds of silence squinted at the lady, "It has been a while since anyone called me by my birth last name."