Who I was, the story of Audrey

[Korolia]

It is said the folks on New Berlin aren't happy folks. At least, those spending their current year on the night side of the planet that is. To the visitors however, there is no such sight as New Berlin by night, a glamorous city shining under the lights of thousands of skyscrapers - it was Manhattan, but even better, even brighter so cold and bitter the human being can be without light for a whole year.

And that was why this one didn't look quite alright. She was too curious, her eyes were looking around too much instead of minding her own business. And yet, unlike most tourists to New Berlin who wore ridiculous amount of winter outfits one over another, she was wearing what most citizens tended to; a simple mantle, cheap quality at that.

Other than that, he had to admit, under the somewhat greenish light of the city, she looked just like a casual Rheinlander. Her hairs had been died a dirty chestnut - he remembered from the photos that she had natural blond hairs, and even her walking looked Rheinlander enough; fast, large steps, pacing toward a certain goal.

He made sign to his team to continue to follow. This one was probably Libertonian - the Bretonian rarely sent any women for some reason. She was quite tall, graceful. He couldn't see, but he recalled from archive documents that her face was well shaped, her skin was a healthy tan, her eyes a striking emerald green. She must be a rare breed in Liberty, he thought ironically as he continued to mimic reading his datapad with relative lack of interest. The woman just walked out of the national bank, and was now headed toward her apartment. Casual routine - in the weeks he followed her, he noted that she went to bank once every week. That was another problem with Libertonian espionage; their philosophy was anchored in routines. Too predictable.

He looked over his windows at the quiet cafe again. There she was, being tracked down by two anonymous Polizei officers wearing equally bland local mantles, toward the metro. She was headed home, and from there, they could use the equipments they've introduced in her room to spy her. Nothing to worry about.

What he wanted to know was, what was she doing specifically at the bank? Surveillance camera shows her going in to the same automatic cash machine every time, consulting her bank records, withdraw some credits, usually varying from 20 to 50 federal marks, and go away. Nothing seemed suspicious - in fact, it was simply too normal to -not- be suspicious.

But so far, nothing to be discovered yet... the machine worked just fine, he had it checked. It wasn't sending any signal to anyone, it didn't received signal from anyone but bank personnel - routine checks, and he had it monitored under live logs. He knew exactly what her money was used to, every marks of it, but alas, she purchased nothing of special, usually just food, and when she did purchase something special, he had his agents working hard on the possible significance behind it - lastly, it was just a teddy bear, and in the end, the conclusion after 2 stressful hours of examination, came back as, just that: a teddy bear.

Somehow, he was certain, the girl knew she was being observed and took an obscene pleasure at playing them for fool, and he had to admit, with some tone of admiration, that she was truly good at her game.

-To be continued.

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There is no bathroom!