Path of the Shaman

6

“I’m sorry… hmm…

Her face frowned in concern.

- What? Did I say something wrong?

— No, no, it's all right, but come on... Tell me better about yourself, huh?

She smiled slyly.

- No, then you first! And then I will start to be frank, and you are some kind of rapist!

I smiled back at her.

- Not a rapist, of course, but a criminal - that's for sure!

She looked thoughtfully at my figure.

“Are you, by any chance, a gigolo?”

I laughed.

- Oh, thank you, I cheered! - I said, wiping away my tears, and then seriously added: - No, not a gigolo and not a maniac. I am a hacker.

- Hacker is not scary! she nodded. "Not a thief, not a murderer!"

“I am not,” I replied. - But a hacker can be both, and even a maniac or a blackmailer.

- Yah! she waved her hand. - I do not believe!

- Will you let me? I pointed to her communicator. Eve removed the bracelet from her hand and handed it to me. I carefully looked into her eyes: - Is it possible to trust the first person you meet like that?

She met my gaze firmly.

- The person I like can't be bad!

"I'm terribly flattered by your faith in me," I grinned. - Thank you! No, I'm serious, thanks!

I stopped in the middle of the bridge, leaning against the railing. Eve did the same and began to carefully monitor what I was doing. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary. I pumped up the terminal, logged in as an administrator, chose a number from the phone book, remotely entered the terminal on that phone and tweaked something in the settings. I opened the videophone and showed the girl a picture in which several faces I already knew were discussing something. There was sound too, but it was drowned out by street noises. She immediately snatched the communicator out of my hands and began to listen eagerly. When I tried to take it back, she waved me off:

“Wait, for once in my life I’ll listen to what they say about me behind my back!”

I decided to let her play. A few minutes later, she gave me the device with a displeased mine on her face:

“Imagine, they were just talking about me. And, imagine, not a single bad word. Eva is smart, Eva is cute! .. Can you imagine, even Georgette!

I could not stand it and burst out laughing, looking at her pouted lips.

- Why are you laughing? she sighed. “Now I have to take them all to the restaurant. And I can't even tell for what reason.” Looking at me removing the traces of the break-in, she added, “Now I understand what you mean. What I just did was embarrassing!

"Don't worry," I said nonchalantly. - And so that your conscience does not torment you, just tell the girls the truth. I showed you how unworthy the actions of hackers are sometimes, and you showed me your curiosity.

Eve blushed to the roots of her hair:

Don't remind me of this!

"I'm telling you, don't worry about it!" I'm sure your friends will understand you! I gave her the communicator, and she, taking it cautiously, looked at me suspiciously. “Don’t worry, I deleted everything and I’m not going to allow myself anything like that in the future. As, however, and before did not allow. But it is better not to take the communicator with you to the shower or to the bedroom! Or wrap a scarf!

She put the bracelet on her arm again and walked forward with a nonchalant air.

The restaurant was really good and the view was really great. We were seated on the terrace outside, in the shade of a sprawling oak tree. My earthly food-starved taste buds enthusiastically accepted everything I offered them - wine, appetizer, roast, dessert. I told Eva about how I got to Barliona, mostly because I didn't want to hide my criminal past. Naturally, I did not begin to talk about recent events and what worried me. She told me about her life instead. Like me until very recently - nothing particularly outstanding - parents are engineers, an honors school, sports, dancing, a music school. Upon graduation, a scholarship from the university, which, as I understand it, is located exactly where we just came from. Entered the Faculty of History,

You are the first...

- Which? I didn't understand.

- Usually we have clients - or some foreigners ... - in response to my smile, she began to make excuses in embarrassment. - Well, it's not my fault that I got used to calling everyone who cannot connect two words in Russian, foreigners!

“You do understand that even though the language is state, everyone has the right to speak their own language?” I asked.

- Well, of course, but still ... Don't shoot down. So, either foreigners, or some seasoned businessmen who look at you like a servant or even worse, - she bit her lip, looking into the distance. I looked at her questioningly. Eva noticed my look and explained: - We had a story about a year ago. One guy, a terribly cool businessman… I thought that we were assigned to him for a completely different purpose…” she trailed off. I'm not in a hurry, I'm in no hurry at all.

“We have a panic button on the communicator, the guards knocked out his teeth in ninety seconds. So, got off easy...

- And this one? I shook my head.

— This? Eva chuckled. “He turned out to be some big provincial bigwig. At first, he was seriously threatened with prison, and then the recordings of surveillance cameras disappeared somewhere, and the examination recognized the testimony of the guards as having been edited. His lawyer succeeded in moving the trial to London, I did not understand on what basis, and there the case ended with the fact that he was ordered to pay some kind of fine, which covered the court and transport costs, and he was released.

“Interesting,” I said. So you just let go?

- His lawyer claimed that a wasp flew under my clothes ...

- And the noble don rushed to save the beautiful lady?

Eva nodded.

"Are you sure it's only the clothes that got hurt?" I asked.

“Apart from my experiences, yes,” she replied.

"It's sad," I remarked.

“I didn’t have fun either,” she said. “Moreover, I wasn’t even eighteen at the time.

What did you say his last name was?

“But I didn’t! She looked slyly at me. - Why you asking?

“I would like to know who should fix the bump on their nose when they meet,” I answered innocently, looking at my knuckles.

— Tamerkhanov.

Tamerkhanov. The head of the administration of the outback flooded with sewage. Now I remembered why Marina's name seemed funny to me. Precisely because she reminded me of the name of the head of administration. Niece? Daughter? How did I annoy the mayor like that? At that time, I was mainly engaged in all sorts of servers. I did not work with money or with crime. Although ... I remembered an incident a year and a half ago ...

“Sorry,” nodding to Eve, I dialed a number on the communicator. - Paul? Could you get the materials of the case in which I participated a year and a half ago? Thank you.

So, a certain person who has a grudge against me helps the official who has sat down ... no, so far only in a puddle, an official, and as a courtesy in return, he puts me in a puddle. And then - I suddenly leave the mines and begin to show promise ... In the sense that my exit from Barliona was not planned at all. Therefore, a plan is being drawn up to return me to the mines ... For the remaining seven years. But I didn't aggro, ransomed myself, went free... Wait a minute... The Corporation took me under protection. Apparently, they did not forgive comrade Tamerkhanov for an innocent prank with an underage girl-guide, so they sheltered the enemy of their enemy. What's next? I arrive all like this, neither in sleep nor in spirit, and then the same girl leaves me a phone number. And then, at a meeting, as if by chance, he tells me about the hard everyday life of the escorts ... Coincidence? I looked into her brown eyes.

- What? I asked.

“No,” she replied.

- What - no? I didn't understand.

— No, Dima, there are no such coincidences.

I got really scared. Did they put a bug in my head after all, and now anyone can "hack" me just like I just "hacked" Georgette's communicator, sitting somewhere in an office far from here?

- This is true? All I had to do was ask. She understood that I meant her "legend", pursed her lips and turned away, trying to hide her rapidly wetting eyes. "I'm sorry," was all I had to say. - Sorry. It seemed to me that you were delving into my head, so paranoia played a bad joke on me!

Eve dabbed her eyes with a napkin without turning around.

“Do you know,” she said, “what is the worst thing? We live in the twenty-first century, we have united humanity and created Artificial Intelligence, but as before, the earth is trampled by scum like ... - she finally looked at me. “And like that judge who just…

“I just bought myself a nice house in the country,” I finished for her.

- Yes. And I don't even know which one of them is the bigger bastard.

- But other? I asked, changing the subject.

“You are our first such ...” she again put on her record about my uniqueness, and I prepared to yawn. “Suddenly, Hera… Dahlia… was given this assignment. We have never done anything like this! Real estate, interiors… In just half a day, ten of us turned through mountains of literature and catalogs, called a dozen real estate dealers… And Lisa came up with the idea to do a search for you, obviously a well-known person, maybe we’ll find out your preferences. We found out ... Masha immediately drew attention to the city of origin and the dates ... And she whispered to me. And I thought that if you are really involved in this, then our “security guards” will drag me to tell my story anyway ...

“And you decided it would be better to do it in a riverside restaurant than in a security office…” I finished.

“I haven’t decided anything! she answered angrily. “Just…” Eve blushed and turned away. Nicely. Very cute.

After refreshing ourselves, we went for a walk. More precisely, Eva decided to arrange a promenade for me around all, as it seemed to me, more or less interesting places, so I had to walk pretty much. At some point, when the sky had already darkened slightly in the approaching morning, we found ourselves at the entrance to the cramped courtyard of a four-story building that looked no less than a couple of hundred years old.

“Here, I live here,” she waved her hand towards the front door. I stepped forward and pulled her to me by the waist, which she did not resist, but gracefully, however, dodged my attempt to kiss her. I looked pointedly at the front door. Eva looked at me reproachfully.

- You do not love me! she paused. “Just, listen, just! For great love! I don't agree to anything less! She continued to look into my eyes. - I'm stupid, right?

I lifted my hands up her back, took her head in my hands and kissed her lips. Long and wet. When I broke away, Eva continued to hang in my arms, closing her eyes. Then she slowly opened them and freed herself from my grasp.

"Listen to what I'm going to tell you," she began quietly. - I will not survive the second such meeting. Understand? Her brown eyes pierced right through me. If you don't love me, then don't call me again. Good?

I took her fingers in my hand and touched them with my lips:

Farewell, Eva!

By the time I, having passed a couple of doorways, went out into the street, a taxi called by a caring girl was already waiting for me there.