“I do it is old-school alpha-male stuff I swear I swear I—wait okay—okay what would Volodya do if he was Calvanese?”

“…”

“…”

“Fine.”

(Unmute.)

“…Doctor…I was under the impression that this was to be a quiet venture.”

“So were we, Mr. Calvanese.”

“Let me be clear I will not tolerate further outrages.”

“I see.”

“You will restrain yourselves until you can decently depart the country.”

“I’m afraid we have business here.”

“You do not.”

“We do.”

“Regrettably Doctor I must insist.”

“Must you.”

“I must.”

“Since we are speaking in terms Mr. Calvanese I must ask you an indelicate question.”

“Please if it will clarify matters for you—”

“Were you involved in this?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I believe I was clear but in case I was not: my companions and I have recently lost a good friend to what we now know was a setup. We were brought here with an eye to our elimination. We take this very much amiss Mr. Calvanese and of course we do not imagine you would involve yourself in something so…low…but since we are now speaking without restraint—”

“O but we are not—”

“That is not an answer—”

“Well then no I was not involved but it occurs to me as the smooth flow of business is perturbed that I understand the urge—”

“It is not the urge that is the problem it is the indulgence.”

“Do not make this more difficult than it must be for either of us, dear lady.”

“…Ah?”

Well now it turns out I didn’t need to say anything at all. You do not do Dear Lady at the Doc and keep all of your body parts. Now I am waving at her to calm it down and she is not interested. I am a little concerned. If it was anyone else like Charlie maybe I would ask Doc to maybe tranquilize her but Doc is the person I would ask so—

Maybe we should just knock her on the back of the head before this goes any further.

Calvanese is still talking he has literally no idea the shit that is about to fall on him—

O my.

Fall on him.

Huh.

That is—wow. That would be a thing. Inappropriate of course in the circumstances but…wow.

I stare into the sky outside the window and see universes of crime.

O my.

—

While I’m distracted, Calvanese says:

“I regret to remind you Doctor that we are on my home ground. Resistance would be met with overwhelming force. You are remarkable people. You are not gods.”

“No.”

“I am glad we understand one another.”

“Do we.”

“We do.”

“I am considering my response Mr. Calvanese.”

“Excellent.”

“I do not wish there to be misunderstandings between us.”

“That is perfect Signora—Dottore—I am so glad.”

“…”

“…”

“Do you eat beef Mr. Calvanese?”

“…What has that—”

“I promise you will shortly see.”

“Then yes. I do.”