He was slightly relieved as he heard Lilith mention a hotel room. Well, of course he was – the last thing Aleks could possibly want in this situation are rumors that he is involved with a certain female. It could stir too much trouble, especially amongst lower ranked officers of [i]the[/i] "family". And he was even less keen on explaining her presence to his father. To be an alpha male in such an organization, not only does one how to be ruthless and strong – he has to be intelligent. And Aleks sudden involvement with Lilith would surely make him suspicious. 

The less he is seen with Lilith, the better.

But something did bother him – a sudden sense of unease. Lilith left, but it wasn’t due to her presence – or, in this case, lack of it. No – it was something else, but he wasn’t able to put his finger on exact problem here. [i]Problem… the only problem is this sense of déjà vu wrecking my brain. Get a hold of yourself,[/i] Aleks scolded himself as he moved to the bathroom, splashing his face with cold water. He looked in the mirror, water dripping from his face. Was he afraid that something would go wrong? [i]No…[/i] 

With that word of denial, it hit him – “Try not to worry about me too much,” Lilith said it, straight to his face. It took him a while to connect the dots, but at least now he understood where that sense of dread and déjà vu came from. [i]She[/i] told him that too. 

[i]Focus, Aleks. You’ll have time to reminisce later,[/i] he frowned as he brought more water to his face.

******

“Do you see that?” Aleks pointed at the signature on the bottom of the paper. The male figure sitting across the table from him inspected it carefully. The small coffee shop was not particularly full, not at this hour, a fact that seemed to bring relief to his acquaintance. 

A man in his sixties, nearing an age for retirement, looked at the paper through his glasses. His gray hair was falling over his wrinkled forehead. He seemed to be in good shape, considering his age – although he was still too old for his occupation. Barely visible, inside of his brown suit jacket, was a shiny badge and an ID. A police inspector – one of the best.

Although the two were familiar with each other, one could even go as far to say “friendly”, the man was still uneasy meeting in public with one of Aleks’ kind. Probably because of his job. No – most certainly because of his job.

“Volgin, what can you tell me about it? Am I wrong for thinking it’s forged?”

He coughed before handing the paper back. “Indeed. I would say that it was one of the managers that did it,” his voice was the same as the man with whom Aleks spoke during the night. What Aleks asked of him was that he meets him today, at this very coffee shop. He asked him to take a look at a few papers for him, considering he is the leading expert in forgeries… amongst all other things. When he told Volgin that Nikolai could have his head should he not deal with this soon, Volgin accepted to meet him. 

But Aleks knew that his foster father wouldn’t have his head for such small dealings and, in the end, he was able to see for himself that this was a forgery. And he knew the whole charade behind it already. But it was still a clever move on his behalf. Soon, Lilith would kill her designated targets, the police would be alerted and Volgin would be called in. Due to that, Aleks, being with him at this time, would have a rock solid alibi on his hands. 

Perfect.

All that remained now was to prolong this meeting enough for Lilith to take care of her role.