"Fine." Nikto removed his mask.

"Care for a drink?" Orel put a glass in front of him. "I think you know what we called you for."

"No." Nikto took the glass and leaned back in the chair.

"No?" Orel was slightly surprised.

"The Unclean gave me a note with time and place."

"But did you figure out it was from us?"

"No. But when I saw you, I did."

"You"ve come to a meeting without knowing whom you"ll meet?" Enriki asked in surprise. "It"s not reasonable."

Nikto smiled.

"The note was not from you but from my friend, I was going to see him. When I saw you, I understood you found me with his help."

"Yes, that"s right," Orel said. "It was Mark who helped us. And I"ll tell you something for you to see that we are frank about it. Before meeting you we gathered some information on you. And…"

It seemed to Orel Nikto was smiling. But his lips didn"t curve, just his eyes sparkled as if laughing. At that moment Orel recalled Mark"s words: "Nikto is reading our thoughts, and I think it is true, he understood what I thought of him."

"But you likely know that," he said in confusion.

"No, I don"t. I haven"t seen Mark for a long while, just got that note. But I can imagine what he told you of me."

"Nothing bad, I can assure you!"

"Well, prince, I don"t mind him calling me for a meeting with you – as well as sharing his impressions on me. Let"s be done with this topic and talk about business. What is it you want?"

"We want… well, I think you know what!"

"Again you say I know. No, I don"t. How can I know if you haven"t said anything?" Nikto put down his glass. "We want from you guess-what. It could"ve been funny if it were not coming from you. You know, prince, I start regretting I"ve come."

He got up but Tol blocked his way.

"Nikto, wait, we wanted to invite you on our team. Haven"t you read our thoughts?"