"Thoth..."

"We should go to Turkey. Then we'd be less Hungary."

"Thoth."

"You know where we should travel next? Thirsty."

"Thoth!"

They had arrived in Budapest just three hours ago, and Riya was already tired of the place. She had thought that Thoth's jokes about Poland were bad enough, but this was infinitely worse, and she hoped that Simon Reiner would leave the country before her patience wore out.

Still, it was more than Thoth's puns that made her eager to leave. Budapest, she was sure, would turn out like all the rest of the cities they had followed Reiner to. There would be nothing of significance to see, nothing of interest to do, and the days would pass slowly until it was time for them to move on to another town and another wait.

But the more cities they visited, the sooner it might be until Gabriel and Solenis eventually caught up with them, and that was what Riya was really looking forward to. All this surveillance was naught but an unpleasantly dull duty until the real excitement could begin... and what excitement it would be. There would be fighting, and killing, and then she would win. Riya loved to win. It was all a game to her, an intricate, fascinating game, and anticipation for such an ending gave her the calm patience she needed to endure the little obstacles between herself and her victory.

And what obstacles they were.

"Riya, I'm boooooored. Can't we take another contract on the side? Hey! I want to go flying! Can we take the Bell out tonight? I promise I won't hit anything if you let me fly it all by myself this time. Please? Oh, or we could go for a ride! I just tuned up the Katana and got new street tires and I really want to ride it. Can we go for a ride?"

Riya just smiled.

Riya had been pleasant enough. She let Minerva fly the helicopter and ride the bikes and drive the cars and shoot the targets. But she needed a hit soon. She needed a project. She thought about it long and hard and finally decided to approach Riya with an idea.

"OK, so this is what I'm been thinking...you stay here and watch stuffy pants, and I go do a hit. A small one! Not very important, but enough to settle me down and get some extra cash to buy ice cream or something. Please Riya, I'm soooo bored!?"

Riya stared into her eyes with a dull expression.

"OK."

Riya turned and walked away to go back to her survelliance tapes. Minerva stared for a second. Could it really have been that easy? She was sure she would put up some kind of fight.

Well, I'm not one to argue.

-------

All night and the next day Minerva stared at photographs and intellegence on possible hits she could take. Riya did not interfere at all in her decision making, though Minerva agreed it would be more fun if they could do the hit together.