Berlin, Germany

Eve didn't think Ansel Barrett would be this young, or handsome. She stares at him as Ansel shakes hands with Mason at the meeting spot, Alexanderplatz.

    Ansel looks at Eve, gives her a disarming smile and says in a thick British accent, "Hi, you must be Eve."

    "Yes," Eve says, and shakes hands with Ansel with a shy smile. After Ansel has greeted all five of his visitors, he takes them to a nearby cafe whose name Eve is unable to read meaningfully.

    They find an outdoor table and order coffees.

    "It's great to finally see you in person. Your uncle has said so much about you. It's a shame we're meeting under such a circumstance," Ansel says to Mason.

    "He never mentioned you though," Mason says. Eve looks at Mason disapprovingly. That was rude, she thinks.

    Ansel laughs. "Well, we all have taken an oath of secrecy, so members of Custer don't exactly mingle too much with each other in our private lives."

    "How old are you?" Ashton asks Ansel.

    "Twenty two," Ansel says.

    "Are you from Berlin? You speak English very well," Brad says.

    "My mother is British. Father is German, from Frankfurt. They live there."

    "How do you know Mr. Gold?" Eve says.

    "We met through my father's friend who is a professor at LMU in Munich. Nathan liked my activism work, and sort of recruited me into Custer," Ansel says.

    "What kind of work?" Eve says.

    "Have you heard of NIN-X?" Ansel says.

    Eve shakes her head. "Really?" Ansel says, "I thought I was popular."

    "I know," Ashton says, "He's the white hat hacker who released the ZP company's documents regarding their illegal toxic dump. That's you?"

    Ansel nods.

    "So you hack companies who illegally harm the environment and release the evidence to the public?" Keith says.

    "Yes," Ansel says, "I also help fellow activists to set up any online services they might need to help with their work."

    "What were you and my uncle working on?" Mason says.

    "Although we've consulted each other on a few occasions, we've never worked together on anything."

    "Dr. Yates said Mr. Gold had mentioned to you about a research he was looking into," Eve says.

    "He did," Ansel says, "He said he had been tracking down a research that could potentially save the planet as we know it. He didn't mention what the research was. He was just very excited about it, and he seemed to be very close to unearthing it fully."

    "Although he didn't mention what the research was, did he mention anything else as to where this research could be, or where we was traveling before, things like that?" Eve says.

    "He didn't, but I think he was talking to someone at the restaurant we were at and mentioned to them that he was at Beijing recently."

    Mason remembers reading something about Beijing at his uncle's notebook that he found at Nathan's Cairo house. "You sure it was Beijing?" Mason says.

    "I'm sure," Ansel says, "But that's all I remember. I'm sorry."

    "It's alright. You've helped us enough. Thanks," Mason says. After they all finish their coffees, Ansel says, "What are you going to do now?"

    Mason says, "We'll keep looking for more clues. I'm sure something will turn up."

    "Well, good luck with it. If you need anything at all, please feel free to reach out to me. Anything to help you guys find Nathan," Ansel says.

    "We will. Thanks," Ashton says.

    "And, if you all will still be here in Berlin tonight, why not join me at this party at my friend's place? I'm sure you guys could use a break for a night," Ansel says and stops his gaze at Eve.

    "We're good," Mason says, "And we won't be staying for that long."

    After they part ways, Keith says to Mason, "Are we leaving tonight? To where?"

    "We're not leaving tonight," Mason says.

    "Then why did you tell Ansel we'll be," Eve says.

    Mason stops and looks at her, "Why? You want to go to that party with him?"

    Eve's brows come together in confusion. "What? That's not what I said?" she defensively says. 

    "You sure?" Mason says and walks ahead. Keith wraps his arm around Eve's shoulders and says, "It's alright, Eve, you'll get used to his tantrums soon enough."

    Eve follows everyone, feeling upset. She did kind of wanted to go to the party with Ansel. But Mason didn't have to say that out loud.

BACK IN HER hotel room, Eve does some online search on ongoing researches in China, and just as she'd expected there's not much information on pretty much anything that's happening in the country.

    Thinking, she might need Ashton's help with bypassing the geo restrictions to reach China's online world, Eve gets up to leave for Ashton's room when she hears knocks on her door. She opens it and sees Mason. 

    "Can we talk?" Mason says.

    Still a little bruised from Mason's earlier remark, Eve quietly moves from his way so he could get in. Mason has his uncle's note in his hand. He opens it to a page in the middle and gives it to Eve after entering the room.

    There's a sort of address for somewhere in China for a Xinchi Lab, and a name, Liu Yichen, written on the page. 

    Eve says, "Could this be the lab where that research is?"

    "I don't know," Mason says, "I asked Ashton to locate the lab. He's working with satellite links to fetch it."

    "But we may not get the permission to visit the lab. What about Yichen? Can we find him?" Eve says. 

    "I asked Ashton to look into him as well. We find the lab, we find the guy; or vice versa. Once we get a location, we'll leave for Beijing."

    "Okay," Eve says.

    Mason continues to stand there, looking like he wants to say something more.

    "What?" Eve says.

    "If you," Mason says, "feel kind of bored, we can go out for dinner, and maybe do some sightseeing."

    Although Eve isn't exactly bored or that that was the reason she wanted to go to the party with Ansel, she doesn't want to turn down the opportunity to sightsee a little. "Sure," Eve says.

    "Then, I'll see you at the reception at eight," Mason says, grinning, and leaves.

    After Mason has left, Eve realizes she forgot to ask if Ashton will be able to join them since he'll be working on the clue. She feels bad for not being able to help but she still wants to sightsee, so Eve just goes ahead to get ready to go out with the rest of the guys.

    After freshening up and wearing one of the nicer clothes, a dress, she brought with her, Eve heads down to the reception. She sees Mason at the entrance and goes to him. 

    A car arrives at the front and the driver comes out and gives Mason the key. Mason opens the passenger side door for Eve. Eve hesitates to sit at the front and looks around. "Brad and Keith aren't here yet," she says. 

    Mason smiles, knowing full well she was probably expecting this to be not just her and him. "They won't be joining us. They made other plans," Mason says.

    Eve is not sure what to do. If it's just Mason and her then it would feel like a... date? Eve wonders. But she doesn't want to keep him standing there, and she's already here, so she gets in.

    Mason twirls the key around his finger and goes over to and gets inside the driver's side.

    Eve puts on her seatbelt, feeling nervous but excited. 

End of chapter

A/N — Hopefully, you're enjoying the story so far. See you soon! :)