Episode 35

The air in the Istanbul café buzzed with a nervous energy that Hans found increasingly hard to ignore. He watched Sadie across the small table, her eyes sparkling as she recounted a particularly amusing anecdote about a street performer from their recent wanderings. A pang, sharp and unexpected, struck him. He was falling, irrevocably, for this woman, and the shadow of his other life loomed, a constant threat. He’d received the telegram just hours ago, a chilling summons from the Gamoras. Hit number two. Matt Shalock, a cypher genius who’d burrowed deep into the organization’s core. But the telegram also carried a second, more personal message, a directive that twisted his gut.

“Sadie,” he began, his voice a low rumble that cut through her cheerful narrative. He saw the slight shift in her posture, the subtle narrowing of her gaze. She sensed it too, the shift in his mood, the unspoken weight settling between them. “I… I have to take care of some business. It’s complicated.” He paused, searching for the right words, the lie that wouldn’t feel like a betrayal. “I’m going to have to send you somewhere for a few days. Izmir. There are some incredible bazaars, you’d love it.”

Her brow furrowed. “Izmir? Why? What about you?”