Season One, Episode Thirty: The Concentric

‘Where is Charlo’?’
Riot didn’t speak, but the door opened behind the vehicle.
‘Sorry, Bent.’
‘Don’t call me Bent. Ever. Again.’
Charlo’ left the door wide open.
‘It’s time to continue our journey,’ Riot said, while signaling Markus to move across to the passenger’s seat, while keeping his hands up against the ceiling.
Charlo’ took place behind the steering wheel while Riot occupied the rear left seat, his gun still trained on Markus.
‘You leave me no choice but to take you to my boss,’ Riot said while taking the box out of Bentley’s hands and the gun out of his belt. ‘Only then will you realize we are your allies, not your enemies.’
Charlo’ drove back to the main coastal road and turned left, away from the Garden of Temerity.
‘Do I know your boss?’
‘You’ll see.’
‘What do you want with the box?’
‘This is what we wanted you to find all along, because it contains the clue to everything that is happening around us now,’ Riot said.
‘My father is in there. It’s family stuff. What could you possibly want with it?’
‘Patience, Markus, and everything will be clear.’
Markus looked at Charlo’ as a police patrol car passed them.
‘What will you do if I grab the steering wheel out of your hands and send the ute slamming against the cop car?’
Charlo’ looked at the police cruiser.
‘You try anything like that and I knock you out,’ Riot said. ‘I need to make a phone call,’ he said for Charlo’s benefit.
She stopped the car by the side of the road, overlooking the ocean. Riot stepped out and took position in front of the car, his eyes on Markus as he made the call.
‘So where are we going?’ Bentley asked when Riot was back inside and they drove off.
‘To a brand new shopping mall. So new, it hasn’t been opened yet.’
‘Will you kill me after I meet your boss?’
‘No. Nobody will kill anyone unless you force us to,’ Riot said. ‘Now stop talking until we arrive.’
Into the city they went, taking care to respect the traffic code. On the northside of town, several projects were under construction. Including a shopping mall, now surrounded by plates covered in Art Nouveau drawings of handsome women. Charlo’ drove the ute straight past the gate until they were hidden by the aluminum plating, then stepped back to close the gate behind them, and stopped the car inside the marble building. The first floor was completely empty but for the elevator block. Charlo’ switched off the engine and they sat waiting for two minutes. Riot’s cell phone beeped once.
‘Let’s get out and meet your destiny,’ he said, guiding them to the other side of the elevators.
A woman in a business suit stood with her back to them.

A naked man was lying face down blooded on the concrete floor. Harsh sunlight came in from the right, where two men stood watching. Camry and his driver. The latter was holding something. A brick. Because of the sun, you could hardly discern whether red was its natural color or the professor’s blood.
‘You’re still alive because I value your talents,’ Camry said. ‘You complete your work within less than two months where and when I want you, and you’ll survive. If not, the world will be one great scientist short. Unfortunately, he will never appear in the obituaries because nobody will ever find him.’
The professor kept his eyes closed as the blood dried on his face. Camry approached and pressed his right heel into his back.
‘I do not appreciate failure, I do not appreciate cowardice, I do not appreciate dereliction of duty.’
Camry pressed harder, until the professor shrieked.
‘Repeat after me, professor.’
The professor did, barely audible to the driver grinning at him.

Markus had a knot in his stomach. The long blond hair, the stance of the legs.
Nobody said a word.
The woman turned around.
Markus cried.
‘You?’
‘I’m sorry,’ the woman said as they rushed each other and fell into each other’s arms.
‘His sister,’ Riot grimaced at Charlo’.
‘He lied to me, he told me you were dead,’ Markus said, shaking his fist at Riot.
‘We all had to, because I wanted to protect you. Riot is a colleague, the only one I trust,’ she said.
‘What kind of game are you playing?’ Markus took one step back to observe his sister.
‘This is not a game, Markus. If I had stayed, I would have been killed. He warned me, and we escaped together. We had to pretend I had been killed, otherwise they would have been after us.’
‘Who, and why?’
‘Let’s get in the car first,’ Bentley’s sister said.
When they turned back, she grabbed Markus by the arm.
‘My car, not yours. It might have been compromised.’
They walked out the other side of the building. A rusty van stood in front of a shaky brick wall. Bentley’s sister guided them around the wall to rip away a dusty plastic cover. Inside was an Audi A8. Riot and Charlo’ took the back seat, Markus the front passenger seat. Charlo’ left again to swing open the gate. Bentley’s sister drove at a speedy tempo, Markus was praying they wouldn’t get the cops after them.
‘What has dad to do with all of this?’
‘I’m glad to see you finally found the box. It’s all in there. Dad’s secrets is all they want.’
‘Who’s they?’
‘My previous employers. I found out they were up to no good, so Riot and I decided to bid them goodbye. But we needed you to get out and find the box. They only know one aspect of the technology, but they don’t know the rest and I didn’t want to be the one to tell them.’
‘What’s dad got to do with this?’
‘He was one of the inventors of the technology.’
‘What kind of technology are we talking about?’
'You see that up there?'
She pointed at the sky. Markus leaned over to the window and saw a cloud showing the colors of the descending sun.
‘Did you read about Operation Cirrus?' his sister continued.
‘It’s in the box. Clouds and the weather.’
‘Dad was part of a select group working on Operation Cirrus.’
‘You mean, him and the other elders?’
‘Hu died, Veramus disappeared, and I have reason to believe Lassiter is a traitor.’
‘Why didn’t you warn us before we went to Taiwan?’
‘I didn’t have enough information then, and not enough advance notice that you were going to look so far.’
Bentley’s sister braked to stop before a yellow light.
‘What role does Camry play in all of this?’
‘He’s a thug. He works as a freelancer, but he has his own agenda. One point on there was to use you to get rid of that Russian, Osyunov or Osyenko or something.’
‘He convinced me that Russian was responsible for killing you,’ Markus said.
‘You’d do anything for me, wouldn’t you?’ She looked at him.
Riot waved to turn her attention to the traffic light, which had turned green. Off they went.
‘So what’s next? How can I help you now?’ Markus asked.
‘We take the fight to the Concentric.’
‘The what?’
‘My previous employers, Camry’s temporary ones,’ she said.
‘How do we do that and why?’
‘I thought you were always the proactive one in the family, Markus,’ his sister said. ‘The Concentric wanted to kill both of us, and they succeeded in killing our dad.’

NEXT: Season Two of “Concentric” will be here in 2010.

Season One, Episode Twenty-Eight: 120 Dollars

‘I want to roast the little fella.’
Camry was sitting in the back of his 700 car. Looking sternly at his driver.
‘When you catch him, give him a neat shake before you leave him in my hands.’
‘He’s never gonna walk out on us again,’ said the driver.
‘Where will you find him?’
‘He’s a professor. He’s only got a couple of predictable places to run to.’

Four men at a table in an expensive hotel suite. The Brother Hotel? Maybe. Throwing down the cards. A guy with long ratty hair and scary tattoos. A biker without a bike. A Chinese man in a velvety suite with a wallet in obvious big Italian brand logo leather lying in front of him. A stylish white guy in a silk suit, like Pierce Brosnan but with a long wave of white hair over his head. And a bulky African-American guy, also in a suit. Inspector Mondeo.
‘You’re a cop, aren’t you?’ the biker asked.
Mondeo grinned.
‘You’re a cop, right?’
Mondeo shrugged like he was saying ‘What’s the matter with this guy?’ but he kept his mouth shut.
Pierce was the one who spoke instead. ‘He’s here to play the beautiful game with us. Stay relaxed and you’ll win.’
The biker calmed down.
The Chinese man called the game. He won. Mondeo took advantage of the break to walk off to the window and make a call.
‘No kidding. You’ve lost them. Again.’
He kept his facial expression hidden from his card partners.
‘What about our friend in the fancy car?’
‘Great. At least, one guy you didn’t lose today. Keep him in your sights and he’ll lead you to the professor. He’s the guy that counts.’
Mondeo put the phone away and brightened up his expression.
‘Gentlemen, are we ready for the next round?’
Pierce and the Chinese man nodded, the biker sneered.

‘You heard what I said. Stop the car,’ Markus Bentley repeated.
‘Sorry, Bent, but we need to move on if we want to get out of the hands of those people,’ Riot said, driving faster.
‘Who are they?’
‘They work for an enemy organization,’ Riot replied.
‘That’s convenient. But I don’t think you understood me. Stop the car.’
Markus produced a gun, which he directed at Riot but kept far enough from his head to be able to fire at Charlo’ in the passenger seat if needed.
‘Don’t leave us, Markus,’ she said.
‘So it’s Markus now and not Bent,’ he snapped back.
Riot parked the car by the side of the road.
‘Now what do you want here, Markus? There’s nothing here but the ocean and the mountains. I bet the next car passing here is those guys looking to hurt you.’
‘You misunderstood my message. I’m not leaving you. You are leaving me.’
Markus waved the gun at them.
‘Get out. Both of you.’
‘Markus,’ Charlo’ said. ‘You’re making a mistake.’
‘Not anymore. Out.’
Riot and Charlo’ got out, and so did Markus, standing on the left of the vehicle, keeping the gun on Riot.
‘Keep walking ahead, where I can see you.’
Markus got into the driver’s seat and roared away, leaving the two looking angry and abandoned.
‘Don’t worry, he left us our phones,’ Riot said, waiting until Markus rounded the bend before placing a call.
Markus drove for half an hour until he reached an intersection with a road going inland. He took that road and followed it alongside dry grass fields, patches of dry rock, and general abandonment. Until he came to a wooden structure that looked abandoned. He drove the car right into the building, obviously an old barn. Switched the engine off, and returned to the back seat, where he picked the box off the floor. The box from the Garden of Temerity.
He fiddled with the key for a minute before succeeding in opening the box. Inside sat two crisp brand new fifty-dollar notes and two equally clean ten-dollar notes.

NEXT: Markus discovers the secrets of the box in Episode Twenty-Nine before August 31.

Season One, Episode Twenty-Six: The Garden of Truth

‘They’re all screwed up about the Russian.’
Camry was sitting in the back of the Mercedes 700, talking to his driver.
‘What are you gonna do?’
‘Let the steam dissipate. Anyway, we’ve got more important rabbits to catch. What about our professor?’
‘I’ll call him.’
The driver holds the cell in his right, the steering wheel in his left. Barely two seconds later, he sees flashing lights in his mirror.
‘Why did you have to do it like that?’ said Camry.
Inspector Mondeo’s lowers his big head to look into the car as the driver slides down the window.
‘Driving and holding a cell is off limits in this city,’ Mondeo said with a smirk on his face. His eyes were cold.
‘My driver is new to this city, officer,’ Camry said.
‘What happened to the previous one? And it’s inspector, not officer, for you,’ Mondeo said.
‘I promise you, it won’t happen again, inspector.’
‘What about you, can’t you speak?’ Mondeo said to the driver.
‘It won’t happen again, inspector,’ the driver said.
Mondeo waved at Camry and walked back to his car.
‘What was that about?’ the driver asked Camry while driving off.
‘A not-so-subtle warning. I think he’s got bugs inside this car.’

Markus and Charlo’ faced the garden wall from the inside. The hole was too small to crawl through and was filled with a grate. Behind them, they heard voices growing louder, shouting orders.
‘Wait for a sec,’ Markus told her.
Holding the safe box in his right hand, he stepped back and jumped to place his foot on the sill beneath the hole. Charlo’ did all she could to push him up. He grabbed the decorative Chinese roof at the top of the wall, put the box on top and pushed it with all his might. It worked. He managed to shove it off to the other side, where it fell off the wall with a dry thump.
‘You’re next,’ he whispered.
He pulled himself on top of the roof and watched over his shoulder as Charlo’ imitated his earlier move and got her feet on the sill. He held on to the top of the wall with his right and pulled her up with his left.
‘They’re coming,’ she grimaced.
They were. Three men in bulky suits brandishing guns.
‘Don’t kill them,’ one of them shouted as they started firing around their targets.
‘That’s nice,’ Markus said as he pulled Charlo’ on top and over the wall.
Two of the men rushed for the hole in the wall to fire their guns through it. Their chief didn’t like it.
‘Back out through the gate. Catch them.’

Outside, Markus grabbed the box in one hand and Charlo’s hand in the other. She wanted to run for the car park but he went to the right, in the direction of the ocean.
‘What are you going to do there?’ she asked.
‘No time for explanations,’ he breathed hard.
They heard a shot behind them.
Charlo’ turned back to see Riot firing a gun with a silencer.
‘Riot is there. He can help us.’
She broke free from Bentley’s grip.
‘He’s no help. We can’t trust him.’
She ran off to join Riot. Markus realized the ocean was not a way out. He followed them with the box.
Long dry grasses ahead. They ran through it to find Riot’s ute. Markus and Charlo’ clambered on to the back seat as he fired up the engine.
‘Lucky I followed you,’ Riot said.
‘What do you want?’
‘That box you two found there. I’d love to have a look through it once we reach a quiet spot.’
‘Don’t believe I’ll let you get away with it,’ Markus said.
‘He really doesn’t trust me, does he?’ Riot told Charlo’.
She didn’t speak.
‘What is it with you two?’ Markus asked.
Riot looked at Markus with a wan smile.
‘The time has come for me to reveal some painful truths. The Garden of Temerity might just be the Garden of Truth.’

NEXT: Riot reveals part of the truth to Markus Bentley in Episode Twenty-Seven before August 1.

Season One, Episode Twenty-Five: The Coral Tree

‘Sounds cool. Like something from a kungfu movie. The Garden of Temerity. What are we supposed to look for?’ Charlo’ asked as they left the Italian car under the trees.
The Garden of Temerity had a whitewashed wall with openings in various geometric shapes all around it, and a plaque on its main gate listing its name in English and Chinese.
Standing in the gateway, Markus Bentley and Charlo’ saw dense vegetation on the left, low shrubs and a pond on the right, and a sandy path going straight down the middle, leading to the back of the gardens. Not a soul in sight.
Markus produced a gun from under his T-shirt.
‘What is it with you and guns?’ Charlo’ asked.
‘Said the girl running a shooting range,’ he replied.
‘I leave my guns at work.’
They proceeded carefully, Markus keeping the gun to the right, ready to hide it but also ready to use it. Charlo’ walked to his right.
‘See that flower there?’
Markus looks in the direction Charlo’ is pointing.
‘Nice and red,’ he says.
Most of the plants have a small plaque giving name and origins. Charlo’ steps over a few bushes to read the explanation on the red flower dangling from a tree.
‘Coral flower,’ she reads. ‘Prevalent in Asia.’
‘What else does it say?’ asked Markus. He was still standing in the path, looking left and right for signs of life in the garden.
‘Latin names. Areas where it can be found, names of benefactors who gave the plant to the garden. Hey, your name is in here.’
‘Markus Bentley?’
‘Frederick Bentley. Is that one of your ancestors?’
‘My father.’
Markus walks into the green and joins Charlo’ in front of the coral plant to read the plaque.
‘You know what?’ he asks. ‘We need to do some digging.’

Camry was loosening up his tie.
‘What’s your problem?’ his interrogator asked.
‘I’m not used to spending my time sitting in dark rooms wearing a suit.’
‘If it depends on me, you might spend a lot more of your time sitting in dark rooms wearing a suit. Is that what you’d like?’
‘I need more money.’
‘Don’t we all.’
Camry was through another cup of water, only this time he didn’t ask for permission before walking over for a refill.
‘Thanks for the buffet,’ he said without looking at the man at the other side of the table.
‘What do you know about the police?’
The question froze Camry in his tracks. He turned around to face his interlocutor.
‘What should I know about the police?’
‘Don’t reply to my questions with another question. There was that murder at a restaurant recently. It has come to my attention that there might be a link with you.’
Camry sat down and drank some water before answering.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about and I haven’t had any police visits lately. They don’t know I exist.’
‘You better make sure they don’t find out about the professor.’
‘I’m not letting him out of my sight. Unless he gets a fine for speeding, the cops will never find him.’
‘Do you know any police officers personally?’
‘I don’t get any further than watching The Wire.’
‘Fine, keep them in Baltimore.’

‘Did you hear that?’
Markus and Charlo’ were digging at the foot of the coral tree.
‘An engine. A car. People coming. We need to get out of here,’ he said.
‘They might just be visitors.’
‘I don’t believe in coincidence. Even if they’re just visitors, we’ll look awkward digging here. They’ll remember us.’
Markus speeded up the digging.
‘I’ve got something here,’ Charlo’ said.
‘Quick, get it out and let’s move.’
The contours of a metal safe box appeared. The thing was square, used to be green in a previous life. Markus tried to open it, but it was locked and there was no key. He pulled it out of the earth with one big pull and headed into the vegetation, taking Charlo’ by the hand.
Voices sounded from the garden entrance.
‘Fast, we need to get out,’ Markus told her.
Just before they reached the outer wall, the first bullet whizzed past their ears. Charlo’ ducked but Markus pulled her along.
‘Why don’t you shoot back?’ she said.
They reached a window in the wall. Too small to let them through.

NEXT: Markus and Charlo' try to escape from the Garden of Temerity in Episode Twenty-Six before July 16.

Season One, Episode Twenty-Four: The Garden of Temerity

The room was way dark compared with the sunny day outside. The curtains had been completely drawn, only a handful of small spotlights had been switched on, showing the ominous dark paintings on the wall.
Camry sat with his back to the polished oak door. The table in front of him was wide enough for eight people to take part in a medieval banquet, but right now there was no food, and there was only one person in the room in addition to Camry.
‘You’re going to tell me about the Russian,’ the other man said.
Camry looked so surprised he even stopped fidgeting with his tie for a second.
‘What Russian?’
‘Don’t even pretend you don’t understand me,’ the man said. ‘I’m talking about the man with the initials V.O. and you have been stalking him for a long time.’
‘He’s of no harm to me anymore,’ Camry said. ‘Can I get something to drink in here?’
The man pointed at a water dispenser in a corner of the room. Camry went over and got himself a paper cup full of the stuff. Back at the table, he inspected the water before taking a sip.
‘You don’t trust our water supply?’

Camry’s driver was kicking the tires of the Mercedes 700 and kicking the ash off his cigarette. He was standing with his back to the villa, so he couldn’t see the slight move in the curtain on the second floor.
‘He’s of no harm to me anymore,’ a voice came from behind Inspector Mondeo’s back in the room. ‘Can I get something to drink in here?’
Mondeo turned away from the window and the driver and looked at the laptop showing the image of Camry walking across the room below to get some water.
Mondeo smirked as he watched the man inspect the paper cup.
‘Scared of the water, you’d better be,’ Mondeo said to himself.

The expensive Italian car was driving at a speed just below the official limit on the main coastal road.
‘Fascinating story, but do you believe it?’ Charlo’ asked.
‘About the water? I think he has something else up his sleeve. But I wasn’t in a position to ask,’ Markus said.
‘Turn left, eight miles ahead,’ the GPS voice told them.
‘I wish I could turn this thing off, it gives me a headache.’
‘Will this be our final destination, or will we find another key?’
‘It can’t be. I don’t know what we’ll find, but two things it won’t be. A key and an ambush,’ he said.
‘I was aching for an ambush. We haven’t been shot at since Taiwan, remember?’
‘Turn left, six miles ahead.’

‘We agreed on two months,’ Camry said, finishing his water. He held the cup up in a gesture asking for more. The man at the other side of the table waved his agreement, so Camry stood up and walked away.
‘Tighten the screws,’ Mondeo whispered in his microphone on the second floor.
‘He can do it in less, he’s just stalling us for more money,’ Camry heard the man at the table say.
‘I can be very persuasive if I want to, but less than two months? That’s going to be a stretch,’ Camry said walking back with a new cup of water.
‘Then stretch.’
‘I’ll see what I can do,’ Camry said.
‘You’ll do what we want you do.’
‘No need to go all Mister Nasty over me.’
‘Then stay away from the Russians and persuade your professor to work faster. We need the technology.’
‘He’s your professor too. Which reminds me I need some more money from you if I am to convince him to bring up the schedule,’ Camry said, standing up as if he wanted to leave the room.
‘Money, that’s all what you people think about.’
‘Water doesn’t come cheap in my part of the world.’
Mondeo turned away from the screen and looked out the window. Camry’s driver had moved under the trees to seek respite from the sunlight.
‘I’ll be Mister Nasty all over you sooner than you expect,’ Mondeo mumbled to himself as the computer screen behind him went blank.

‘Turn left.’
Markus was driving up the intersection at 40 miles an hour. Instead of braking, he just pulled a hard left and cut off the cyclists coming in the other direction. The move earned him loud angry words and a couple of obscene gestures.
The car was now barreling down a dusty road, throwing up a huge cloud.
‘Can’t you take it down a few notches?’ Charlo’ said.
Markus slowed down enough for them to see the scenery. Long, wild, dry grasses, olive trees, and beyond, the blue horizon of the ocean.
‘Turn right at next intersection.’
They weren’t expecting any intersection on a dust road, but there was. Markus turned right as the voice said, and one mile of meandering country driving further, the voice gave its final instruction.
‘You have reached the Garden of Temerity.’

NEXT: Markus Bentley and Charlo’ enter the Garden of Temerity in Episode Twenty-Five before July 1.

Season One, Episode Twenty-Three: Dead Lines

‘That’s what deadlines are. Dead lines. You cross the line and you’re dead.’
The expensive suit jacket was hanging over the rickety chair, the black tie folded neatly on the seat. Even in the flickering neon light, you could still tell these were expensive clothes, not the kind one wears to an ordinary daily office grind.
The professor had his hands tied behind his back on the other chair. He was wearing his white lab coat, but the cloth looked soiled, raspy, as if it had been scraped along a rough and dirty pavement.
Sweat covered his face as he looked up at the man leaning over him. Camry looked even more devilish up close, with his white shirt unbuttoned half way down.
‘You’re lucky I have an important meeting scheduled, so I can’t use this tie to explain to you what a deadline is. But the people I am meeting are very serious about deadlines, and so should you.’
‘It’s a chemical process,’ the professor said in a voice laden with suppressed agony. ‘If it’s three months, it’s three months. There’s nothing I can do about it. There’s nothing the brightest chemist or engineer in the world could do about it.’
Camry spat in his face.
‘I’m paying you to work. Not to find excuses for not working.’
‘Working with water is a complicated process. I need to get the balance right.’
‘You need to get the balance right,’ Camry said slowly. ‘The balance you need to get right is the one between obeying my orders and receiving a mighty bit of punishment. Do you understand that?’
Before the professor had a chance to reply, Camry smashed a fist in his face, causing his head to pop back like a basketball in some game.
‘Two months,’ Camry said. ‘Do you know what that is?’
He pointed at a table in one corner, away from the neon light. The professor strained his bloodied head to look in the direction.
‘A jug filled with your three-month water,’ Camry answered his own question. ‘Wouldn’t it be ironic if I asked you to drink it, or if I poured it over you?’
The professor shuddered and looked down.
‘Please. Let me work to develop it.’
‘Two months.’
‘Two months.’

‘It was a three because I was not in shape.’
Camry was relaxing in the rear seat of the Mercedes 700 with a glass of French Cognac. They were driving through a high-class residential neighborhood, mansions, trees, lawns with signs telling you you could get shot if you tread on the grass.
‘Our professor is going to work harder but he’ll need an extra set of eyes watching him just in case his feet get itchy.’
‘I’ll take care of him,’ the driver said.
‘That’s where we’re going.’ Camry pointed at a Spanish-style mansion, yellowish walls, red roof tiles, a round tower at one end. The wrought-iron gate turned open without them even saying or doing anything. Camry put his glass down on the fold-out table surface.
‘I’ll put a word in for our friendly professor. Such a nice and hard-working man.’

‘Camry’s the most dangerous man this side of the ocean,’ Riot said. He was leaning against the expensive Italian car as Markus Bentley and Charlo’ were standing in front of him. ‘I can only assume it was him who had the video recording on the laptop delivered to your place. He focused your attention on the guard, and you went running after the Russian.’
‘Wasn’t the Russian the man who killed my sister?’
Riot looked away over the ocean.
‘Let’s just say we shouldn’t feel sorry about this Russian passing on to another life. If there’s any justice, he will suffer miserably. The problem is, you took the bag I gave you and you drew the wrong conclusions.’
Bentley looked at the objects displayed on the roof of the car.
‘You saw the Three Elders, so you rushed off to Taiwan,’ Riot continued.
‘How do you know about Taiwan?’
‘Remember, I was your sister’s friend and colleague.’
‘I still don’t believe too much of that.’
‘You saw the red doll, and you traveled to Macau. Wrong again.’
‘So what are you saying, what should I have focused on?’ Markus asked.
Riot grabbed the bottle of water from the roof and held it upside down.
‘This magic baby.’

NEXT: Camry meets some Very Important People in Episode Twenty-Four before June 18.

Season One, Episode Twenty-Two: The Water

‘If it’s another key, I’ll kill you with my bare hands,’ Charlo’ said.
Markus was driving her car along the coast, away from the city.
‘How do you know where to find the car?’
‘It’s a long story.’
‘Once you have the car, where are you going to take it?’
‘It will tell me.’
‘I followed you half way around the world and I still can’t figure you out.’
‘That’s the beauty of me,’ Markus said.
‘You got away with killing your sister’s killer, what more do you want?’
‘She left me those messages from beyond her death.’
‘The Three Elders?’
Markus nodded as he steered the car round a sharp bend.
‘Leaving me the three elders told me I had to go to their source, Taiwan. There I found the one surviving elder, Lass, and the son of the other, Trick. The red doll then told me to travel to Macau, to find the key.’
‘But where is the end of the journey? Or isn’t there one?’
‘There it is.’
Markus pointed at an empty space to the left of the road, above the ocean. A dark blue car was parked under the trees. He braked hard and swung the car across the main road on to a dusty track.
‘What is it?’
‘An Italian luxury car.’
‘What’s so special about that?’
‘It’s rare, so it’s easy to find. And it’s preprogrammed to take us to our destination.’
Markus parked their car right next to their target. The Italian car was obviously brand new, but it had gained a layer of dust standing here exposed to the wind from the sea.
‘You’ll think Riot will find us?’ Charlo’ asked.
‘If he does, we’ll be ready.’
Markus flashed the key at the car and the doors popped open. He took the driver’s seat, crammed his bag behind his feet, and turned his attention to the screen at the center of the leathery dashboard.
‘You know what a GPS is, right?’ he asked her.
‘It’s not because I don’t need one that I don’t know what it is.’
An intricate web of streets flashed up on the screen.
‘This baby will tell us where our destination is.’
‘I hope it’s somewhere closer than Macau.’
‘Stop.’
A heavy sports ute screeched to a halt right behind the car, blocking their exit. The car they had come in was to their left, trees to their right, and the ocean straight ahead.
Markus saw a man walk up to his side of the car. The face that leaned down against the window was Riot’s.
Markus rolled down the window.
‘So I finally caught up with you,’ Riot said, without a look at Charlo’. ‘Are you shock-resistant?’
‘What’s that supposed to mean? First, you do your dying-man routine, give me my sister’s things. How do I know you didn’t kill her and this is all a conspiracy to use me to get at your enemies?’
‘What did you tell Mondeo?’
‘Who?’
‘The black cop.’
‘How do you know?’ Markus asked.
‘I had friends at the airport.’
‘Show me what I gave you,’ Riot said.
Markus pulled the bag from behind his feet and put it across the mid-section, out of Riot’s reach. He started taking his things out of the bag. His sister’s things. He pulled out the red faceless doll, the Three Elders, the bottle of water.
‘Did you drink from this?’ Riot asked.
Markus shook his head.
‘Just like we thought. You’re very conscientious …’
‘Who is we?’ Markus asked.
Riot grinned. ‘You’re smart. My friends and I.’
‘Do I get to meet them?’
Riot’s grin vanished.
‘Do you know a man named Camry?’ he asked.

NEXT: Riot tells Markus Bentley about Camry in Episode Twenty-Three before June 3.

Season One, Episode Eighteen: The Tile

Markus dropped the knife as his hands were shaking.
‘What’s the matter with you? You want me to continue?’ Charlo’ asked.
‘Just remain silent and watch out for any intruders.’
Charlo’ pursed her lips and turned her back to Bentley.
He doubled his effort, hacking and chipping away at the cement. The tile was coming loose. When Charlo’ heard him stop, she turned around again to watch him rip the tile off the wall. There was a narrow vertical empty space behind it. Or not so empty after all. A reddish, dusty pouch was stuffed inside.
Markus opened it and a key fell into his hands.
‘This is what you came all the way to Macau for?’ Charlo’ asked.
A door creaked below. He put the key in his pocket and pushed the pouch back into the hole in the wall, forcing the tile back in place. Nobody taking more than a cursory glance would be fooled.
‘Let’s go to the back,’ he said, pulling her by the arm.
‘Maybe it’s just the man in the white underwear returning home from the shop,’ she said.
‘Don’t count on it.’
Markus pulled her away, out of the hall, through the back window, on to a rusty emergency stairway stacked full with carton boxes and plastic kid bikes. When Markus found out his shoes made a loud clanging sound on the metal floor, he ditched them.
‘At least, I’ll be quicker through the airport security checks,’ he said.
Charlo’ wasn’t laughing. She was panting. They were just about to pass one window when they saw movement inside. Markus pressed her against the wall to keep her out of view. It worked. They ran and jumped all the way down to the street level.
‘Stick close to the wall,’ he whispered at her as they ran down the street.
A man shouted something short in Cantonese from one of the highest floors. Markus didn’t look back but pulled Charlo’ along with her.
Back on main street, they plunged into the crowds of tourists without apologizing for the bumps and elbows. On the nearest street, they jumped in front of a cab and prevented an old Chinese lady from taking it.
‘To the airport,’ Markus ordered.

Camry watched a news report on TV about a man found dead at a restaurant. He made sure the machine was recording the footage.
‘How much?’ he asked to the man sitting in the couch behind him. ‘A three or a four?’
‘Out of ten?’
‘If I get away with it, it’s a five.’
The cell phone on the coffee table buzzed.
‘So the question is not whether they’re coming back, but what are they bringing back with them?’ Camry asked.
He changed channels when the news about the dead man ended.
‘So they’re still on the wrong track.’
Camry grinned.
‘They don’t have a clue.’

Not wearing any shoes had not speeded up the airport checks. Instead, the Macau customs wanted to check passenger Markus Bentley’s breath for alcohol. They did, and he passed with flying colors.
‘It’s been nice flying out with you. I’ve never traveled around the world with a stranger before. So my mom was right,’ Charlo’ said.
‘About what?’
‘Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere.’
He ordered a glass of white wine.
‘So what’s the key for?’ she asked.
He first drank half the glass.
‘There is a place back home where I need to go to, and there I will find the next step.’
‘So you will again wait to tell me what’s going on until after we get there,’ she said.
She took the glass of wine out of his hands and emptied it.
‘I don’t know myself what I will find there. All I know is the location, not what I’ll find there.’
‘Shouldn’t that be ‘what we’ll find there’ or are you going to dump me as soon as we arrive?’
‘I thought you would want to take a rest after all the emotion of our trip.’
She surfed through the movie channels.
‘You saw for yourself that I’m working on a dangerous task,’ he said.
‘Even in Taiwan and in Macau, people are hunting you. Wouldn’t it be safer to stay away, travel to Europe or to some other place where they don’t know you? Retire to some Greek island like the woman in The Bourne Identity?’
‘They’ll find me anywhere.’
‘Because you killed the man by the pool?’
‘Because they killed my sister and now they want to kill me.’
Charlo’ settled on a movie showing a bunch of white men traveling through India by train.
‘I want to know where you came from,’ she said without her eyes leaving the screen. ‘What do you want?’
‘Marzipan and a good life, and right now I’m short of both.’
She grinned.
‘Don’t tell me stories, I’m not a kid waiting to sleep.’
‘You want to know what I want. It’s been pretty obvious from the start. I want to avenge my sister, because she was the only one I had left. My father died years ago in Taiwan, my mother is long gone, so I was raised by nannies.’
‘How far are you prepared to go?’
‘All the way. I still have to find the guy who gave me my sister’s objects, and the guy who brought me the laptop.’
‘What laptop?’
‘Before the Riot guy showed up, there was another one, who just dumped a laptop at my front door. It had a recording of my sister’s murder.’
‘Gross. Sound and pictures? What did he tell you?’
‘He just dumped the computer and left, never said a word, I never got a chance to talk to him.’
‘Are you sure you’re not being manipulated?’ Charlo’ asked.
‘Everything was real. My sister’s death. I tried to call her. The guard I interviewed.’
‘While you had me staying outside.’
‘Was rather convincing,’ Markus finished his sentence.
‘Can we have another one?’ Charlo’ pointed out the empty wine glass to a passing flight attendant.

Camry was overlooking a swimming pool. The professor was leaning over the water with a vial in his hand, while a naked man was standing in the pool with his back toward them, the water up to his shoulders.
‘How long is he staying in there before we see something happen?’ Camry asked the professor.
‘I would expect results within half an hour.’
‘Make him walk around in the pool,’ Camry told the professor, as if the man in the water couldn’t hear him.

NEXT: Markus Bentley is welcomed by an unpleasant surprise in Episode Nineteen before March 31.

Season One, Episode Seventeen: Macau

Camry sat pulling at the collar of his suit shirt on the back seat of the S-class.
‘Drop me off around the next corner and go keep yourself busy until you get my signal,’ he told the driver.
He left the suit jacket inside the car and walked the block back, hoping he wouldn’t be conspicuous among the salary slaves out for lunch.
As he had expected, the restaurant was crowded and he didn’t draw any undue attention sitting down in the middle of the room on his own. He ordered a set meal, soup, main dish, but no dessert.
Halfway through the meal, he noticed a man in a dark suit heading for the restrooms. Just a minute later, a man in his fifties wearing a pink – sorry, salmon – polo shirt also left his place. Camry counted until five and followed them.
Inside, he first brushed water through his hair. When the man in the dark suit left, a dark pall moved over his face. The water rumbled behind the closed door, third from the entrance. The lock was pushed open with a metallic clang. Just as the guy in the polo shirt was putting his foot out, Camry pushed him back in, grabbing him by the throat to drown out the sound. He stabbed his knife through the salmon polo shirt until his target was reclining on the can with blood dripping, Camry came out, softly pulled the door shut so it wouldn’t reopen of its own accord, and went to clean the knife in the sink.
He returned to his meal, slowly finishing the lamb roast with his knife and fork. No rush, no haste. He politely declined coffee, paid cash and walked over to the next block before calling for his driver.

Charlo’ watched as the wet patches of rice fields vanished behind the low clouds. Markus sat next to her on the Air Macau flight from Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport. She turned to him.
‘Glad to be out of that place. So, are you finally ready to give me an explanation? Are the Three Elders history now?’
‘The first one was Lassiter, the second one was Trick’s father. And the third one was my father.’
‘What was their connection?’
‘They all did business together here in Asia at one time.’
‘That’s what Trick told me. What kind of business were they in?’
‘International trade.’
The ‘fasten your seat belts’ sign flooped off and the pilot made an announcement about altitudes and temperatures.
‘Why did his parents choose the name Trick?’
‘They didn’t. He did. Taiwanese only receive a Chinese name at birth. They later pick their own foreign names if they want one. Even then, you get lots of crazy names. Like Apple and Medicare.’
‘Medicare?’ she grinned.
‘Don’t ask. I once met a doctor with that name.’
The flight assistant came round with the headphones. Markus stuffed his in the back of the seat in front of him, Charlo’ unwrapped hers.
‘I thought you wanted to hear my story,’ he said.
‘I was losing hope you would ever get to it,’ she replied. She put the headphones on her lap.
‘This man, Riot, claimed to be a colleague of my sister. I’ve been out of touch with her for years, so I didn’t know whether he was telling the truth. Yet he had my address and he had those things that only I knew my sister had. All presents from our father. The Three Elders told me I had to go back to Taiwan, because that’s where my father had them made. That is where the Three Elders, the real three, lived.’
‘But only one of them is still alive, and he didn’t tell you much, did he?’
‘That’s when Riot’s phone call came in. I don’t know how he could know I was at Trick’s place, but he did, and he told me I was on the wrong track.’
‘So you believe him?’
An elderly Chinese lady stood up behind Charlo’ and pulled hard at her seat. Charlo’ shot her an annoyed look.
‘The only other possibility was this.’
Markus pulled the red faceless doll from his sports bag stowed under the seat in front. He had given the flight attendant who advised him to jam it into the overhead compartment a convincing shake of the head.
‘My father gave this doll to my sister during a vacation in Macau. He had just returned from a trip to Japan, where he bought this thing.’
‘Because he gave it to her in Macau, that’s why we’re going there?’
Markus nodded.
‘You’ll understand when we get there. It’s a clue, a sign.’
‘International man of mystery. Traveling with you is certainly an adventure. Will we be doing a spot of gambling? You know, Vegas of the East, casinos?’
Markus shook his head.
‘That’s not what we’re here for. I want to go in quickly and leave quickly.’
‘Why not enjoy it while we’re here?’
‘I thought you were the one complaining about me taking you everywhere,’ Markus said.
‘Let me think. The doll is from Japan, so that’s where we’ll be heading next.’
‘What’s the matter, don’t you like the jetset life?’
‘It’s just that I don’t like drifting around the world without being told what it is all about.’
Markus tapped his finger on her headphones.
‘Our next destination is home,’ he whispered.
‘Can we get marzipan on this flight?’ she asked.
‘No, and no moaji either.’
The flight attendants came up with the meals. The flight only lasted a mere 90 minutes, so bread, simple combinations of pre-packaged vegetables and fruits, and a miniature pot of yoghurt was all there was. Markus asked for white wine.
‘Will I have to speak Portuguese?’ she asked.
‘Most people here speak Cantonese. The Portuguese is just inscriptions on buildings. So don’t worry. I don’t speak Cantonese either, but we’ll get by in English.’

In Macau, Markus and Charlo’ were following the flow of tourists, heading down Main Street with its Portuguese-era baroque churches and buildings, with ugly casinos looming behind as so many threats of brash modernity against cultured history.
Markus took a sordid alley to the right at the end of the street. A stocky man in boxer shorts and white underwear came out of the doorway, Markus rushed to take the open door from him. He signaled at Charlo’ to follow him inside. A finger across his mouth told her not to speak.
They followed the creaky staircase up to the third floor. Under the stairs leading to the fourth, Markus opened a low door. Inside, a wall covered in tiles. Tiny grey tiles, but also one big blue one, showing a city scene. A church at the end of a crowded narrow street with laundry hanging from the balconies. The words ‘Alfama - Lisboa’ written at the bottom. The tile didn’t really fit in with the rest of the wall.
‘Go get me a knife in there.’ Markus pointed Charlo’ at an open doorway at the end of the hall. ‘It’s a communal kitchen. They won’t eat you.’
He took the knife from her and started hacking at the cement around the blue tile.
‘Why are you damaging that nice wall?’ Charlo’ asked.
‘Once I have what’s in that nice wall of yours, we can all go home.’

NEXT: Markus Bentley uncovers what is behind the tile in Episode Eighteen before March 15.

Season One, Episode Eleven: Goodbye Speedokiniland

‘Look, professor, I want you to see something down there that's more fun watching than your water.’
Camry was standing inside the window in room 615. Wearing a suit, tugging at the shirt collar. The professor was a thirtyish sandy-haired man wearing a white lab coat. He came out of the bathroom looking miffed.
Camry waved outside.
‘Down there, by the pool.’
The professor looked taken aback, but Camry grinned.
‘The guy down there, with his brain splattered all over the lounge chair, is Moskvitch. A nasty bugger if there ever was one, professor.’
Camry's smile faded to threat mode.

A man fired a handgun at the surface of the pool, kicked a woman out of the way, nearly tripped over one of his own dead colleagues.
Under water, Markus Bentley held Charlo' tighter as he saw a bullet pierce its way to the bottom of the pool. He shot another thug swimming toward him like a shark approaching its prey.
Charlo' surfaced first, looking right into the bodyguard's gun barrel. She screamed. Bentley was next, his hand with the Glock in front of him, firing. The man fired back, but missed.
‘Run out of here, but not with me,’ Bentley shouted at Charlo' as they climbed out of the pool, which was gradually coloring red with the blood of the dead swimmer.
Bentley didn't look back but ran away between the palms. On bare feet, the Glock and his swimming trunks his only possessions.
He tripped over a root. Landed with his face in the grass. Looked around him. The barman from the pool was behind him. Bentley could outrun him, so he wouldn’t have to kill anybody anymore.
He was approaching the front of the hotel. He came round the corner, saw the valet handling the car keys.

‘So there they go. Another exciting day at the Brother Hotel, don't you think, professor?’
The professor mumbled something and returned to the bathroom, while Camry picked a brandy from the refrigerator.
‘Seeing blood and water makes me thirsty,’ he said to no one in particular.

Markus rammed the valet and grabbed a set of keys at random. They showed the blue and white squares of the Bavarian flag. He ran around the parking lot pushing the remote. The lights flashed. On an X7X, a heavy dark SUV. Behind him, the barman also picked up some keys from the pavement.
Bentley screeched out of the parking lot, into the two-lane street in front of the hotel. Heading north like he'd planned.
As he was passing the intersection, he saw the car behind him. A Chevrolet Ganache. The women's version of the Corvette. Low, sexy, red, convertible. Top down, a good target if he wanted to have a go at his pursuer. The barman.
Markus felt silly driving a heavy vehicle wearing nothing but a pair of downsized swimming trunks, but hey, this situation was out of the ordinary. The barman wasn't exactly dressed for a hot pursuit either.
Bentley saw the guy swerving to the left and coming past him as they careened across an intersection. Bad idea. Bentley went left himself, hitting the sports car. The barman slowed down but stuck close.
Markus looked at the Glock on his dashboard, but thought it would be a bad idea to handle it while driving. Don't Glock and drive.
Instead, he tensed and watched the road ahead. There it was, the pedestrian crossing from the hotel zone to the beach.
Just as the lights turned red, he braked, turned the car left and went right on to the beachfront walk amid screams from the tourists. The barman was still chasing him.
Bentley turned on his headlights and honked like it was snowing in hell. The tourists dispersed alright, but not all of them as fast as he had expected. Scared parents pulled their kids into the sand, skaters went right into the boardwalk café and rammed the waiters, sending the hamburger and pizza plates shattering around.
Markus suddenly braked, forcing his pursuer into a maze of fruit stalls, paintings, fitness equipment and musical instruments left behind by buskers on the run.
The stuff was flying around, but Bentley wasn't watching, he was hurrying to get some distance between the barman in the red convertible and him.
The next pedestrian crossing over the main road was coming up. Markus picked up speed and saw the surprise on the face of the truck driver who was going parallel with him on the main road.
Bentley honked at the family ready to cross the beach path. They moved into the sand, good for them. He pulled the SUV to the right, left the path with just inches left, saw a bus coming but drove across the road to put himself short in front of the truck.
The barman followed him but he wasn't fast enough. The truck smashed him in the side. He careened back across the road and hit the bus. The red convertible was propelled onto the beach, but the barman was already flying through the air with the life out of him. Not wearing seat belts in a convertible. Bad idea.
Markus saw the wreckage in his rearview mirror. He would do anything to avenge his sister. Even shoot a thug like Moskvitch in a crowded swimming pool. Camry was right about that. But now he had to do things for himself.
‘Charlo', are you safe?’
‘As safe as things go.’
‘Are you still with me on Taiwan?’

NEXT: Markus Bentley recovers from the kill in Season One, Episode Twelve before January 12.

Season One, Episode Three: Camry

'Hitchcock it ain't, but it will do,' said the man.
He looked at the fading image of the woman looking up at the camera in the parking lot, and then clapped the laptop shut.
He was sitting in the back of the Mercedes F700, only barely acknowledging the presence of the bulky man in the front passenger seat who was trying to face him.
'Do you know how to get this to him?' he asked.
'The old-fashioned way, Mr. Camry.’
Camry disliked strangers using his name. Or using names anywhere, for that matter. Camry looked away to the chauffeur's neck, then to the passing cityscape outside. Five-lane highways.
He was wearing a nice Italian suit, but he still looked like the scrawny Eastside punk he grew up as. He'd rather be lounging around the house in shorts and Hawaiian shirt at his private pool, but today it just wasn't possible. There was work to do. The Brother Hotel wouldn't take types like him in half underwear.
'Make sure it's clean ten out of ten,' he said as he reached across the car to hand the laptop to the passenger.
The fat guy mumbled something. In another place, Camry would've slapped him for being disrespectful, if not worse. But he needed his suit to be immaculate for the meeting. So all he allowed himself was a look of disdain. Make the guy feel like he's shit, Camry thought.
He waved so the chauffeur caught the gesture. The car left the highway and stopped at the next intersection. Out stepped the passenger, clutching the laptop as if it were a treasure. It was.

Markus Bentley was reaching for a stick of marzipan on the plate next to his laptop. He was going through one of those forums for whining and homesick expats in an Asian country. He had never liked the word expat, it made him think of spoiled brats in suits, living in luxury apartments with swimming pool and chauffeur-driven cars paid for by the company back home. If they had kids, they sent them to astronomically expensive schools where they grew into the perfect copy of the spoiled brat their father was. Bentley had never been an expat of this type, and he didn't miss the life. He just wanted to stay aware of what was happening on his former home turf.
The sound of the car penetrated his spatial awareness like a fly suddenly turns up in your peripheral sight. You know there's something there, but it's only later you notice what it is and you know you don't like it. He looked up at the window on his right, even though you couldn't see the road from there.
Dry fields with lines of dry knob trees stretching between them, providing his place with a false sense of privacy. That was the reason he had chosen this place. Fortunately, he was not the one who had to get up early and toil in those fields all day long. That was the task of the farmer who lived across the road and who owned this place.
The farmer drove a truck and a couple of nasty-looking vehicles farmers drive on the fields. None of those machines produced the type of rhythm he was hearing now.
Bentley folded the laptop screen and stood up while munching on the marzipan.
At the end of the lane he could spot the mailbox. The farmer's house was hidden by apple trees and brushwork, a natural screen to stop curious looks in both directions.

'Here comes Mister Paranoia,' Markus said to noone in particular.
The dark red car drove up to his mailbox. With the engine still running, a fat guy in a suit stepped out, carrying a rectangular black object. Markus kept himself in the background, so the guy couldn't spot him. Even from inside, he could tell the guy was carrying a laptop or something like it. The fat man seemed to be checking the number on the mailbox, and then deposited the object at its foot. Before Markus had the chance to recover from his surprise, the man turned around and drove off.
Markus waited until the car had vanished and counted to ten. Then he grabbed a knife from the kitchen and walked out, digesting the last of his marzipan.
He approached the mailbox like it was a snarling mountain lion. With one more look in the direction of the empty road, he crouched on the dusty ground and looked at the object. It was a laptop alright, without a bag. Just sitting there in the dust. What kind of freak dumped a laptop like this on a stranger's front step, in the middle of the countryside? He must have driven here especially for him, otherwise he just could have dumped in a river or in the sea, or somewhere behind the bushes. Markus looked around once more and did the human thing. He picked up the thing, turned it around to see if it wasn't boobytrapped, and took the thing home. The battery had been taken out, so he had to plug it in.
While the thing warmed up, he went for another stick of marzipan in the fridge. If this were a movie, the laptop would blow up and smash his house into a fireball. Instead, it went on forever loading up. No password requested, but it ended with the arrow of the forward sign for a video recording. Was this guy going to share his exploits on YouTube?
Markus took another bite and risked it. He clicked the arrow.
Bentley swore and sat down. His appetite for marzipan was taking a break.
What was she doing, and what was that fat guy showing him this? Was this a new way of delivering a ransom note for a kidnap victim? He watched as the woman walked around the office and started packing up everything in sight. Markus had never been to her office. In fact, he hadn't met up with her in years. A phone call here and there, around Christmas if he remembered, because that was the old way of doing things.
One thing was certain. The laptop wouldn't blow up, not before the ending anyway. The fat guy in the car wanted him to see all of this.
Just like the guard at the office block had done before him, Markus peered at the screen trying to discern the objects the woman was taking away with her. Office equipment, pictures, but then there were the knickknacks to think about. Bentley leaned closer.
He froze when he saw the guard in his room watching the woman on camera. He tried to memorize his face, but there was not that much to go on.
He recognized the small porcelain effigy of the three men which the woman put in her cloth bag. He didn't recognize the faceless red doll. Was that a cat, or a red snowman, or what other creature. The thing wore Chinese characters on its chest.
He saw the guard reach for his gun. The woman in the elevator. Not getting out through the front door. The woman alone in the parking lot. The camera turned away.
Markus pushed his chair backward and slammed his fist on the table next to the laptop. The screen returned to the arrow. He could watch it all again if he wanted to.

A low buzz reached him from under the table. He had installed the sensors in the middle of the night, to avoid attracting his only neighbor's attention. Country folks could be nosy. The sensors didn't cover the mailbox and the side of the street, only the immediate vicinity of the house.
Markus stood up and pressed himself against the wall, near the same window from where he had watched the fat guy dump the laptop. Was he coming to take back his prized possession?
Bentley moved ever so slightly forward. The door bell rang. It sounded like a waterfall compared to the whisper of the alarm buzzer. Why hadn't hear the car approaching?
Markus edged closer to the window. Until he saw his uninvited visitor. Definitely not the fat guy with the laptop. A wiry thin guy, shaking, holding an object in his left hand. The porcelain figurine of the three men Bentley had seen his sister remove from her office.

NEXT: A Riot comes down in Episode Four of Concentric before October 12.