Hamish stood just outside the door of Isolde’s room, a light bag of clothing rested at the top of the stairs for Josef to take down to the car that awaited them. Hamish had acquired another house, although nowhere near as lavishly simple as this one, in Mittenwald. It was a four room house in the very heart of the city, with a balcony overlooking the street the parade would take. Unlike their house here, this house actually belonged to Hamish. Technically it belonged to Baird MacKinnon if paperwork were to be searched. But Hamish could produce a passport and a spot on match signature if anyone inquired.<br/><br/>The house was meant to be a safe house in case his actions so near the capital went badly. Now it would act as a base of operations for their continued search for Darcy. But standing outside her room, silent as the midnight sky, he heard the energy in her movements. Her steps were rushed and heavy, her banter with Chaya carried the biting edge of anger, and even her choice of clothing spoke volumes to Hamish. She spoke of gathering intel but this was an afterthought to her true wants and desires. She wanted to kill a lot of Nazi’s.<br/><br/>Hamish had provided her the tools to do so but it was only now that he realized he had failed in her training. Fortunately, it was a relatively easy fix…if she was still a willing student. Hamish stepped into the doorway and watched as the two women packed a very businesslike bag. A pistol was stuck in the waistband of Isolde’s sensible pants and her clothes allowed for ease of movement over fashion.<br/><br/>“Chaya, please take down the luggage and help Josef ready the car,” he said softly. At least he thought it was softly, by the way Chaya blanched perhaps it had been more menacing than he intended. There were still far too many nuances he did not understand about himself. But Chaya made a slight curtsy and meekly trotted from the room.<br/><br/>Isolde turned and he could see the fierceness burning in her eyes. She had been hurt, they had invaded her soul and she had centuries of a temper now flaring inside of her. Hamish almost pitied the Nazi’s if she would not allow him to continue his teachings. He almost pitied them regardless for eventually she would seek to quench her rage, just as he had on three soldiers who had stolen the innocence of a young girl. But that could not come at the sake of the mission.<br/><br/>Hamish quietly shut the door before crossing to the window. The city moved and bustled but their street was quiet. It was always quiet which is why Hamish allowed Chaya her forbidden records. The morbid silence of wealth was possibly more unsettling the silence of death. If death made a noise, it wasn’t dead and there was at least solace in this fact.<br/><br/>“You have the tools now to be very dangerous,” Hamish said still looking out of the window. “However, I have failed in teaching you the essentials of what it means to assassinate someone.” Hamish turned from the window and saw that she was at least listening. He leaned his back against the sill and spoke slowly but with purpose.<br/><br/>“There are three essentials to a successful assassination, opportunity, planning, and patience. Of these patience is the most important. Patience to gather information on your target, learn their habits, know their schedule, walk the rooms of their houses, know what they will have for dinner before they have even made the decision themselves.<br/><br/>“With your experience, you most likely already have a firm grip on reading another person. Knowing when they are lying or what their mood might be. This will help you fill in the rest of the puzzle that is your target. But it requires patience. Patience leads to planning. Knowing exactly how and when your target will die. Where will you be? What is your back up plan? How will you escape? Where are the flaws and how can they be avoided or eliminated? Planning can take seconds or weeks. It depends on how patient you are to know your target and your surroundings.<br/><br/>“When you have made your plan you have opened opportunity. My plans don’t fail not because I am good with a gun but because my plans come from years of experience. It takes no more than seconds now for me to fill in the gaps of my plans. I can enter a room and know almost instantly if it’s right for the job. This is not magic or a parlor trick. It comes from failing and being patient enough to learn from those failures.”<br/><br/>Hamish stood from the window sill and paced slowly back towards the door.<br/><br/>“A hammer is not meant to spilt firewood but it will if one is stubborn enough and swings with the right force. The hammer breaks sooner than an axe after repeated use and now everyone knows you have no firewood and they will charge you more for buying theirs. If you go into Mittenwald angry and willing to wipe out battalions of Nazi’s, Darcy wins. She will know you are alive, and she will know that you have a few new secrets up your sleeve.”<br/><br/>“Opportunity comes with planning and patience my dear. We must have both if we are to win this war and above all other trivial things on this earth, we must win this war. Darcy does not know your new knowledge and that is our advantage. I know you have many lifetimes of experience and in that experience you have learned that impatience has been the doom of many would be conquerors. We cannot let it be ours. Not against Darcy.”<br/><br/>“I am in this with you, all the way. As is Chaya and Myra and Josef in their own ways. Simply point to anyone who has harmed you and I will make them drown in their own blood. If you wish to put the destruction of the Nazi’s ahead of gathering intel on Darcy I will join you in bloody reverie that will make the gestapo interrogators seem like cuddly animals. But if you wish to beat Darcy, then we cannot show our hand in Mittenwald.”<br/><br/>“Use the tools I have given you wisely my friend. Information can come from anywhere and we must be ready to learn it whenever we can. Besides, the final, most important lesson I can offer you is…”<br/><br/>Hamish picked up the pearl necklace and laid it gently, meticulously into a perfect O on her packed clothing. A small smile sprung to his lips.<br/><br/>“…be prepared. How bad would it be if you had to break firewood with a screwdriver because you never thought you would need the hammer?”<br/><br/>Hamish hoped he had gotten through to her. Time would tell but either way, he would be with her.<br/><br/>“I have a car waiting for us out front. Josef will drive us to Mittenwald where I have had a safe house for some time. I will send Chaya back up if you need any more assistance.”