each meeting has the same pattern: he orders two espressos at a cafe and waits, his contact arrives and in spanish asks, "you don't speak spanish, right?" in different ways, to which he responds, "no." the contacts tell him about their individual interests such as molecules, art, or film, then the two of them exchange matchboxes. a code written on a small piece of paper is inside each matchbox, which lone man reads and then eats. these coded messages lead him to his next rendezvous.