The Meeting Part 1

Ryan had settled into a table in the back of the bar and was working through his homework. A soft jazz soundtrack played in the background, while he glided through the matrices, shifting numbers so everything made sense.

The bar was styled like an Old World pub. A stuffed goat's head hung over a black and oak bar. Leather stools sat empty except for a professor puffing on his pipe. But he had managed to slip into the problem, wiping away all of the earlier struggles of the day.

In fact, he was so engrossed that he didn't notice the man sidle down in the chair across from him. He didn't pay attention to the way that man adjusted his leather coat, or unbound his red hair and put it back into a pony tail. It wasn't until he leaned forward and looked at the math problem that Ryan started.

"Shit, you scared me." He managed after he caught his breath. Tilting his head, he tried to place the man who sat across of him. He could have been any graduate student who'd taken a little too long to finish their dissertation. "Do I know you?"

"No, not yet." The red-haired man leaned back in the captain's chair. "My name's Havelin DeCourt."