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While she started talking, I put the cards and the passport in my backpack. It felt natural to do so and I was a little surprised to find nothing else. So, what was I supposed to do tonight?

"Yes, very useful. I assume it's all on there?"

I could hear her smiling. "Yes, there's a message on your phone with some final details. Erase it after you're done. Go to the place we've met." She hung up immediately.

I read the messages and memorized the codes, it was easy enough with my memory. Not that I ever had a problem remembering things like that. Just birthdays were a crux to remember for some reason. That and street-names. Well, not anymore.

Onwards.

The rooftops were strangely quiet again, the start of a new week. I wasn't forced to use them, as it was completely possible to use the streets, but I felt daring and light and wanted to use the roofs. Besides, it would mean I could move faster as running at full speed would attract some attention. Probably.

This time the front door was open and it took me some moments to find the right room. I didn't want to break into any room unless I was absolutely sure it was the right one. I was ready to get my tools out when I tried the door of the room.

Open as well.

Everything was cleaned nicely in the room, but it wasn't truly clean. I mean, I still wouldn't eat of the floor. Though I actually would be able to... My 'food' didn't exactly got dirty by falling on the floor. The five second rule didn't apply to me.

There was, of course, a small box near the window waiting for me. It was a little smaller than I had expected and when I looked in it, it wasn't another useful toy. Something... different.

The phone rang. "You will get a message in a moment, go there and find the satellite dish on the roof. Place this there. Do you have a knife with you?"

I blinked. "No."

"There's a Swiss army knife in the drawer, keep it. It should be useful."

"Thank you."

"One detail, there are dogs, dobermans. Which is one of the reasons for this short notice."

Ah... And there was the hitch.

I'd seen dobermans twice before and, though I usually like dogs, they scared me. Though they were smart, fast and strong, they also had this odd aggression to them way beyond normal guard duty. I'm usually quite good with animals, any type even, but those... They would attempt to bite you if you as much as tried to pet them.

I knew that there were Doberman Pinscher breeds that were far less aggressive and more loyal, but I still had this nasty memory of them that was hard to shake. Ah well, at least it wouldn't be much of a problem if they bit me. The other upside was that I could probably get in by the roof anyway, avoiding them altogether.

"I see."

"Good luck." And with that she hung up.

I looked at the phone once more, reading the message carefully and trying to remember where the address actually was. I didn't have a full street-plan in my head and I didn't know the city that well. I needed, and I felt so stupid for this, a map.

I checked the drawer, no such luck of course. There was a leaflet of something in there, but that wasn't much use. I didn't want to call them just to get directions, that would be stupid, and considering the night was fairly young, I should be able to find an address easy enough.

That turned out to be mostly true.

There was a basic map at a bus stop which helped me to go to the general area. The other side of town, of course, and there a combination of asking for directions and looking myself was enough to finally find the street. Of course I felt like a stupid amateur doing so, but hey, I didn't have any maps or Internet at my command.

When I finally found the place at the far end of the city, I realized some of the problems.

It was a really large mansion, with garden. And the garden was too big. There was no way to get onto the roof without crossing the garden. And crossing the garden would mean...

Dogs...

It was a nice mansion though, old late middle ages, with a large garden. The wall around the garden was simple stone, but high, about twice as high as myself. No trees conveniently close to the wall for kids to climb in and glance over, and no trees that I could see on the inside either. I spend some time gazing at the compound from a nearby roof, which was high enough to see the layout of the place.

At one point I saw one of the dogs as well, just mellowing their way through the place, even looking like they were having fun. But one step in the garden and they would be on me. And I was not going to kill or hurt them. What I did to humans was bad enough.

I had to come up with a plan...

Ah yes... planning.