Roza watched the child playing in the snowy park. To anyone she looked like a grandmother watching her granddaughter play while her mind idly wandered but the truth was far from it. Instead her mind assessed every single thing that could possibly be a threat to her practically-granddaughter.

She payed close attention to the rooftops and windows around them. It wasn’t necessary, she knew, but a habit. Daniil was at work, in Cuba. He would be there for about another week. She knew if something happened to him, she would have to go after him. After all she was the only other assassin skilled enough to retrieve him, even if she was aged now.

Sofiya suddenly started running but some corner of her mind saw the skateboarder. At the rate he was going he would hit her. Before she knew what she was doing she had taken off running and scooped Sofiya in her arms just as the careless teenager flew by, disturbing the folds of her tweed coat.

She scolded him and he left properly chastised. As he got back on his board though he didn’t make it far before he fell. Roza took Sofiya’s hand and walked her home, practicing her American accented English, forgetting eventually she had pocketed several crucial bolts that belonged on the skateboard. With out them, the wheels would continue to fall off.