Manhattan Reborn 1978

a new day.

new York.

Manhattan, upstairs at Wildfire Bar on 42nd Street.

"Bell bell~"

The rapid ringing of the alarm "awoke" Polly Sidrich from her sleep.

She rubbed her dry eyes, reached out to turn off the alarm, and lay on the bed in confusion, looking at the ceiling.

At the bedroom door.

Cui Yingying, who heard the alarm, opened the door softly, took a look inside, and smiled.

"you're awake?"

"Um.."

"Breakfast is ready, do you want me to bring it in?"

"...No need!" Polly rubbed her sleepy forehead with both hands, got out of bed and walked over to Cui Yingying, hugging her and asking.

"Have I changed...a lot lately?"

Cui Yingying hugged her and couldn't help but smile: "You just work too hard."

"..." Polly knew that Cui Yingying couldn't give her the answer she wanted.

She buried her head in the middle of her black hair, smelled the faint body fragrance on the tip of her nose, and whispered: "I can't help it..."

Cui Yingying's smile slowly turned into one of understanding and relaxation as she said, "Maybe lowering your expectations for yourself and others will make you feel more relaxed."

"...Hmm!" Polly regained her composure, kissed Cui Yingying with a smile, and laughed when she saw that she actually blushed.

"Hahaha~ Let's go have breakfast."

"Don't let that bastard be everything to us!"

"Okay!" Cui Yingying held Polly's arms and walked out of the bedroom with a pink face.

----

Manhattan, in front of the Gold Coin Hotel.

The person in charge, Mr. Winston, in a straight suit looked at Mag Ludwig coming towards him and greeted him.

"Good morning, sir!"

"morning!"

Mag waved to Winston familiarly, and the two of them walked to the elevator in the lobby on the first floor of the hotel.

"I'll send it here."

"Gardener, I'm already waiting for you." Winston stood outside the door and helped Mag press the button for the fourth floor, smiling.

"Okay, see you later!"

. . .

In the private room belonging to Otis Parker.

The gardener warmly invited Mag to sit down. While preparing the tea set, he asked with a smile: "You just came back last night, right?"

"How was the harvest this time?"

"It's okay~"

Mag took the hot tea from the gardener, shrugged and said with a smile: "The biggest gain is that I finally don't have to see that guy Odis Parker anymore."

"Hahaha~"

The gardener laughed and put down the tea cup, and explained with some gloating: "Years ago, he once said that if he could return to the United States, he would never return to Europe."

"But this time he didn't run away..."

Mager asked with an equally amused smile: "He doesn't want to go back to Europe. Is there any story behind this?"

"Haha~" The gardener didn't want that "crazy" Mr. Parker to know that he was exposing him behind his back, so he changed the topic and asked.

"Wada Toshiki, I happen to be staying in the hotel."

"Do you want to see him?"

"Not for now."

Mag stopped joking and took a sip of tea: "I made an appointment with Marat and Yuri to come and meet."

"Oh? What a coincidence?" the gardener said with a surprised smile.

"I also made an appointment with Mr. Cremo and Brotney Mecia to come over and chat later."

"Ezra Claymore of CIA?"

"Yes"

"Why are you looking for him?"

The gardener twitched his lips and shrugged: "These are all things Odis Parker arranged before leaving."

"Although CIA's overseas layoff plan has not been fully launched, those agents obviously do not want to wait until everything is settled before finding a way out for themselves."

"So, when David decided to let Brotney Mejia re-establish a free intelligence network, Otis Parker had already started planning this matter."

Mag was stunned for a few seconds after hearing this, and then asked with a strange smile.

"You mean, he is helping Brotney Mecia to form a new intelligence network?"

"Yes."

"But he's not afraid...?"

The gardener knew what he wanted to ask. He shook his head slightly and said, "I don't know much about the channels he has for obtaining intelligence, the composition of the entire intelligence network, etc.~"

"But when we were chatting a few days ago, I heard him mention a very interesting concept - the Matthew Effect."

"The Matthew effect will reflect the special phenomenon of winner-take-all in the field of economics."

"We can also use this phenomenon to describe the status and credibility that Odis Parker has gradually accumulated over the years in the intelligence community."

Mag put down the tea cup in his hand, frowned and nodded: "He has never worried that Brotney Mecia can surpass him in the intelligence community?"

"Almost~"

The gardener smiled somewhat self-deprecatingly: "In fact, the so-called intelligence community today has long lost its original appearance."

"Faith is not worth a check with crazy figures..."

"As long as you have money, it's not difficult to buy any information you want."

"..." Mag fell silent after hearing this.

Isn't it true that Washington, where he once worked and lived, is not like this?

. . .

After about an hour.

Mag Ludwig, Marat and Yuri Orlov walked out of Toshiki Wada's room.

Marat smiled and said to Toshiki Wada standing at the door, "We will fly to Tokyo the day after tomorrow."

"After you go back first, please help us bring a greeting to Mr. Yasuda Fengichiro."

"I will." Toshiki Wada bowed slightly and watched the three of them walk towards the elevator door.

Located at the elevator on the fourth floor.

As soon as Mag and the others stepped out of the elevator, they saw Ezra Cremo, the head of the CIA's New York branch.

Mr. Cremo saw Mager coming towards him and asked with a smile: "Are you also looking for Mr. Gardener?"

"Um.."

Mago smiled and shook hands with Mr. Cremo, and introduced Marat and Yuri to him.

Mr. Cremo shook hands with the two of them very politely, took out his business card and handed it to them, and made an appointment to have lunch together.

After a few minutes.

The three Magers watched Mr. Claymore enter the elevator.

Young Yuri let out a sigh of relief and asked Mager curiously: "He... looks like a complete businessman."

"Hehe~"

Mag and Marat looked at each other, shook their heads with a smile, and said as they walked: "The FBI is the only department in the country that can enforce laws across the country, not the CIA!"

"Except for the staff at CIA headquarters in Langley, Columbia, almost all CIA field staff have some cover identity to facilitate their operations."

"Even if Ezra Claymore is the head of the local secret service, he also has the external identity of the general manager of a trading company."

"Oh..." Yuri nodded, feeling that his knowledge had grown a little more, and followed Mag into the room.

in the room.

Mr. Gardener and Brotney Mecia asked with a smile when they saw the three people coming in.

"Are you all done talking?"

"Hmm~"

Mag said hello to Mesia, sat next to the gardener, and said, "Hurry up and help me find a phone number where I can contact old Mr. Cherov."

"Now?" asked the gardener.

"Correct!"

Mag glanced at Yuri, pondered for a few seconds, and explained to Marat and Yuri: "If this cooperation can be finalized as soon as possible, the pressure on you to go to the island country will be reduced a lot!"

"Understood~" Marat and Yuri looked at each other and nodded.

Mr. Gardener glanced at the three of them without asking any questions. He waved his hand to greet Brotney Mecia and followed him into the study.

----

Texas.

Northwest of Houston, eastern suburbs of the small city of Hempstead.

breakfast time.

David sat in the "corner" of the dining table, watching his father David Sr. and mother Sierra "surrounding" little Bernice and little Lindsay, carefully taking care of them as they ate breakfast, and suddenly felt a feeling in his heart that he was about to be beaten. The absurd feeling of "snubbing". .

Elena Mesa noticed the "weirdness" in his expression, pulled him into the kitchen, and asked with a smile.

"Polly's children are very well-behaved, you should be happy, right?"

"Um.."

David also felt that his mentality was a little "unbalanced." He shook his head and smiled: "Maybe it's because I don't have brothers and sisters, and I'm not used to this feeling of losing focus."

"Haha~" Elena put a piece of apple into his mouth and said with a smile, changing the topic.

"I want to go back to New York."

"Oh? What's wrong?" David asked while chewing the apple.

Elena glanced back, leaned close to David and whispered: "Last night, when I was telling them a bedtime story, little Lindsay said... His mother learned that the two children of Manqi's family were missing. After becoming a father, the whole person became different from before.”

"Sister Manqi's husband?"

"Yes."

David frowned, chewed the apple slowly, and nodded, as if he suddenly figured out why Polly became particularly "sensitive."

"Then you followed Polly back to New York because you wanted her to...?"

"That's right~" Elena, wearing a plain apron, turned on the faucet and washed the plate she had just used, lowering her head and teasing.

"Don't you understand a woman's thoughts very well?"

"Tsk~"

David curled his lips and shrugged: "Women! Who can really understand you?"

“To men, women are as mysterious and unknown as if they come from an alien planet.”

"Of course I don't understand what women are thinking, I just use some tricky methods to make you happy~"

Elena chuckled and shook her head: "I can probably guess some of Polly's thoughts."

"Don't worry, I will definitely help you get her done when I go back this time."

"Ha!" David couldn't help laughing.

"After receiving your guarantee, why do I feel like all my worries disappeared at once?"

Elena wiped her hands with a rag in the kitchen and said with a smile: "You smile every day, do you also have worries?"

"Of course, I am not an omniscient and omnipotent God!"

"Hahaha~" The two looked at each other in tacit understanding and laughed.

. . .

After half an hour.

David pulled Elena out of the house after changing clothes, waved his hands and smiled at his father David Sr. and his mother Sera who were sending them out.

"She just went back to do some work matters and will be back in a few days."

"Okay!" Old David asked in a low voice as he put his arm around his wife Sierra's shoulders and watched his son and Elena get into the car and drive away.

"Should we...should go back and take a look?"

Sierra’s mother turned her head and glanced behind her, pondered for a moment, shook her head slightly and said, “In this matter, we’d better obey our son’s arrangements.”

"We can't do anything to help him, and we can't just add to his worries and distract him!"

Although old David could understand his wife's concerns, he said with a wry smile that he felt very uncomfortable that he had suddenly become a "burden".

"I'll call the soda factory later and tell them... We'll go back in the spring?"

"it is good!"

"Then wait until the spring comes and the flowers bloom, and then we can go back~"

"You can also experience the cowboy life here!" Sierra's mother happily hugged her husband, kissed him, and said with a smile.

"Haha~ Okay!" Old David kissed his wife's forehead and subconsciously stamped his feet, making the small pendants on the cowboy boots jingle.

----

Europe, UK.

It's approaching evening.

Just outside London, the Whistler G. Morgan estate.

Kanes Rothschild, Odis Parker, and Bill Gutfreund stood in front of the manor house, smiled and greeted the butler, and followed him in.

Located in the living room on the first floor.

The butler asked the maid to bring tea to the three of them, then turned and left.

Bill Gutfreund looked around at the furnishings in the living room, became very interested in an oil painting hanging on the wall, and joked to Karnes.

"Hey~ haven't you been looking for it for a long time?"

"...?" Kanes, who was thinking with his head down, glanced at the oil painting on the wall, pursed his lips and said nothing.

Otis Parker walked up to Bill with a smile on his face, looked at the oil painting together, and said with a smile: "This is a work by El Greco, the famous Spanish fantasy style painter during the Renaissance."

"El G. Greco, once claimed to be a portrait painter."

"But most of his widely recognized works are religious paintings, especially the many religious paintings and altarpieces he created for many churches, which are still widely available today~"

"Although this painting "Girl Holding Flowers" has a very strong personal painting style of El Greco."

"But it is not well known to the world and only appears in some historical documents and unofficial histories."

Bill tilted his head and looked at Mr. Parker in surprise, winked and joked: "I'm curious, is there anything you don't know?"

"Hahaha~" Mr. Parker said with a smile, feeling proud of this very "British" humor.

"There's certainly a lot I don't know."

"for example?"

"For example..." Mr. Parker turned around and looked directly at Bill. Seeing the jest flashing in his eyes, he narrowed his eyes and "retorted".

"For example, the girl you regretted marrying has already married someone else, but you went to confess to her after her marriage and gave her a country villa."

Bill, whose "scar" was ruthlessly uncovered by Mr. Parker, couldn't laugh anymore.

"Hahaha~" Kanes couldn't help laughing and yelled after hearing this.

"Look~ I told you not to provoke him!"

Mr. Parker looked back at Kanes, nodded slightly like a gentleman, and said with a smile: "Thank you for your recognition and praise."

"..." Kanes twitched the corners of his lips and smiled.

"I've always been weird before. I don't know what that guy David sees in you..."

Mr. Parker followed Bill's example and asked with a smile, "What about now?"

"Now, haven't you proven it?"

"..." Mr. Parker saw the way Carnes spread his arms around, and the smile on his lips disappeared.

He walked up to Carnes with a serious face and spoke in the purest "London accent".

"It's a pleasure to be of service to you, sir!"

Karnes was stunned for a few seconds, looking up at Mr. Parker slightly, and suddenly felt that the man in front of him was becoming more and more interesting. .

He quickly tapped the armrest of the sofa with his right hand a few times, glanced at Bill with a tilted head, and said after thinking for a moment.

"Wait a minute, if Mr. Wisler asks a question that I can't answer, will you give me the answer?"

Mr. Parker thought for a while, walked slowly to sit down not far from Kanes, nodded and said: "Don't worry, I will not let you down."

"OK!" Karnes waved to Bill, whose face was getting more and more ugly.

"Come quickly and sit down!"

"..." Bill stood there and took a few deep breaths, looking at the leisurely Mr. Parker, his mood slowly changed from complicated to relaxed.

Maybe it would be easier to have a teammate like Odis Parker?

Maybe. .