Inadvertently Entangled: Day 15

Word Total: 90,079

Year to Date: 900,396

Summary of Events:

Pierson struggled to get used to his moustache, and was chastised by the young woman for fiddling with it, lest he give away the fact that he was unused to it. Mr. Nyilas expressed doubts in Pierson and the young woman's idea of Pierson masquerading as a German businessman, owing to the fact that Pierson wasn't supposed to be staying in Hungary for the long term. Pierson and the young woman nonetheless forged ahead, even finding an identity for Pierson to adopt with the help of the young woman's sister-in-law's family. Several days later, Pierson was waiting for Mr. Nyilas to return from escorting the young woman home in some bad weather, which made Pierson anxious of something bad happening, thus he was quite relieved when Mr. Nyilas finally returned…

Excerpt of the Day:

He unlocked the door and let Mr. Nyilas in, glancing at the clock as he did and feeling alarm at the time it displayed, which was nearly forty minutes beyond when Pierson had been expecting Mr. Nyilas to return.

“What happened?” Pierson asked. “Why are you so late?”

“Her parents invited me in for a tea to warm up before I headed back,” Mr. Nyilas replied.

“Tea takes forty minutes?” Pierson asked.

“No,” Mr. Nyilas replied. “While we were having tea a caller came to the back door in need of men, so her father and I went to help, and because of where we were, I made an errand stop on my way back and got this.”

He held out an envelope that looked similar to the one the coded message from Kraków had come in.

Pierson took it while Mr. Nyilas removed his coat, hanging it over two hooks on the coat tree to expose more of its surface area to the warm air of the apartment, that the snow on it would dry up by morning.

Mr. Nyilas then took the envelope back from Pierson and went over to his desk to puzzle out the message, Pierson supposed.

He was going to watch Mr. Nyilas until he remembered that he’d left cards scattered all over the dining room, so he went and picked them up instead.

“Oh dear, did I startle you while shuffling?” Mr. Nyilas asked.

Pierson startled, going to straighten up without remembering that he was under the table, prompting a significant jolt of pain to his head that made him crumple to the floor, grasping at the contact point.

“Again,” Mr. Nyilas said. “I’m sorry, I thought you heard me. Are you alright?”

Pierson moaned.

“Shall I go outside and get you some fresh snow?” Mr. Nyilas asked. “It’s piling up quite thick with all this wind.”

“I should be fine,” Pierson mumbled, carefully moving out from under the table before slowly straightening. He felt a little dizzy, but thankfully not so dizzy as he’d felt at points in Kraków.

“My apologies,” Mr. Nyilas said.

“It’s alright,” Pierson said. “I should survive. What’s that about?”

“Broadway’s gotten back to me,” Mr. Nyilas replied.

“And?” Pierson asked, setting the cards he’d picked up onto the table.

“They’re aware of the Kraków situation,” Mr. Nyilas replied. “And they do still want you to get to a safer location, but, for the time being, you’re to stay in Hungary, and preferably to lay as low as possible.”

“If I lay any lower I’m going to be six feet under,” Pierson muttered.

“I’m well aware of that,” Mr. Nyilas said. “Thus I sent back immediately enquiring if they would permit you to take on a minor role in operations here until they’ve determined where you’re to go from here.”

“Thank you,” Pierson said.

Mr. Nyilas nodded and left the room. Pierson sat himself on a chair, feeling genuinely glad that he’d not only be able to remain in Budapest, but that Mr. Nyilas understood his need to be doing something instead of sitting around.

Next Post: 30 October