Anastasia finished her glass of vodka and signaled for Howard to fill it up again,

"Look at the goddamned time before you think of taking another sip."

Snapped the barman,

"It's twenty past ten, the family meeting starts at eleven thirty!"

"Relax, I know what I'm doing,"

Anastasia laughed, pouring more of the vodka into her empty glass. She had two shot glasses in front of her. One was full, the one she just poured, the other empty, the one she had been sipping on. 

"It's only one-quarter of my daily limit. Nothing to worry about."

She took a sip from her glass before continuing,

"You know, when I first saw you, I had some suspicions. But now, I'm completely convinced."

She looked at Natalia, a wry smile forming on her face.

"And that is?"

Natalia asked. She looked at Anastasia, studying her facial features and waiting to hear what she'd say.

They had already spent quite a bit of time discussing the terms of their employment and it seemed that the conversation was about to take another twist. Anastasia leaned against the counter as she sipped her glass of vodka.

"I think you and I can have a lot of fun."

Anastasia replied, her eyes still glued to Natalia's, who was staring back at her with an annoying smirk.

"And that you're one helluva looker."

As her hand sneaked over to the bottle of vodka sitting on the countertop, an iron grip clamped down on her hand and she looked up to see Howard glaring at her,

"One more drink and I ain't gonna be pouring ya' ANY liquor till that bandage comes off of yer head."

"Alright, alright, cool it old man before you give yourself a stroke."

Howard's grip tightened,

"Let go!!"

Anastasia tried to pull her arm free from Howard's grasp and almost succeeded, but Howard was strong enough to keep her from escaping his clutches.

"Stop it, Howard! I promise I won't overdo it. Besides, I'm not drunk. Just a little tipsy, that's all."

"You're not a kid anymore. Those days are over. Now you're an adult and should behave like one."

Howard's grip on her arm yielded and she managed to yank it away,

"Aye-aye, sir."

Anastasia rolled her eyes, but her tone showed no disrespect. She understood her 'Butler's' sentiment; it wasn't every day that she received such direct warnings.

While she might not be drunk, she was getting a little too tipsy. She had planned to have at least a few more drinks before heading out to the family meeting, after all, today's business wasn't exactly going to be a pleasant one. But she could already feel the alcohol seeping deeper into her veins.

But that didn't prevent her from checking out the twin's stats,

- Right-Hand Man: Mikhail
 - STR: 90
 - DEX: 84
 - END: 86
 - Loyalty: 85 (Fixed 80)
- Skills: Hand-to-hand Combat(Lv.8), Stealth(Lv.8), Leadership(Lv.9), Tactical Intelligence(Lv.8), Marksmanship (Lv.8), etc.
- Talents: Survival Instincts(Lv.5), Danger Senses(Lv.5), Leadership(Lv.5)

- Bodyguard: Natalya
 - STR: 87
 - DEX: 89
 - END: 85
 - Loyalty: 85 (Fixed 80)
- Skills: Hand-to-hand Combat(Lv.9), Marksmanship(Lv.9), Firearms Proficiency(Lv.8), Protection(Lv.7), Rotary Vehicle Operation(Lv.7), Explosive Expertise(Lv.5) etc.
- Talents: Survival Instincts(Lv.6), Danger Senses(Lv.6), Marksmanship(Lv.3)

Anastasia nearly whistled, these sure were some nice stats. Especially the skills, they were all top-notch. She wondered what the talent section might entail and opened it.

As expected, she regretted doing so not much later. Turns out talents were just that, natural-born talents. Both the siblings had three each and yet Natalya had none. 

As her sighs got louder and louder, Mikhail picked up his whiskey and sipped at it again.

"This meeting,"

Mikhail began,

"It's to discuss your next step in the war against the Italians. Right?"

He looked at Anastasia, who smiled and nodded in response.

"Good, because let's be honest, according to what I have heard, you need a new strategy. You've been losing the war against those assholes."

Anastasia's eyes narrowed slightly at Mikhail's straightforward assessment. She took another drag from the cigarette she had just lit, contemplating his words. The bluntness of his statement didn't seem to bother her; instead, she appeared intrigued by his directness.

"You're not wrong,"

she admitted, her tone matter-of-fact,

"Things haven't been going as smoothly as I'd like. But that's why I've brought you two in. We need a fresh perspective, new skills, and a stronger force to turn the tide in our favor."

Anastasia leaned in, her eyes fixed on Mikhail's,

"The Italians have been making bold moves, and I need to counteract that. I want you to be the edge that takes us ahead."

Natalia chimed in, her eyes still with no emotion in them to reveal,

"Before we get into the details, let me clarify something. We're not just here to be your personal army. We're here because we believe you can pay for our services, and we want to be well-compensated for that."

Anastasia smirked,

"Well, we've already discussed the compensation part, haven't we? Now, let's talk strategy."

Mikhail took another sip of his whiskey before responding,

"Strategy depends on information. What intel do you have on the Italians? Weaknesses, patterns, key players – the more we know, the better we can plan."

Anastasia pondered his question for a moment, remembering all the details that they had gathered, the information provided by the system, and a small amount of guesswork.

"Well, we know their numbers, I know their chain of command and businesses. It's safe to say I know everything there is to know."

"That's a start,"

Natalia replied, her voice a little more stern than before.

She took a sip of her drink as she looked at Anastasia.

"But what about their weaknesses? What can we exploit to bring them down?"

Mikhail was right. The strategy did depend on intelligence. And knowing your enemy was key.

This part of planning was why Anastasia hired them in the first place. They were hired guns. They were here to finish the job and find out the right way to deal with the Italians once and for all.

Anastasia pondered for a moment, 

"That... would be their human trafficking business. It's their main source of revenue as well as their route of getting weapons. They smuggle people from Norway, Denmark, China, Afghanistan, Africa, America, and all over the world."

"That's quite a list,"

Mikhail said, taking another sip of his whiskey,

"We could cripple their business by taking out the trafficking ring headquarters."

Natalia nodded in agreement before taking another sip of her drink. 

"If we take out their human trafficking network, their supply lines will crumble and we can cut them off from everything they need from ammunition, supplies, and weapons."

"Yes, but it's more complicated than that. The Triads control this market not the mafias. If we try to cut off that line of income, the Triads might retaliate. And that's the last thing we want right now."

Anastasia paused and took another drag.

"Hm, that's true."

Mikhail agreed,

"You wouldn't want to piss off the Triads."

Natalia remained quiet for a moment, taking a few more sips from her drink.

"Okay, so we can't target their human trafficking business."

Anastasia smirked,

"Who said anything about going against the Triad? I know for a fact that the Italians have a batch of their finest goods sitting right on one of their wharves."

"Then that would be our best target,"

Mikhail commented,

"We could cripple their import and export routes."

Natalia took a sip from her drink before adding,

"It could also weaken their ties with their other contacts in the ring."

She raised her eyebrows at Anastasia,

"Do you have intel on where this batch of goods is?"

"A batch of fifty women ranging from the age of 15 to 35, most of them are from Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland. All of them are quite the looker from what I have heard."

This was the info added to Orchid's description, a freebie by the system. 

"I like your taste, Anastasia,"

Mikhail chuckled, taking a drink from his whiskey,

"Fifty girls... that's some good intel right there. They must be working on a big order."

Natalia nodded in agreement,

"A shipment of fifty women has to be going to some big buyer. Maybe they even have a deal for a couple of shipments."

She then turned to Anastasia,

"Any idea who the shipment is going to?"

Anastasia thought back to the description and remembered the details of where Orchid and the FSK's family would be shipped off to.

"All over the world, some to an African warlord somewhere in central Africa, to North Korea, a couple to Russia, maybe even Germany. This batch of theirs is more of a stock-up, a list of top clients they want to satisfy so they can move up in the circle."

She concluded with another drag from the cig before putting it out on a steel ashtray lying on the counter, Howard really was a miser.

"All over the world? Damn,"

Natalia whistled in appreciation before taking another sip of her drink.

"That's a huge amount of clients. We could destabilize a good chunk of their income and piss off a lot of powerful people. Imagine the heat they would get if they botched all their major deals at once."

Mikhail raised his eyebrows at Anastasia,

"Sounds like we know exactly what to go for, but it's a big job. You sure you don't want to hire a few more men?"

Anastasia nodded,

"Well, we have you two,"

She pointed at the twins,

"That Chinese PLAMC,"

Motioned toward Ming who was lying drunk on one of the chairs,

"A Mossad, Kidon."

She nudged at Amina who was now sitting at the foot of the stairs, drinking a cold beer.

"And an Argentina Paratrooper."

She finished before taking out another cig.

"That's one hell of a team,"

Natalia laughed,

"We should have no problems pulling this job off."

She turned towards Amina and Ming,

"You two sure you're up for this? It's not too late for you to back out."

Ming was so drunk he was barely conscious. 

"I'm willing to give it a try. Worst case scenario, you're brother's already on to recruiting a second team,"

Amina chuckled before taking another sip of beer.

Howard, who had been quiet for some time now, suddenly said,

"It's a quarter to eleven now Ana, you don't want to be late for a family meeting."

"Huh? What time was it?"

Anastasia turned back towards Howard,

"Oh Christ, is it that late already? We better get going then."

She stood up and stretched,

"I can't believe I lost track of time like that."

Natalia turned towards Howard, asking in a curious tone,

"So what happens in this 'family meeting' anyway? And if she's the boss, why are we going to be late? Shouldn't it start only after she is present?"