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Melquiades had a few long weeks to fulfill his plans. He was given the exact address of the palace occupied by Jacob, he knew perfectly well about the habits of the ruler, about the chambers he visited, his associates, co-workers, and enemies. Every time Gemma paid him a visit, he paid attention to her every word and noted in mind every trace that would help him find Jacob. He knew the passwords to the system and he knew how to get inside without raising attention.

But first, he found Gemma's previous apartment and once again analyzed the whole plan. He didn't know where she had been for the past few weeks, he wasn't sure whether she was now in the palace, somewhere in K. or with Jacob. He couldn't tell what was happening to her since he hadn't seen her for quite a while.

On the table he saw a pile of unsent letters, some of them were addressed to him. He opened one envelope after another and carefully read the content.

One message contained only one sentence.

It's all in the food.

It wasn't Gemma's handwriting. It was a sentence written by someone else. As he read it, he overlooked the window and saw a herd of mice running along the street, chasing one terrified citizen.