Chapter 1

There were no external signs indicating classroom numbers, no blackboards or bulletin boards with instructions for students. Just a few rooms on each side of a corridor with a few chairs and a desk where some impatient apprentices waited. It was not a formally constituted school or university. What the aspirants called the "Academy" was an informal institution part of the Bluthund Community, itself an organization not officially organized anywhere in the world, although it had numerous adherents in various countries of East and West, some of them situated in important governmental and institutional positions.

But what the Community had above all was prestige in some selected influential circles in the world; a prestige earned by its many successes in solving difficult issues whose solution had escaped the great world intelligence centers: the CIA, the FSB, that is to say the successor of the Russian KGB, the English MI6, the Israeli Mossad and finally the Chinese, German, French and European secret services in general.

The Bluthund Community is an informal hermetic group formed on social networks. It brings together researchers from the most diverse disciplines, who collaborate in the resolution of difficult-to-manage cases. They have research methods that come from both the positive sciences and alternative knowledge, based on traditional wisdom, in arcana of different cultures.

So despite the absence of lavish exterior features, when Nick entered the gloomy corridor between the classrooms, he felt a deep emotion. To have been selected to be trained at the Academy among many other applicants filled him with pride, and justified the lengthy exams and virtual interviews to which he had been subjected in the preceding weeks by mysterious characters who had asked him questions about his knowledge of historical, political, legal and scientific subjects of the more varied nature, including some that slightly entered the esoteric realm. Some of these questions had brought to the surface knowledge Nick didn't know he possessed as well as hidden feelings.

He sat in the classroom that they had indicated, and that was only marked by a blue card nailed to the door; as he had arrived early once there he prepared to wait. After a quarter of an hour, a young woman with Eastern features and a very pale skin appeared and after checking the blue mark entered the room and after greeting Nick with a slight nod and a shy smile, sat down in another of the chairs at a certain distance from him. The boy regretted not finding a way to start a conversation with the newcomer, so he just watched the girl askance, so as not to disturb her. The young woman's body was slim and well-built, and although he couldn't look her straight in, Nick could guess that she had an attractive face, with delicate features and a certain elegance in her posture.

Although the modesty of her upbringing prevented her from showing it, Zhi Ruo had also been shocked by the young man in the classroom. Although she had only seen him as she passed before and her natural shyness forced her to look away, she had come to see his reddish hair combed in a somewhat ancient way, his pale eyes (blue or green?) and his long legs. The ensemble had seduced the girl despite the fleeting vision she had had.

Both young men were watching the screens of their respective cell phones in order to pass the time until something happened until they heard the sounds of people talking in the hall in a loud voice. After a few moments two young individuals appeared at the classroom door and once the distinctive mark on the blue card was confirmed, they entered the space. One was a tall blond boy with a strong build and a beautiful African-American girl considerably shorter than her companion. Unlike the previous occupants of the room, the newcomers were extroverts and spoke loudly among themselves, and upon entering they greeted those present. Nick and the young Asian woman replied in a low voice but the one who had just entered approached each of them and extended his hand in a friendly way, expressing himself with a baritone voice and a strong Slavic accent.

“Hi, I'm Mikhail… you can call me Mike.”

“Hi Mike. I am Nick.”

“Hi, I'm Zhi Ruo.”

Then it was the African American girl's turn to introduce herself.

“Hi all. I am Chandice.” The arrival of the talkative young couple had the effect of breaking the ice and beginning a lively chat with no purpose other than socializing.

After a while footsteps were heard in the corridor and a new character appeared at the door. It was a man of about forty or forty-five, tall and strong, with blond hair with some gray, light blue eyes and a reddish beard of several days. He greeted those present with a wave of his right hand and proceeded to close the door, indicating that all those invited to the meeting were already in the classroom.

Then he sat in the chair that was in front of the desk looking at the others and with a wide smile he expressed.

“Welcome everyone to the Bluthund Community. Today begins for each of you an experience that only few people are allowed, and I trust that you will remember this day throughout your careers with us. Now we are going to introduce ourselves giving our names, some basic personal data and field of study or professional experience. To break the inertia I'm going to start by introducing myself. “

He stood up imposing his tall figure and said.

“My name is Jack Beglund and I will be your tutor during these first steps in the Community. Doubts and questions will surely be presented to you and I encourage you to ask them to me. I am one of the founding partners of Bluthund and I know how it works quite well, but if there is something I do not know I promise to find out for you.”

Then he took a few steps and continued.

“I'm American, runologist and specialist in ancient alphabets, extinct languages and data encryption.”

Mike raised his hand and when he was given the floor added.

“And one of the Community's men of action. Your fame is well known.”

Jack Berglund smiled and answered.

“Well, maybe you are right, although I would be concerned if the internal details of Bluthund are known outside the Community. Well, I now kindly ask that each of you introduce yourself in a similar way to mine. Let's start with ladies.”

With a tilt of his head he requested the girl named Chandice to begin.