My friend James Bond himself!

After they had listened to the commissioner's story, Delia Asia Vieira felt her resolve strengthen. The fat man with the suitcase was still standing nearby, smoking a cigar and lazily looking at the clouds, but Delia could no longer sit idly by. Her thoughts were clear - Gene York should not remain in this prison. And if no one was going to save him, she would do it herself.

"I must see Gene York immediately," she said with determination in her voice, addressing the fat man. "And ideally, I must get him out of prison."

The fat man looked at her in surprise, but then his face broke into a sly smile.

"And here I thought you just liked watching things like that!" He exhaled a couple of ashen clouds and clicked his teeth. "Well, if that's how you feel, then I'll take you to the nearest city jail. That's where he is, this York guy. Right on the way, no big deal."

They left the luxurious mansion with the ambassadors and the security officer and headed for the nearest exit from the garden. The road led through the narrow streets of the city, where the lanterns burned dimly, and the air was filled with the smell of rain and old asphalt. The fat man chatted all the time, joked uncertainly, and his gaze sometimes involuntarily slid to Delia.

"You know, it would be cool to blow up the door to Gene's cell and have him freed with all the fanfare. Explosion, smoke, and Gene as a hero - would come out in epic style," he said, chuckling.

Delia Asia Vieira only smiled at the corners of her mouth, but there was something in her eyes that made the fat man shut up. She did not comment on his jokes, but simply walked forward, slowly, with complete internal control over the situation. Everything was calculated, and although her face remained calm, she knew exactly what to do.

On the way they passed buildings that looked like forgotten old schools, and then they came to the high gray walls of the city jail. Everything was as expected: grim facades, huge gates with barbed wire, on which someone had once painted blurry graffiti. There was tension in the air, like a premonition of some approaching event. Guards stood at the doors, their faces indifferent, their eyes angry at everyone who passed by.

As they approached the building, Delia Asia Vieira felt something change in the air. Something was not as she had expected. She stopped, intuitively sensing that events were taking an unexpected turn. The fat man, still prattling on about how he could stage an epic liberation, suddenly fell silent as he saw plumes of black smoke begin to rise from around the corner of the prison.

At that moment, everything happened too fast to process. The left wing of the prison literally blew up—not in the sense of an explosion, but rather in the sense that the buildings that had seemed so impregnable and confident in their monumentality suddenly began to seem like nothing more than toys in the hands of a ruthless force. Flames, hissing, crackling—and now guards and police were rushing around the grounds, trying to find where the ruin began and where something still intact ended.

Delia Asia Vieira, without losing her composure, watched intently, feeling her heart begin to beat faster. The fat man, with not a drop of humor left on his face, stood listening, and then looked at her.

But then, a figure appeared between the ruins. It moved with such a confident, even proud gait that everything around it immediately became eclipsed. Out of the smoke and chaos came he – Gene York. He was as calm as ever, as if everything that had happened had not been a surprise to him. His face expressed neither surprise nor alarm – only the calm that was always so characteristic of him.

He looked around at the crowd of policemen and onlookers, who were watching in amazement as the man who had just been captured appeared in the center of their attention. Gene, still with that same posture that had amazed everyone who had ever seen him, approached the fat man and Delia Asia Vieira.

"Hello," he said, as if they had met by chance, in a normal setting. He extended his hand to the fat man, then to Delia, their handshake was confident and calm, as always.

The fat man, blinking in bewilderment, shook his hand firmly, and then exhaled briefly:

"Are you crazy? How did you do this?"

Gene York smiled, as if he found it amusing to watch the fat man's surprise, and turned to Delia.

"When you've been in this business for so long, you know how to get out of any situation," he replied, taking a step back and continuing to survey the area around him. "I even thought that an underground exit from prison was too much, but sometimes it pays to act unexpectedly."

Delia Asia Vieira couldn't hold back any longer. Her mind was boiling with questions, and without giving herself time to think, she rushed towards Gene York with a stream of puzzled questions.

"Gene, how did you do it? What did you do to get out? You were just in jail, and now you're standing here like nothing happened!" She asked question after question, not noticing how her voice was becoming more and more insistent.

Gene York, standing there with such an unperturbed smile, as if this was all part of some prearranged plan, glanced briefly at the fat man, and then looked at the robotess.

"Oh, it's very simple. The thing is, I once had a little spicy affair with James Bond in Hawaii. You know how it is," he said in a carefree tone, as if it were the most ordinary event in his life. "I used an old trick that I had in case I ever needed it. Frankly, I didn't think it would work. But look how lucky I was!" Gene laughed, shaking his head as if it were nothing at all.

Delia Asia Vieira was stunned. She couldn't help but burst out laughing when she realized Gene was actually joking. Everything he said sounded so absurd that it seemed like he was definitely not taking his adventures seriously.