At around the same time Reilly was being cared for in the Family medical facility, Silva and Gabriel were flying en route to a remote island far from Italy. Without any information on their course, it would be near impossible to know where they were headed. An island hidden from the world but not entirely isolated, an island ruled by the strong, where law has no meaning, and order is decided by the masses.
Isla La Battagi.
The plane touched down smoothly on the runway. The wheels squeaked as they touched the smooth pavement. The small plane came to a halt, attracting the attention of the airport staff. Silva held a half-full paperbag, and was turning a strange green color. He was the first one of the plane, dashing to the restroom. Gabriel was more annoyed by not being able to smoke inside the plane and had to settle for nicorretes, which he hated.
The bodyguard went ahead and waited for Silva at the exit gate, where taxis lined up to take in the oncoming foot traffic from the planes that were touching down. They picked a typical one, white paint with a "Taxi" sign on top of it.
"Good day sir." The driver greeted them.
"Sodomi City, please." Gabriel indicated on the tourist map he took from the airport.
"Are you foreigners? I can tour you for an extra fee."
"No, just-"
Silva stopped Gabriel mid-sentence. In his mind he was thinking that they told him he was here before. That he spent his childhood on this island. Even up in the air, through the tears of intense air sickness, he couldn't feel his connection to this place. It felt exactly like how he felt back in Italy. There was no sense of home, and if he had no sense of home here, something was very wrong. "I want the tour. How much is it?"
"Your destination, Sodomi City, is Forty-five U.S. I'll give you the tour for twenty U.S."
"Wait a minute." Gabriel prepared himself, and the driver looked to do the same. Silva raised his eyebrow, not knowing that he was about to experience one of the greatest battles of wits.
Haggling. The sacred art of trickery between both the buyer and the seller, and is a universal form of commerce that it would be an understatement to call it an essential skill in the world. Haggling can be considered an art form, as it takes years of experience to truly be an expert. If done correctly, you can end up with a bargain, perhaps even pay less than the actual worth of what you're buying, and if done incorrectly, you will end up conned far and beyond the real cost. Gabriel, in his years of being financially challenged, thinks he has masteres the perfect haggling technique. He will pit himself against a man who has been doing this for the past few decades of his life.
"Twenty dollars is way too high for a drive-by tour." Gabriel begins by mocking the offer. He implicitly says that he knows how much it really is, even though he doesn't. This will push the driver to make a lower offer during his turn to haggle. Then, "I'll give you five.", he strikes an incredibly low price, but still within reason. "After all," he sneers and waves off the service as nothing at all, "It's just a drive-by tour."
"What is happening?" Silva asked, but in haggling, the two players are transported to a private battlefield where only 3 things exist: The players, and the challenger's wallet.
"Isn't that a bit too low?" The driver fires back a justifiable accusation. "I'm trying to offer you an extra service here, and there's about five towns we need to pass through, dozens of attractions." He begins his assault by stating facts about the service and its advantages. "I'm very informative about the island. Lived here all my life." Now he has begun his advance by elevating his value, directly correlating to the quality of his services. "But hey, I'll give it to you for eighteen bucks." He lowers the price slightly, as a way to trick Gabriel into thinking he was actually cutting him some cash.
"Make it eight. " The most important part of the haggling, Meeting In The Middle, is where the cards come face up.
"Sixteen. Come on."
"Nine."
"Fourteen."
"Ten."
"Twelve."
"Deal. Do your best." Gabriel finger-guns the driver, but he smirks back. Gabriel loses. The typical price for a drive tour on La Battagi is five dollars U.S. "Ah."
"Let's begin then," the driver chuckled. "Good day, my name is Vernard Vetra, and I will be your tour guide from La Battagi Airport. Please enjoy the next six towns for the next hour."