Uranium ➵ The Old Guard

➵шесть

"Miss Aleandra Dimitrov!" Kenny announced, bursting through the door. "Are you ready to finally talk?"

Aleandra schooled her expression, wishing she could get around business and go home. Maybe she understood her colleagues more now when they joked around to delay their work.

"Ready? No." Aleandra's voice darkened.

"It's too late for that my dear. I've given you time to consider my offer I need you in this company."

Aleandra wished she had a different question, one that made him reconsider her hiring. But the only thing that came out was "Why?" Why do you want me? Why can't I go? Why am I alive? Why am I being taken care of? Why do you care?

"You're a good scientist," he answered plainly. "I need you and your knowledge."

"What knowledge do I have that you couldn't get somewhere else?" Aleandra asked.

"As you well know, Kurchatov-77 is the best uranium plant. Always figuring something new and important out. Of course, you never shared any of your secrets; something terribly bad would happen to you and your family. But," he sighed, "they are all gone by now, an accident, except for you."

Aleandra still couldn't quite understand how he had known her name. If he had figured that out, couldn't he just find out the other information he needed another way? She supposed it would be much more time-consuming than learning her name and position but...wait.

"How did you even find me anyway?"

"A guard inside." His face remained unresponsive and stony and when Aleandra squinted, trying to find any telltale signs of lying, he stayed naturally still. She let it go, taking interest in the left pocket of his shirt.

"You're not giving me a choice," she said, dazed. She hadn't gotten many choices, many important ones at least. It was her curse.

"No." He was honest, she was glad for that much. It was much better than being lured in with false hopes only for them to be crushed like fallen leaves.

"Then why ask me." Her dark eyes settled on his green ones. She thought them beautiful but it was unfortunate that they belonged to such a strange man. She looked away, uncomfortable with the direct eye contact and back to his breast pocket.

"It seemed the polite thing to do," he answered. His light brown hair flitted lightly in the stream of air. A stony but resolute expression lais plainly on his face, he expected her to say something, but what?

A few moments passed between them, silence cutting between them and piercing their stomachs as neither moved. Nathaniel shuffled quietly in his seat, disrupting the uneasiness between Aleandra and Kenny and making it sting as their blades of silence were removed.

"Tuesday is a good day to start," Kenny said and left the room in a wind.

Aleandra let out a long breath and scratched at her blanket. Tuesday, she agreed, was a good day to start.

-

Nicky collected the small pile of money, counting it to make sure that Joe hadn't tried to cheat again. He'd said before that the only way for him to get Nicky anything was to cheat. Everyone knew that Joe barely gave Nicky anything that he had to pay for, making him things instead.

"You've won the last few rounds," Andy commented chewing idly on a toothpick whilst leaning back in her chair. "Are you cheating?"

"Me?" Nicky gestured to himself in mock surprise. "I would never."

All but Booker laughed. Andy noticed him sulking in his corner of the table.

"What's up Book?" she asked. "Sad you lost to Nicky?" Booker gave a small smile at that but didn't answer right away.

"I just took a nap." Joe's head popped up from where he was counting the money Nicky earned.

"Did you see her?" asked Nicky. Booker nodded begrudgingly.

"She's with a man named Kenny Wisteria, I–uh caught his name."

"American?" Andy asked.

"He was speaking Russian but I couldn't tell if he had an accent." Nicky pulled the pile of cash away from Joe to keep it safe.

"We have a heading now," Joe said, not seeing his husband take back his cash.

"You sound like that Captain Rigmoore in 1500," Nicky said.

"Oh, Captain Rigmoore wished he could be like me." The two shared a chuckle and a kiss, Andy told them to get up and help her and Booker research Kenny Wisteria.