Dominance

Chapter 18: Meeting With The Boss-man

There was an obvious amount of yelling coming from the other side of the meeting room door. Ashlee had stopped just outside it to take a deep breath and compose herself.

"Hey, if things get a bit..." Ashlee trailed off before giving Sara a sceptical look.
"Just don't speak to Drayton unless you're spoken to first. He's kind of a big deal... Head of some Theron groups. Along with... Other things." She waved her hand expressively. "Just trust me on this."

Sara nodded and Ashlee pushed the door open, the volume intensifying.

🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺

The meeting room was actually a kitchen. A sad one. It was a tiny corner consisting of a sink, two upper cabinets, a raggedy oven and an ancient-looking stovetop. The majority of the room's space was occupied by three decent-sized desks pushed together to form a makeshift dining table. Many of the cheap plastic chairs seated the people from earlier in the hallway. Sara counted twelve occupied seats in total. Sara recognised Tyson and Clyde, along with police officer Scotts and Norman, but the rest were unfamiliar faces.

Only one man was not seated, instead towering angrily over an unhappy Norman. Even if he hadn't been standing he would have easily stood out against the rest thanks to his menacing demeanour.

No one seemed to take much notice of Sara and Ashlee as they slunk into some vacant seats to the left of Tyson. Despite the seemingly serious conversation going on, he appeared bored and was doodling on his cast with a ballpoint pen.

'- and you're telling me, I've got one half dead in the other room. And the other is back in Gate's custody?"

No one spoke up but there were some confirming glances around the room.
The alpha of a man gritted his teeth and slicked his hair, a shade of burnt umber, backwards through his fingers. The gesture along with his facial features made for familiarity against a certain someone Sara knew. She instinctively glanced down at Tyson to compare them. When he noticed her looking at him he silently offered her the pen, but Sara shook her head and declined the offer to draw on his bandaged arm.

"Norman, I will not have another screw-up like with Annalise." The anger in his tone was clearly apparent. His celadon eyes pierced into Norman with the same amount of fury. "Is that clear?"

Norman held his posture, but his voice emitted a submissive tone. He avoided a direct gaze.
"Yes, Drayton."

A heavily tanned woman across the table from Norman snorted in amusement, but was met by an additional scolding by Drayton.

"Don't even try to act smug, Sierra. Your screw up with that explosion... No one authorised you to use explosives!" He sat in an empty chair, slamming his hand down against the surface of the desk. "You could have seriously harmed the Taudogs and my men!"

Sierra looked offended and responded with spite in her tone.
"Oh please, the taudogs are built to reflect such things. And your men should also..."

Sierra's tone trailed off as she felt the potential wrath portrayed on Drayton's face. She shrunk down in her chair, folded her arms, and kept her mouth shut.

"It was nothing we couldn't handle", a man sitting beside her offered assurance, but his expression was dreary.

Drayton rubbed his temples at the edges of his well-defined eyebrows.
"Where has Gates taken the other kid?"

"My men have been keeping an eye on the institute. But we don't believe he has returned to that location." Someone inputted.

"Norman?" Drayton hinted at a response from him.