A young man wakes up in the desert. The wreckage of an ambulance lies smashed against a boulder and charred to a crisp. By the stitches on his head and face, he assumes he was the patient. But why was an ambulance driving through a desert? Where wa...
It wasn't the first time he had been in that tasteless lounge, contiguous to Chambers' office, but calmness had never been with him in those times. And this time was no exception. Far from it. He knew he had lost his position, and that Chambers was giving it to Habrok at that very moment. Chambers summoned him here simply to notify him verbally.
The door opened, and all his deductions came down when he saw Habrok exiting the office without a glimmer of satisfaction on his face. It was more responsibility, mixed with a hint of hatred that his gaze could not hide. At the threshold, a somewhat more restrained Chambers than usual invited Ethon to enter by cocking his head slightly.
The chair was still warm. Habrok's ass had been there.
"Well, I'll get to the point," began Chambers from the other side of the desk. "We understand you've been under a lot of strain lately, and we understand that's why you made such a hasty decision."
Ethon nodded with contrition.
"I think I just...lost it. It was the heat of the moment. All the times I ask for forgiveness won't be enough."
"No matter," Chambers interrupted him, raising his hand. "If it were me, I would cut you some slack. But you know Norton's much more exquisite in these procedures. In any case, I talked him out of it, and he's decided that you will remain in your position."
Without realizing it, Ethon had leaned over the back of the chair and dropped a stout sigh, his eyes ajar.
"Thank you, sir. You don't know how much I appreciate it."
"But from now on, you have to run all your decisions by me, and only when I, on Norton's temporal behalf, give you the go-ahead, will you carry them out."
"Thank you, sir. I'll do it."
Chambers made a quick nod as a sign of corroboration.
"All right, you can go. There's much to do."
Ethon left the room, leaving Chambers amidst a deep silence, which he sought to fill with his own thoughts. The ringing phone interrupted his bubble of solitude. Chambers took a few seconds to put himself together before picking up the receiver.
"Chambers."
The words he heard next made his jaw drop and his pupils dilate. Without knowing why, he rose suddenly from his seat and remained standing, holding the receiver against his ear with such tension that it seemed he didn't want the words to escape his ear canal.
"Yes, yes, I've heard, Reiner. Wait, I'll redirect the line to Norton so you can tell him yourself. Don't hang up."
Norton had been taken back to his room next to the underground laboratory, where his bed and all the high-tech medical equipment coupled to it were. He was lying face up, trying to zero in on his thoughts to mask the pain, when the phone started ringing in the dark. He knew no one would dare call him at that moment if it hadn't been an emergency. Fumbling blindly between the machines at his side, he finally managed to pick up the receiver.
"Yes?"
"Mr. Norton, it's General Matias Reiner. I'm calling from Afghanistan."
"And?"
"We got him, sir. We got Landau."
Norton bided his time, trying to ensure mentally no sedative was blurring his judgment, trying to confirm he wasn't dreaming it. It was not the first time he'd had that dream.
"...You're saying that you have Skyler Landau?"
"Yessir."
"Skyler Lawliet Chordas Landau?"
"Hmm, yessir. The runaway guy."
The sudden stun flashing through his spine left Norton completely unaware of any physical pain as he sat up and stared at the dark, as if Landau were just behind the black veil.
"Is he wounded? Is he OK?"
"Apart from having a scar on his face, he seems just fine."
So, it was true; he actually was in Afghanistan, he thought. Not that Ethon merited anything close to an apology for his recklessness.
"Where's he now?"
"He's being brought to my office from the parking lot right now. He should be here any time. All the officers are here waiting for him."
A gate opened in the distance, followed by some steps. "You're not supposed to be here," he heard someone say. "Neither are you," he heard replicated from a distance. Could it be Landau? He wasn't sure.
"Sir," said Reiner, "we have him here with us. Safe and sound."
"Put him on."
"Yes, just a moment."
The receiver gave off the sound of steps getting louder with each thud, a hand grabbing the handset, a voice speaking through it. Just the voice he wanted to hear above any other sound in the world.
"Yes?"
Norton projected a predatorial half-smile he was sure his prey could envision from the other side of the world.
"Mr. Landau, what a joy to know you're safe."
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