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As Alex sat at the table with the weight of recent events pressed heavily upon him, worry overwhelmed him and he decided to let it.
Pretending nothing was wrong at HQ was one thing, but trying to push it all out his thoughts were too far. The kid, that awful little bastard, was one of them. He'd been for years. Slept and rose under the same roof. He ate with them and made them food, even if it wasn't the best. Bland food that seemed to lose its taste somewhere between the pot and the plate. Garbage cooking aside, Klaus was a part of their world.
It was good Eli wasn't around. She'd take one look at him, know he was thinking about Klaus, and then tell him he was too in his head. Like she didn't miss him too. She probably did, Alex was sure of it. She'd die before she'd admit it, but Alex had caught her gaze drift toward his room or his empty chair at the table enough to know.
Alex glanced at his watch and sighed.
Zayd was supposed to check in with him seven hours ago, but there was no sign of him. Another person to worry about.
Alex spied on Zayd when they were getting a feel for his physical abilities and it was clear he could hold a fight despite not being Enhanced himself. The guy lied easily too. Maybe it was trying to read his face was just about the same as trying to look through a brick wall. But the guy had a weak spot for his kid brother. That's where Zayd's iron mask cracked a little, letting some emotion slip through. Otherwise, trying to figure him out was like trying to nail jelly to a wall. No way the Republic caught onto him as a plant so early, even if Zayd was new to all of this. Even if everyone they'd sent to that facility ended up dead.
Still, missing the check-in didn't seem like Zayd's style.
And it would be a shame if the kid was dead. If he was the one who sent him to it.
The thought made him freeze. Right. That was enough thinking about that. He was just doing his job.
Alex wrote his report.
There was another report after. This one was shorter. It was an overview of his findings about why one of his recent recruits had run off. The findings were nonexistent. At least his hand wouldn't cramp.
Alex had mentioned the situation off-handedly to Eli and though she didn't mention it, it seemed like she was trying to look into it on his behalf. Lucky, considering he'd found nothing. The fact that the guy ran off though? Unlucky. It made it look like Alex wasn't recruiting people who fit their profile well enough. And he'd been told to up his recruiting numbers the other day.
Alex tapped his pen against the desk, his expression twisted with frustration. Each passing second only added to his growing unease. He rubbed his temples, the weight of the situation sinking deeper into his shoulders, a tangible heaviness that made his breaths shallower. The room felt stifling, suffocating him with a sense of failure that no words on paper could adequately convey.
