What Happens in Vienna {ManxMan}

CHAPTER 6 (Tobias)

"What are you thinking?" Bryn was asking me, standing in my study leaning against the wall, pinching the bridge of his nose looking increasingly frustrated with me, "Syndicate? Are you trying to act suave? We don't have a name, Tobias, we're not supposed to exist!"

"So?" I asked over my shoulder, pulling down a world Encyclopedia from the top shelf of my bookcase, "What's the harm in it? He wanted to know our name, so I gave us a name. In any case, it does sound nice."

"That's not the point," Bryn argued, throwing his hand away from his face like he wanted to strangle me, which I wasn't doubting at this point, "You're going along with him as if he's our friend, he could be playing you like a violin."

"What a thought," I teased, setting the book onto my desk and flipping it open, "You need to calm down, Bryn, I know what I'm doing. I'm trying to make him comfortable, it's already proven that courtesy and kindness gets interrogation a lot farther than strapping a criminal down and demanding answers at the cost of his life."

"Really? You're trying to play nice to trick him into telling us what we need to know?" Bryn asked, stepping forward and slapping his hand over the page I'd opened the book to, "Then tell me why you've been researching the history of Wales?"

I met his narrowed eyes before looking back down at the page I'd landed on, the only thing I'd managed to find about Carter's country in my entire personal library. There was a mundane sketch of the country on one page with a list underneath it talking about the national symbol, their flower, the grammatically correct way to pronounce the name, and a little picture of their flag, which I found wonderful.

"Well," I shrugged, smiling at Bryn, "How else am I supposed to gain his trust?"

"You're not supposed to," Bryn said, rapping his knuckles against my forehead and making me jerk away from his touch, "You're supposed to sit here and do your work, safe away from anything that has to do with a criminal who for all we know could be a master spy sent to assassinate you. Did you ever think of that? He could be here to kill you, Tobias!"

I sighed and rolled my eyes, rubbing at my forehead where he'd touched me to rid myself of the sensation, "Listen, I understand that you can be a but cynical and paranoid-."

"I'm not!"

"-but you need to trust me," I offered him my best smile, but he just scowled in response, "In any case, have you really taken the time to look at him? Carter doesn't seem like a master criminal if you ask me. If anything, he's barely a foot soldier. Of course, this is all speculation, I could be wrong, but I am positive in my belief that he didn't come to kill me. I think he told the truth when he said all he came here for was information on our merchandise and a head count."

Bryn tapped his fingers against my desk top before pushing away and shaking his head, "I still don't like it. We need to find out how he heard about us, who is people are, where they're base is located-."

"Right, yes, all of which is incredibly important," I agreed, holding a finger up, "However, I believe all of that can be saved until tomorrow. I want you to take your paranoia and put it to sleep for now, can you do that?"

He snarled at me, "I'm not paranoid, I'm cautious."

"You're paranoid," I reiterated and sat down, "Go. Sleep. I have some papers I want to finish up before I head to bed as well. We can worry about all this tomorrow. Alright?"

Bryn looked between my eyes, considering my words for a long time, looking incredibly concerned before sighing and rolling his eyes, turning, "Fine, but only because I'm tired, and don't you dare stay up all night again. You need your energy."