No Man's Land

23- Full Consensus

Maxine Clarke

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"Individual or company, Victor?" I asked, pacing back and forth. Still tied to the tree, he followed me with his eyes, predatory.

"Individual. Any client with enough money will probably hear of me at some point."

"And who are you currently being employed by?"

"Yavuz. The Turk."

"And what did he want you to do?" I asked, pressing on.

"Oh you know, just watch around. Take some people when I'm told to."

"So you were in communication?" Jana interrupted. "That mean's either Yavuz is on the island or you have a two-way communicator. Which?" Victor's eyes darted up to Jana, observing her. With a menacing smile, he let out a sigh.

"I doubt it would be of much use to you now, but yes. Under my shirt, below the ribcage." I sent an expectant look at Parker, who kneeled down hesitantly as Victor remained still. After a moment, he drew out a thin satellite phone from Victor's shirt, examining it.

"I think we just found our way off the island," Chestine announced as Parker passed it to him to examine.

"I doubt it- only one number is programmed into it, and it only receives calls- can't make them." I swore under my breath, turning away.

"If anyone here knows how to program, I'm sure we can get past that."

"Did Yavuz hire any other mercenaries?" I asked. Victor nodded.

"I only met a couple, but yeah. He had his own people working too, though."

"Working where?" Jana pressed.

"The base. They flew us out from someplace in Croatia," he explained, puffing out his cheeks in a motion of disinterest.

"Us?" Parker asked, jotting something down in his notepad.

"I already told you, the other mercs."

"Alright, just checking," Parker said, backing off. The group fell into silence, several people scribbling notes into books or muttering theories under their breaths. Undoubtedly most of the bureau people were mostly put on solo or partnered investigations most of the time, so communication could be a problem. We'd have to lay out all our theories later.

"New topic," Reanne, one of the aforementioned bureau agents, began. "Where have you been taking those who've been kidnapped."

Victor stayed silent.

"That's where you're drawing the line, huh?" Parker asked, frowning.

"Of course," Jana sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You obviously want something. What? We can slip that leniency bid anytime we want, Arnette."

"I'd like written proof that I will be granted a pardon of all charges in return for telling you everything I know," he stated flatly.

"We didn't agree on a pardon, we agreed on clemency, as in leniency. Not a full pardon." Parker argued.

"Then I guess you'll have to find them yourselves."

"You do realize that if you withhold evidence that could save people no judge is going to grant you clemency and will probably add obstruction to your likely already extensive repertoire of crimes, no matter what we say," I stated, trying to get him to reconsider.

"Sure, but are you really willing to risk six people's lives just to condemn a single man of his crimes?"

"Six? But we're only missing-" Parker started, quickly flipping around to take a headcount. "Shit."

In the darkness, the only light coming from the campfire and a couple flashlights, it was hard to make out the number of sleeping bodies. Still, a few more people were missing, without a doubt. They probably had been taken before Arnette had been found. No matter how tired we all were, someone would have noticed if another person had come to the camp in the last ten minutes.

Parker turned back to face Arnette, unamused.

"I'd like to make it explicit that this is your last chance to tell us where they are before your deal goes away." Arnette shrugged, feigning indifference.

"Fine. My offer still stands."

It was a moral dilemma. What was worth more- six living people or justice for the likely numerous people who had fallen victim to Victor Arnette?

"There's no way to make sure a judge grants what we promise," Carrie whispered to Jana, her expression sullen.

"He doesn't know that," she muttered quietly, not breaking her intense glare.

"We keep this offer in our pocket for now, and he might loosen his demands," I said in a low voice to Parker, trying to make sure Arnette couldn't hear us. He nodded, gesturing for me to covey this to him. "No deal."

"Suit yourself," Arnette said glumly, turning his attention away from us. Michael gestured to the side, motioning for us to reconvene a bit further away from the mercenary. An eerie silence filled the air as we walked quietly to a further section of the clearing, forming a circle.

"For now we do not take Arnette's offer. Hopefully, he'll get antsy as time passes, and when he realizes that we're not going to make good on that leniency unless he tells us everything, he'll give it up. He may know more than us but we have the legal and supportive upper hand. Are we all in agreement?"

"Aye," everyone chorused, a perfect consensus.

_____

Soon, everyone except those on night watch returned to bed, as, in case you'd forgotten, it was about 2 in the morning. I sat down next to Olivia, ignoring normal formality rules and sitting close to her.

"Are you alright?" I asked. She sighed, rubbing her neck with a drowsy look in her eyes. I felt bad for keeping her up.

"I think so. Just a little disoriented. Kind of depressing for an MI6 agent to be overpowered by a needle."

"Happens to the best of us, right?"

"That makes no sense, Maxine," she laughed, rubbing her neck.

"Just making sure you're being attentive."

"Yeah, sure."

"Anyways, get some sleep. I think I'll take the rest of Parker's shift for him since it's been pretty eventful."

"That's good of you. 'Night, Maxine."

"Right," I muttered, standing back up. I walked over to Parker and told him that he could end his shift early and that I'd take over from here. Finally, as everything settled back down, I pulled out my gun and sat down, holding it loosely at my side as idly watched the fire continue to flicker amidst the darkness.

Note: Not a big fan of this chapter bc it is very much a filler but that's okay bc stuff is gonna start happening next chapter. Sorry for this being like 5 days late- I ran into some computer trouble followed by heavy homework and I never got to writing this. Next update will be Friday, as usual.

Today's music rec is Pressure by Robin Thicke because we warm up to it in one of my dance classes and it's a pretty good song!

**Unproofread

<3, Kate