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“Ah, well, don’t worry…Laura…is it?” My boss nefariously inserts. “I’m sure he’ll be back on the wall for taking again soon enough.” A haughty laugh escapes the man who holds too much power for his own good, warranting my gaze to wander to his. “Pun intended.”
Hm.
Is fragging reallythatwrong?
What if your superior honestly has it coming?
Thankfully, the process of getting Seventeen a weapon, his credit card charged, and out to the secluded space doesn’t take too much time nor does it require any additional conversation or accusations from the woman who made sure to whisper in my ear prior to our exit that she won’t tell my girlfriend, if I don’t.
After visually sweeping the entire stretch of the sections to guarantee we are in fact the only ones out there, I lead us to the area farthest from the entrance and place my case on the counter, making sure to keep my head down so that most of my face can’t be seen. “There’s visual but no audio.”
Seventeen places his case beside mine. “Understood.”
“It’s gonna look like I’m explainin’ shit to you about this, so do your best to look like your tryin’ to learn.”
“Yeah, I understand basic principle of a covert op, Wahl.”
“Thenact like it.” I deliver the object he needs to open a single glance. “Unpack your weapon.”
He nods and keeps his head down during the process. “What can you tell me about the status of this assignment?”
“Not much.”
“Has there been progress?”
“Not a lot.”
“Do you have any leads?”
“Nothing solid.”
“Then why the hell are we meeting?” He damn near slams the weapon onto the counter. “What is the point of this briefing if you’ve gotnothingto report to me? If you’ve gotnothingfor me to give the other numbers?”
“Arley’s still alive.” I cut him a cold glare. “Give them that.”
Seventeen briefly presses his lips together before copying my actions of inspecting the firearm. “It’s not that we don’t care that she’s alive, Wahl. WewantArley alive. We care about her wellbeing. She possesses great value to the company. She is quite an asset to have. She-”
“Forfuckssake, could youstopgivin’ me the rehearsed speech you were instructed to fuckin’ give?” Slowly shaking my head is attached to placing the magazine down on the surface. “You got somethin’ you really wanna say? Fuckin’ say it, Seventeen.”
“I don’t think you’re the right man for this job.”
There’s no delay in meeting his hard stare again.
“I didn’t think you were the right man when youtookthe job.”
Clenching my jaw is unconsciously done.
“It’s beenweeksand themostyou have to report to me is that you’ve managed to keep her alive. Congratulations, Wahl. You are capable of doing the basic bitch minimum of any operative fresh out of training. She needed a bodyguard, so you volunteered for the assignment; however, that was onlyhalfof the operation. The other half? The other half instructs you to find and eliminate the threat, which you have not only failed to do but failed to yield any sort of progress on. If you wereanyother agent in this company, you would’ve been pulled off this case by now, and the only reason you haven’t been yet is because Arleyswearson her fucking careerthat you are the only man for the mission. That against all calculations, analysis, and evaluations that say otherwise, you are theonly personwho can handle this. So, why don’t you give me something to verify that her relationship with you isn’t derailing her ability to do her goddamn job.”
Fuck, it would be so easy to just hit him with the butt of my rifle and make it look like an accident.
A very messy, very no need to investigate what really happened here, accident.
“Dead men don’t talk.” Horror doesn’t hesitate to hop into his expression momentarily pacifying my rattled nerves. “Therefore, there’s no one to interrogate. Nodirectleads to follow, leaving us at a disadvantage. Our usual contacts and connections and resources we would use directlythroughthe company are compromised since at this time we’re still unaware of exactly who we can and cannot trust, which means using outside sources. And those outside sources have their own schedules and their own timetables, to which they do shit that we have no choice but to abide by – again – leaving us at a disadvantage. However, given the organized orchestration of the most recent attack, a few educated deductions have been made.” I pick up the magazine and demonstrate the proper way to load it. “Whoever wants Arley dead – and that is now the case after the amount of gunfire they unloaded into my truck – is directly connected to the poachin’ discovery she presented to you last week.”
“That’s what the other numbers have been wondering.”
“And considerin’ that there were very few people whoknewwe were leavin’ the penthouse that day – let alone that time – it means whoever wants Arley dead is either inside the company with direct ties to her or has an inside person with direct ties to her. Tryin’ to get this information without settin’ off alarms or alertin’ the enemy to our discoveries also requirestimeanddiscretion. It’s why Yi is workin’ that angle rather than myself or Blu. His buildin’ wide monitorin’ actions indicate we are doin’ somethin’ yet don’t inform our threat to exactly what.”
