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Chapter 8
(Taj)
______
“You want me to go?” I ask Matthias, our boss.
He nods with a grim expression on his face. Petal is gripping my fingers tightly.
“It has to be you, Taj.” he answers.
“But why?” Petal cries, forgetting about being professional.
Matthias stares at both of us as if just realizing the hand holding and the closeness.
“She’s right, Matthias. I could go,” Roman offers.
Which is why he’s such a great leader. He’s selfless and smart. He’s a really great guy. I respect him a lot.
“I’m really sorry but it has to be Taj. He speaks five languages which will come in handy because we don’t think the thieves are full Americans. Taj used to be a police officer and he’s a great swimmer. He’s versatile and he has skills that could help in terrible situations we can’t foresee. And trust me, we’re going into this blind so Taj will have to heavily rely on his skills.”
The emotions in the room become more charged. He’s not making anyone feel good about this, including me.
“I could do something. Matthias you know there’s almost nothing technical-wise I can’t do. I’ll make sure we catch the thieves. Send all of us, I’m sure we could work something out,” Alan pleads.
Matthias shakes his head.
“I’m sorry, Alan. But even your programming skills won’t be useful. We have to hit them where they won’t suspect. Even if we manage to catch one of them, the others could escape. We need to catch all of them at once and find their hideout. We might still be able to recover some of the stolen goods. We only get one shot at this.”
Alan slumps in defeat. Everyone looks really sad and Petal is still gripping my fingers in a death grip.
I stare at Matthias. He’s waiting for my answer and I can’t very well say no.
“I’ll do it,” I tell him.
I didn’t think it was possible, but Petal grips my hand tighter. She shakes her head, her eyes wide and panicky.
“It will be fine,” I whisper to her.
“Excellent Taj. I’ll see you tomorrow which is when you’ll be leaving. There’s no need to pack anything.
With that, our boss stands up and walks out. Nobody moves for a full minute. Then Roman takes a deep breath and comes to stand in front of me.
“You sure you’ll be okay, T?” he asks and I nod.
“It will be fine,” I say. “Seriously you guys need to chill. It’s not like Matthias said anything about the mission being possibly fatal. I’ll go in, gain their trust over a few days and then I’ll be back,” I say trying to sound upbeat.
Petal bursts into tears. I turn to her in concern.
“No! I literally just got you. I’m not letting you go. I’ll think of something,” she says stubbornly before standing and running into her room.
I sigh, she’s taking this really badly.
“You’ll be great, Taj,” Brock assures me and I nod.
So many things could go wrong but I have to be fine. I’ve got to get back, for Petal’s sake. I stand up to go find her. I can hear Alan and Roman arguing as I leave. Alan isn’t taking it well either. Like Petal, he seems to believe this can be solved without me heading into danger.
“Hey,” I say entering Petal’s room, which is wide open.
