Blood Lily Company - Afghanistan, year 1

XVI

As soon as he could walk – that is, the next morning – Kris went, as is to be expected, to see his brother. He was conscious, but completely high on morphine and not very coherent. Well, of course, trying to get up when his brother fell had not been the best for his health. But despite that, there's one thing he hadn't forgotten: as soon as his brother touched him, he healed him with his gift. Of course.

And of course, Kris grumbled, saying he didn't mind having a scar, and that Erk wasn't really in the best of shapes, but too late.
- You're a pain in the ass, you know, hálfviti.

Erk gave him a big doped smile, full of sweetness, which made him smile too.
- Come on, big brother, get some sleep and stop doing stupid things, will you? Even for me.

Second big doped smile then the Viking closed his eyes and fell asleep.

I'd come to pick up Kris and help him join us in the mess for breakfast. I also had to leave a baby monitor in Erk's room, since right after breakfast there would be a meeting for all of us. The baby monitor had been altered by Jo, our technician. He is a genius with technology, that nerd. He's the one who had hacked an old smartphone to turn it into our short range ID scan for the Europeans. Well, there are not too many IDs circulating around here. And we know the locals a little. That's not the case of the other ones, the non-locals.

The baby monitor was going to let Doc, in the meeting with us, know whether Erk, the only one in the hospital, would need help or not. It would also allow the Viking, if awake, to hear us, since Jo had made it transmit and receive at the same time.

When we came out of the little room, Kris leaned over me and whispered a "Thank you". I didn't get it right away. Then his eyes fell on the Blood Lily coming out of her office on her way to the mess. I blushed. He laughed.

On our way to the mess hall, we picked Sanchez up, whom Stig has untied and brought back to his room the night before. Then he had put a guard in front of his door.

The guy was mad as a hornet's nest but Kris stared him down. When Sanchez had calmed down, he asked him to come with him for an explanation.

So, we all met in the mess hall for breakfast. Kris and I kept Sanchez company and Kris managed to loosen him up a little bit. The Icelandic charm, no doubt.

We all ate really fast, we so much wanted to know the aftermath of yesterday's shooting. Then, we all turned to Lin. Beside her, handcuffed to her chair, there sat Higgins. Lin stood up.

- Fine. As I told you when I arrived, I am the only one to decide on your presence in this company. And I could have entrusted Higgins to Sanchez and kept you none the wiser. But... But I intend to spell things out so you all get it clearly.

She took a heavy canvas pouch from next to her – we don't use a lot of plastics anymore nowadays – which she put in front of her. She then took a small knife and used to cut out, and not unstitch, the Blood Lily patch on Higgins sleeve, make the t-shirt underneath appear.
- Higgins, Janet, 32, from the UK, signed into the Company five years ago. Guilty of abuses on non-military targets and therefore sentenced in absentia to prison for war crimes. The ECHR authorized me to try and save you but you betrayed my trust by ganging up with this bounty hunter to give him one of your brothers in arm who, moreover, is not the person he was looking for, as we saw yesterday.
- So you want to protect your little darling, right, bitch! What can he do to make you do that, eh? Fuck you until you can't tell your ass from your cunt? Huh?

Lin looked at her with her famous, carefully indifferent gaze, and this time maybe it was. She looked like she didn't give a damn what we thought of her. We were appalled at Higgins.
- It's not even worth answering, Higgins, but if you can't keep a civil mouth, I'll crush your larynx to shut you up. Friendly warning: it is very painful.