The Hidden Toxin ✔(#6 in the Our Side of The Dice Series)

Chapter 26: Shadows and Silhouettes.

Unfortunately, there were a few other students who came with sharp objects. Items even more dangerous than the knife the first girl had tucked in between her bra. A bald, nerdy-looking guy had packed a guild of arrows and bows as though he'd come to Omsk to hunt for animals. Another girl who looked too innocent had carried an Ak-47 gun.

Later that evening, when the sky had turned completely dark with the light from the moon giving the tall trees, gigantic shadows, Sean and Ebun began to make their way back to their tents. During their walk, they reminisced on the events of the day and how everything unfolded.

"It was foolish of me to have concluded that the tattooed girl was the one who witnessed the killing of Mr. Kojo," Ebun said with melancholy as she removed her face cap.

"It's okay for you to have thought that. You're an amateur after all," Sean replied, managing to make amateur sound like a compassionate word rather than a condescending one. "But the witness wouldn't have been that obvious. People with evil intentions come with a calm and almost friendly presence. They don't act difficult. They comply with whatever they are asked to do. That way, they seem less suspicious."

Ebun sighed. She was frustrated.

"The tattooed girl wasn't the only one with a weapon, although she was the only one who acted in a cowardly manner and made it too obvious that she came with contraband. The other students who carried weapons were quite calm — like the category of people with evil intentions that you just spoke about. How, then, would we be able to decipher who it is among these people?"

There was an eerie silence before Sean responded.

"You don't have to think in a linear pattern just because I said we should only be on the lookout for students with dangerous items!"

Ebun's lips formed into a thin line —a line full of tamed anger and unsaid words. She wished Sean would see how irritated she was. Damn the darkness of the night! The bloke was a darn psychopath and was so hard to please! He was the one who'd told her always to do as he said, to follow his instructions, and had warned her never to butt into his discussion with "baseless" arguments.

The last time she'd made suggestions, especially when they'd been analyzing Mrs. Yekaterina's case, he'd shut her out countless times. Now that she was for once, following in his lead, he was making her look like a dumbass.

Ebun had wanted to open her mouth to tell Sean how two-faced and hypocritical he was! She wanted to yell so loudly so everyone in the camp would wake up to the noise, but she kept quiet and bottled in all the insults she'd intended to lash out at him. For some reason, she felt that expressing herself would make her look like a stubborn subordinate.

Subordinates never talked back to their boss — no matter how difficult and authoritative the boss was. Also, Ebun didn't want Sean to think of her as a troublesome lady. So instead, with a sardonic tone, she said:

"Okay, sir. I'll take note of that next time. However, right now, I'm not in the best mood to think for myself. After all, I always failed my tests at school for a reason."

There was silence from Sean. An owl from a distance hooted. Crickets chirped. The silence was thick, almost choking — as though it bore a heavy weight — a weight that made the silence deafening and even louder than the night creatures. It was a silence that carried guilt.

Ebun couldn't see Sean's expression clearly because the light from the moon had suspended the better half of his body frame into a silhouette. But she could feel his guilt.

Sean apologized.

This apology was nothing like how he'd apologized back at the street in Moscow that led to Hostel Pavlov. He sounded like he was really sorry. Ebun hadn't told him that she was offended. She didn't cry like she did the last time. She'd even joked about it. But it seemed as though he'd realized it for himself, how rashly he'd just behaved towards her.