Four thirty-three

Chapter 30

Eddy's head hurt.

It always did, at the end of meetings.

You see, Bara would call them on for something brief, no more than thirty minutes of your time, she would promise. And every time the meeting would go on for well over two hours. The Con was immense, and managing the space and the 7 000 people living there was a daunting task.

Even more so if, in between all, you had to plan for war.

They'd been at it for nearly six months now, Bara and Jordon and Hilary and Ray and Ollie and everybody else who was someone within the military. Since Hahn's arrival, Bara had scheduled meeting after meeting, and by now they all had a pretty good idea of the plan she'd outlined, and the part that each and everyone of them was to play in it. No one actually knew the whole thing, of course: Bara was clever enough to spoon-feed them with only the amount of information they needed in order to deliver their task successfully, and nothing more.

It unsettled Eddy, a bit, this state of knowing-but-barely-so. These meetings had him fidgeting, sitting at the edge of his chair as if he was about to take flight. There were so many things that could go wrong, and Bara had listed all of them with painful clarity. It wouldn't be long now, before the plan was afoot, and days dragged on and flew by at the same time.

All this planning was taking a toll on Eddy's nerves, and he was trying his damnedest to keep himself distracted from gloomy thoughts. Training. Lessons. Practice. He could not stop, could not allow a single moment of calm, of silence, or fears would take hold of his mind and heart, and he'd be freezed on the spot, unable to move or think or do anything but stare blankly at the wall on the side of his bed.

It didn't help that Bara had yet to tell him what his part in the whole plan was, and this delay was making him nervous. It was not like her to keep information from Eddy. No matter how much she taunted him and poked fun at him, she trusted the man with her life. This odd behaviour must mean that something was going on in her mind.

Today, Eddy had a feeling it would not be long before he found out.

♪ ♪ ♪

"Wait, Eddy." Bara asked quietly as everybody else was leaving. "A word, please."

Eddy nodded minutely and lingered behind, sitting back on his chair and fidgeting with the strings of his hoodie. He waited as everybody slowly bled out of the room while discussing the contents of the meeting, his gaze fixed on the floor as if it held the answers to every question ever posed by mankind. At last, he heard the soft click of the door closing and looked up. His eyes wandered to his boss, and when he finally focused his gaze, his stomach dropped.

Bara's lips were pursed in a thin line.

♪ ♪ ♪

"You want me to do that." The statement carried a disbelieving tone, as if he hoped he had heard her wrong.

She nodded gravely, once.

"It's a fucking suicidal mission."

She licked her lips. "Yeah."

Silence was heavy in the room. Eddy started tapping his foot.

He hated silence.

"Eddy, don't think I don't know what I'm asking of you..."

"Yeah, you do. You fucking know. And you're asking anyway." Eddy got up from his chair, pacing nervously around the room.

Had air always been so stale down there?

"Eddy..."

"No, don't you fucking Eddy me!!!" Anger took him like a wave and he was shouting before he was aware of doing so, fear cold in his gut and bitter in his throat. "Five years, Bara, five FUCKING YEARS I've been working for you. I've done everything, everything you've asked of me..."