The Old Mine

8: Sent Ahead

                    The cleanup took longer than they hoped but all the remains were sent ahead. Easton stood in the corner and watched. Cal is the only one who noticed that "Recke, can we talk for a moment?"

                   Recke nodded then walked with her back to her bedroom with her. As soon as they entered the bedroom Cal closed the door "Am I in trouble or are you trying to get us in trouble with your dad?" Recke looked at the closed door. "You do remember that the rule was the door remains open whenever we are in here alone."

                    "Irrelevant..." Cal paced in front of the door "Easton; how safe do you really think he is?"

                    Recke sighed and sat down on the bed "He's an ass, but..."

                    "But nothing, he snuck here, he somehow managed to..." Cal shrugged "I don't know blackmail Midnight and Tahk to come too and I don't get a good feeling from him." Recke sat down on the bed and folded his arms in his lap, Cal smiled at him knowing he was remaining silent to hear her out; something that few people had done with her. "He didn't clean a thing; he stood in the corner and watch us scowling at you."

                        Recke nodded "No, I hadn't noticed that" He sighed "But it makes sense, he is not the type of person to actually get his hands dirty." He smiled at Cal hoping his smile would get her to calm down "But he will take credit for any successes."

                     "Something is not right with him." Cal sat down beside Recke. "You promised to be honest... Tell me about him, how did he get Midnight and Tahk to come with him."

                     "He is prone to making errors, usually I am there to fix it but occasionally he has nobody to help, and the problem becomes a failed mission." Recke took a deep breath wondering how much he should tell her. "He blames those failures on others." He shrugged "It has only happened twice that I couldn't fix; Once he blamed on me the other, he blamed on Ocea. She used to be a jump lead and because of it she was flagged as never allowed to lead again."

                      "Can I make a suggestion?" Recke nodded "let him have his own mission, when he screws it up, they will see his pattern of failure for what it is." Cal sighed "Now, what is he holding over Midnight and Tahk?"

                      "Tahk is easy to blackmail; he never took the self-defense training and never gets the required workouts in..." Recke laughed "He doesn't keep himself in shape as required. Easton fudges the paperwork so he can blackmail him when needed. I keep telling him to just get in shape and Easton has no hold on him but." Recke shrugged.

                      "And Midnight?" Cal noticed Recke tense up "Clearly that is a sensitive subject." Recke grimaced "I don't want to force you to betray his trust, but can I give you some insight?" Recke nodded "Easton isn't smart enough to figure something out on his own; if he knows something... then he was either there to see it, or he caused it."

                      Recke's tension shifted to anger "That is completely plausible... now that he has shown us that he has no problem jumping unprepared."

                     "He wants to hurt you." Cal frowned "I don't understand it but it's clear in how he looks at you..." Cal shifted nervously "And how he treats me because of you." She looked at Recke expecting him to be bored but he was listening and intrigued. "I don't trust him enough to save my life." Cal shivered a little. "But I don't know if he is evil...I honestly think he is just dumb."

                     Recke laughed "You are right on one thing, he is dumb." Recke took a deep breath. "It's no secret that the only reason he isn't getting his own chance to lead it me..." Recke chuckled "If he can discredit me then he would be lead on a mission."