Children's Games: A Story of Modern Consequence

Chapter 10

~Katerina~

Inside the house once again, Katerina relaxed as the tense air dissipated between her, Anna, and Ivan. She couldn't shake the feeling that she had done something wrong, and she was being hated for it. Neither of them looked at her as Dominik stood waiting for their return. I already apologized. It bothered her more that Anna's fun attitude had changed so quickly.

"Dominik," Anna said, greeting him with what could be observed as a handshake, but without the shaking. They stood there for a few moments keeping their hands in a firm grip. She muttered a few things, earning herself a curt nod as he eyed Katerina standing by the door.

"Any complications?" he replied in a gruff voice, though not as tense as that morning. His hair looked neater, styled and handsome. "Good. What are the numbers?"

Katerina looked around the room and spotted Petyr sitting on the bottom steps to go to the house part of the building. His dark hair was a little more overgrown than the others, which should have been short and neat consistent with their military stereotype. Instead, this young man kept his wavey hair slightly longer and had the top half tied back in a small band. His clothes were slightly dirty, he was up the top today, and his hands were casually clasped together as he observed the group before him.

"There were roughly five thousand people in the square and surrounding balconies, listening live. There was a total of seventeen officers: eight on the stage with the elders, four on each corner of the square, and five dispersed through the crowd. However, only the ones on the stage were armed with their guns, where the others only had batons and tasers. There were three new cameras, making a total of seven overlooking the square." Anna was proud of her answer and had a look on her face like she was owed something.

She found herself looking back at Petyr, and he unclasped his hands to casually waved his fingers at her, his eyes dancing. Distracted, she turned back to Anna, wondering why she didn't mention the two non-uniformed people that escorted the elders off the stage.

"Very good. And the food?"

"Discounted, as always. Though the vegetable shop raised their melatonin demand. Their original offer demanded seven bottles. They've got more company it seems."

"That's also fine," Dominik sighed. "I've heard Bill is back in town, so I'm gonna need you to get some goods from him for tomorrow. Take Ivan and Petyr." Bill? Billy from the train?

Anna raised her eyebrows but didn't question anything. She turned around to usher Katerina back out the door when Dominik stopped them.

"She can stay here. Today was her first day. You can spend the rest of your afternoon familiarising yourself with the house, and practicing names," he said, ever so slightly squinting his eyes at Ivan. She found herself squinting her eyes at Ivan as well.

Anna and Ivan turned to leave again, leaving Katerina alone. "Why were you counting the number of guards and cameras?" She knew that he mustn't like questions, but she felt useless knowing next to nothing.

"Nothing you should concern yourself with now. In a few day's we'll be breaking back into those buildings to find the rest of our intel, and it obviously requires undetected entry. Until you get your memories back, I think the less you know the better," Dominik informed her, before turning away dismissively.

"What does that mean?"

"It means that until you get your memories back and remember what it is to be a soldier, the less you know means less questions." Dominik whispered the last word as he stepped back to be closer to Katerina.

Over Dominik's shoulder, Katerina saw Petyr stand and start to make his way towards them. Standing, he was a lot taller than she would have expected. He had a small smile, giving her an amused look as he walked around them. His eyes were brown and intriguing, and immediately the curiosity annoyed her.