Children's Games: A Story of Modern Punishment

Epilogue

The great man stood in the centre of the room, taller than most. His mouth was stuck in a frown while his thick eyebrows were raised over glaring eyes. He always seemed to be looking down at people, figuratively and literally, as they babbled on nervously, unaccustomed to his usual silence. He liked to listen to their real thoughts before his own opinions influenced what they had to say. Otherwise, people tended to say what they thought he wanted to hear. It was left this way until the person ran out of things to talk about and avoided his gaze to look at the medals pinned either side of his chest.

Then it would only be a little while longer while the person doubted every idiotic thing they had said, and the man could watch beads of sweat appear on their forehead. His reputation of being ruthless and calculated proceeded him. Then and only then, would the great man finally allow his cold stare to brighten.

"Explain it to me one more time. I'm having trouble grasping a few things."

Nikolai stuttered as he tried to collect himself. Forgetful names rolled off his tongue and poisoned the air with cowardice. He had fallen far from the young soldier he had awarded the most important mission since the war started, and had fallen more since returning without his mission's objectives. He used to be straight-backed and brave, but was now slouched and upset, fear rolling down his cheeks.

"I'll stop you there Mr Lenin. Let me repeat what I've understood from your little presentation. Interrupt when I've gotten a point wrong.

"You were tasked with finding Oksana Witte and Alek Abramov-Pennelle, two of our runaway sleeper agents. You took Nadia Golubeva with you, unauthorised. You observed from a distance the people operating out of Orlando. You were going to continue your search for the traitors. But then a plane arrived which proved that this group of survivors were travelling internationally. You decided to keep your distance and continue observation of the survival group instead of looking for the traitors. When you thought the coast was clear, you landed and were seen by someone unexpectedly. How is that sounding, Mr Lenin?"

"Very good sir," he replied, looking down from the great man's mocking tone.

"It was the Frenchman, your half-brother Gabriel Laurent that you've incidentally been searching for. He was accompanied by a Jonathan Rourke and an Emilia Reid. You've met Emilia before. She was on your last mission to Fimiston. She took all our evidence that Australia was blaming us for TB84. She got away because both you and Nadia let her.

"Gabriel Laurent betrayed his friends in order to help you. He was the secret leader to a small political group of religious extremists. Their intentions were... less than honourable with the fate of the rest of the world. In the aftermath, Nadia Golubeva is dead, and Emilia Reid got away. Again. The survivors of Orlando have fled. And upon your journey back to us, Gabriel Laurent and his second in command Loic Martin, another Frenchman, have fled as well with the rest of their movement of death. They're somewhere around here, as if Moscow is their personal playground."

"That part wasn't my fault."

"Yes, it was. You've spent years trying to find where we sent him sex years ago. Your bond has taken you all over the world. He chose to leave his new home as soon as he saw you. What did you say to him?"

"We told them of the resistance here. And how... you might disagree with his 'movement of death'."

"And why would you do that?" he asked, his calm demeanour bruising.

"Loic told us that he was supposed to be in Jonathan's Unit, which was one of their international groups that investigated Australia. She didn't just work on TB84's creation, her mother is Nina Doberman, and Emilia worked on it just as much as its creator. They found more proof tying it to her identity and all of the proper genetics behind the man-made bacteria. But Loic was adamant that Emilia regretted it and was going to work with them to find a cure. I told him about the rebels and our old government as an example of why we can't trust bad people, and no amount of apology will be good enough. You taught us that."