Smoking Power

Chapter 30

My heart rate rapidly speeds up. Gareth is here, what do we do? Are we complete enemies or does he still think we're friends? How do we act? Do we be friendly like nothing's happened or do we completely hate his guts and ignore him?

"My friends! How nice to see you again!" Gareth stands up from his chair and comes over to us with a huge smile filling his face. Maybe he hasn't heard the news of Charles and Clarence talking to us yet? Gareths grin slowly fades into a frown when he sees all the scratches and blood covering us, "Oh my. I do apologise for this commotion of explosions and any injuries it's caused. Marco assured me it would be quite harmless." At this, Marco smirks at us but tilts his head so Gareth can't see it.

I feel the gears in brain start to tick over. Gareth seems completely oblivious to us being on Clarence's side. We haven't given him a mission update in ages, does he not find that just a little strange? I think back to the last time we saw Gareth. It seems like eons ago, but in reality it wasn't that long ago that I was talking to him over the phone after we got the first piece. For a dizzying and crazy moment I realise that this is actually the second time that we've been face to face with Gareth.

I guess that in that time period of not speaking to him, it's possible that he is unaware of a lot of things that we know. Who knows, maybe even Marco doesn't think we know as much as we do. Going on the limb that he doesn't actually know, I play along dumb and act as if I'm on his side, "Gareth, nice to see you, but whats with all this? Is something wrong because we were all going fine getting all the pieces and stuff." I manage to get out as casually as I can make it.

Clark and Declan shoot me weird looks but Gareth doesn't even blink, "Ah yes, once again I apologise for any inconvenience this causes but there is an issue or two that we need to discuss. May I ask where Amber is? Is she sti- Oh hello there Clark. I didn't notice you before," Gareth says dryly to Clark.

Gareth then turns to Declan and I and raises an eyebrow in confusion. Before Gareth has the time to ask us what he's doing here, I jump back into my dumb facade, "I take it you know Clark then? We met him awhile back when we ran into a bit of a problem. Thankfully he sorted it all out." I nod my head enthusiastically towards Gareth and Clark. A little white lie never hurt anyone.

In the short silence that follows my words, I take the opportunity to skin my eyes over everyone's facial expression. Gareth looks a little more relaxed but still a little suspicious as he offers a small smile to Clark which looks kind of forced. Clark briefly nods his head at Gareth and me, letting me know that he's finally caught on and knows what I'm doing. Marco smirks at me in an amused manner, he knows exactly what I'm doing since he's a Hogmer and Hogmers can read minds. Unfortunately Declan is not the sharpest knife in the draw and looks more confused than ever.

"So now that we have the introductions sorted, can we go find Amber wherever she is after those explosions?" I ask like its normal for all this to be happening. I decide to leave Clarence out. Gareth may be less willingly to find them if he knows that he's here. Right now we all need to be together and we'll have a slighter bigger chance of survival if we had to fight ourselves out.

"Oh yes, of course." Gareth blinks in surprise like he completely forgot about Amber, "Marco, could you be so kind as to find the child? Sooner rather than later would be preferred."

Marco nods sharply at Gareth before smirking at Clark, Declan and I. I gulp nervously while fighting to keep a straight face on, Marco won't kill Amber but Gareth doesn't know that Clarence's here and won't notice if Amber gets a couple more cuts on her.

"I still don't get what's happening," Declan confesses after a moment of awkward silence.

"To sum it up, we need to discuss some things with you for a minute or two. We were looking for you through public security cameras and such when Marco kindly informed me that he had found you right next to one of our bunkers. Quite extraordinary, isn't it?" Gareth looks into the distance while stroking his moustache in a thoughtful manner. When he sees our confused faces he elaborates, "The fact that there is a whole network of tunnels only metres away from this complex we have here and we didn't even realise it. Marco said the small bombs were the only way to get to you. But still, it's fascinating."