When Forever Ends (Part 1: A Game of Chess)

XIX

~{§}~

N i n e t e e n

Two days earlier...

"What do you mean, 'they escaped'?"

"I don' know how they done it, boss. They's asleep in th' tent one moment, then they was fleein' in a transport!" the minion's lower lip quivered. The boss was angry. He had never seen him so enraged. "Please don' hur' me!" he added as an afterthought.

The digital displays on the wall gave the boss's face a reddish tint as he paced, making him look pure evil, which, in a way, he was.

"What am I going to do with you?" he muttered under his breath, completely ignoring the minion's plea for mercy.

"The one task I assigned you, the one task I felt you were capable of completing, and you blew it. It was simple: capture the witnesses and bring them to me. And what do you do? Let them ESCAPE?!" his voice had been rising as he spoke, so by the time the boss said these last words, he was practically screaming at the minion, spit flecks flying through the air.

"S-sorry, boss," the minion looked at his feet. He knew he shouldn't feel guilt, but the human emotion was hard to ignore when it was this strong. "It won' happ'n again."

"Well, at least you're right on that," the boss said.

"Huh?" the minion asked.

"It won't happen again. Your successor will most likely be more committed to the task than you."

"Successor?" The minion realized far too late what was about to happen and he tried to change the boss's mind. "Wait! I am invaluable! You need me! Don' do thi-i-i―" His voice sputtered and died, along with the rest of him.

The boss pulled the thick blade from the minion's throat. He had always had a taste for tradition, despite the fact that he had much more efficient ways of killing the man.

"You," he pointed at one of the soldiers guarding the door to the small chamber. "Get me a cloth."

"Yes sir!" the soldier left in a hurry, not wanting to meet a gruesome end like the one he had just watched.

"And you," the boss turned to speak to the other guard. "You have just inherited the minion's job. I trust you will live up to my expectations."

The newly appointed minion quickly nodded his head, standing up straighter. "It is an honor."

"Good."

The guard returned with a damp, white cloth, which he promptly handed to the boss.

"You may return to your post," the boss told the guard. He then used the cloth to begin wiping the blood from the silver ceremonial sword he had used to kill the previous minion.

"What was it he said again?" the boss asked himself. "They fled in the transport?" He chuckled softly to himself. "I think we can use this to our advantage.

"Sir, if I may," the new minion spoke tentatively. The boss nodded at him to continue. "What about the autopilot on the transport? Could we somehow lead them here?"

"Yes. That's exactly what I was thinking." It was most certainly not what the boss had been thinking, but it was a better idea than he'd had and he wasn't going to give the minion the satisfaction of knowing that he'd outsmarted the boss. "Enter the coordinates."

"Right away, boss!" The minion almost felt happy that he had already done something to please the boss in the first few minutes of serving in his new rank.

Almost.