The Government's Prince

The secret team

                                                 14

    “Shurn, dinner’s ready.”

“Alright.” He called from his office before appearing and after grabbing a plate of spaghetti, he seated himself with a tense demeanor. Beth sat across from him, a flash of concern passing through her eyes. He had retreated to his office when he came home without a word. Pushing her glasses up her nose, she spun her fork into a small pile of noodles.

“How was work?” He answered with a hard breath.

“…I’d rather not talk about that…”

“Oh…okay.” No more words were exchanged until both were nearly finished.

“Bethany.” He spoke softly, drawing her attention. “There is something we need to talk about.”

“What?” She was expecting Shurn to tell her he was dying from some disease from the seriousness in his voice. His expression told her that he didn’t know how to word whatever he was going to say.

“Work has…gotten chaotic. And dangerous.”

“Dangerous?”

“I’ve already told you about some of the case we’re working on…”

“Yeah, about aliens or something?”

“Yes. It turns out that it’s true. Things could become dangerous so I want you to go stay with your family for a while.”

“But what about you? If it’s dangerous, I don’t want to leave you behind. What if you get killed?” Color had drained from her face at this point.

“You know that won’t happen.”

“Shurn, you’re not invincible. What if something goes wrong?”

“I’m fully prepared for that if it is to happen. But I can’t chance you getting caught in the cross fire.” His tone was pleading in an attempt to make her see his point; he reached for her hand but she pulled away as she stood to take the dishes into the kitchen.

“Are you trying to make me a widow?”

“That’s the last thing I want, you know that.”

“Then don’t do this.”

“It’s my job, you’ve never had such a problem before-“

“That’s because you weren’t messing around with space creatures before.”

“…Touché…” The memory of the strange hypnosis entered his mind; he truly, for once, didn’t know what he was dealing with. The silence was interrupted by his sigh while he joined her in the other room. “I have to keep on this though; I might be able to expose someone by using this case as a cover-up.”

“Someone.”

“A murderer and a rapist. Who framed, what looks like, an innocent man.”

“You sound like you’re not sure.”

“I’m not entirely and that’s why I have to keep digging. I have to do the right thing, don’t I?” With that sentence, he ran her into a corner; crossing her arms, she could feel his presence close behind her.

“Yes but can’t it be done without the danger and the risking of lives? Your life?”

“As I said, I’m fully prepared for the risks. It’s selfish of me to demand such things from you…Beth, I don’t know what else to do. So many things are at stake at this point, I can’t back out of this now.” Sighing, she looked up to his eyes pleadingly.

“Whatever you do, just come back alive.”

    The air was warm and a strange aroma filled his nose. A thin but cozy blanket was pulled up to his chest while something soft supported his head. A chilly damp cloth covered his forehead causing him to think back to when Emily was caring for his burns. That was only seven earth days ago yet he felt like they were years instead of days. Slowly and sorely, he peeked around the shadowed room; he was lying on a short bed in a medium sized room with three walls painted red and one black. A black desk was set against the wall across from him while a door was to his left and a closet to his right. Having not the strength to sit up, he stared at the ceiling thinking back to the few days before the chaos began and even before that to his home and family. A strong surge of homesickness hit him.

   He had watched the clock on the nightstand go from three to three-thirty until someone cracked the door open shedding a single beam of light into his eyes.

“Oh? You’re awake?”

“Where…am I?”

“Safe. For now anyway…” The figure stepped in and shut the door with a soft click; he crossed to the desk and sat on the roll out chair, facing Rahun’s direction.

“How are you feeling?”

“…Sore…”

“I’m sure. Whatever you did at the station was pretty impressive…” A pang of awareness struck him.

“Were you there? How do you know?” The stranger laughed knowingly; pulling out a laptop from the bag he had with him, he set it on the desk and opened it. The screen lit up the room, glowing up into his rescuer’s face; blue eyes, a single streak of blonde ran through a black mess of hair. The light reflected off his snake-bites. With the computer in hand, he rolled over to the bed’s side allowing the prince to see whatever the screen held; a series of four smaller screens showing black and white people inspecting the room.

“I watched your escape on the security cameras.” He explained. “A few friends and I have been watching you and your friends for a while now.”

“What do you want from us?”

“No worries, we’re on your side.” He answered with a grin but it faded when they heard something ringing. “I have to get that. Relax and recover. We’ll talk again in a while.”

“But I can’t stay here! I have to find Haisin!”

“Kid, the best way to find him is to let us do our work. The situation he’s in is complicated and we have to approach it carefully otherwise we’ll give ourselves up and screw the whole thing up.”

“What about Emily?”

“As I said, no worries. We have everything under control.”