Ex Officio (#3 EX TRILOGY)

Chapter 18

Dufie gulped and regretted not being fast enough to flee from the base while everyone was busy in the strategy room. She held her breath and determined not to blink too many times in order not to miss that moment when a bullet would be coming her way. She eyed the gun closely as Poku turned it playfully in his hands. The sounds of struggle and intermittent gunfire was still heard from the strategy room and they occasionally distracted Dufie. Poku noticed it and shrugged.

"Too bad you had to hear that," he said and took a step closer, but Dufie moved away from him and stopped when the computers on her perch were the only obstacles between them. Poku gripped one of the barristers of the small staircase of the perch and drummed his fingers on it while holding the gun idly by his side. "I don't know why they are fighting back there. Trust me. Twisted world we live in, eh?" Dufie did not reply. Poku nodded slowly and gestured at the computers. "So you transmitted a conspiracy theory video without informing me, and you sent a message to Ida's phone reporting a traitor in our midst, eh? You think I am the traitor?"

Dufie gulped again and replied, "Felix is not any taller than six feet, so he is the Short Man. The only two reasons you would be communicating with the supposedly assassinated leader of Ex Vivo is either because you are still a double agent seeking a weakness in him to take him down, or you are actually working with him secretly this time. You admitted some facts even the others did not know, yet you lied to them about it. For a leader who is supposed to hate Ex Vivo and all it stands for, why be friends with its leader? I'd like to hear a nice story that proves otherwise." She folded her arms and leaned back to listen.

Poku smirked at her and said, "You are a smart lady, Dufie. Admirable. If you deduced all this by just guessing, I would be very disappointed, but seeing that you saw stuff via the CCTV cameras in the ceiling, sorry to tell you how lame it is not to mind your own business."

"It is my business if the man I love is conniving with the enemy he is leading a group of people to fight against!" Dufie stomped and snapped. Just then, the final gunshot was heard and the door fell ajar. They both heard unsteady footsteps before TT emerged through the doorway with a gun in his hand. He had bullet holes in his chest and belly and was bleeding profusely. He choked and fell on his knees as his blood splattered on the floor before him. Dufie ogled at him in horror.

"Mission accomplished, TT?" Poku asked without looking at him. TT nodded slowly and groaned in agony. Dufie noticed his eyes were bloodshot and the look on his face suggested he was probably dazed or going nuts. "End it, then. Well done." Without warning, TT pointed the pistol in his hand to his head and blew half of his face off before falling sideways, never to rise again. Dufie cried out and covered her mouth with her hands as her knees began to buckle. Poku did not look disturbed at all. He simply sighed and smacked his lips before saying, "Gosh. I lost a very good friend and partner in crime there. Rest in peace, TT." He motioned the sign of the Cross and added, "I didn't kill anyone. You saw that yourself."

Dufie took her hands off her mouth as tears poured down her face and asked in a trembling voice, "Why are you doing this? Why do you fraternize with the enemy? You lied to me. I asked you over and over again - do you work for Ex Gratia and you let it pass. I just saw mind control there. TT would never kill the rest of the Realers for you or anyone. He is a loyal soldier. So you're part of the amalgamation of those two syndicates now? Why assemble the Realers if you're not with us? This is all your silly plan? To what end?"

Poku cocked his head and pushed his free hand into the pocket of his trousers. "You don't deserve to die, baby," he said calmly. "Come with me. Let's leave this hole and into the open, where we can breathe again. Out of the ashes of this dying government and this burning nation comes a new empire - one that considers us and our interests. We will have a bountiful share of fortune and nobody will take it from us."