The Edge of Honour

Chapter 38

Gorran's POV:

The bed underneath me was painful to sleep on. The rusted springs creaked with every movement I made. I twisted and turned, wondering when I would ever sleep. Each type that I was about to drift off to sleep, a horrible thought about Morgan's current plight filtered into my sleep deprived mind. Finally, however my body caved in and for a brief few hours, I did not have to worry or think about the situation which we had been placed into.

A restless night sleep meant that I frequently awoke to darkness outside the uncovered window which was located to the left of bed- unfortunately at the same point as my head. This meant that I had to choose between staring in the face of an unknown criminal who happened to be sharing my room or looking directly at the window as I tried to force myself back to sleep.

My roommate must have come in when I was asleep, as I had already woken up several times when I finally spotted him. His head was completely covered with the blanket which prevented me from trying to judge anything about him until he awoke. As I listened to his loud nasal filled snores reverberate around the room, I decided that that was unlikely to happen until the morning.

Finally, on one of my many occasions waking up, the sun had risen. The rays shone directly into my eyes as I woke up. This forced me turn in the opposite direction so that I could open them. My roommates eyes stared directly back at me, a look of amusement on his face.

"So I have to bunk with the newbie," he announced, as he stood up from his bed, dropping the covers back on the bed.

His face was tanned, a jagged scar ran across his forehead, and one of his fingers was half the size it should have been. The scarred tissue above the knuckle made me think that he had not been born like that.

"Well, are you going to introduce yourself? After all, we have to bunk together, I might as well know a little about you.

"My name is Go..." I began. It came out before I could stop myself. If he had not already noticed my mistake, it had been a close call. Introducing myself as somebody else was something which I would have to get used to and quickly.

"Your name is Go?" he questioned, struggling to hold back his laughter. He had heard my error and I had to come up with a plausible answer for the slip of my tongue.

"Sorry, that's my nickname, all my friends at home call me it. I'm just so used to it." I hoped he would believe my explanation, even if it was unlikely that I was prone to introducing myself with a name that only my friends used. "My name is really Ray Allen and I've grown up in Southern England."

"Nice to meet you Ray," he said as he extended his hand towards me. It was a gesture of friendship or a polite understanding that we would have to spend a huge amount of time together at least. "My name is Diego Acosta and I am from Trujillo in Extremadura." I looked back at him blankly, those two places meant nothing to me. "Northern Spain," he added after some seconds of silence.

"I see, and what brought you here?" I asked. I hoped that it was okay to ask those who we knew definitely worked for the organisation. Whether it was or was not, I needed to gain as much information as I could and as quick as possible.

Before he had time to answer, a voice began speaking through a small black speaker in the upper right corner of the room. I had not previously noticed it. I recognised the voice as Francois's and my fists immediately tightened as I remembered that Morgan was in trouble.

"All personnel employed within the last month are required to attend a meeting in room twenty-nine on the third floor. It is beginning in five minutes." There was a soft click as the intercom was turned off.

"I guess we better get ready then, the boss doesn't like to be kept waiting," Diego responded as he pulled on the uniform. I swiftly followed his actions and put on mine.

"So, you are new here too?" I exclaimed.

"I was hired just over twenty days again. I had a brief meeting with the boss, but was informed that there would be a formal meeting shortly. I guess this is it," he explained.

"What have you been doing recently then?" I questioned, trying to pry as much knowledge as I could out of him. He was willing to speak to me and I highly doubted that the other workers would be so compliant.

"No time for that, we have to leave now." Exiting through the small bedroom door, I followed him to the meeting room. We walked quickly, a purpose evident as we strided through the hallways. Other employees were heading in the same direction of us, but none of them choose to exchange pleasantries.

The room was laid out in a long table and as people entered they filled the table, beginning with the top and working down to the final seat. Three spaces were left empty at the very top, one for the boss and another for each of his assistants.

Diego sat beside me, halfway down the table. I was glad that I would not have to sit close to the boss. Behind his seat stood, hung a large white sheet on which the first slide of his presentation hung, It was the emblem of the organisation, on it the words "Les combattants de changement française" were emblazoned in gold writing.

As I scanned the faces around the table, my jaw dropped and it took all my willpower not to scream at the sight before me. Towards the bottom of the table sat Morgan, but her face was battered and it was clear just by looking at her that she was in excruciating pain. One of her eyes was swollen and she was unable to open her. Dried blood was spread out all over her face and dark bruising had began to appear around her nose and eye.

She caught my eye as I stared in disbelief at her appearance and motioned for me to concentrate on what the boss was telling us. Through my shock, I had not noticed that he had begun the presentation. I tried to focus on his words, but all I could think about was what Morgan must have gone through.

The anger was building up inside of me and I had to sit on my hands to stop me from doing anything which I would later regret. Morgan would not appreciate me causing a scene at the meeting, but more importantly if we blew our covers that was the end for us. I had already had too many close calls, I needed to be careful.

My eyes were repeatedly drawn to Morgan's injured face. I could not believe that somebody would inflect that pain on her. The only reason she had been punished was because I decided that she could not handle being questioned and choose to speak up for her. As I studied the many wounds on her face, I realised that Morgan was capable of handling much more than I would be able to. She was resilient and strong.

The animosity for the whole organisation and its methods of achieving its goal continued to build inside of me. I was almost shaking with rage as I thought about it. The words continued on around me, but I heard none of them. There was only one thing which I could concentrate on, my sheer hatred for the man who was speaking, for the people who choose to work for them, for those who assisted him and for everyone who choose to become in illicit activities which put the lives of innocent people in danger.

Deciding that it was time for me to nod and pretend to agree with the words of a man who I loathed, I raised and lowered my head. Only then did I realise that I was facing a potentially disastrous problem.

My legs were no longer visible, the pants and shoes moved in the air as I shook my leg, but when I lifted up the pants bottoms, there was nothing.

Anger and rage had always been the triggers for my invisibility. This was an important fact which I had not taken into account as I recounted the horrible encounters I had previously had with criminals.

While the meeting was going ahead, nobody noticed my missing legs. However, I could feel the power spreading further up my body. If I did not calm down soon, I would no longer be present at the table, my clothing apparently hanging on their own in the shape of my body would be the only suggestion of my presence.

Suspicions would certainly be aroused in that situation. However, as hard as I tried I could not quash the anger inside of me.

Sitting at the table, I knew that this was likely the end for me. Once they found out that I had powers, it would not take long for them to trace me back to MI5 and once they had that information, I was certainly about to be killed.

There was no solution for me, no escape from the reality that was appearing before me as I disappeared.