Operation Leap of Faith

Chapter 5

Present day - USA, Minnesota

Tiredness was now a perpetual state of being, as far as Glaz was concerned. The last days were exhausting, and to top it off he hadn't even taken a short nap in the last twenty-four hours, more or less. Although he felt awake and alert, Glaz knew he was only running on adrenaline and anxiety.

After leaving the campus, he followed Damien into the seedy dive where they had taken their weapons from and returned everything. At Damien's insistence and against his better judgement, they celebrated the supposed murder with copious alcohol. The radio in the bar was tuned to a local station, and they heard the first-hand experience of a witness to Morgan's murder. That prompted another toast from Damien and more drinking.

Then, somewhat tipsy but still able to coordinate their movements, they went to catch their flight. Glaz spent the entire trip back analyzing Damien's words, trying to determine what did he exactly mean by having taken care of them , and who that person could have been. Remembering the dead security guard, Glaz could only assume Damien had tried to kill the mysterious stranger. And if it had been Kapkan, as the sniper suspected, he better be alive and in one piece or Glaz would kill him.

Now here they were, waiting for Shrike, and Glaz disguised his restlessness as boredom, inspecting the assorted knick-knacks lining the room. Like in the rest of the house, the decoration was an odd mix of modern and minimalist with antique pieces. He idly wondered if Shrike also had a study here in the chalet, although she extracted information on the abandoned warehouse; presumably because it was difficult to wash out blood stains from the upholstery.

Damien was sprawled on an armchair, head falling back as he fought to keep awake. The house looked completely empty, except for the cleaning lady who opened the door for them and was now vacuuming downstairs. Part of Glaz screamed at him to investigate around the house and to see if he found anything of interest; another part of him wanted to bolt out and contact with Kapkan, and yet another part of Glaz only wanted to sit on the other armchair and succumb to sleep like Damien did. In the end, he took none of those options and just stood where he was, looking at the carefully arranged but impersonal decoration he'd been pretending to admire. The door of one of the rooms opened and Shrike strode out, a newspaper in hand. She threw it at Glaz, who showed his quick reflexes by catching it mid air.

"I guess congratulations are in order. Your success is all over the news."

Glaz gave a quick glance to the paper and shrugged at her. "You said the more witnesses, the better."

"Aren't you the people pleaser," she drawled. "Well, what the boss told you is true: now that you're part of the team, you help us, and we help you get the revenge you want."

Glaz nodded at her gratefully, as expected, although her smile was as welcoming and sincere as a frozen pond. Shrike turned to look at Damien, who started to snore lightly, head lolling against the back of the armchair. She kicked him in the shins none too gently, making Damien wake up with a yelp of pain.

"Fuck, shit! Layla? What...?"

"Do you have something for me or did you go on a leisure trip?"

Damien brought his hand to his jacket's pocket and took out a pen drive, which he shook in front of Shrike's face. Seeing her expression go stormy due to his teasing, Damien quickly stood up. "I have it, and there's also something you need to know. Someone else was after this."

"You can go, we're done for now," Shrike said to Glaz, then she directed all her attention to Damien. "You, follow me."

There was a glimpse of an orderly room, and a bed with a lovely yellow bedspread as Shrike opened the door for Damien, before she quickly shut it after them. This was a golden opportunity to investigate the house as he wanted earlier, although Glaz soon learned the walls were thin enough for him to catch snippets of their conversation.