Throw In The Dice

Chapter 3

The tension in the large meeting room was thick and heated as if lightning would strike and ignite into an uncontrollable inferno if it were broken. No one wanted to speak.

We were all perched around the room in various positions, staring at the screen and sneaking not so secret glances at one another. I was leaning against the dark oak table in the center of the room, fidgeting with a pen in my hand. Mason was sprawled out on the floor, half under the table. Serena had draped herself in a chair in the back of the room, and Zoe stood by the screen that displayed the official report with her arms crossed over her chest. The only sounds were the clock on the wall and the hum of the computers and the faint patter of rain from outside.

"What are the charges?", Mason groused from the ground, breaking the silence. Dropping my chin to my chest, I groaned quietly. I had preferred the silence for thinking.

He glared at me, thoroughly annoyed, and crossed his arms, so I poked his shoulder with my foot. Before he could retaliate, I boosted myself up and laid on the table. Mason would go to the gym to blow off his frustration like he always did, and as fun as it was to rile him up, I'd rather not have a broken jaw. Mason had a rather strong right hook. I scooted to the middle of the table and let my head hang off the edge so I could still see the room and the other occupants.

"First-degree murder, premeditated. Conspiracy, second degree. Um... various weapons charges and a couple of drug charges.", Zoe trailed off, looking between the screen and us for our reactions while twirling her inky hair around her finger, her nervous habit. I suspected she was expecting a violent reaction from one of, if not more of us.

Serena's expression twitched as she tried to keep a frown from crossing her face. She often over thought things like this and it would irritate her for the rest of the day. For me, that meant we would have a long talk later that night, probably into the morning and at some point, including liquor, not that I minded. I rolled off the table, quietly walked over and sat in her lap to bring her out of her mind. After a moment, she recognized the action by grabbing my hand and weaving our fingers together. The contact grounded both of us firmly in reality.

"Well, what sentence does that get?"

"Under English law, first-degree murder is a life sentence already.", Mason interjected, still trying to maintain all points of contact with the floor.

"Can you pull up the map of London we have?", I asked as my fingers toyed with Serena's hair. Zoe lightly tapped something into her computer and turned to the screen as the machine pulled it up. "Whereabouts were they found?"

Over the years, as I had expanded my hidden empire to other countries, I'd draw up maps of each country and label what groups and organizations I had at my disposal for whatever I needed, whenever I needed. In this case, the person who provided the drug had been a member of one of the local gangs.

"Dmitri said one of the operatives was caught drunk driving while smuggling ten bags of cocaine and two rifles outside of Brentford. He said they opened an investigation into it and traced it back a bit."

"What were they supposed to be doing?", Mason asked, staring blankly at the ceiling and tapping his fingers quietly against the shaggy carpeted floor. I suspected he was thinking about Max. Having been in the army, Mason was not one to take dereliction of duty lightly.

"Said something about assassination of a member of Parliament for a key vote last time I contacted him.", I said, shaking my head, feeling Serena lean into my hand. "He said he paid for a staff member to carry it out, but the night after, one operative got caught with drugs and weapons."

"It was the operative who oversaw the whole thing. He apparently confessed, which in turn got the provider of the drug and the staff member arrested.", Zoe added. The silence blanketed over the room again as three pairs of eyes darted at each other and then back to me, waiting for instruction.