“You’re up.”
Of all of the things that Klaus had thought that he would regret hearing he had not thought that it would be this. Logically he should have been scared by a lot more other words, the typical ones and the more obscure. Something along the lines of “you have cancer” was one, “don’t scream and I won’t you hurt you” was another. A rather strong fear of his, and he supposed that it was for a great many others, was hearing the words “we tried our best to save him but sadly, yourfather is dead, Klaus”.
But “you’re up”? Why, it was just two simple words and yet he felt the unmistakable sensation of dread course through him.
It had been quite some time since he had felt the sensation, likely around the time that he had taken his force entrance exam. Klaus could recall sitting at the desk, fresh out of high school with a pen in hand and a series of sheets in front of him; sheets that would determine him being allowed into the force or not. For some older teensthat had been his age, it had been college entrance exams they had been sitting; filled with dread. But for him it had been the force entrance exam, because a failure to pass would have ruined his future aspirations. That was why he had been so scared back then.
Right now his stomach felt the exact same too. It was in the way that his stomach clenched hard, as if seized hold of tightly by a fist. Working in sync with his stomach his throat and also seemed to have restricted to the width ofof a straw. Klaus ’s skin had been rather warm from the heating inside the department office floor and yet it was now decidedly chill. Was he going to break out into a sweat? He wasn’t sure but he felt just like he might. A cold clammy sweat that could only be described as terror sweat.
Yet The Leader was looking at him like nothing of great importance had just happened. Why, he might as well have asked if he would log into the database and change an entry for him, judging from the rather calm look on his face. Klaus studied the files in the crook of his elbow as he shifted to sit against his desk. The Leader didn’t pull up a chair and act professional. He just leaned back to sit on his desk, the edges digging into the backs of his thighs and the seat of his black trousers brushing against the wood. He placed the files down beside his laptop and then he just folded his arms over his chest and looked down at him.
Klaus rapidly figured out why he had picked to sit on his deskrather than on the other side. The position allowed him to look powerful, in control. He had to look up at him and thus it made him look like he was below him. Right now he felt like he was, felt like he was on his knees rather than seated at his desk. It was the effect of his shadow falling over his laptop and his gaze burning down at him.
God, he felt like an ant in front of him right now. A teeny tiny insignificant ant in the shadow of a massive boot heel just waiting to be stomped on.“I’m sorry?” Klaus asked him, lifting his eyebrows at him in a gesture he hoped looked confused and not condescending. The last thing he wanted to do was look disrespectful towards him. Even if he wasn’t technically his superior he couldn’t piss him off. Not now, after everything.
“I told you,” The Leader said without even blinking. “You’re up.”
Klaus studied his face for a moment and then glanced at his laptop. He had been sorting through a series of intercepted emails in the hopes that he would find an error in any of them. That someone would fuck up and use a word strong enough for them to have reason to get an arrest warrant. A word that wasn’t coverage for something else. Something like “skin” or “goodies” or any other fucking word lifted from a dictionary. Why not just be honest and say “meth” or “prostitution ring” or plain old cold blooded “murder”? Why did they have to be so goddamn tricky and make his job harder? Yet here he was after five hours of constant scanning and nothing.
Klaus couldn’t possibly get an arrest warrant without physical proof. If he had intercepted emails then he needed to have enough solid information to result in a successful prosecution. No, an email made up of random shit that could mean anything certainly wouldn’t withstand a trial. But how could their team arrest anyone when there was never any evidence? Sometimes Klaus felt like he was hitting his head against his screen over and over. It would likely yield better results for their team than their current method.
“Klaus ?”
“Yuh-yeah, boss?”
“How many times have I told you to not call me boss?” The Leader said. It was easy for him to say that, as if it was just a simple drop in formalities and nothing more. The fact that he could pluck him right out of his office job and decide to dump him into the centre of a massive sting operation showed that he was clearly something a little more than a coworker. He wasn’t entirely certain that droppingthe title would change a thing. “What is it? Talk to me, you look a little…” Klaus dragged his eyes away from his laptop screen to look at him again. He saw slightly furrowed brows, not a sign of anger but possibly one of displeasure. “Taken aback by that news.”
“With all due respect, uh, Robert, I’ve been working this department here for less than a year,” Klaus explained, as if he wasn’t aware of this fact. “I’m hardly the most knowledgeable of all of our team so I don’t-”“Who told you you weren’t the most knowledgeable?” he asked, cleverly derailing the point that he was trying to make. Klaus just mumbled something under his breath as he stared at his desk. Not too far from Robert’s files was his coffee mug, the dregs now likely freezing cold and as thick and dark as tar. There was a small lunchbox from a café just down the street open in front of him but he had lost his appetite suddenly. In the light from the window the remainders of the rice lookedgelatinous and the curry looked sloppy and wet, like vomit.
The currently empty department room fell silent save for the sound of the clock and he hated it. He wished that someone else was in the room too, Elaine or even Harry. That would make the atmosphere less heavy and suffocating for sure, and right now Klaus felt like breathing was a difficult task. Robert took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. Klaus just gnawed on his lower lip rather than say another word.
