The Gateway

12. The New Recruits

Several minutes later, the alarm was disabled, and the earsplitting noise in the tower was finally gone. The red lights continued to flash, which meant that the situation had not yet been resolved. Miranda lowered her hands from her ears. Her arms were sore from holding them there for so long. She was amazed by the fact that the noise had not even seemed to phase Cathal in the least. He spent the entire time pacing from one end of the room to the other. He would go over to the window, linger for a moment, then start pacing again. He was still doing it.

"You're making me extremely nervous," Miranda told him, her arms folded on top of her chest.

Cathal glanced at her, but he didn't speak, nor did he stop pacing. His mind was somewhere else entirely. He wondered which prisoner had escaped, and if the situation was as dire as the one yesterday They couldn't sustain many more deaths in Division X. They had lost five men when Quasar escaped and had only hired two replacements today. They were still three men short, and it took all fifty to manage a prison with the most dangerous criminals in the universe and as massive as Faltraxa.

"Are you going to talk to me?" Miranda pressed. When she was nervous, it helped if she talked to someone. It made her more at ease.

Again, he glanced at her, stopping this time. He enunciated each word, to make sure that she understood what he was saying. "There's nothing to talk about." He walked over to the glass case by The Perch and opened it. He grabbed the Quadrapierce and walked back to the window. He positioned the gun on the window sill and hunkered down to look through the sights. He wanted to make sure he could see the front door, and all the land out from it.

Miranda wasn't about to give up. She couldn't stand the quiet. "What's that for?" she inquired. She was curious.

Cathal sighed. She wasn't going to leave him alone until he spoke to her. "To shoot any prisoner who tries to escape. The High Order has no tolerance for escaping prison."

"That's horrible!" she exclaimed.

Cathal didn't comment. He just stared at her, with a blank look on his face.

"You seem a little tense."

He let out another sigh in exasperation and spun around. "Do you ever shut up?"

"When I'm sleeping," she retorted. She meant it as a sarcastic remark, but that wasn't the way Cathal received it.

He laughed at her. She started to become defensive about it, but her lips spread into a smile instead.

"That's better," she told him. "And your face didn't even crack."

Cathal turned back to the window. "You're hilarious." He was still smiling. Maybe he should talk to her. Now would be the time to figure out just how she felt about his friend. All he needed was an opening, and she had just given it to him. "I can see why David likes you."

Miranda blushed. "Thank you. I like him too."

"You do, huh?"

"Very much. David seems...sweet. Most men have eradicated their sensitivity anymore. They're afraid it makes them weak."

Cathal just shook his head. "Fools. Emotions are assets. They always have been. I'm glad you like David though." He turned to look at her. "Just don't hurt him. If the two of you do hit it off, don't you dare hurt him."

"I know if I do, I'll have you to answer to."

"That's right. You will."

She smiled. It was sweet that he cared and was so protective of his friend. Cathal turned back to the window and an inward sigh escaped her. There wasn't anything more than friendship between her and David, and she wasn't sure there ever could be, but she was glad that he liked her.