Dark Faïz (Book 2) [Completed]

Chapters 12-3

The sound of a lawnmower woke me up quickly. Despite my efforts, my eyes refused to fully open. I tried to straighten up, clumsily taking my hands to my rebellious hair, left like this during my sleep. Although my mind was trying to get my muscles to work properly, my body seemed to let go of me completely. I groaned in protest and then slumped back on the pillow next to me.

"Girls?"

No one answered me. What the hell could they be doing?

"Lexy? Asarys?"

My hand searched for my friend's presence next to me, but I noticed, astonished, that her place was empty. They had deserted the dorm like thieves without bothering to wake me up. I searched with my hand for the small box on the dresser next to Asarys' bed to look at the time and jumped up in panic.

"What? But it's not possible! They will hear from me."

I fumed against my two friends, who had dared to let me sleep that much. It was already early afternoon and I was sleeping while the outside world was waiting to be saved. I grabbed a random T-shirt from my closet and then rushed over to a dresser at the other end of the room, banging one of my toes on the foot of Lexy's bed.

"SHIIIT!" I cried, limping for a few moments.

Once dressed, I hurried to the bathroom where I rummaged in my toilet bag in the hope of finding a rubber band to tame my bulky mane. While doing my hair, I watched my reflection in the mirror, which made me despair. I couldn't have done worse even by putting my fingers in an electrical outlet. I finally opted for my two big braids. I quickly refreshed my face under the water and brushed my teeth vigorously. After several minutes spent in the bathroom, I was happy to find a human appearance. I quickly put my boots on and stormed out of the room to head for the conference room.

In a rush, the door handle slipped from my hands, opening the door in a thunderous crash. I then fell directly in front of fifteen pairs of eyes directed at me. Asarys and Lexy were drinking their coffee while listening to Barthey's words and didn't seem to pay attention to the uncomfortable situation I was in at the moment. I blushed at my rather abrupt entrance, refusing to stare at the people present in the room, and hastened to sit down beside my two friends. The inspector had stopped his speech to take a seat, which further accentuated my discomfort.

"Last night's ceremony took place around this lake," said Barthey.

Karl displayed on the screen in front of us satellite images showing the exact place where my friends and I had been last night, summarizing with precision the sequence of the events which we had attended.

"What did I miss?" I asked in a low voice to Lexy.

"Breakfast," she replied, focused on Barthey's speech.

I sighed, exasperated by her attitude.

"Asarys?"

My friend slowly turned her head towards me, but her eyes remained fixed on the inspector.

"Tell me what I missed?"

"Hmm... Oh, nothing. The teams are trying to set up a plan to get the ruby, but are assessing the risks beforehand."

"Why did you let me sleep this morning?" I asked in a tone full of reproach. "It's an important day!"

"Faïz came to see us when we woke up," Asarys said. "It was he who asked us to—"

"Ordered!" Lexy cut in dryly.

"Who ordered us to let you sleep."

I scanned the room for him. When my gaze met his, it was impossible for me to look away from his authoritarian and captivating pout. Barthey's voice snatched me from his spell when he said my name.

"Zoe, Asarys, and Lexy will dive into the lake to fetch the precious stone while the rest of the team is on site, hidden to cover them in the event of an attack."

"No!" Faïz said abruptly. "There are enough men here to do this job. The girls are done with all this."

"I agree with him," said William, standing against the wall near the entrance.

He then turned his head towards me. His facial features were filled with unexplained frustration. After a few moments, he turned his icy gaze to the inspector and added,

"Now it's up to us to finish this mission!"

"The commando teams aren't authorized to deploy on the spot," explained the inspector calmly. "They would be quickly spotted. Agreements between the two governments have been signed and we can't go against what has already been decided. So we have to stick to the plan."

"Go to hell, you and your agreements!" cried Faïz, leaping furiously from his chair.

Ray stood up, too, ready to hold on to his friend, whose impulsive nature he knew.

"The decision is not yours!" Barthey roared as he spoke to the three young men. "I'm the one giving the orders here. We serve the government. And you, Faïz, do you really want to be the weak link in your entire lineage?"

The inspector's fist tapped violently on the table, which didn't fail to startle me. Faïz and Barthey distrusted each other while Ray pushed his friend towards the exit to prevent the situation from escalating. Still contained by him, Faïz pointed his finger at Karl.

"This isn't over! We won't stop here," he said threateningly before leaving the room accompanied by Ray.

Worried, I looked at my friends, who seemed as disturbed as me after this violent exchange.

"I...I just wanted to be told that our work was done," confided Lexy in shock. "I really thought we had done most of the work yesterday."

"You can always give up," I comforted her. "You can both give up. That's okay. I can go get the ruby on my own."

"No way! We won't let you dive into those waters without us," Asarys decreed. "We started together, we will end together."

I looked around the room again. William was talking to Barthey, probably to try to make him understand reason in a more diplomatic way. The vigorous exchange between Faïz and the inspector made me understand that the group was exploding. After these long weeks spent together on Eros, we were all on edge. A solution had to be found to get out of this crisis. Indeed, the consequences of these divisions within the group could lead to poor organization of operations, and therefore cause our loss for all. I got up from my chair under the anxious gaze of my friends to quietly disappear from the room, where the tone of the discussions began to rise gradually.