●　● Akkadia One, Eden Space Territories

Vincent, perhaps looking as sleep-deprived as he had ever since Infinity as a program had been officially launched, took his seat at the sparsely populated board meeting table, joined only by Lucian and Zaeras. Al's spot he had been forced to vacate still remained empty after all this time, having not a single referenced applicant follow through the hiring process without backing out last-minute, likely from hearing of the true workload and sheer weight of the responsibilities. And that seat was always the one Vincent looked at first upon each time he took his own at the table, both regretful and relieved Al had no longer been part of the equation.

"I take it you two refused to take the offered break with your families?" Vincent broke the silence, straightening his posture before eyeing through a document prepared in front of him.

"We both don't fully approve of leaving things in the hands of the Argentine government and their branch of the SAU," Lucian quipped, looking equally fatigued and overstressed. "Especially with how things continue to unfold."

"We all know the truth," Zaeras wryly chuckled, rubbing his exhausted eyes. "One hour after we get home, we'll be called back in for another emergency meeting, which you'll see in a second why we figure so. That's what kept us here."

"But think back to Bogota, gentlemen," Vincent replied, still glancing through the document. "The last time we let the SAU take over, nothing ever arose afterward. I promise you I can take things from here just as I did then. I care more for your health than anything by this point."

"Sir, please read the rest of the document before you mention the SAU any further," Zaeras now spoke with a cautious tone. "Again, that is why we remain."

Vincent's eyes paused upon reaching the final paragraph. "Whose information is this? There's no reason to believe Director Braun could have gathered this himself."

"Well," Lucian started, clearing his throat. "It seems our fortunate little stowaway might be more than meets the eye, but that's more for us to confirm once we get a chance to speak with the Director directly." He then took the chance to open back up a project board on the holographic display he had open earlier, zooming in on Kerry's application file. "I only just got this report from Braun less than ten minutes ago, so forgive the lack of details, but this former special-ops pilot of ours came with a present. She apparently passed off a micro file drive to Braun, saying it was, by her words, 'better off in his hands,' and the contents are being analyzed as we speak."

"It's what contained the mentioned intercepted relay communications between Bishop and the Argentine branch of the SAU military," Zaeras added with emphasis on the last few key words.

Vincent shut his eyes tight as if to squeeze the disbelief and stress out of them, raising his brow afterwards in continued bewilderment. "Let me ask this again, gentlemen," he now spoke with eyes locked in on the two of them. "Whose information is this?"

"Tyrus sent it," the two in near unison responded.

Vincent leaned back in his chair, eyes wandering off into the distance before looking toward the floor, lost in thought.

Lucian leaned forward to explain: "This is why, as you could see there, the Director has ordered everyone to back off the original plan for action. This is also the perfect opportunity to get the full attention of the Argentine president and send in reinforcements preemptively- we have spare units stationed in Cuba as we cannot trust rail transit from Bogota."

"No," Vincent suddenly snapped back to the conversation. "Let me talk to the President first. But in the mean-time, I'm glad to have you two remain here with me after all." He then stood up as if to leave, but ultimately hesitated, letting out a long sigh afterwards. "If only things hadn't gone sour with Mrs. Rodgers, or we'd have both of our power pieces in waiting." He finally turned to leave with a new thought he spoke out aloud: "Let me also see what I can salvage of the Galatine in the meantime."

.

▽　▽　▽

.

●　● Berazategui District, Buenos Aires Outskirts, Argentina, SAU

Sam began to regain her sense of awareness after getting something in her stomach, noting Kerry hadn't eaten much of the pizza they had delivered, and she knew it wasn't to do with preferences. She sat there leaned up against the wall, cross-legged on the bed, hair still half-wet from her shower as a towel hung from her neck as she paused to think of the right words. "Are you sure you're okay? I know how it is to want to try to press on despite feeling like you're about to lose it on the inside," she finally spoke through the awkwardness of changing the subject from Kerry's first impressions of the city to her arrival in near-death fashion, placing her half-eaten slice of pizza back on the napkin she had laid out.

Kerry had been lying on her side, propping her head up with her left hand and held her mobile in her right. She wasn't perusing it, per se, rather holding it as a nervous habit. "I guess I haven't really gotten as used to bat-shit crazy chaos like you have… not sure why I don't have an appetite, either. I hadn't eaten since before I got on the boat."

"It's nothing I'm proud of," Sam reluctantly offered, realizing there was no hiding the amount she had eaten without proper thought. "I mean, I wasn't meaning to make it look like-"

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

"-Sam, it's okay," Kerry interrupted with a weak smile, nudging her knee with her shoulder. "The more I think about it, the more I feel like they didn't want to kill me. I still need to tell you why I even got in that predicament," she added, rolling over on her back as she stared at the ceiling. "Ms. Norris had me load from a dock in Rio. No one told me why it was that ship or where it came from originally, but it was halfway here when those men from earlier stormed the container and knocked me out and tied me up."

Sam briefly opened her mouth to speak, hesitated, then let her breath ease out in a quiet sigh.

I tried to avoid the conversation, hoping she'd tell me when she was ready, but maybe I pushed the bill a bit much just now.

"When I halfway came to, I heard them talking in English about confirming some pilot, and something about something missing," Kerry continued explaining, not noticing. "I thought they were talking about me, then I realized there wasn't supposed to be a pilot according to the message they got from somewhere, as if they raided the boat and tried to take the key I carried- which they did pretty easily."

"Odd," Sam blurted out immediately before wincing.

"What?" Kerry quickly asked in sudden, itching curiosity as she rolled over to look her in the eyes. "It's that look on your face again. Tell me."

She let out a guilty sigh, raising her brow. "I don't know if this is fact or not, so I never really spoke to anyone about this, but when Kaylen Rodgers and I met with the supposed key carriers, they handed them right over. No trap, no ifs, no buts, just handed them to her."

"Then…" Kerry frowned, rubbing the knot on her head gently. "Why take me out, then? I was going to do the same!?"

Sam began to ponder the same question, hand over mouth.

I did need to find time to ponder that myself. Why would Rex force themselves back in on things if they wanted the same result? What were they willing to risk their men for?!"

"I mean, how did you even find me to begin with?" Kerry asked as she sat up, leaning against the same wall as Sam. "I really couldn't believe it was you. I thought you'd be at some base waiting or something, not on site- I mean, hell, girl I couldn't be more thankful, but still!"

"The men weren't Tyrus' men when we got the keys. I knew to be beyond suspicious, so I decided to do a little fuck around and found out, and I found you."

"I…" Kerry began to ask before shaking her head, shrugging her shoulders. "Never mind. I don't necessarily want to know how you always end up in deeper than usual shit like that or how you always find it."

"Well, I have my ideas," Sam replied with a curled lip, taking the sarcastic comment in stride. I mean, there has to be something else Kerry must have been suspected to possess, or they wouldn't normally keep her alive. A code? A disk? A message? Something on her Ap50 unit? Nah, let me let her rest. This is too much for a night like this.

Sam still couldn't help but further comment: "Well, even though you confirmed they were determined to be the ones to hand over the keys to Kaylen and not you, it doesn't quite add up, but I got a hunch."

"And I don't want to hear those, either," Kerry rolled her eyes before letting out a joking chuckle. "Sam, enough of the heavy talk. I'm alive, I got you, Ms. Norris, and God to thank. Tell me what you plan on doing once we finish this all up for good."

Returning the chuckle, Sam opened her mouth and took in a breath as if to speak her usual line, but for some reason, nothing came out. The pause was a shock to her, and it slowly translated over to Kerry as well. Her smile dropped into a mouth left agape, eventually closing in defeat.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

Sam slid down the wall as her head plopped onto the pillow next to her. "I don't even know beyond this. I used to, though." The smiles and promises shared between she and Sebastian cropped up throughout her thoughts, growing by the millisecond. There was never a plan, just the intention of figuring out everything one step at a time. Nothing was decided, and that was perfect for how her world was up until now. "I don't have a clue anymore. That was all ripped to shreds this morning."

Kerry got the message as she was reminded of her own similar experience despite the difference in magnitude. "Well, shit… I, um…"

"Are you going back home after this?" Sam quickly tried to shift the conversation away from her own sob story.

"Yeah, actually," Kerry readily accepted the change in topic, unaware of Sam's home situation. "I have my finances already figured out. I want build a nice, new house for my family in New Chalmette. That's where my people were from before my time, and now that the government built up the land enough in that stretch by the river, people are coming back to rebuild the town. I want to live and work there, see where that new life takes me."

"I remember why that was your chosen nickname," Sam spoke as she rolled over so that she could look at Kerry while talking. "You going to work as an engineer or so? Wasn't that your major?"

"Yep, something like that, I assume. Depends on what I get worked out." Kerry then remembered not to bring up anything of the like to Sam, afraid to bring up her mother. "Oh!" She by chance remembered something she needed to bring up, which came with a fortunate timing. "Tyrus had a message for me to give you!"

I knew it!! "Shh!" Sam instinctively shushed her, grabbing Kerry's mobile as well as her own and turned them off. "Remember?!"

"My bad." Kerry straightened up, leaning over so as to keep her voice down. "They said don't trust a single word or order from Rex, and to only listen to Enrai- whoever that is, in the meantime."

Sam frowned in disappointment. "That was it?" And I wonder what she meant by 'in the meantime'…

"And they gave me something to give to anyone from Hexa I could find."

That! "Do you still have it?"

"I already gave it to that director guy from earlier. Why?"

Phew. "Never mind, that's probably for the best. I'll expect they tell us if it was something we need to know." That means that not only Rex wanted whatever it was Kerry had, it means Kaylen might also have been expecting something else but freaked out when she heard of a mole. And maybe it explains why Kaylen got labeled as a take-down target- even Eryx was oddly okay with that.

"You're scheming again," Kerry interrogated with her head cocked slightly, arms crossed. "I'd say out with it, but can we sleep on this, first?"

Sam laughed, feeling completely exposed. "I shouldn't be laughing, I'm sorry. Yes, good idea. Hey, you want to stay here?"

"Oh, yeah, there are two beds here."

"I'd feel a hell of a lot better if you didn't mind," Sam openly admitted, letting out a nasal chuckle. "Ironic, maybe, but as safe as we are supposed to feel in the most secure country within the SAU…"

"I guess I don't blame you. Thanks," Kerry half-smiled, thinking once again to refrain from asking the source of Sam's fears. The feelings, however, were still mutual. "I definitely would feel better myself, having zero clue what I walked into here."

.

The two continued out the last of their small talk over the next five minutes, but as they turned out for the night, Sam immediately found herself stuck on one thought:

Sebastian…

Unable to sleep after tossing and turning, she checked her mobile to see if he ever read her last message, still seeing it unread. Holding in a frustrated grumble, she tossed over once more, trying to force out her locked-in thoughts of self-pity.

I have to stop feeling like I've been left. I still have someone here who wants to stick it out to the end. I'm not alone… at least not yet. I have to make this last push count.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.