| "Fragile Trust" | ||
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Outside of the Dacha 0755 hours Paige stood leaning against a tree as the rising sun cleared away the rest of the mist that had settled during the waning hours of the night. Her stomach did a few little turns as she concentrated on just listening to things around her. Guilt. That's what it was. She felt guilty because a couple hundred yards away Jaime's eyescope on his rifle was watching her and the area around her. She hadn't come alone, had not been allowed to come alone, and she felt guilty about it. But why should she? She didn't know the Moonlighter, didn't know him really. Yeah, they had met before, hell, he had helped her out of Club Samovar that night, but she didn't really know him. Not the kind of knowing someone that entailed knowing their favorite beer, favorite color, or even something simple, like their name. She didn't know him enough that she should feel guilty. But maybe that wasn't really it at all. There was just a little something there, deep inside. Not like the discordant little note that resonated through her when she was around Joshua, it was different. Different because she felt like the Moonlighter was a lot like her, burdened by a mask of stableness that hid a deeper emotion that burned inside. An emotion of passion that wanted to do the right thing yet was always forced to squash it down, bury it, hide it, force it into submission and bend it under the wills of others. Trapped. Maybe he was just as trapped as she was? Maybe that's why she felt the desire to trust him and the resultant guilt that had been fostered onto her. She heard a scuffle and her dark green eyes flicked up to see him coming towards her. She kept still as he slowly advanced watching her carefully. Now that she saw him again, the trust was shallower than her thoughts might have led her to believe. It wasn't a deep trust. It wasn't a trust that required placing your life in someone else's hand. That kind of trust needed more time to develop, more time to take root and grow. She merely desired to trust him, and that was perhaps just a little more scarier. That desire to trust, to believe in the better parts of people until proven wrong, had betrayed her before, had gotten her hurt both physically and emotionally. How many times before had she sworn to herself that she wouldn't trust? How many times would it take for her to finally get it through her head? He moved closer to her and she could see his eyes narrowing as he studied her face, and she made no attempt to hide her expression. She pushed herself off the tree to stand in front of him. He tilted his head slightly still not sure as to the meaning behind her expression. She pulled the gun holstered to her thigh out slowly, never taking her eyes off his and held it out. "You're not alone," he said softly. "No," she whispered shaking her head as she watched him stiffen slightly. "Take it..." she pulled the comm off her ear, still amazed at her hand's dexterity with the cast, and held that out as well, "and my comms." "Sniper?" he asked. "Best in the world," she said softly, almost apologetically. "They wouldn't let me come alone, I didn't have a choice other than not meeting you." "You gave your word," he remarked. "That I did. But consider their position..." "We did," he cut her off, "when we made the decision for me to come alone." She winced slightly with his remark but quickly recovered. "Then you're better at negotiating with your superiors then I am, Moonlighter. I had no intentions of leading my team into a blood bath and this was the only way I could come here to talk to you." He stared at her but said nothing. "This is how it is. Take it or leave it." She still held out the offered weapon and comms as he considered the situation. What would she do if she were in his place? Would she take that tiny shred of trust that may have existed between them to risk this? Probably not. "Keep your weapon," he said finally. He was a better person than she. "Thank you," she said quietly as she holstered her weapon. She still held the comms in her hand though. "So?" he asked. "We still want Petrenko dead." He nodded, "in return?" "What do you want?" "What are you offering?" She shook her head, "you asked the question surely you have something in mind." "Time," he said simply. Time? Why would he want time? "What kind of time?" "Two days. Tomorrow night you can have him. We'll make no effort to stop you." "Tonight," Paige countered. He shook his head, "tomorrow night." Then he added, "take it or leave it." She smiled at the comment. "Take it." "Good," he smiled back. "You have one of my team mates," she stated evenly. "Nice girl," he said grinning. "She's alright," Paige shrugged with a grin. At least, she thought, Bella was safe then. "I just have this thing about keeping my team alive, you know?" He nodded. "Well, you do have one of ours." "That's true. He's safe. Uncomfortable and refuses to speak, but safe." "Well, I appreciate that. Even exchange?" "Of course. Tonight?" "Same place, midnight?" "Done," Paige said with a small nod. She was glad the meet was to take place at night. She didn't want to be tramping around the woods, so close to the Dacha, with a prisoner in broad daylight. She didn't like leaving Bella in their hands either, but somehow she knew the Moonlighter would keep her safe and not beat her�or do worse things to her. "You know, if we keep meeting like this people are going to start to wonder," he said with a sly smile. She grinned, "ah, quite the scandal." "Indeed," he nodded. "You," she said looking to him thoughtfully, "are part of a highly trained team of nameless soldiers, yet, they won't tell me about you," she said evenly but softly. "And I'm not sure if that worries me or not." "I don't think we're supposed to really know about each other," he said studying her. "No, I don't think that's it. I mean, why would they send us to meet in New York? Why risk exposing either of us if they didn't want us...our teams...to eventually meet?" "And we were supposed to meet like this?" he scoffed. "Of course not, this was coincidence...or bad intel. I think the higher ups wanted us to meet eventually, but not like this, not on..." "Opposite sides," he finished her sentence. "But they wouldn't let you come alone," he countered. "Yeah, well, when I said higher ups I didn't mean my direct report. Maybe..." she looked to him, studying him, "maybe we're supposed to work together at some point." "That would be a first, your side and mine working together." "It's a big dangerous world out there. If two men of power, one on my side, one on yours, decided to pool their resources, exchange intel, weapons, people, could you imagine the advantage in that? Could you imagine the possibilities of having an international team of highly trained operatives working together?" He studied her intently for a moment before shaking his head. "You're an optimist, Trouble. I thought you might be a couple things...but not that." She smiled. "Well, maybe I'd just like to hang out and have a beer with you without having a weapon shoved in my face." He laughed softly, "well, being that your name suits you well, I think hanging out with you might be dangerous." Paige grinned. "Understood. But still, we did good today. We saved a lot of people from getting dead." He nodded his agreement. "Do you think all negotiations go this way?" "No," he said shaking his head, "I don't think any negotiations have or ever will in the history of negotiations ever go like this." "Good, because I hate being unoriginal." "I kind of figured that out. I'll see you tonight, Trouble." "Moonlighter," she stopped him before he turned away. "I never got to thank you for New York." "You would have done the same," he smiled. "Well, maybe one day I'll get to return the favor." "Maybe," he smiled and nodded then turned to leave. She watched him for a moment before fitting her comms into its former place. "Alpha Six you still with me?" "Yeah, have a nice chat?" Jaime asked. "Actually," she grinned, "I did." But something irked her anyway about the meet, about the Moonlighter. He knew more than he was letting on. She felt this instinctively. Perhaps, he couldn't tell her? She wondered then as she walked silently back to where her and Jaime had separated, who the Moonlighter answered to, who pulled his proverbial strings as Jaime had said. Who are you Moonlighter? she thought to the night air. The leaves rustled the tiniest bit in a soft breeze, but if it was some sort of answer, she didn't understand it. She didn't need to though, she would find out on her own. Somehow, she would find out exactly who he was. Return |
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