| "No Time to Linger" | ||
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June 13, 2008 Safehouse 1 0650 hours She walked into Rebecca's office with more confidence than she really felt. The debrief had been over long ago, but as yet they hadn't been told they were free to go. Rebecca indicated a seat; she sat down slowly, composing her face into a stillness that would give nothing away. She didn't have long to wait before the reason she had been summoned was made clear. "I thought you would rather be kept busy, rather than having time on your hands." Rebecca's voice was tense; she could pick up the tightness in the tones underlying the words. Did Rebecca think that she would suddenly go berserk? She had no idea of how to respond, or even what was required of her; instead she nodded her agreement, thinking it would be the lesser of two evils, though she didn't know what she was letting herself in for. It seemed to clear the air; Rebecca seemed less tense, and even smiled a little. "I have a task for you and one other member of staff; it requires good language and computer skills, not to mention diplomacy. Despite your `problem' in the past, you are the ideal candidate for the job." Saf was puzzled, but didn't say anything. Rebecca continued, "an audit needs carrying out, and we have been asked to send someone. I would have sent Gray, but he is otherwise occupied." That made sense to her, she would have expected Gray to have been in charge, and come to think of it, she hadn't seen him around for a few hours. ".. you can choose the person to take with you, access to all available staff records has been granted to you, along with a brief outline of the task. When you have selected someone, I will brief you fully on the details in full," Rebecca paused, "Do you have any questions?" Saf shook her head before she had given it another thought. Her mind was already racing ahead. Of course it would be her old friend and partner Paige who would go with her. Rebecca dismissed her with a wave of the hand; she stood up slowly and walked to the doorway. Rebecca spoke as she put her hand on the door to open it, "I know words can't help take away the pain of losing Sebastian, but what we do here is important, and you all make a difference. He won't be forgotten." It was the right thing for Rebecca to have said, but she didn't even acknowledge the words that had been spoken. Instead she slipped through the door and into the corridor beyond. She found herself a spare office and closed the door behind her; peace and quiet surrounded her. She logged into the computer systems, she found a file with Rebecca's notes in it. The audit was on behalf of the Advisor of Homeland Security, Jackson Wellington. He had been involved in the Backlash Casefile, had been there at the briefing; tall black guy, deep voice. It didn't give details of where they were going; only that skill in languages and computing was going to be important, particularly Chinese. That had her puzzled, she didn't think that there was any current issues either involving or implicating the Chinese, so what could be going on? She sighed heavily, yawning tiredly and scrolled through the available staff; she checked a second time, but Paige's name wasn't there. She couldn't quite believe that wasn't an oversight, how could they have earmarked her for something else already, then she saw that Bella's name wasn't there either. Davenport, Mai, Cindy, Dennis, Timothy, Jordan were the names she knew from the available staff, though others were on there. She took her time, thoroughly going through each dossier and making mental notes of abilities and skills. It was hard to make a decision, but eventually she was down to a short list of three, Jordan, Mai and Davenport. Without much information as to the task at hand, she resorted to what she knew of them, and it was obvious to her, that Jordan would be her partner of choice; though she hoped that Jordan would feel the same way. She closed the files, after emailing her choice to Rebecca, and headed for the lounge, she needed a shot of caffeine to keep her awake, the thought of sleep was not an attraction; it left her mind too much time to think. The lounge was light and airy, and empty but the coffee was fresh and hot. She poured herself a mug and sat on a couch thinking about how to tell Jordan she had been `volunteered' for a task. She was lost in her thoughts when Jordan interrupted her to ask her "When was the last time you ate?" Food, who wanted food, she couldn't eat anything anyway, not after the events of the past night. She shrugged her shoulders, "I'm not hungry." She hadn't taken into account Jordan's sensibility and lost the argument fast. Jordan had her on her feet in moments, taking no account of how much coffee had been in her mug, "Oh yes you are. Come on, I'm sure we can get a chocolate cake whipped up for us or something with ice cream." Chocolate cake? She was thinking about chocolate cake, was she completely mad? She sighed lightly, "Do you know what time it is?" she asked her. Jordan looked down at her wrist, but there was no watch there, she shrugged, "No, but does it matter?" Saf spoke softly, "It's the morning, cake is not breakfast." Jordan smiled, and responded swiftly "Well we haven't slept yet, so it isn't breakfast. You can have whatever you want, but I'm having cake." Saf couldn't help it, Jordan was always in good humour, and she chuckled, "Fine, let's go." They walked down to the cafeteria together, Jordan listing the possible types of cake that might be available from Black Forest Gateaux to chocolate fudge cake. Saf didn't need to talk, which suited her, she just ambled alongside Jordan. Jordan made her way to the counter, "Do you have any chocolate cake?" The chef smiled at the request but his response was negative, "Afraid not, but we have brownies." Jordan looked over at her, "Will brownies work?" Anything, it would taste of nothing to her, so why not, "Yup." "You want ice cream with em?" Jordan interrupted her thoughts That was something that she could well do without, she shook her head, "No." Jordan turned back to the chef, "Brownies it is, one with ice cream though please," he nodded his head and turned away to get them their food. Saf walked over and picked up some forks and napkins, while Jordan grabbed a table and sat down at it. When the brownies were put in front of them, she tentatively put her fork in and took a piece putting it in her mouth. The sugary sweetness was good, her tongue enjoying the sensation and surprisingly it slid down to her stomach easily. They sat there silently, eating slowly and it was clear to Saf that Jordan was fighting sleep, she was blinking a lot and her attention span was shortening. She was just debating on saying something when Jordan got in there first. "I think this lack of sleep is finally catching up with me," she said to Saf with a huge yawn. Saf nodded, "Well, then you should go sleep." She could discuss the idea of them teaming up later. Jordan yawned again, "Good idea, I'll catch ya later," she replied getting up, she stumbled slightly as Saf watched but she made it to the lifts. Saf stayed where she was, too tired to move, she laid her head down on the table; she would move shortly; her eyelids shut of their own accord and she surrendered to morpheus. 11.00hrs She felt someone touching her shoulder; it was one of the admin staff. "I'm sorry to wake you, but the word has just gone out, you are free to go home." Saf smiled, and stretched. She was stiff and sore from being in one position for too long, but staying here was not attractive. She thanked them with a smile and got up, walking away slowly while debating where to go. It didn't occur to her then, that it was strange that someone would wake her and tell her she was free to go; it didn't occur to her until much later and then she would simply dismiss it. She drove home slowly, along the bay, it was a bright day. Full of sunshine and the smell of the water was enticing, she didn't want to go home and be alone, so she sat at an outside table on a harbour front caf� and drank coffee slowly until her stomach rebelled at the thought of more caffeine, she was jittery enough. She left a tip for the service, and walked the short distance home and changed into her exercise clothes and headed off to the track. 15.30hrs An hour of pounding the track got rid of her tensions, and she started her cool down routine, ending up with a slow walk back to the apartment. She showered the sweat and salt from her body, and got redressed in t- shirt and shorts; she sat on the balcony and watched the boats moving out on the water. Her cell-phone rang, insistently; she picked it up and pressed the button, "Safara?" It was Rebecca, she replied automatically, "Yes" "We will need you and Jordan a little earlier than I had thought. I will see you on Sunday at 10.00am." and just like that the line was disconnected. She laughed, some things never changed. She dialled Jordan's cell-phone, it was answered very quickly, by a sleepy voice. "mmm Yes" "Jordan, its Saf. Just to give you heads up on a task we are on the slate for. Hope you didn't have plans for the weekend?" Jordan was wide awake by now, "What is is?" "All I know is that it involves doing an audit, but no more than that. Rebecca wants to see us 10.00hrs Sunday." Saf held back on saying she was responsible for selecting Jordan; she would do that when the moment was right. "That's ok," Jordan responded lightly, "I had dinner planned, but I can rearrange it." "Good, I'll see you at SH1 then. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Bye." She hung up, cutting the line dead between them before Jordan could say anything else. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk; she just didn't want to have Jordan say anything about Baz. She put the cellphone back on the table, and curled up on the couch. Return |
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