“They seemed real concerned about it,” Jack replies, a slight crook at the left side of his mouth. “I wanted to reassure them.”
“Very considerate of you,” I comment wryly.
Jack tips his head at me, shifting in his seat until he finds a more languid position to settle in. Most people would look relaxed, but Jack just reminds me of a predator attempting to seem unthreatening to his prey. Someone should have told him he’s not very good at pretending to be harmless.
Maybe they did. OI might do performance reviews.
“I certainly thought so.”
Another senior agent might clear their throat to get a couple of junior agents to shut up and pay attention. But all North has to do is sit forward in his seat, the swivel chair creaking slightly from the movement.
I shift my gaze away from Jack and refocus on North. He doesn’t appear particularly annoyed to have needed to draw our awareness back to him, but sometimes it can be difficult to tell with North. He’s very good at maintaining a professional façade in front of his subordinates. It’s only because Damon has told me how his father can sometimes completely lose his cool when arguing with his son that I know he’s capable of more extreme reactions.
"You are both here to receive a full briefing about the unit you have now been made a part of,” North states, eyes travelling from me to Jack. “And to reacquaint yourselves with each other before you’re sent out on a mission.”
That’s a very polite way of putting it.
When neither of us responds, North takes it as an indicator to carry on and launches into his explanation of the unit and its objectives.
“You are both, of course, familiar with the organisation known as Obsidian Inc. This unit will focus on maintaining the surveillance and repeated assessment of known scientists, Liquid Onyx survivors, and other such assets we know OI has an interest in hiring, manipulating, blackmailing, or extorting into working for them.”
This is about what I expected. It makes sense, as Jack would have intimate knowledge of OI’s practices.
“How many other agents are going to be in the unit?” I ask.
“Two,” North answers. “We have one R&D agent, Rohan Sathe, and an analyst agent, Dru Nash.”
I’ve not worked with Dru Nash before, but I’ve heard she’s highly skilled and well sought after in her chosen field despite her young age. I’m glad to have someone around who might aid me in containing the powder keg of hostility which exists between Rohan and Jack.
“When will we have a meeting with the full unit?” I ask.
North sits forward, arms resting on the table’s shiny metal surface.
“Today,” he answers succinctly. “They should be arriving in a few minutes.”
It’s rare to have such a small team, especially when taking on a heavyweight target like Obsidian Inc.
“The two of you will be the only field agents remanded to this unit exclusively,” North adds, “but there will be others who will be brought in if they are needed for any particular mission. Agent Damon North, for example.”
Ah, that makes more sense. I’m immediately reassured to hear I’ll have Damon for backup if required.
Jack turns his head to look at me again with his brows raised in query.
“Is Damon the one who helped you to abduct me?”
My attention snaps over to him.
“I did not abduct you. I stopped you from abducting Rohan.”
“Yes,” Jack replies too easily. “Byabductingme.” And there it is.
I shake my head at him, unwilling to continue with this argument. I can tell by the slightly amused uptick of his mouth that he’s taking the piss. He seems pleased to have succeeded in rankling me with his mock accusation.
Thankfully, I’m saved from having to find some way of responding when the door opens, revealing Rohan and an attractive Black woman in her mid-twenties.
Dru Nash has curly dark hair tied back with a burgundy hairband and a pair of thick, round-rimmed glasses on her face.
Rohan is wearing a white lab coat and holds a large tablet in his hands. He catches my eye as soon as he enters the room and offers a slight curl of his lips, more of a sardonic smirk than anything friendly. I resist the automatic urge to flip him off.
