And finally we come to the conclusion of chapter 9, many weeks behind schedule. Character thoughts that are usually in italics are in regular script because I'm feeling lazy.
~~~~~~
Thompson slumped forward in his seat, sagging against the restraints that held him upright and in place. The girl with the skirt and glasses tore her hands away from his head reluctantly and dabbed at the blood under nose. She examined it perfunctorily before licking it clean.
‘Thank you, Mari,” Saito said with a polite nod.
“My pleasure.”
To no one in particular, again the Asian businessman said, “We’ll get a cleanup crew in here shortly. No one will ever know he existed. Thank you, Mr. Cobb, Mr. Arthur, Mr. Eames; you have done an excellent job.”
Arthur folded his arms and shifted his glance from Saito to Thompson, a thin stream of drool hanging from his lower lip. Saito motioned for Mari to follow him and they turned to leave.
“What exactly did we keep him from leaking?” Arthur asked.
Saito and Mari stopped dead. Eames and Cobb jerked their heads toward him.
“What’s so important that we had to do everything but kill two men for?”
“Why, the Angels, Mr. Arthur. If knowledge of the Angels ever became public, we would have global panic on our hands, one of the magnitude that followed Second Impact.”
“Why would Thompson want to let it out?”
Arthur refused to look at either Cobb or Eames who were shoot daggers at him. He remained fixed upon the back of Saito’s head
“Because he is insane.”
Saito waited for Arthur to say anything – anything – but a long moment passed in silence, which he took for acceptance. Saito signaled again to Mari and they left the room. When they were safely out of earshot, he said to Mari, “Remind me to keep an eye on that one.”
“I don’t understand why you didn’t just let me handle him.”
“Because he is a skilled Extractor. Cobb trusts him with his life. Cobb is the best there is and the only one we can rely on.”
“I thought you said we couldn’t rely on anyone?”
With a wry smile, Saito ruffled her hair. “You catch on quick.”
-
Ritsuko had had quite the week. First the Angel attack. While it had almost been a failure, the Core of the Fourth Angel hadn’t been damaged significantly, allowing the MAGI to run a thorough scan of its structure; the data gleaned now ran on a continuous feed to her personal terminal – a ceaseless feed of 1’s and 0’s. Then the Third Child ran away and was missing for…she didn’t actually know how long he’d been gone. And now she had two days to solve any remaining problems with Unit 00 before they attempted to synchronize it with Rei again.
Like anything I can do will make a difference. It’s an Eva, not a machine. What the hell am I supposed to do with it?
She drank her coffee angrily, ignoring the scalding of the inside of her mouth, needing the caffeine if she was going to get anything done today. She sighed. I need a cigarette. After hunting around her desk for an empty space to set her mug, Ritsuko had to root through her papers to find the damn carton .
Figures. Never around when I need the damn things. Huh? What’s this?
It was a manila envelope, small enough so that only an index card could be slid inside. She most certainly did not remember this being here before; as much of a mess as it seemed, Ritsuko knew where everything was located (except the cigarettes).
“Maya? Are you out there?”
“Yes, sempai. What is it?”
“Nothing. Just…wait right there.”
In case it’s a bomb or poison or something.
Very carefully, she opened the folder. Nothing happened. Well, what had she expected? Working in secret for so many years had turned her paranoid. Inside was a small card, not much bigger than a standard business card. On one side was the holographic logo of ENCOM. On the reverse was a handwritten note – almost chicken scratch, but she recognized the script.
This might come in handy soon.
- Flynn,
Curious, the blond tipped the remaining contents into her hand. An old flash drive memory stick. It, too, was embossed with the ENCOM logo.
“Maya, are you still out there?”
“Yes, sempai.”
“Come in here, and bring your laptop. I want to see something.”
Maya appeared less than a minute later dutifully and handed her computer to her impatient mentor. As soon as the drive was inserted into the USB port, a window opened displaying pages of data. At first she didn’t understand; the mathematics being shown to her were purely theoretical, far beyond the scope of – suddenly it clicked.
“Take a look at this, Maya!” She practically shoved the screen in her student’s face. Like herself, the revelation was slow coming.
“What…what is this?”
“A gift,” she said. “A gift from an old friend.”
