The cohort had never seen James so subdued before. He was arrogant and quiet in nature, but today he seemed a little off. In disdain or distracted maybe. They would be lying if they said James cared about dying on the mission. They all knew he was hell bent on doing his best to serve humanity, even if that meant losing his life for them.
After he stood up and left, the table was quiet again. In the end, it was Oliver who broke the silence.
"Poor guy. He must be going trough a lot right now. You know, his fiancé and stuff."
"Yeah must be hard on him."
Rose-Anne was awfully quiet all this time. Oliver and Madison did not know whether she was thinking the same thing or knew exactly what was bothering him. They looked at each other and gestured to her. In the end, it was Madison who spoke.
"Rose, what are you thinking?"
She looked at Madison calmly and said evenly.
"That boy, Benjamin, how long have you known him?"
"Since high school, why?"
Rose shrugged.
"No reason in particular. He's just so fascinating and particular. He has got some guts I'll tell you that, but he is not wrong either. We do have to pull ourselves together if we want to emerge victorious from this mission. I mean it is just a disease that kills people in their sleep, then what of it? Are we supposed to cower in fear?"
She sighed.
"Then what would happen to the innocent people in Australia, waiting to salvation? Are they supposed to keep on killing each other in order to survive? By the looks of it, they will not even survive the end of this month. And do not get me started on this disease thing. We still do not know anything about it, so there is no guarantee that we would be safe even if we chose to do nothing."
She chuckled.
"You know, that boy, I have only known him for about a week and he has already left a deep impression on me. Ever since the first meeting we met if I'm quite honest. For crying out loud, that boy has been called not once but twice in the Major's office. Who gets into that much trouble in just a week?"
She contemplated something for a few moments, and then continued.
"What i am trying to say is he still right though, even though he comes off as rude and a bit demented. But he still speaks the truth. He gave me a lot to think about, regarding this mission, especially after our first meeting. I'm sure James and Major Black did too. That's probably the reason..."
Her tone had dropped until it was barely an audible whisper at that point. Then all of a sudden, the words died on her throat. It wss like she suddenly remembered or realized something she had perhaps overlooked. One would never really know what that woman was thinking. She was unreadable.
She suddenly stormed off and left the room as well. The whole situation was weird and confusing.
Madison and Oliver did not really know what to say to each other at that point, so they finished eating in somber silence. Then went about their day.
***
"I have to say, I was so surprised when I received your message. What exactly do you need from me Benjamin?"
Benji and James sat across each other on a round table, refreshments placed on the table before them. It was a café isolated deeper into the city, so they were not at the Military Base at the moment. Nor were they wearing their military gear. The waiter placed a muffin and a cappuccino in front of Benji, and just a plain glass of water in front of James.
She bowed slightly and left, leaving them alone once more.
He sighed.
"I know we are not exactly the best of friends, or just friends for that matter, but there is something important I would like to discuss with you. I needed someone i could trust, so I decided on you. So can I trust you, James?"
James looked around the café and frowed.
"But why here? I don't get it. We only have two days before we leave for the mission. Can't this wait until we at least leave?"
Benji looked around cautiously amd then leaned foward a little.
"I do not know if they are watching or listening right now, but i doubt they are. We still need to be careful though. I chose this place because it is far off from the base, so they will not be able to spy on us. Listen James the base is not safe and I need to know if I can trust you or not."
James looked at him for a few moments without saying anything, and then simply nodded.
"Okay, thank you. But before we begin, please make sure your communicator is switched off, or all of this will just be for nothing. Just trust me James, okay? You do not wish to lose your head before this mission even begins, would you?"
James wanted to retort, but then decided against it. What if he was really trustworthy? He had never seen Benjamin panic this much before - even though they have known each other for a few days - but he did sense that something was truly wrong. If he just wanted a date, he would not have brought him in a café like this. So he switched off his special communicator.
"Okay so please listen carefully, James. You have to keep this information to yourself, and most importantly, you have to remember it. This is literally a matter of life and death, but it is a difficult case to crack, because some forces are messing with us. So we need to test something and if it succeeds, we will know exactly who the killer is."
James raised an eyebrow.
"You and who? The killer?"
"Please avoid asking too many questions. It will put me in an awkward position. I need to ask you though, have we had this conversation before?"
James titled his head.
"Uhm no? I don't think so."
"Well good. This means that it has not gotten too serious."
"If you do not mind me asking, what the hell are you talking about Benjamin?"
Benji was silent for a long while and then just simply shrugged.
"We believe that there is something deeper and far more harrowing happening in Australia we are not aware of. Well, all of this was just a theory, but the more we observed the footages sent from the Southern Regions, we were able to come to a suitable conclusion."
He leaned foward and said in an ominous tone.
"We found a major breakthrough pertaining the disease and its victims, but we cannot share it because... well, we were simply not supposed to find out. Just as i had suspected, the government hid far more disturbing information that even General's personal cohort is not supposed to know. So we are currently being suppressed by those forces i spoke about."
His tone dropped.
"Not just me and partner alone, but the rest of the soldiers as well. We still do not know how they found a way to suppress us, or the methods they used, but it is truly disturbing. Just think about, the confusing and the murders, this is not a coincidence. So listen closely and I will tell you everything we found. But be sure first that this is the first time i am telling you this."
James did not say anything, he simply nodded and listened intently.
What Benji told him next made him pale and almost fall of his chair.
'No way!'