When he heard the water reach a rolling boil, August used a wet rag to remove the kettle from the fire, and poured the piping hot water into a bowl over a brick of ramen noodles broken in half. He let them soak for a minute before tearing open the flavor packet, dumping it in, and mixing it around with his fork.
August used to really enjoy ramen. At times, it ranked top tier amongst his favorite foods. He’d lived off the stuff while in high school and throughout college and just about any other time when it made monetary sense. At anywhere from ten to twenty cents per packet, depending on the brand, even the destitute could afford them, but after eating them day in and day out for weeks on end, like so many other things in his life, he was beginning to lose interest. August had been looking forward to returning home so he could add some variety back into his meal plan, and now it appeared that wasn’t going to happen, for whatever fucking reason.
“August?” a voice called from behind him. “Oh, sorry to bother you, man. I didn’t mean to interrupt your dinner; I know how much you look forward to your noodles.”
August rotated to see Agent Gil Norris on the approach. “Yet you’ve done so anyway. Must be pretty damn pressing.”
“Might be. I’ll let you decide that. Coefficient Team just reported in…they had themselves a bit of a discovery today.”
August entangled some ramen in his fork and blew on them before taking a bite, opting to answer with his mouth full. “A discovery so crucial that it can’t wait until after dinner?”
“Jesus, man. What gives? I’ve let you be since Sunday, figured your mood might’ve changed for the better by now. Guess it hasn’t.”
“Accurate deduction,” August said, “but being fair, it isn’t you this time. I’m over what happened the other day. I’m just…very displeased in general.”
“What’s got you heated this time? Or should I say who?”
Staring down at his bowl, August sighed. “Say whatever you came to say, Gil.”
“Okay. Charlie Team was evidently bored to death today, so they took themselves on a hike and did some sightseeing. Along the way, they had an encounter and, well, we, uh…got ourselves another prisoner.”
“Do we?” August snorted. “And how old is she this time?”
“Actually, it’s a he. And he’s probably ten or so years older than the oldest one we got.”
August set his bowl down. “Maybe you should explain this to me…in full detail.”
“Don’t get your panties in a wad over this, okay?” Gil prodded. “We didn’t go looking for him; this guy came to us. And the fucker was armed, strolled right up to our guys with a Glock on his hip and a shouldered carbine. Said he was looking for those missing girls, and he knew we had them. Then he threatened to shoot both agents.”
“Both?” August prompted. “Coefficient’s roster contains the names of four field agents.”
“Correct. But our accoster didn’t know that. The other two flanked him and took his guns away and detained him. They…had some words with him, and there was a struggle. And they—”
“They beat the shit out of him.”
Gil shrugged. “Well, yeah.”
“Four on one?”
“More or less.”
“Goddammit, Gil! A mid-twenties male isn’t even a blip on our radar! How could we allow something like this to happen?”
“Hey, didn’t you hear what I said? He came to us, not the other way around. What were they supposed to do? Give themselves up? Lay down their guns? Stand there with their hands in the air and charitably await the recitation of their Miranda rights?”
August sighed and kicked his bowl of ramen into the fire. “How bad is he?”
“He’s…not that bad,” Gil said. “They’re saying his eye is cut, his face is bruised pretty bad, and his jaw might be a little messed up. Wouldn’t have been nearly as bad if he hadn’t put up such a fight. Evidently the fucker went all feral on them.”
“Where is he now?”
“On his way here, about five minutes out. I thought it best to stick him in the trailer with the others until we figure out what to do with him, unless you object.”
“Like it would make any difference.” August gestured for Gil to lead the way, and followed him to the forestry road, where a set of headlights could now be seen breaking through the trees. He handed Gil the printout he’d brought along. “While we wait, take a gander at this. Tell me what you make of it.”
Gil looked left to August’s hand. He took hold of the paper and extracted his flashlight to view it. “What the hell is it?”
“An urgent communiqué from HQ, the kind that prints automatically when it’s received. Came in about an hour ago…it regards an…extension to our plans.”
“An extension, huh?” Gil read the text, looking aghast. “What the hell? This doesn’t make a damn bit of sense…we’re running out of everything but ammo, and now we’re stuck here? Camping out like bushmen? Until when?”
“Doesn’t specify.”
“Dammit! My back has been killing me. I was really looking forward to sleeping on my mattress.”
“You and me both,” August said, almost sniggering. “Like you said, Gil, we follow orders. And these are our orders. Looks like we’re bushmen.”
“Dammit…you know, I used to enjoy camping, but this sort of camping bites the big one,” Gil griped. “It’s too much work worrying about who might be watching us from the hills. You think this might be your wife’s doing?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. I’ve been trying to imagine what possible reason she could have for wanting to keep us out here as we are. I haven’t come up with any.”
“That’s odd, because I just did,” Gil said. “Maybe she’s conniving something. And she doesn’t want anyone around close to her who can catch her in the act. A no-witnesses kind
