A little later we were back in our room discussing our plan to set up a meet with Rick, when a knock on the door surprised us. I opened the door to find Markus immediately striding into our room.
“Sir?" I stood aside to let him pass, wondering what he wanted.
“When are you planning to make contact?”
There was no beating about the bush with Markus. If he needed to know something he would ask straight up. I was a little put out as he would normally just check with a text, so there must be something going on.
“We're contacting him this afternoon to set something up as soon as possible, as discussed.”
I emphasised the latter, to hint that everything was under control.
“Good. We noticed some unusual activity and we're getting worried they're about to relocate. Even if Rick didn't want to, I doubt he would have much say over whether they are leaving or not, so we must make sure this meet happens ASAP.”
“Yes Sir, understood." I reassured him.
“Anything else, Markus?" I prompted, though I knew he would come out with it anyway.
“Yes." He shot a sideways glance to Eliza and I knew instantly what was coming.
“Alice." I pre-empted.
He nodded.
“What do you reckon, Zack? How long do we need her here for?”
I felt Eliza's temperature shoot up in agitation.
“She needs to go home. We don't need her here anymore." I decided.
I knew that wouldn't go down well with Eliza, but it was exactly what Markus wanted to hear and it was the right thing to do at that moment.
“What do you mean?" she piped up.
“Now, you used her you will just kick her out? Is that how...”
I cut her off.
“Not now, Eliza. We'll discuss this later." I said sternly.
To her credit, she did stop but she could not hide her anger. Markus moved towards the door satisfied nonetheless.
“I'll get Laura to make arrangements. She'll be gone by this evening.”
He glanced over to Eliza.
“Be assured that we are enormously grateful to your mum and that you two can meet again as soon as the mission is over. We just have to be practical now and minimise risk factors. Nothing personal.”
He went, leaving me to deal with the consequences. Probably not the best timing just before we had to make contact with Rick. I needed Eliza to focus so I had to talk to her straight away. She was about to burst anyway.
“Before you blow your top off at me Eliza, I'm sorry we had to do this in front of you.”
She took a breath to start her reply but I carried on quickly.
“She'll be looked after by Laura and she can always contact us. We need to concentrate on the mission so we have to minimise any distractions. Mission first, remember. We did agree to pull her out after first contact was made. That was actually one of the things you made us promise."
I studied her face and posture and although she was still cross and disappointed, I could see she understood. She knew it was the right thing to do. It was just as well I could tell what she really felt because she wasn't ready to admit that to me at all.
“But we hadn't agreed to just throw her out and send her packing! It's just such bollocks." she hissed.
“I suppose I do get to say goodbye to her at least.”
“That depends on whether you can talk to me in a respectful manner, Mankuzay." I reminded her of her place.
She didn't need much reminding, the punishment regime still fresh in her memory.
“Can I please say goodbye to her, Sir?" she tried again.
“We'll do so straight after we set up the meet." I agreed.
CHAPTER 41
Even though I understood why my mum had to go home, I couldn't help feeling angry with Zack and Markus. They talked about her as if she was nothing but a cog in the machine and I hated that. This mission comes first bullshit didn't come naturally to me. I was just not trained to think that way.
I knew Zack was pleased I didn't accost Markus and that I had stopped when he'd cut me off, but I still hadn't been able to stop myself from being rude to him. I was lucky we had to arrange the meet I think, or Zack may have made more of it and I would have found myself being punished again, and not been able to see my mum off. Anyhow, it was decided now and there was nothing I could do about it so I needed to concentrate on my task ahead.
I sent my father a text asking when it would be convenient to ring. I wanted to be the one to phone him so I was mentally prepared, and not be caught on the hop. It wasn't quite to happen like that because, as soon as I had sent the message, he rang me back straight away. My heart skipped a beat and I could hardly breathe.
“No time like the present." he said on the other end of the phone.
“I'm so pleased you have contacted me. Does this mean you would like to meet up with me?”
He sounded rather hopeful and I felt a bit guilty. Though, it had to be like this because if he needed to be extracted from a tricky situation he had got himself into, the less he knew, the better. However, my gut kept niggling at me, questioning the amount of freedom he seemed to have, making it difficult to believe he was acting under duress. We had no idea though, so we had to keep an open mind.
“I would like that." I said a little hesitantly.
“When would you be free to have a cup of coffee or something?" I
