Drink Me

2. RAIN

RAIN

Riley jumped at the loud thud of a heavy yellow envelope being dropped on his desk, he looked away from his screen to meet the accomplished smile of his colleague Simon.

"What the hell, mate?" he complained. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

Simon chuckled and gave out an apologetic look to the other people in the office that had been disturbed by his action.

"Sorry, you were just too focused, I had to do it. You make a weird face when you're deep into your work, you know?"

Riley frowned briefly, disturbed by the idea of being observed.

"Do you actually have a point or you're bothering me for the sake of it?" He retorted, still annoyed.

Simon flashed a perfect smile, his white teeth shining against his dark skin.

"I do have a point, mate. And you're gonna love me..."

Riley gave an exasperated look. He had wasted enough time and had no patience for this useless suspense.

Simon ignored his sour behaviour and continued, lowering his voice.

"We've finally received the conversations from the ISIL..."

Riley's eyes widened.

The agency had been waiting for that intel since he had joined GCHQ six months before. The terrorist group was their top priority but they had had little luck in obtaining enough material to put together the pieces.

"Why are you telling me?" Riley looked around, cautious.

Simon was an audio analyst and his job was very different from Riley's, they had very strict rules of confidentiality and were not supposed to share information with one another.

His colleague leaned forward and lowered his voice even more.

"Stevens asked me to identify a data scientist I would trust to partner with..."

Riley's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Why?"

Simon glanced around again then nodded towards the empty kitchenette beside them.

The men walked inside the room and closed the door.

"They need all hands on deck, Murphy. This shit is big, they want it sorted ASAP, top priority!"

"Why are you telling me this and not Stevens?" Riley asked, suspicious.

"You should get a brief today, I just wanted to give you a heads up..."

Riley finally let out an excited smirk.

"Wow, this is huge!"

Simon nodded, a complicit smile on his face.

Riley scratched the back of his neck.

"Thanks, mate for suggesting me..."

Simon shrugged.

"Don't get all sentimental, I didn't do it out of friendship. You are the greatest nerd in the department. It's a fact".

Riley shot him a side look but low-key appreciated the comment.

"I think you meant in the country, but OK..." he said, playing along.

Simon chuckled and shook his head as he walked past his colleague.

"Ah Simon," Riley called after him before the man opened the door. "Next time let the boss get to me first, don't risk getting in trouble over silly things like this."