Temptation

20

Being at work just a few days before my confrontation with Kenward is a little strange to let settle. I haven't told a living soul about it either. I feel like I've been walking on eggshells trying to hide something that won't be detected, no matter how much I worry about it.

Didn't help when my father abruptly called me down to his office. I started to believe he found me out, but the sight I'm met with is so much worse. Both Ramiro and Oren are in there, alone. Oren in his dull green uniform, and Ramiro in the sky blue. I can see they were completely calm until I showed up.

"Do you guys know what's happening?"

Ramiro starts to say a couple things, but only a fearful no was his real answer.

I would talk to them if I didn't think we were being listened to. Weird sitting in a room with friends awaiting impending doom. Even worse sitting in your father's office with his subordinate that you're fucking...

It's not long before he comes into the office. Everyone keeps their cool until his speech starts flowing.

"I'm genuinely impressed with the three of you. How you kept such a thing under wraps around this place is beyond me," he states.

"What gave it away then...?" Ramiro cautiously asks.

"When I sent her over to the pentagon..." he pauses a second because that nauseating fact finally registered in his brain, "That medic you had dismissed after me overheard everything. He came forward with the information yesterday."

I knew it. I knew that guy had stuck around. The three of us are in silence right now. We don't have the capacity to respond to this. Now he looks Ramiro dead in the eyes.

"So the day I sent her to you for some errands, she told you about the gift in hopes to find a friend. You were kind, but you were also ambitious. Oren was only roped in because of your friendship. You trained her in the art of mind control and the art of combat until she was ready. It all played out exactly like you thought it would, didn't it?"

God, he sounds threatening as hell. Ramiro is holding up like a champ.

He chokes, "Yes sir."

All of this, and my father doesn't even know about our relationship.

"How? How'd you know it'd work??"

Ramiro let's go of his pitted nerves and lies back in his chair.

"Victorious warriors win first," he glances at me, "and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win..."

"You've read The Art of War?" my father asks, skeptical.

Ramiro grins, "childhood pastime."

That gives my father a little joy that he expresses with a laugh.

"I found your damn mastermind Adira," he says to me.

So he did remember that drunk conversation...

"Oh, look at that. Our other guest just walked in the building."

My father stands, so the three of us follow his lead. My anxiety is at bay while we wait for this door to open. The discovery of our plan went the best it possibly could have, even if he didn't uncover it all. I know Ramiro wasn't worried about that part at all. He was only concerned with another secret being uncovered.

Soon enough, the door opens. A secret security looking man examines the room before giving an all clear to his associate outside. Then they all stand aside to let the person they are protecting finally enter. The person? President fucking Pérez...