BREATH . OF . LIFE . ~ { ReGenisis Chronicles Book I }

Chapter Nine [Part 2/3]: Fragile Truce

                   -Jake Aylesbury-

Standing in Mr Andersen's office on the twenty fifth floor up. The windows dark tinted to block out much of the sunshine. Still, inside the room, the walls faintly glowed a dark blue. I could see the break in the light frequency if I focused on them, and hear the buzz of the light bulbs where they sat at the top of the window frame. They were set at a frequency designed to dull the senses of Nocturnals, make us a little sluggish at a low level. But they had other uses that Trinity employed.

This office felt as clean as the rest of the complex, but where much of it the overall structure was white, the walls in this room were black. Panelled, to conceal other rooms surrounding it to make a living apartment for Andersen when he wasn't hard at work, busting everyone else's arses.

I'd arrived to find Mr Andersen at his mahogany desk, unlike the rest of the retro monochrome, he found there was more stature and tradition behind it. It, like him, held a regal air.

His lavender eyes were locked on a screen, reviewing Kate's rescue from Ides. Swan, standing behind him to his left, barely batted an eyelid at me until a moment towards the end of the recording. Her eyes narrowed towards a detail, I turned my head to see, I had just pocketed something. My stomach clenched as I looked back towards Mr Andersen, his expression had not changed, he hadn't recognised the penknife. But Natalia had.

I looked towards Jennings who had come in before me to give them an edited version of the footage on a separate memory stick. His chance to show his tech skills and suck up to Mr Andersen, without losing face with his Unit. I had let him, as he had said it before; this portion of the footage could be good for me, too.

As the footage came to a close, after showing that I'd almost killed Mead, Mr Andersen pulled the memory stick from the laptop on his desk and slipped it into a brown envelope. It was now Trinity Science property. He was quiet for a moment, his skin flashing between red and pale white all through the last half of the recording. Struggling past shock and anger. He'd seen his daughter tortured before his eyes. His heightened emotions on the air, more salt than alcohol dripping from his skin. It could be of use to Kate's well being and standing here.

"Thank you for bringing me this Jennings, you may go." He waved his hand off to the side without even looking at the young agent.

Jennings nodded and moved for the door, shooting me a hopeful look that he quickly turned serious. Then he was gone, clipping the door shut behind him. Young and inexperienced, still finding his feet, his need to belong was currently a blessing. Later, it could be a danger.

"Sir, you asked for me?" My hands were cupped behind my back, and I held myself straight to attention.

"It seems you did an excellent job getting my daughter out of that hell." Mr Andersen rested his hands down on his desk, fingers laced together as he leant forward. "Now I'm left with a dilemma of what to do with her... She can't go back to my estate."

"No sir, not without a lot of increased security." I agreed, dipping my head forward a little. I wanted to seem confident in his presence, not arrogant. I knew not to keep eye level with him for too long. Although human, he could be triggered into asserting his dominance much like an animal if someone made it seem as if he were not in power. To devastating effect on occasion.

"And apparently, keeping her locked up could drive her insane like an animal... Swan tells me she's already made an escape attempt that would have left her with no fingers if it weren't for the serum in her veins." He sat back a little, moving his jaw in Swan's direction. Her arms were lightly crossed over her chest, taloned fingers spread across her forearms, eyes narrow and kept low, although aimed towards him, never quite reaching him. The sharp resentment was tightly jarred, but I could see the pressure mounting.