The Capture

Conference

While Timothy reluctantly took Olive with him and while they made their way back to the central, Perenelle discovered, as many had before her, that things always turn worser when they are not expected to and in every case when they are absolutely not wanted to and that no matter how bad something was, it could always turn worse. And that it did turn worse when one was least prepared for it.

Perenelle had talked to Al-Asini. Which was good, because it meant he was not captured, at least not according to what he said. As she had expected, he was shocked by her recite. He expressed an increasing worry about Florence that also turned in shock when Timothy called to say that she was not there. Thinking alike, both figured out that she had most probably been the victim of a criminal.

At this time, it became obvious that they had a leak somewhere. On Perenelle's screen appeared demands from various media agencies whether anyone could give a statement to the rumours that an officer of the IEB was captured. Perenelle scowled - how could they know? It had only been a couple of hours. She hoped they could postpone this problem, she had enough on her plate already.
Al-Asini, however, getting the same information as her, insisted on something Perenelle had seen coming, but had not wanted to think about. He said with a certain reason that they should inform the public to prevent rumours and panic among them. Perenelle thought pretty much the same Timothy thought and agreed. Then they disputed about who should do the press conference. Perenelle said that he was responsable for this because he was superior to her. Al-Asini argued that she, as chief Delacroix' second-in-command would do a better job. Besides, if he stepped in, the whole thing would seem unnecessarily big and would probably rather cause rumours.

"But it is a big thing!", Perenelle said at this point.
"Of course it is", Al-Asini agreed. "But they must not know."

Which was kind of the final point taken. Perenelle would do the press conference.

Perenelle hung up. She would not have to do it right now, would she? It had been almost three hours since the threat. If they managed to find Florence quick enough, there would be no need to inform the public. Surely they could give it another three, four hours.

Ha ha ha.

Sighing, she gave orders to prepare a press conference. It would not take long, as most of the reporters had already been waiting outside of the complex. She groaned as she saw them when looking out of the window. In a few minutes, she would have to face them and tell them lies while trying to appear calm and confident. That was not her part, that had always been Florence's part. She could do that. Although she avoided dealing with the media whenever possible, she was very good at reading statements and avoiding questions. People respected her. People knew her. Whatever she said, when saying it with enough confidence, they would believe her.

But Flo was not there. And maybe she would never be if Perenelle screwed this up. A press conference was the smallest of her problems.

"Commander Lamour, the press conference is set up. Media people are waiting in the conference room."
Awesome. This day kept getting better and better.

Perenelle looked at the screen in front of her, she had been sent some instructions by one of the PRs. Admit that there was an incident. Say that experts of the IEB are working on it. Say that nobody has to be scared. Everything else remains secret in order to not to endanger the current inquiries.
Fine. Perry looked in the mirror and straightened her shirt, then combed her hair with her fingers. She made sure her insignias could be seen and forced a confident smile on her lips. "I'm ready", she told herself. "No matter what happens - they have to buy it at some point."
Perenelle straighed her shoulders and went to the conference room, accompanied by one of the PR guys, Miller.

As soon as she opened the door, she was beleaguered by reporters holding microphones towards her. And then came the questions.
"Is it true that an IEB officer has disappeared?"
"There have been rumours that someone threatened to abduct an officer but they haven't been taken serious, can you confirm that?"
"Is it true that the officer has been killed?"
"Would you advise us to watch out for mysterious flight objects?"

Perenelle ignored them and went to the middle of the room, up a little podium. "Ladies and gentlemen, silence please", she said.
Unbelievable, they became quiet.
"As most of you have heard, there has been an indecent", she said with a calm voice, trying to sound confident. "For the sake of our inquiries I cannot say more at this point, but be reassured that there is nothing to worry about. IEB experts are taking care of everything."

And then came the questions.
"Is it true that someone is dead?"
"Do you know who is behind this so-called incident?"
"Why can't you tell us more? The person behind it knows it anyway!"
It was handy that they all spoke at once. So Perenelle could choose which question to answer and nobody could say that she had avoided a question. She smiled. "I can assure you that nobody is dead", she said confidently. "And I am really sorry but I just cannot tell you more. Confidential reason. You know."
A thick woman in a neon green dress came up to her. She had heavy make-up and almost beat Perenelle with her microphone. "Is it true that we have to watch for the aliens? Many people saw strange flying objects, and someone has devastated the corn field of a peasant in Periwinkle village! Are they coming? Are they the secret you are trying to keep? Do we have to arm ourselves to fight against the aliens?"
Perenelle gave her an incredulous look. "I think it's safe to say that you can be very reassured about that. Nobody is going to invade us."
"But -" She was pushed away by other reporters.
"If there are no other questions", she said loudly, "then I would dissemble this conference." She quickly went away before anyone else could bother her.

Miller had waited for her. "What question was that?"
"I have no idea", she said sighing. "We don't have an alien invasion, do we?" Suddenly, she was startled.
"Not as far as I know", Miller said.
"Good. That would be the very last thing we need."