Alban was the proud unanimously elected democratic leader of his team. He was ecstatic about it, he"d never taken on any leadership position before the feeling of eyes on his back, people looking up to him truly and relying on his skills and expertise, his knowledge and intuition. His bravery.If he was being completely honest, he never expected his teammates to actually take his self-nomination seriously. They"d even listed out all good traits backing why they truly thought he would serve as a good leader.
But sitting here on a toilet seat, tired and thoroughly scared, Alban realized his teammates knew that the true weight of leadership was one not easily carried, especially when you had to report to someone else. When you were truly held responsible, and in the poorly masked military government that ruled the nation he was loyal to, failure was not appreciated as a learning experience, even when the tasks given were near impossible.
He let out a sigh, pulling on a hand full of his hair his legs trembled, constantly tapping. He"d just ended a particularly tough phone call with the man in charge of his team, the man he reported to.
Maxime Fatah. Known not only for being related to the leader of the Schelar, Hasina Fatah but also as one of the three terrifying Fatah brothers that were known by everyone in the country to carry out what the military couldn"t be bothered with. But now here he was, along with his other brothers Alex and Loup in the military serving as his bane.
Alban really couldn"t fathom how unlucky he"d turned out to be for the few three decades he walked the earth. Madagascar was the last place he wanted to be appointed, but someone just had to do the job and that someone turned out to be him.
He slapped his unsteady leg down, grounding it from it constant fidgeting. He let out a deep breath, trying to steel himself before returning to his partners to give them the news. Their orders. He turned on the tap and splashed a bit of water on his face, psyching himself up in the mirror as he did before finally stepping out.
Out of the bathroom, he is greeted by his two companions. One lay limp on one of the two small beds the motel room provided, seeming to have trouble doing the bare minimum of glancing his way even, looking at him with deep black expectant eyes she raised an eyebrow at his exit.
The other, a man much taller than he was but about the same size, his hair was noticeably ruffled and his eyes screamed alarm and fear. From the looks of it, the man had been pacing tirelessly while Alban had sat in the bathroom contemplating the orders they were given.
"Well?" he prompted, eagerly walking towards Alban no doubt wanting news of reprieve. The woman only hummed, signifying that she too was eager to know why she laid here.
Alban nervously cleared his throat, shifting his weight from one foot to another before speaking, "Well, on the contrary to what you"ve thought, Daniel, we aren"t being called back, in fact, we"ve been a.s.signed a mission."
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At his words the woman sits up, her dark hair draping over her shoulders to give her a drunken look, "You look upset, Alban, what"s the mission?"
Alban let out a sigh, letting himself fall onto the bed next to her he whipped out his phone, "HQ has sent us a full doc.u.ment detailing the goal of our mission and its deadline. I spoke with Maxime Fatah just now,"
"Maxime Fatah…" She repeated, eyes widen and mouth hanging open. "He is the one handling us? Ha! I"m so glad I"m not you, Alban!"
Alban rolled his eyes at her jest, "Well you"re still lumped with me and this suicide mission, Marina." He pa.s.ses the phone to her and goes on to explain, "Maxime just ordered us to infiltrate that particular IT company. The place can be breached but once we get in we have to steal a device and bring it back home."
"Bring it back home? After the war?" Daniel asked, finally taking a seat.
"No. The device is essential for winning or even surviving the war, it needs to be brought in before two weeks has elapsed."
"…"
"…"
Silence permeated the room for a strong, long moment. Alban couldn"t blame them for being shocked, he too fell silent when he heard Maxime utter the words.
"You have to tell them we can"t do that, we"ll be caught and slaughtered by the Malagasy." Marina broke the silence with an oddly calm and collected voice. Although the strain to keep her cool was evident in her eyes, it also showed that she was resolved to NOT do this mission.
"Y-yeah, tell them to pick someone else or heck to send someone in!"
"Not do it? Not obey orders?" Alban scoffed, "And do what then exactly? Get a job here in Madagascar? Be fugitives, enemies of the state? After the war, they will come for us and it"s not going to be pretty." Alban had done a lot of thinking while he was in the bathroom, he"d burned through all possible means of "escape" and come to the realization that they were going to die either by the Malagasy or by their government. There was no natural death in his future.
But his companions thought differently.
"After the war?" Marina scoffed, "Maxime said it himself, they need this device to survive the war. If we don"t risk our a.s.ses getting it to them then Schelar is going to be consumed by Madagascar. They"ll all be imprisoned, exiled or executed. There would be no one to order our deaths."
"Y-yeah, we don"t have to do this. I"m not doing this, Alban." Daniel was brainstorming but hadn"t come up with anything as brilliant as just ignoring their orders.
Alban, on the other hand, had also thought this through, "That"s wishful thinking, Marina, we have no other choice. We are citizens of this country and this country needs us, this is what we signed up for. Besides that, whoever is truly running the country most definitely has everything under control, we have allies, Namibia, Russia and as of recent even Egypt. This is too great a shift from the stagnant nation we were to be just a fluke. Whoever is in charge, be it President Hasina or his advisors, something is being done right and it"s being done with a fervour I don"t believe will die down. This war is simply an obstacle and we are the first pieces being used to remove it."
Daniel didn"t like that sound of that at all, he"d gotten up and begun pacing again, his hands were sweaty and his heartbeat a pace faster.
"So what you"re saying is Schelar will survive no matter what, that Maxime, his brothers and even Hasina will survive long enough to care about who f.u.c.ked up their plans?"
Alban nodded slowly, "We have to do this. Personally, I think it"s much better to die without living a life on the run from an entire government."
"And I"m also a patriot, much unlike you two." He added with a grin.
Marina let out a laugh at this and Daniel"s grim face dons a nervous smile.
"I love Schelar, I really do, it lifted us from the crushing boots of the Malagasy government but in the last decade things haven"t improved," Marina confesses, her lips set in an unsteady smile and her eyes watery with tears threatening to fall over. "But Alban? I think you"re right, whoever is in charge is vicious with leading progress, I think I"m ready to give back to Schelar if only to secure a much brighter future for others like myself."
She looks to Daniel who"d once again fallen into a seat, "You in for this, Daniel? We"ll need you."
Daniel wraps his hands around the armrest of the chair, his hands tightening around it, holding on like it"s a lifeline. He does this for a few seconds before letting go and breathing out a heavy sigh.
Looking much calmer he answers with a smile, "As long as I survive."
Not meaning to waste the opportunity, Alban moves on the subject before any of them can rethink their decisions, "Good, we"ll need all the help we can get for this. HQ has already given suggestions on how to accomplish the mission. Let"s go over it?"
Receiving two nods Alban takes out a notepad and pen and begins to draw.