by Newbiel
Getting to her feet after pushing him out of her, Lola was exhausted but had a victorious smile on her face, the crowd cheering her wildly. She had won.
Chapter 166: :
"The higher they are, the harder they fall." Nathaniel said, smiling.
He was happy that Lola had won even if he knew that she was favorite in this fight contrary to the appearance and the opinion of the crowd. The fight has been enjoyable to watch compared to the last who was just plain and boring, for him at least. In fact, Nathaniel was even impressed by her. She had a plan and applied it for the whole fight. She had even managed to trick him most of the fight, pulling her punch to give him a false sense of security and steer him into running to her and opening himself to a world of hurt.
Getting out of the ring first, followed by The Destructor that was carrying out of the stage, her eyes wandering to the crowd for a second. Amid the crowd her eyes stop for a second on a handsome blond youth who was looking at her with a leveled stare. What made her stop at this particular youth was that he did not look like the other fight junky that was coming to this place and contrary to them, he was calm and posed, the others were still yelling and were looking at her like dogs in heat. Locking eyes, the youth give her an approbative, respectful nod before turning away, followed by a brown haired middle aged man.
Putting the curious youth out of her mind, she made her way out of the arena. After taking a shower and changing into much less revealing clothes. Taking her win from the house manager, she exits the building using the back door to avoid the crowd inside. Counting her money, she was a little disappointed to have won only eight thousand dollars for the fight. She had heard the manager grumbling about someone that had won big, betting a lot of money on her win and it was why the money that she got was less than what she was supposed to get.
Putting the money in her jacket, she was still feeling happy. In truth, she would have been fine beating him up without money incentive even if that was a nice bonus. She had passed a lot of time on him to get him alone but he was always with people around him and even if she knew she was good, she was not good enough to go one against four, especially with people having guns. The only time he was alone was when he was sleeping and he often had company in his bed and that illegal combat ring.
"Miss Flores, can we have a few swords with you, please?" A voice said on the side.
Stopping abruptly, turn from where she had heard the voice. Sitting on the public bench, there was the blond youth that she had seen earlier in the arena. Standing behind him was the middle aged man that she had seen earlier with him looking at her with prudence and curiosity. What made her startled was the fact that he had used her family name to call her, something that he should not know considering that she never used it in the arena. Even the manager did not know her real name.
"I think you are making a mistake here, my name is Lola Max. You were in the arena, I recognized you."
"Yes, I was. 'Lola Max', I mean, really? Did you just use your middle name and the name of your first pet to throw me off? You basically created your porn name, Camilla congratulations." Nathaniel laughed.
"Who are you!?" Camilla shouted angrily, her right hand going furtively to her purse. That youth had information about her that he was not supposed to have. Her first pet was named Max and had died when she was ten years old and he was clearly aware of her real identity.
"Miss Flores, we don't want to hurt you but I'm going to ask you to put your hand away from the gun in your purse." Scott said in a calm voice.
"Miss Flores, He's telling the truth if we wanted to do you harm, we would have done it already and not in this manner. We just want to talk with you." Nathaniel added.
Realizing he was right, Camilla put her hand away from her purse. Meeting her in the open like that was a clear sign as it compelled the two parties at playing fair.
"Who are you? The both of you."
"I'm Nathaniel Lyndon and here behind me is my friend Scott McCornaig."
"And how can I be sure those are your real names?"
"Well you can google me later if you want." Nathaniel smiles before becoming serious. "I'm here to offer you a job Miss Flores or can I call you Camilla?"
"Call me Camilla, Miss Flores reminds me of my mother. What sort of job are we talking about exactly?" She asked cautiously.
"I'm launching an internet security business, a business where your talents would be greatly appreciated. It also has a good salary and amazing insurance."
"Now I know that you are talking to the wrong girl, I know how to use the internet but I'm not a programmer by any means."
"That may be but you have your own talents. Engaged at the age of eighteen, rapidly promoted to a commando were you specialised in explosive. You also are highly qualified in hand to hand combat where you master a lot of martial forms like Judo or Taekwondo to quote only those two. After leaving the army, you enter the SWAT department where you were employed until last month. Since then, you did not find another job."
"You clearly investigate me well but what does that have to do with internet security?"
"Well, let's just say that the internet security part of our name is more official than anything else, I would like to tell you the rest of the activity but you will have to sign a nondisclosure agreement before that."
"You are a spy." Camilla realised, it was explaining so much about him and how he knew everything about her.
"In some parts it's true, in others it's false and the comparison is a little insulting for me but if it can help you picture the situation better you are welcome to think that." Nathaniel said with a mild grimace.
"That can't be a legit operation considering I'm banned from working as a law enforcement officer. You should know that if you look that closely at my life."
"Yes, I know very well what happened at your last job. You were sexually harassed by two of your colleagues for a while before reporting the case to your superior who chose to ignore it thinking that you were a drama queen. That continue for a few weeks before these two try to **** you and where you almost killed them both after you fight back."
"Well, I did not almost kill them, this is an exaggeration." She answers.
"You broke fourteen bones in them and the only reason that they got out with their life is that the noise of the fight gathered the attention of your coworkers who pried you away from them. After that you got fired and banned from working in the police and SWAT anywhere in the US. Don't mind me, I think they deserve more than what you did to them so it's not an issue for me and luckily for you, I'm not working in a law enforcement agency so I can hire you."
"I'm not inclined to sign an NDA at this point, especially to work for an obscure branch of the US government."
"We are not working for the government. Our work is about justice Camilla. Justice for people who are deprived of them for too long. I want to help people, all people. Catch!" He said, throwing a paper bag at her. "You will find inside when and where you need to go if you want to make the world a better place."
Looking inside the bag, she could see a letter and money inside the bag, a lot of money.
"Wait! Where does this money come from?"
"I made a bet recently who made me win big. You can see it as a signing bonus or just a simple donation. You can use it to live better for a while, use it to fund your younger sister's college tuition or just give it to the church in your neighborhood where you help sometimes. It depends on you. Goodbye Camilla." Nathaniel said, walking away from her.
Looking at the inside of the bag and Nathaniel retreating form in turn, she didn't know what to do. Finally she settled into putting the bag in her purse and walking home. She needed to think and find out as much as she could about these two peoples.
Chapter 167: :
Livingston, Montana. 16/12/2012. 10:00.
Livingston was a peaceful town located alongside the Yellowstone river and North of the Yellowstone National Park. Sporting a population of seven th
ousand people, it was a little town no different than a thousand others in the US. It was also the town that had seen the birth of Doctor Jonathan Smith forty years ago.
"You are okay Magnus, it's just a bad cough. I'm going to prescribe you some antihistamines. You will be fine by the end of the week. If anything new appears or you feel the meds are not working, come find me right away, alright?" He said, writing on his clipboard.
"Okay doc, no problem." The sixty five years old farmer answered, his wife helping him by putting his coat back on.
"Thank you doctor." The wife said with a grateful smile.
"Don't worry about it, it's my job." Jon smiles before exiting the examination room.
Walking to the nursing desk, Jon slid the clipboard on it, the nurse taking it before giving him another one.
"You have a new patient in examination room three. White male with back pain."
"Okay, thanks Natasha." Jon smiles warmly at her, making her smile back.
Even if he could not be considered handsome by any means, Jon was quite charming. Being a little under six foot tall, with pepper gray short hair, he also had green piercing eyes. He was also athletic and fit showing that he was working out everyday. He also had a very good bearing and attitude with everyone that he was talking to. Taking the patient file, he walked in the direction of the examination room. Opening the door, he entered the room reading the name on the clipboard.
"Hello, I'm doctor Smith, Mister McCornaig?" He asked, lifting his eyes back to the person in front of him.
He was surprised to see that there were two people in the room waiting for him. One was a middle aged man with brown hair around his age while the other was a handsome blond youth. The middle aged man was sitting on the bed while the youth was busy reading a book on a chair near the bed.
"Yes, it's me." Scott answered with a nod.
"Good. You have residual pain on your back I see on your charts, you also said that you had chirurgie after an incident. Can you take off your clothes so that I can see?"
"You got it, Band-Aid." Scott answered, making Jon laugh amusingly.
Band-Aid was a military term dating from the vietnam war era designating medic in the army. Just that was enough for Jon to guess that the man that he was talking to was in the military or was one. Seeing him taking his jacket and tee shirt off, Jon put some gloves on. Walking behind Scott, Jon passed near the sitting youth and gave a quick look to what he was reading and could see that it was a huge legal textbook. Focusing his attention on Scott's back, Jon was surprised to say the least.
"What the hell happened to you?" He asked looking at the charred skin on his backside.
"I was a little close from the blast zone of an Hellfire missile." Scott grimaced as the hands of Jon were busy examining his back.
"I would say that if you were closer than that you will be dead right now." Jon answers, amusingly looking at the muscles of Scott attentively in search of a problem.
"Don't worry doc, it's my new motto. Don't stay near when a missile is going to hit the ground." Scott grunt.
"That's a really weird motto soldier." Jon remarked with amusement.
"Oh, it's not the worst I've heard lately. I mean what kind of a motto 'Biodefense Solutions to Protect Our Nation' is?" Nathaniel voice said for the first time, not bothering to look up from his book.
Hearing that, the hand of Jon froze on Scott's back and his eyes focused on the sitting form of Nathaniel that was still reading, seemingly not noticing the attention that he was receiving from the doctor in the room. Jon knew very well that motto because it was the one from the department where he was working. The USAMRIID.
"It's not a very well known motto, can I know where you heard that particular motto young man?" Jon asked, making sure to keep his tone of voice normal.
"I heard of it while I was busy looking through your personal file doctor. Or do you prefer to be called Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, Jonathan Smith or maybe simply Jon?" Nathaniel asked, finally lifting his eyes from his book and focusing on the doctor.
Staring at each other for a while, Jon finally sighed.
"You are clearly not here for a consultation, I can see that Scott here is fine and that he had been taken care of well judging by the look of his injuries. What do you want from me?"
"I'm here to offer you a job, Jon."
"I already have a job, a very good one at that. I'm not interested in finding a new one, especially with someone I don't know and that I have never seen before." Jon rebuked nicely.
"This is understandable but I know a lot about you Jon. I know that you are very one of the most competentent people in infectious disease in the USAMRIID. I also know that you volunteer to investigate each time a new disease is spotted around the globe. Your colleague and even your CO believe that you just are an adrenaline junky wanting his fix but I have another explanation. Contrary to your co-workers, you have been a soldier since you were young. You enlisted in the marines when you were eighteen as a combat medic. You even got decorated for your bravery on the field. It was only when you lost half of your unit when a disease broke out that you decided to leave the field and enter USAMRIID to prevent that situation from ever happening again. You are not an adrenaline junky Jon. You just know that you are more equipped to deal with everything that could come your way compared to your colleagues and you are trying to protect them. Like you tried to protect your unit when they got sick."
"And what do you know about any of this? I'm not even sure that you were born when all of this happened." Jon answered hotly.
"In fact I was just born when this happened, I saw the date. And the answer is nothing. I have no experience whatsoever in disease, this is why I want to hire you." Nathaniel said patiently.
"I'm still waiting for a reason that would make me want to leave my job to come working for you." Jon pointed out.
"Because you are at a point in your life where you want change, where you need change. Since your father died two weeks ago, you prolonged your leave and started working at this clinic from time to time. You don't know if you want to go back to Fort Detrick yet."
"Even if that was the truth, this is not that easy. I'm still an enlisted soldier, I can't just quit."
"I know people, I can make sure to have you assigned to my unit or make you a civilian again. Your choice. If you want to know everything, just follow the instructions in that letter. In the meantime, I will leave you to do your work." Nathaniel said putting a letter on the hospital bed before nodding to Scott who put his shirt and jacket back on before getting to his feet.
"That's it? I still don't know who you are!"
"I'm Nathaniel Lyndon. Just one last thing I wanted to say. I'm sorry for your father's death Jon, based on what I learned, he was a good man and a good soldier."
Looking intently at Nathaniel for a moment, Jon finally nodded. He could see that the young man in front of him was honest and was not trying to his father's death for his personal gain.
"Thanks."
"See-ya Band-Aid." The voice of Scott echoed from the hallway before the door closed making Jon smile for a moment before picking the envelope and looking pensively at it before putting it in his pocket.
*****
"Do you think you are going to go for it?" Scott asked once they had left the free clinic.
"I hope he will. I have only two names on my list for that particular position and the last one is out of question. I can't trust a man who lies and cheats on his wife." Nathaniel said with conviction.
Scott abstained to voice his opinion as he agreed with him. A man breaking his oath of marriage could not be trusted, ever. Turning the car on, he exited the parking space and started to drive away from that city. Not noticing Jon at the window taking a picture of the car plates with his phone.
Chapter 168: :
Germany, Munich. 17/12/2012. 23:15.
In an internet cafe on the northside of the city, a young man who was nineteen years old at best was busy playing, his f
inger flashing on the keyboard with swift and precise motion. Killing his adversary on the screen for the third time in a row, Hans quickly wrote something in all chat to spite him. He knew better than anyone that this game was more of a mental one than a mechanical one and that a tilted enemy or allies could tilt his entire team.
Smiling seeing the insult that was sent his way as an answer, he didn't even bother replying which he knew would tilt him even more. He let him rant in all chat while he was busy roaming around the map, helping his team. Fives minutes later, the screen had a big 'Victory' on it making him smile.
"Wow, nicely done!" A voice said coming to his left.
He had heard someone seat near him while he was playing but was too busy at the time to see who it was. Turning his head, He could now see that it was a man looking around his age. Blond mid long hair, blue sparkling eyes and handsome face. He was the textbook pretty boy that a woman fell head over heels for which made his smirk inside. He was not handsome like him but he was sure he was better, in the past he would have resented him for it but now he didn't care anymore. He knew he was smart and one of the best in his profession. Beside that, the youth face looks really familiar to Hans, maybe he had seen him here before.
"Thanks, it was relatively easy. Strip them of their will to fight and they would give you the victory without even fighting back."
Hans was one of the best players in the world on League of Legend, ranking challenger each season without effort. He was among the 0.001% in a cesspool of millions of other players in the EU.
"That's quite true but I was not talking about the game." The youth said in a perfect german accent.
"What are you talking about then?" Hans asked, frowning.
"I was talking about the five millions of euros that curiously disappeared from BMW bank account four month ago." Nathaniel said softly with a knowing smile.