Old habits die hard

Jacob was not looking forward to this meeting. Coming face to face with his old flame, Sadie Smith, was not something Jacob enjoyed doing, but he knew that this had to be done. If it was done quickly then the agony would be over saving a prolonged ordeal. Shaking his head Jacob walked down the corridor of countless personal quarters until he came to those belonging to Sadie.

His time as Base Commander was nearing the end of its first year and Jacob was unsure of how it had gone. Coming in after the wake of successive mistakes in missions was never easy and he hoped that his affect in the organisation had been positive, but the fact that he had no military training whatsoever was always a spectre hanging over each decision he made. He had no operational knowledge of wartime to use when it came to making command decisions nor did he truly know how the soldiers under his command felt serving under and academic than a military officer.

He needed an ally to directly handle military affairs. Someone he trusted.

The man waited outside of the door to Sadie’s quarters for a few moments, simply staring at the number on the door and then the handle. Was Sadie the right person to give this power to? A better question would she accept it? Sadie’s dealing with Antonia was no secret on the base and the way she was dismissed had hurt her reputation with some of the less loyal soldiers on the base. Whispers and muttering of her name was rife instantly after the two women’s encounter, but Jacob hoped that it had diminished for Sadie’s sake.

Taking in a deep breath Jacob knocked sharply her door three times.

Sadie’s forehead was creased with frown lines as she scrolled through an email from the Russian resistance. The email was huge and had taken her 3 hours to download with its various attachments. She had told the resistance in Russia to gather as much information as they possibly could. They had gone high above her expectations. They contained blueprints of the base layout and identified its various securities. They had also sent a huge amount of pictures with surveillance notes. Sadie sat back and ran a hand through her hair.

The pictures depicted Sadie’s worst fears. They were training the hybrids, teaching them to fight in ranks and as a team. There was a video attached she hadn’t watched yet, she hovered the mouse over the link, hesitating. She had walked through an entire village which had been decimated by the Red Fangs. It had torn her apart, and something told her that this was likely to be the same.

She jumped as the knocks echoed through the small living room. Pushing the screen of her laptop down, she rose from her seat and opened the door.

“Jacob” she said surprised, then remembered his assistant calling her earlier advising her he would be coming to see her. She stepped aside to let him in. “I completely forgot you were coming.” She admitted. “I was engrossed in surveillance notes.” She gestured at the laptop as she headed toward the small kitchen. “Do you want a drink?” she called as she filled the kettle up, leaving Jacob to make himself comfortable.

With caution Jacob stepped into Sadie’s quarters, quarters he knew all too well. The further in the room he got he forced himself to relax. Taking in a few deep breaths he followed Sadie into the small kitchen off the main part of her residence. “Tea would lovely, thanks,” He said with a smile leaning against the counter surface.

He let his eyes drift around the room her closed laptop piqued his interest based on what she had just said. What surveillance was she privy too? She did not have code-word access with URCS anymore and her dismissal from the British military left her with no resources, he assumed that she had been pulling in favours with old comrades within the armed forces to get what she wanted. She always was a woman who knew how to get things she wanted.

“What’s the surveillance of?” Jacob asked turning back to the dark haired woman with a raised eyebrow.

Sadie grabbed cups from the cupboard and dropped two tea bags in them. She turned and leant on the counter folding her arms as she waited o the kettle to boil.

“What’s the surveillance of?”

“The Red Fangs” she replied casually. “I thought seeing as I had the link I might s well use it to keep an eye on them.” Her expression darkened. She held Jacobs gaze, debating whether to say anything yet, or to perhaps leave it till after she’d watched the video. “From what I’ve seen so far, it’s not good.”

The kettle clicked behind her and she turned her back on Jacob and began filling the cups. “It’ll take me a bit to translate the notes; my written Russian isn’t so great.” Nor was her spoken in all honesty, but she got by, just about. “From the pictures though, I can take a pretty accurate guess that they’re training the hybrids.”

She turned back to him and handed him his cup and made her way to living room. Slipping onto the sofa, she tucked one leg underneath her. “What did you want to speak to about?” she said, pushing the subject of the Red Fangs to one side.

Jacob listened to every word she spoke. The mere mention of the Red Fangs made Jacob’s skin crawl. That vampire coven was responsible for so much destruction in the world, and part of it had been a part of Jacob. Ever since that mission where he had been infected with the Vampire virus something had switched inside of him, a feeling that all he wanted to do was to kill vampires if he saw them. Shaking off the thought he tore his eyes away from the closed laptop to Sadie’s face.

With a slight nod of thanks he took the hot mug of tea in both his hands, letting the heat permeate into his hands, the weather had been getting cold recently and the base’s heating was never enough. He took a greedy sip of the steaming liquid and let the feeling of warmth spread out across his entire body, it made him smile.

Slowly, he followed Sadie into the living area of her quarters and sunk into one of the comfortable chairs near her place on the sofa. Taking another sip he let himself settle from the thoughts of the Red Fangs gaining more power with the breeding of Hybrids. An army of hybrids would prove to be an almost insurmountable force that even URCS would have some trouble in tackling. Something had to be done about them, and fast.

As he placed the mug of tea on the coffee table in front of him he looked over to Sadie as she changed the topic, back to the main reason Jacob had come to see her, “Right, sorry,” Jacob muttered leaning forward onto his knees. “Since you left the base we’ve not had a military officer leading the troops. I’ve tried to do my best and Alex has pitched in when he could, but with Alex now out of the picture and my obvious shortcomings in military strategy it has become abundantly clear that I need a second in command that knows the soldiers and how they tick,” Quickly he took another sip of his tea before continuing. “I’ve discussed it with the Home Secretary and the Chief of the Armed Forces and they have agreed with my suggestion for who should fill the position.”

Jacob’s hands fidgeted around the handle of the mug. He hated that he was admitting his failings as a military leader, but if he didn’t then URCS would not get the best training available.“You,” he said with a unsure smile. “You’ll be the Chief of Base Security along with the position of second in command, as well responsible for Military Training and Development.”

Sadie listened carefully to Jacob, becoming tenser with each word that passed.

“You’ll be the Chief of Base Security along with the position of second in command, as well responsible for Military Training and Development.”

She was quiet for a moment. Was Jacob mocking her? Or was this a genuine offer. She smiled suddenly, realising Jacob had sought Alex’s help while she’d been away. “So letting Alex on the base was a good idea of mine then?” she jested, avoiding accepting or declining the position just yet.

Although she desired to regain a position on the base, it didn’t really cross her mind to fight for second in command. She had dismissed it before thinking about it; she was under the impression that after the havoc se had caused as Commander that she would never be allowed such a position. She looked at him and took a deep breath. “That’s a lot of responsibility to give to a mentally unstable ex- Commander.” She said finally setting her cup on the table, “You sure about this?”