by Newbiel
"Why did you do that? I need that! Give it to me now!" He shouted angrily making a move to grab it and immediately grimacing in pain from the burn on his back."
"The truth is, Scott, you really don't. Your pain is more psychological than physical."
"I have 27% of my back with second degree burns! Do you have any idea how much it hurts? Of course not! You are a friggin kid who just got out of his mother's womb!" Scott yelled.
"You have no idea of the pain I had in my life! You passed one little month of your life in a hospital bed and you think everyone must respect you for that? You have lived nothing compared to me, boy!" Nathaniel yelled back, his blue eyes turning cold.
Taken aback by the sudden outburst from the teenager in front of him, Scott could feel his anger receding and he took a double take on his interlocutor. Even if the person in front of him was a pretty boy with smooth hands, the danger that Scoot could feel now was nothing like what he experienced in his life. He had fought to the death against other special forces of various countries and none of them made him shiver in his boots like that.
"Okay, I see that you need some tough love. I'm going to tell you something that every nurse and doctor here knows but no one is brave enough to say. You are inches away from throwing the rest of your life away. If you don't stop using morphine and keep refusing to do your physical therapy you will never be able to walk again and be forever addicted to painkillers. You passed the last month feeling sorry for yourself and I'm telling you right now, it's time to stop!" Nathaniel continued calmly.
"I deserved that! Men, good men died because of me! I should be dead right now!" Scott shouted.
Hearing that, Nathaniel could only sigh softly. It was as he had feared. Taking his laptop out of his bag and turning it on, he searched to find a particular video.
"They said your order to bomb the building that cost the lives of your mens, right?"
"This is top secret! You are not even supposed to know about this!"
"I get that a lot. Just tell me, who was it? You know I could have that information either way."
"It was Corporal Barnes, Corporal Maces and Sergeant Martins" Scott said, his voice cracking a little at the end. He knew these men very well as they were his friends and brothers in arms. He had to admit it felt good to say these names out loud as they were on his mind a lot.
Nodding, Nathaniel started to type on his laptop until he put it on the fray usually used to put food on.
"Is this where the three of them were located?" Nathaniel said, showing a freeze infrared video from what looked like a drone where he had encircled three green lifeforms near the white structure.
Looking at the paused video, Scott could not stop himself from leaning forward, his mind going back to the operation a month ago and everything that he had done wrong that day. Focusing on the three encircled green silhouettes, he could feel himself shocked.
"Yes, it is them." Scott answered after a moment to get back under control.
"Good, now look." Nathaniel said, pressing space to launch the video.
On the video, both of them could see an exchange of fire between the two sides and even what was happening on the other side of the building where the Korean team was pinned down. The video was going for almost two minutes when they finally saw the two missiles strike the building and the whole frame turned green.
"Notice something weird Scott?" Nathaniel asked after he had let a few seconds pass for Scott to breath.
"They did not move to take cover. Why did they not take cover? I remember yelling the order before the missiles hit the building."
"Because they could not Scott. I read the entire report of the investigation. The three men they claimed you had killed with your order were already dead or dying before the missiles hit."
"But why? Why did they tell me I was responsible for their death?" Scott asked, angry and lost.
"I don't know for sure but I can guess. Since the mission cost so many American and Korean lives, the government of South Korea wanted answers and someone to be taken accountable. The State Department had no choice but to give them a fall guy and they chose you to be sacrificed. All of that speech about killing your teammates was to only get rid of you. They thought that since they could not use you anymore, they made sure to destroy your mentality and blacklist you to every law enforcement agency and private security company."
"Those bastards!" Scott yelled, punching his bed repeatedly, the pain on his back forgotten.
Nathaniel chose not to speak and just let Scott vent his anger without interrupting him. It was a long moment until Scott was past his anger and opened his eyes. Much more calm now and without the guilt and the sadness in his eyes that was present for the last month, he seemed more light now than ever.
"If what you said is true, what are you doing here?"
"First and foremost, I'm here before you out of respect. You made countless sacrifices for this country and the government treated you like you were nothing. You deserve the truth and moreover you deserve to be treated better. I'm sorry Colonel." Nathaniel said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
Nathaniel could really connect with what happened to Scott. Having Marc's memories inside of him, there was a time when he could feel what Marc felt when he realised the country that he gave his life for, abandoned him and let him die.
"Thanks for that but this is not Colonel anymore. I'm a civilian now." Scott said sadly.
"Who knows, maybe you will be a Colonel again in the future." Nathaniel gave a little smile. "I'm starting a team Scott. Individuals with certain skills to help people, not only America's interest or citizen. You don't have to answer now, don't worry. I just want to be honest with you as I believe you will be a nice addition to the team. Our time together is coming to an end if I can trust my hearing." Nathaniel smiled.
"What do you mean by that?" Scott asked.
At this moment two people arrived in front of the room. Both of them were around thirty years old, brown hair, wearing suits with sunglasses.
"Nathaniel Lyndon, Secret Service. I'm going to ask you to come with us, sir." The taller of the two asked.
Shaking his head, Nathaniel picked up his laptop and put it back in his bag. Noticing the surprise on Scott's face, Nathaniel smiled at him and put a file on the tray near him.
"That will be our first case if you want to accept my offer, read it if you are curious but I'm warning you, places and names have been scratched out of the file for security reasons. Just get better Scott and do your damned physical rehabilitation. I will be back soon to see you." Nathaniel said before walking to the two men in suits. "Let's go guys."
"Wait! How old are you?" Scott asked from his bed.
"I'm sixteen." Nathaniel smiled joyfully before leaving, escorted by the Secret Service.
Chapter 107: :
Washington DC, White House. 13/11/2012. 19:00.
"Is this your first time in the White House?" The secretary of the President asked, kindly.
Nathaniel was sitting in the waiting room of the Oval Office, still escorted by the Secret Service. Since Nathaniel was a charming young man the age of her two sons and he did not look like the usual old CEO and officials visiting usually, the senior woman was a lot warmer than usual.
Hearing the question, Nathaniel could see the two agents escorting him tense visibly. It gave a valuable answer to Nathaniel's question. The President details were all knowing it was him that broke into the White House last night or these two particulars agents were trusted by the head of Secret Service. The taller of the two still made a negative motion with his head to encourage him to not tell anything.
"Well I saw a video and photo but it's still impressive to see all of it in the light of day." Nathaniel answered, smiling to his escort who had a displeased look on his face.
"I'm sure it is, I have worked here for the last four years and I'm still dazzled sometimes." The secretary said.
"I can understand that, you do look like a woman who
has really good taste." Nathaniel complimented.
"Thank you, you are a very well educated young man." The secretary smiled, her cheeks going pink.
Seeing that, the two Secret Service agents wanted to pinch themselves. They knew very well how much of a drake the secretary was as they all had to suffer from her ire at least once. So seeing her banter and reddening at a simple compliment was not something they were prepared to see. The only thing that they did not know was that it was not the thing that Nathaniel said but the way he said it that touched her. He had a simple way to say things which was more honest than everything she heard in this office for a long time.
"Oh come on Judith, you are saying this just because you want to make me blush." Nathaniel smiled at her.
It was to the sound of Judith giggling that another man wearing the same suit as the other agents entered the waiting room. Reading the body language of the two other agents when the man entered the room he seemed like their boss. Seeing that particular man passing the door, the secretary stopped giggling and her face closed abruptly.
"Nathaniel Lyndon? I'm Tobias Cain, head of the Secret Service. I want to say I'm very happy to meet you, I read so much about you I almost have the impression that I know you." The man said, presenting his hand.
"Happy to see you also Mister Cain. I'm sorry, I did not read anything about you but you should not trust first impressions. They can be deceiving, like appearances." Nathaniel said, shaking his hand.
Locking eyes for a moment, Tobias was seemingly searching for something inside of Nathaniel but did not appear to find what he was looking for. Sighing, he turned to the secretary.
"Judith the President is waiting for us, can you arrange for someone to drive Mister Lyndon back to his hotel in half an hour?" Tobias asked.
"Of course sir." She answered, her visage still locked.
"Good, Mister Lyndon please follow me. You two, go back home and rest." He finished for his agents.
A chorus of 'Yes sir' echoed before Nathaniel passed the door and Tobias closed it behind him. The President seeing them passing the door got off of his chair and walked in Nathaniel directions.
"Nathaniel Lyndon, I'm glad to see you again." The President said while they were shaking hands.
"Mister President." Nathaniel saluted, half bowing as a sign of respect.
Recognizing the gesture Nathaniel had used last night before leaving, the President designed the two couches beside him. Taking place, they sat opposed to each other while Tobias was taking place beside the President. Both sides did not talk at first and just kept looking at each other silently. It was starting to get awkward when William sighed.
"You are really not gonna say anything at all? Our time is short. I remind you, I had to take special disposition to even see you today."
"I was taught to never talk first when I'm not the one who initiated the meeting and if I can give you a piece of advice sir. Don't try to make a silence contest against someone who passed a quarter of his life on a hospital bed. You will not win."
"Fair enough. You know, the more we talked, the more I couldn't understand you. Nothing about you makes sense at all."
"I can understand why you would think that sir but everything has an explanation. I'm just not too keen to give away my secrets. I'm sure if anyone can relate to that, it would be you sir."
"Indeed. I'm going to be blunt here contrary to what is needed of me everyday. I thought a lot about what you offered to me but this is simply not possible. How do you want me to trust you and your team when I have no idea who your team members are and what you can personally do? You're asking a lot without giving anything, this is not how things work." The President said, shaking his head.
Not surprised in the slightest by what he heard, Nathaniel only nodded. Opening his bag, He fished out a pile of personnel files and put them on the table between them.
"Ask and you shall receive sir." Nathaniel said, designating the files.
Curious, the two of them picked one file each and started to read through each of them, passing them along to each other once done. It lasted five minutes until they had read through all of the information contained inside. Their brows were furrowed to the extreme once they were done.
"What kind of messed up team is that?" Tobias asked, looking at Nathaniel like he was crazy.
"You do realize that two of them are not even US citizens and one is wealthier than you are?" The President said.
"Yes sir, of course. They seem crazy on paper but I believe with the right push and guidance, they can become the best operative team that was ever created." Nathaniel said with conviction.
"Well, you are more optimistic than me for sure but I did not see your personnel files anywhere in there." Tobias said.
"You already have my personal file, I'm sure but to show good faith I listed my qualifications on this piece of paper. Just so you know, I will take back every file that I bought today." Nathaniel said, sliding a piece of paper over the table and recuperating the others files to put them back in his backpack.
Taking the piece of paper in his hand, Tobias let it where the President could also read it. The more they read, the more the expression on their face was growing puzzled, surprised and awe. It lasted until Tobias was getting redder and redder.
"Are you fu**ing shitting us?" He shouted angrily.
Chapter 108: :
"What's the matter?" Nathaniel asked, knitting his brows.
"You really expect us to believe you are fluent in six languages other than english?"
Not bothered in the slightest that Tobias did not believe him, Nathaniel said a phrase in French, German, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin and Korean. It was done so well and with such a perfect accent that the two men got dazzled for a moment, exchanging an awed stare.
"What did you say just now?" The President asked, curiously.
"Nothing important sir." He answered, smiling.
They did not believe Nathaniel in the slightest as everything the young man did had a purpose. It was quite interesting to just observe him as every movement that he made seemed to be thought thoroughly and perfected to have an effectiveness that he had never seen before. The more he thought about it, the more he believed that youthful smile of his was there just to throw people off and to not notice his types of attitudes. Still, the President decided to move on as he would soon know what it was all about.
"That still does not justify the number of weapons you are qualified to use and the fact that you are a sniper. Hand to hand combat, knife proficiency and deep dive experience." Tobias got back to the topic.
"Let's just say that I was thoroughly trained by an Ex SEAL commando who took pity on me and so decided to teach me everything he knew and it happened to be quite a lot. And no, I will not divulge his name, not now, not ever." Nathaniel said in a voice that broke no argument.
Seeing the head of the Secret Service did not appear convinced, Nathaniel added almost belatedly.
"If you want to make sure I can handle a gun, you can give me the one you have on your belt and I will show you."
The two in that moment exchanged a veteran smile that Tobias was stupefied to see on a face this young. It was not normal as the kid in front of him had never been in the military or even a scout.
"Not even in your wildest dreams." Tobias said, still watching Nathaniel like a hawk.
"Well now that you have seen my list of skills. I'm going to tell you what I want for working for you. These are my conditions and they are non negotiable, once heard you are free to say no and it will be the end of our talk and I will go back home. So let's begin. We will be a simple contractor as my company cover will be an Internet security firm, me or my team will not become employees of the government or the White House. Nobody outside of the two of you will be privy of my existence for obvious reasons. We will be free to take our own cases but if you need us, you will be put in priority. There is one thing I know you are not going to like. I'm also free to reject one of the ca
ses you want to assign to us if I judge it violates my morals and ideas."
"That's preposterous!" Tobias exclaimed.
"You are going too far young man. If I pay you, I expect you to show up. If you are not going to, there is no point in paying you in the first place." The President said, harshly.
"Even if kings or might commands my movements, I remain the only guardian of my soul, sir. I come here to see you first because we share something, you and me. We are both idealists and we want to make the world a better place. I can become your trusted aide to help you in that endeavour but I will never be a tool for you to use at your convenience." Nathaniel said simply.
That made the President pause and he appeared deep in thought. Even Tobias did not expect something like that and was thoughtful as well. In his time in the Rangers, he had followed more than a couple of orders that did not sit well with him and even today he was regretting obeying these orders.
"If I were to say that you are not worth it, what would happen?"
"I will say goodbye and leave your office. You are the first name on my list but far from the only one. I will work my way or not at all.���
"And if I were to strong arm you into working for me?"
"You have nothing that you can use against me without implicating yourself in a big way." Nathaniel answered, not worried. He had taken precautions as even the file containing his future team had fake names on it. Even the files of his skill were missing some important information in it.
"On you, yes I know that but this is not only you that can be put into consideration. Your mother is a prosecutor, your company. That's two things I could mess up without exerting myself."
Hearing that, the smile present on Nathaniel's face died. His whole demeanor seemed to change as he leaned forward, his eyes turning cold. In that moment, the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees, the two men in front of him shivering. Even Tobias could feel the aura around Nathaniel changing from calm to slaughter. Putting his hand on his gun, he was ready to draw in case of attack.
