Chapter 30: Opposition

The open hall resounded of shrill phone ringing behind the desks of the reception. The fountain in the middle of the administration building chuckled as water poured over it. Aenriques came walking through the hall and stopped at the fountain to check the sheets of paper that he had been sent before going to work this morning. He had barely slept all night, perhaps a few hours, before he had to get going again. Rumours said that Matthew had not slept at all, and somehow it would not surprise him.

The light was perfect, shining through the glass facades. He stood calmly before raising his head at the sound of his name being called out. He looked around and saw Adam come closer, his eyes ignited by some inner flame.

Aenriques knew instantly that this was not the right time and place to be in, but he did not make it to scramble away as Adam reached him and knocked him over with a well-placed right fist. He fell over into the fountain where all the sheets over paper were drowned. The chatting at the reception desks ended and everyone present suddenly turned their attention to the on-going fight.

Aenriques warded off his assailant as well as he could.

"What the hell are you doing?" he cried.

"You! Your treacherous murderer! You traitor!" Adam hissed as he attacked again but this time Aenriques was able to throw him off and get up, soaked with fountain water he stood drenched and dripping in the middle of the administration.

"What on earth are you talking about?" he asked disbelieving as he moved a few paces away. Adam scrambled to his feet and stood full of fury and anger in front of his newly appointed foe.

"Don't you think I heard your conversation? Don't you think I know??" Adam spat at him. A receptionist at a distance dialled a number to an office above where a dark figure looked out of the windows before disappearing immediately.

"I've done nothing!" Aenriques said disbelieving with his friend's accusations. "All I've done was to go under-cover and that's all!"

"Well, how do you then explain you unfamiliarity with the break-in by those sons and daughters of bitches?" Adam stepped nearer and was about to raise a fist again to attack when a loud call made him stop and turn his head.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?"

Zacharias hastened through the hall from the opening where the escalator was. His face was furious, his eyes black like night and his face contracted like someone had just fed him lemons. Behind him came Nathaniel. Zacharias pushed Aenriques back and Nathaniel grabbed Adam, who looked like he could have blown up the building just in order to get his colleague in a not-so-friendly manner of speaking.

"I really don't know, Zach," Aenriques said flustered and looked up and down at Adam, who was still fuming with anger. "Adam just came and... He called me a traitor. I really have no idea what he's talking about."

"Do you know what he's talking about?" Nathaniel asked as he looked down at Adam, who almost hung like a jacket on a coat rack in Nathaniel's hand.

"I very well do, now if you'd please lower me I'll explai-" he was cut off mid-sentence when the glass ceiling was pulled aside and Shade flew in from above with what looked like a bag of potatoes over his shoulder. When he came down they realized he was carrying someone. He landed and threw the man on the floor. Aenriques stiffened as he recognized the distinct features of Petyr's face.

"Look what I found," Shade said indifferently. The man lay motionless at the floor, unconscious, bleeding from a gunshot wound in the leg and from a bruise on the forehead. Zacharias eyed him out and nodded shortly.

"Who is he?" he asked.

"He was at the warehouse," Shade explained.

"Nathaniel, bring him down to questioning, and get hold of Vladimir. Seems like we'll get an interrogation going. Hopefully this will also shed some light," Zacharias looked from Aenriques, who looked down into the floor, and to Adam who held his head high proudly, "on your little scene. Get to your offices and stay there until the interrogation is done." Aenriques and Adam left straight away. "Shade, you're coming with me. The Lord needs to know."

Shade nodded without another word and followed Zacharias through the building as Nathaniel dragged Petyr along with him out of the administration area. Slowly, people retreated to their posts as the drama dissolved.