11 Smitten like a kitten

"what do you mean there's a new package? That's not possible! "

" I don’t know sir,"

" Are you sure it's the package?"

Sam nodded. " Yes, we tried to open it because we didn’t think it could be the package. But it didn’t open because-"

" I know, thank you, Sam," Bryan cut him off. He didn’t want to give too much information in the middle of the training rooms, with absolutely no privacy.

" Will you wait in my room with the package please? I'll be there in a minute." He told Sam softly. He couldn’t be too tough on the little boy who could barely reach his torso while standing. With his big brown eyes and a little piece of hair always falling in his face, he looked like a tiny puppy, not a soldier as he was expected to be.

" Yes sir," Sam said firmly.

Bryan let out a chuckle and shook his head. He crouched down a bit so he was at Sam's eye level.

" Look buddy, I know you were put in a military system at a very young age. And you were expected to be a soldier and take orders with no hesitation. But this is not an army. You seriously need to loosen up a bit."

Sam frowned. He seemed to be thinking about what Bryan told him

" Not sure I know how to do that." He mumbled after a minute or two.

Bryan put his hand on his shoulder." Start by calling me, Bryan. Hmm? That shouldn’t be that hard."

Sam nodded his head. Bryan smiled at him and gave his shoulder a small squeeze.

"Get going now. I'll be there in a minute. Be careful on steps okay?"

Sam gave him a teeth showing grin and nodded, running off.

Bryan stood up. He saw some people standing around him. He took a deep breath and turned toward them, face and posture stern just like his father taught him.

"The rest of you, go back to training. We have a pretty huge mission coming and I want you to be as ready as possible. For those of you competing in tomorrow night's car race, please make sure your cars are at their best performance and there is no danger threatening you. I want you all to be safe, I don’t care about winning the car race, your health is a priority. Are we clear?" He said with a steady voice.

There were muffled understood's and yes's. Then the crowd around him vanished in their own corridors. He got a glimpse of Josh before he walked toward the blue section.

Bryan sighed and walked toward the centre of the room. When he reached the column in the centre, he put his hand on the mark on it, a digital keyboard coming out of it. He entered the password and the column opened, revealing a stairway going up and down. He descended the stairs, reaching the first door. He walked in and saw Sam sitting on his chair and looking at the package on his desk as if it would run away.

" It won't run you know?" He said jokingly.

" When did you come?" Sam said, jumping a little.

" When you were trying to open the package with your stare," Bryan said with a smirk.

Sam blushed and lowered his head, mumbling:" I wasn't staring," then he jumped off Bryan's chair and stood by his desk. Still close to the package just in case.

" you're staying ?" Bryan stated.

" you want me to leave?" Sam tilted his head a little, leading more hair to fall into his face.

Bryan shook his head with a fond smile. Sam smiled brightly. " Then I'm staying,"

" Fine, but stay a little further. I don't want you to get hurt," Bryan said walking toward his desk.

"You know why I'm staying, I can't possibly get hurt," Sam said with a dry chuckle. "I'm here to protect you, so I'm staying close"

Bryan frowned. "We don't know what will happen if you overcharge yourself and I'm not interested in risking anything to find that out. Just stay a little bit further," Bryan said ruffling Sam's hair.

Sam stood behind Bryan."I'm still watching though."

" I know," Bryan said softly.

He took a deep breath and looked at the package in front of him on the table. The package was made of metal in an odd-looking hexagon. He pressed the palm of his hand to the package. It started to glow for a second or two, then a bright light came out of it revealing the shape of a voice memo. He touched the play button. A machine voice filled the room.

"This package contains more information about the upcoming mission. You must do as you're told. Involving individuals, other than the ones mentioned, is absolutely unnecessary. Open the brown letter after 30 minutes. The box will dispose itself in the next 10 minutes. Remember each individual was chosen. Good luck commander Bryan."

Bryan heard Sam giggling behind him. He sighed and rolled his eyes, "I seriously hate this guy, every god damn time."

"Well you are the commander, whether you like it or not" Sam replied immediately.

"Stop enjoying this too much and be useful. Get the box upstairs and make sure no one is around it for the next 30 minutes."

Sam frowned. "But it said 10 minutes."

"Yeah, I know. I just wanna make sure everything is fine."

Sam nodded and took the metal box off the table. When he reached the door he heard Bryan's voice.

"And by no one I mean you."

"I'm gonna be fine, I just want to know what happens to it." Sam chuckled.

"No, put it there and stay as far as possible, don't make me do it myself."

Sam huffed and walked upstairs, where he could stay as far as possible from the vanishing box.

Bryan put his hands on the table and leaned on them. He looked at the clock and waited for his 30 minutes to be over. This person, whoever the fuck they were, was extremely cautious. They always gave unneeded orders and made sure to piss him off as much as possible.

He started thinking while he was waiting, his mind just couldn't stop.

He went over the mission all over again. He visualised it and by using some power, he was able to make a simulation of it for himself. Where he was with his team, processing to get the information they needed. He walked around, trying to find every tiny detail, anything that could go wrong. He then turned to the other team. He perfected each and every part of the plan. There was nothing wrong with it, but still, he felt like something was missing and something was going to go terribly wrong.

"You know by making a real simulation of the mission for the hundredth time you're just going to tire yourself?"

Bryan lost his focus and the walls of the information room turned back to his room.

He looked at the door. He couldn't see his face, but he knew that voice too well.

"When did you come? I told you to stay the hell away tonight. She could see you."

"Chill, I was careful. And she isn't even here so she can't possibly see me. You gotta trust me more than this." The taller boy said, leaning on the doorway.

"You're in this room aren't you? That means I trust you. Now, kindly, shut up."

Bryan turned toward his desk again, grabbing the brown letter.

"Wait a minute, she's not here? What do you mean? She's with Thomas in the blue section." Bryan said in a panic.

"Sorry to cut you off boss, but I'm here."

Bryan looked at Thomas standing behind him.

"You people need bells, stop appearing out of the thin air," Bryan said putting the letter back down.

Thomas smirked.

"It's not our fault you get all deaf and blind when it's about your girlfriend," he stopped to get away from Bryan's death glare. The blonde boy stood on the other side of Bryan's table, in front of him, continuing what he was saying.

"I'm just curious. If you're so smitten like a kitten, why would you have Josh taking her home?"

Bryan growled.

"I'm not smitten like a kitten."

He was cut off by the taller boy from the doorway. "You really are, I mean you stepped in high school's lunchroom to ask her out."

"Shut up, both of you. How the hell am I supposed to expect people to respect me when all you two do is cutting me off," He glared at Thomas, "Close the source of stupidity and let me finish," Which caused Thomas to close his mouth and cross his arms.

"As I was saying, I'm not smitten, and maybe when you two grew up, I'll tell you why I asked her out, don't give me the love bullshit old man," He said the last part toward the doorway and the taller boy standing in the shadows, who just raised his hands in his defence.

"I didn't send Josh to take her home," Bryan said with frustration.

Thomas frowned.

"He told me you did, and you needed me here ASAP. Something about the package."

"Well, this is just great. The package is just a letter this time and the voice guy is just simply annoying. Hailie's with one person I don’t want her to be. And now I'm never gonna hear the end of you two making fun of me," Bryan said annoyed.

There was silence for a while. The three of them deep in their thoughts.

"What do you want to do now?" The blonde boy asked worriedly.

"Text my girlfriend and wait for josh to get back and hear him out. if he doesn't have a good reason, I'll decide what to do with him then" Bryan said sighing heavily.

"Now let's see what is this one about." He

said inviting the taller boy closer with his hand.