25 Negotiations

"What's the situation, lieutenant?" asked Tyler, coming out of his tent, when he heard the noises of gunfire coming from the forest.

"Jacob found the guy, but he killed two of our scouts that were with Jacob. I gave him an order to stay in place and wait for reinforcements, but also to keep the guy there by using suppressing fire."

"What are you waiting for? Dispatch our men!" said Tyler, seeing that everyone was still around.

"Yes, Sir!" said the lieutenant, but barely did he say that and he heard the sound of an explosion coming from the same direction where Jacob found the guy.

~boom~

Tyler looked in the direction of the explosion, and said, "That was a grenade."

The lieutenant grabbed his communicator and said, "Jacob, report the situation, over," but the only thing he heard back from the radio was a muffled noise of static.

"He is dead," said Tyler, "Quickly dispatch your men," but in the next moment the radio stopped the static noise, it was a signal that someone pressed the talking button in the other communicator and was about to talk.

The tension on the lieutenant's face was visible. After all, he was working with Jacob for over a year now, and thought of him as a brother already.

"Why are you trying to kill me? Is this because of the files?" asked a voice that the lieutenant didn't recognize.

Tyler immediately understood the situation and grabbed the radio communicator from the lieutenant's hands, and said, "Yes, surrender and you will receive a fair trial."

The communicator went on mute again but five seconds later the same voice came, "Fair trial, you said, but why should I be arrested in the first place? I only took the files because I feared someone would accidentally find them, and now you are hunting me down because of that? If this is not fair, how can I even expect a fair trial?"

'The heck? He grabbed the files so no one could see it?' thought Tyler, he was not sure if the guy was stupid or just brain dead, 'Why would someone do that? The knowledge there... even I don't know everything that is there' thinking about that, tyler said to the lieutenant, "Dispatch your men now, I will try to keep him busy over the radio, now go!"

The lieutenant gave a small nod and immediately left with his two squads.

Seeing the squads leaving, Tyler pressed the talking button and said, "You should have stayed at the trucks. Once the army arrived, they would even give you a promotion for surviving the beast attack and guarding your post, but you ran away, not only that, but you ran away with top secret files."

Seeing the radio continued muted, and the guy didn't say anything, Tyler pressed the talking button and continued, "You know there is no way for you to escape the army, right? The Union controls all cities, what you will do? Live in the woods for the rest of your life? Always running? Always watching your back? Just surrender. There is still a chance for you to live."

After a few seconds, the muffled static noise disappeared, and a voice came from the radio, "Unfortunately, if I surrender, the best outcome for me is to be locked inside a jail, and that's not an option for me."

Seeing the guy was hellbent on not surrendering, Tyler had an idea. He would need to sweet the deal, "You read those files, so you know things are changing quickly. The army is recruiting everyone that gained abilities. Actually, you are talking with a person who has abilities right now. Let me introduce myself. I'm Special Captain Tyler, an ability user."

The radio went on mute again, but this time, Tyler knew that the guy was pondering over the matter.

"And what about those three guys I killed? That's treason, the army is very strict with that." said the voice over the radio.

Tyler quickly pressed the talking button and said, "Do yo really think that they care about that when they have the chance of having an ability user in its ranks? You are worth more than an entire squad."

Seeing that talking with the guy was working, Tyler grabbed the radio again and said, "All units, stand by and don't engage, I repeat, Don't engage," the radio was used by all units in the same channel, so everyone was hearing what Tyler was talking with that guy, and he knew that the guy too just heard what he said.

Tyler waited for a few seconds and continued, "Alright, I called them back. You heard, that's me showing good will. Now it's your time. Will you consider my offer? You can't really hope to have a life as fugitive, the Union is too big for that, and we will provide support for your grow, you don't have to hunt mutated animals by yourself to acquire mutated animal parts, the army will provide, and strengthen you, not only that, but you will also have a captain patent, just like me, think about, what do you have to lose?"

Tyler stopped pressing the talk button and waited. He knew he was close to persuade the guy.

A few seconds passed, but no response came from the radio, seeing that Tyler furrowed his brows and pressed the talking button "I already gave my name, I also gave you a sign of goodwill by calling back the soldiers, at least give me your name," He was trying to make the other guy feel more comfortable to talk with him, and make him stop thinking about the outcomes of surrendering.

"My name is Mark," said the voice coming from the radio.

Seeing it worked, Tyler quickly pressed the talking button of the radio and said, "Mark, I will wait here for the next 1 hour, if you come to the camp we will gladly receive you, after that time, there will be no more negotiations, and you will be a fugitive traitor from the army, that's my final offer, now decide"