Post Operation Report

James lay on a simple wooden bench in his holding cell, pretending to read a book. He glanced to the other bench, seeing that Henry was still sitting on the edge, staring daggers at him. James shifted on the bench trying to make it look like the bench was what was making him uncomfortable.

"Are you not going to say anything?" Henry asked, a tinge of anger in his tone.

"What was that?" James asked as he sat up.

"Oh stop pretending you were reading James, we both know you weren't," Henry snapped back.

"I don't know what your talking about," James shrugged, "This is a riveting story." James held up the book, cover towards Henry.

"That's a Bible."

James looked at the cover. "So it is," he said, before chucking it to the corner and turning back to Henry. They sat in silence for a while, awkwardly looking at each other before James announced, "What do you want me to say man? Sorry I trusted a guy I've known my whole life?"

"Yes, I do. I've told you before that Tom's information can't be trusted, let alone his intentions," responded Henry.

"When has Tom's information ever been bad?" replied James.

"Really, do I have to bring up Gary's house?" rebuked Henry with a raised eyebrow.

"Fucking Gary's house," James muttered. "You still decided to come with me."

"You know exactly why I came with you," Henry said in an accusatory tone.

"You still haven't moved on? No other guy has caught your eye in the last two years?" James asked. Henry just stared at him, not answering.

"Fine, I'm sorry," James said as he turned laid back down on the bench.

Henry relaxed a bit and smiled, "Thanks James."

"How long did your parents say it would take for them to pick you up?" asked James.

Henry sighed and laid back on his bench. "They didn't say a time, just 'soon' which probably means when they get a call saying they need to pick me up."

"Shit man," responded James, frowning. "Guess your stuck here with me then."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, James glancing over to Henry every now and then, thinking on what to say.

"Are you sure you can't move in with me?" he eventually asked.

"Yeah, despite not talking to me, my parents still insist that I stay with them," said Henry bitterly. "Still got two months before I can tell them to go fuck themselves then never talk see them again."

"Well, when you do, my couch is always yours," James said. Henry turned and gave James a warm smile, he opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by the sound of the cell door being unlocked. The two boys turned towards the solid metal door as it slowly swung open. The black lit lighting obscured the faces of the two figures in the door way for a few seconds but James could still recognise them.

The first was superintendent Hughes, a thick, muscle bound man in his forties who stood at James' height of 185cm. In James' experience, he was a straightforward and serious man, but he had only ever interacted with him while in cuffs or in a cell so he didn't have the best interactions with him.

The second person was surprising. It was a tall woman, slightly shorter than Hughes and James, but taller than Henry. She had auburn hair, and silver rimmed glasses over piercing green eyes. Her sleek black suit matched her dark skin and did well at showing her lean, athletic build. She was also in her forties as far as James knew but she wore it a lot better than superintendent Hughes.

Henry shot to his feet as she stepped into the cell, the shock on his face a match James' own, neither of them expected to see their high school physics teacher.

"Miss Kalieta, what are you doing here?" Henry asked.

"Your time for questions will come later Henry, I've got some questions I'd like to ask you first," she said. She turned towards the superintendent and motioned for him to move. "Follow me boys."

The boys looked at each other before tentatively following Miss Kalieta out into the hallway. James expected to see the usual cop guards in the hallway, but instead there were two large men in the same dark suits as Miss Kalieta with large guns that were definitely not standard issue. The two men fell into step behind the group as they passed.

James and Henry were led out the back of the precinct, not passing any other people. They approached a large delivery van and one of the guards opened the back door exposing two rows of seats sitting opposite each other. The other guard pushed the two boys into the back of the van. James looked back and saw Miss Kalieta reach into her suit jacket and received a wad of cash that she handed to the superintendent. They exchanged a few words that James couldn't hear before the superintendent walked back to the precinct.

James tried to hide it, but he was getting nervous now. Other than the obvious, a strange feeling had started, similar to when you have people looking at you. It had started when he had seen the two guards for the first time, and it got worse the closer he was to them. The worst part though was that it was the same feeling he got when breaking into the warehouse last night.

Miss Kalieta climbed into the back of the van with one of the guards. The guard closed the doors to the van, a slightly different feeling spiked in James as the door was locked by the guard.

'What the actual fuck is going on?' James thought, his leg bouncing as the nervousness started to show.

Miss Kalieta sat on one of the chairs opposite James and Henry alongside the guard. "Alright, now that we're away from prying eyes, it's time for some of those questions I told you about," she said, smiling softly at the two boys. She reached into under her chair and pulled out a folder. Opening it, she started reading out the contents.

"On the 14th of January at approximately 11:43pm, two individuals were detected on Sublevel 1 of Site 3. Alarms were immediately raised, but the individuals were able to evade capture. During their escape, suspect one was captured on Outer Camera 13. Approximately 4 minutes after the individuals were first detected, local law enforcement were called. Approximately 2 minutes later, suspect one was positively identified as 17 year old Henry Fawler."

Henry looked towards James with an apologetic face, "Sorry," he whispered. James just shrugged and mouthed "Later" at him before turning back to Miss Kalieta. She had paused to watch the interaction but continued when she saw the attention of the boys.

"Approximately 22 minutes after the individuals were detected, two suspects were apprehended by local authorities at Fawler's home address of 5 Sims Rd. The second suspect was identified as 19 year old James Resiar. They are currently being held at the Mount Barker Police Station.

It is currently unknown how the individuals infiltrated Site 3 undetected or how they avoided capture as they escaped. The objective of the individuals is also unknown." Miss Kalieta lowered the folder and looked at the two boys in front of her for a few seconds.

"So, what are your questions?" James asked as the silenced stretched on uncomfortably long. Miss Kalieta hit the folder with the back of her hand.

"I want the information this report doesn't have, how did you get in, what were you after, and who hired you?" she responded.

Henry looked about to respond, but James put up a hand. "And why should I tell you anything? I don't even have a lawyer with me," he said, leaning back and trying to appear confident.

"First of all, lawyers won't be able to help you here. This is a private matter, not a government one," she said, "and the second is that, depending on your answer, you'll either go to prison for a very long time, or you'll come to work with us."

James and Henry looked at each other for a second.

"Well shit," they said in unison.