MICAH #2
He was right about the fact I never liked him.
Something about his attitude always rubbed me the wrong way.
I don’t know if there was ever going to be a time that we could say that we actually liked each other.
Lately, we’d been tolerating each other just so it didn’t upset Lailah.
If she ended up forgiving him, I didn’t know what I would do with that.
I didn’t think I’d ever be able to leave her in his care.
“Just a reminder, assistants are seen and not heard,” Parker shot back as he tossed the tablet to me.
“Don’t worry, I can be trusted to play my part. It’s you we’re all worried about,” I rebutted.
Arno Botha, the CFO of the company, was meeting with us, so that proved they weren’t messing around and knew Parker’s family was a big account that they wanted to land.
This meant they would do all they could to make us choose them and that played in our favor.
The drive to their headquarters didn’t take more than fifteen minutes and after our conversation ended, it was a quiet ride.
We had no idea what kind of information we would get from this meeting but I prayed it would be enough to point us toward the next step in this never-ending battle.
We were greeted in the lobby upon our arrival, taken up to the third floor and shown into a conference room.
They offered Parker tea or coffee, ignoring us as the help who didn’t deserve the same attention as the man holding the money.
I sat next to Parker and set the tablet on the table, pretending to take notes about something as we waited.
Jay stood like the military man he was. It didn’t take long before Arno joined us, shaking Parker’s hand then extending it to me as well.
“Thank you for being able to make this meeting on such short notice. We were in the area on other business and it just made sense,” Parker shared as we all got settled.
Arno bobbed his head in understanding as he slid over a folder of information and opened it.
“I hope I gathered the information you needed. If not, then it should be easy enough to gather quickly. Now, you said that your company is expanding into the region and you wanted a more local source to stock things for your offices?”
“Exactly. Last year, we opened a branch in Dubai and it’s been wildly successful.
We felt it was time to push our reach even further.
Our friends over at Aplite said they had a great experience with you and that we should look into your services,” Parker said, slipping that hook into the conversation in a way no one would think twice about.
I watched as a soft glow of purple hung around Parker as he pulled on his power to relax Arno. His shoulders lowered and then his breathing seemed to become deeper, as if he was in a meditative state of mind, completely unconcerned with anything.
“Aplite... yes, they have become one of our biggest clients over the past year. Are you looking to venture into the side of business they are in? Seems odd for a tech company to need those types of supplies, or is tech just the front you use?” Arno asked, his words slurred ever so slightly like he was drunk.
“We partner with many companies, one of them being a large private military group. You know how tech and military always seem to go hand in hand these days. What I want to know is how much can you offer us and if you can get the same things you did for Aplite,” Parker pushed, leaning forward, his gaze never breaking from Arno’s.
Arno frowned as something Parker said didn’t match up with what should have been said. “What exactly did Lord Beelzebub tell you we procured for him?”
“He gave you his true name?” Parker demanded, a worried tone in his voice.
I could see that he was losing Arno with this line of questioning and something needed to be done. “How impressive to be given such a gift in the form of knowing his true name.”
“Yes, after I gave up my first-born son to his army, Lord Beelzebub blessed me with the knowledge that my son would help rebuild this world into something greater,” Arno shared with a smile.
“He even said I was supporting them by getting the supplies they needed. Are you starting a second training camp for those injected with the serum? That would be the only reason he would send you to me and give you the proper code word to use.”
All of us froze as Arno told us something more valuable than he could imagine.
“Yes, he’s moving the battle up and needs to get more followers prepared.
I have a thumb drive here that he asked me to give you so you could put whatever information on there we needed, along with the list of items he’s gotten from you.
This way we don’t need to bother our great Lord while he is dealing with the pesky Elementi Knights. ”
Arno gave us a lazy drunk smile, holding out his hand. “I am always happy to be of help to our Dark Lord. May his reign over this world be long and prosperous.”
Catching Jay’s eye, he gave a simple nod, telling me he thought this was far too easy.
Something else was going on here and I just couldn’t put my finger on it, but it was important to figure it out and fast. Just before Arno was going to connect the jump drive to his computer, he typed in a code and that’s when it hit me.
Grabbing Parker and Jay, I dropped to the ground taking them with me. “Get under the table now!”
They didn’t question me and scrambled to get under the large thick conference table, trying to get to the opposite end from Arno.
The world seemed to stop as a small beep sounded and the world exploded around us.
I took the flames and wrapped them around us, creating a shield of sorts, burning up anything that tried to land on us.
What I couldn’t stop was the floor underneath us from trembling and shattering apart, sending us careening down to the second floor.
Dousing my flames since they would do more harm than good, I felt the wind whip around us.
Jay used the air to thrust up at us, slowing our fall so when we landed it wasn’t as rough.
It also shoved all debris that we could have landed on out of the way, allowing us to survive the bomb with minimal damage.
“We need to get the fuck out of here. I don’t know how it happened but someone leaked that we were coming here,” Jay shouted over the fire alarm as he pulled me to my feet. “If they’ve taken Lailah, there is nothing in this world or the next that will stop me from burning hell to the ground.”
The look of determination and rage on Jay’s face made me thankful that I was on his side, because that man could be one scary motherfucker.