12

Aiden’s coworkers were pretty surprised to see him show up at work, for they were informed that he called in sick. However, Aiden told them that he was feeling much better, and although suspicious, his team didn’t say much. Aiden checked up on the team’s progress and saw that they were almost fully equipped to go. He was informed that the team would, including him, would be doing an exercise via virtual reality tomorrow, and would then be leaving on Wednesday.

The idea from the colonel in ops command was that the mission could be done before the weekend so the team can enjoy a nicely-deserved rest. Aiden pretended to be happy when the team updated him on what he missed. However, when Ryan and Nathan asked him to go training in the shooting range while Hunter sorted out his equipment with the techies, Aiden declined and lied that he needed to finish up some paperwork since he was captain. His squadmates rolled their eyes but then left him alone. When Aiden saw that they were gone, he left his office and went up to ops command.

Elizabeth was sitting down with George with a group of technicians around them working on various intel when Aiden entered the command center. He saluted the colonel and she gestured him that the formality wasn’t necessary.

“Did you enjoy the walk yesterday?” Elizabeth asked with a grin when Aiden sat down.

“Yes, ma’am. I was able to see many things, and I found the walk … educational.” Aiden said, choosing his words carefully. “However, I do wish to speak privately about some related concerns that I still have.”

Elizabeth’s smile faded, and she eyed George to leave. George looked as if he wanted to protest but then thought better of it. Then, Elizabeth turned off the connection on her specs to the Bureogis network, opened up a private channel, and gestured Aiden to do the same. She also gestured towards the camera at the corner of the room, reminding Aiden to be discreet. Aiden found her connection, connected, and mouthed a request for the password. Elizabeth mouthed back a response and as soon as Aiden connected a chatbox showed up. Elizabeth was the first to send a message, telling Aiden to pretend to talk about his team’s preparation. Aiden did and started talking about the many boring details which occurred. In the meantime, he eyed the letters on his specs to start texting Elizabeth.

“I agree with your idea colonel, but there is a better way.”

‘Like what?”

“My brother thinks maybe we can convince the AI to care for all people, not just corporations, as long as we give it a reason for why it should” Aiden texted, leading to a moment of silence where Aiden could feel Elizabeth staring at him through her specs. After what seemed like an eternity, the colonel responded.

“You are not supposed to tell ANYONE!” Elizabeth texted back. Aiden could feel her fury and decided to calm her down with some context.

“Calm down, I almost died yesterday, knocked out by some bastard, almost froze, Liam had to come saved me”

“I am so sorry, didn’t expect that to happen”

“It’s fine, no problem. The point is that there are other ways.”

“But how can you be sure it works, what if it doesn’t?”

“Better than putting the entire world at risk no?”

The colonel apparently disagreed with Aiden, and they both tried to convince each other of their points of view, and Aiden thought about if this was what Liam felt when he tried to convince Aiden during their little argument in the morning. However, Aiden’s conversation with the colonel was made more exhausting by the fact that while texting their true conversation, Aiden pretended to talk about his squad’s planning and Elizabeth pretended to listen and responded accordingly. However, after fifteen minutes it was clear that the conversation was going nowhere, and both officers were too drained to continue anyway. So Elizabeth gave Aiden the same phrase which Aiden gave to Liam in the morning.

“Captain, are you going to stop me?”

Aiden knew that he said yes the colonel would switch her plans, but at the same time, Aiden could not bring himself to report the colonel’s activities anyways. For, although he did not want to admit it to himself, Aiden was in love with the colonel. It wasn't simply Elizabeth’s form that attracted him, although she had great form. But rather, it was everything about the women that Aiden wanted, her resolute personality, her ability to make tough calls, her intellect, and occasionally, even her underdeveloped sense of humor. It was this love, which like an impenetrable shield, blocked the repeated strikes of Aiden’s conscience to report to his superior. But at the same time, Aiden was determined that if there was a better way, and he and Liam will go for that instead.

“Colonel, I will not” was Aiden’s firm response to Elizabeth’s question, and he could feel her relief.

They continued their conversation on operation preparations for a few more minutes, and Aiden concluded by stating that his team was completely ready for what was coming. Elizabeth thanked him for his hard work and effort, and they both stood up. For an instant, they locked eyes, and there was a moment of understanding between them. Then without warning, Elizabeth grabbed Aiden’s face and gave him two gentle kisses. First a short one on the cheek, and then a much longer, more intense action near the lips. Aiden was initially shocked, but then fully welcomed Elizabeth and embraced her body. The operators near them pretended to keep working and not to see anything, but Aiden was pretty sure that he heard some suppressed giggles. Neither he nor Elizabeth cared. The moment belonged to them, and no one else was going to take it away.