Marked

Chapter Eight

"Nicolas has been combing these waters," Rachel heard Copenhagen sigh. She stood just outside the door to his office, holding a tray in her hands with his lunch on it.

"What's your plan?" Another man asked.

"Just wait it out for now, I suppose. If he gets too close then we'll have no choice but to eliminate his guys."

"Why not just attack them now and get rid of the threat right away?"

"Because if we kill them we will be confirming to Nicolas that we're out here and he'll only send more after us. For now, we'll bid our time and hope he gives up on searching the ocean. There's plenty of land to occupy him out there, anyway. I'm sure he'll give up eventually." Copenhagen's chair creaked and for one moment Rachel feared he'd gotten up and would discover her eavesdropping.

It's not like she'd purposely tried to listen in on his conversation but now that she had the chance , she couldn't turn her ear away from news they otherwise wouldn't share with her.

"Let's wait it out," Copenhagen repeated. The distance of his voice hadn't changed so Rachel assumed he was still sitting at his desk.

"As a last resort, we'll take his daughter's tracking chip, activate it and drop it somewhere in the mountains. That should be enough incentive to search there instead of here."

"Whatever you think is best, sir."

"Then it's settled. Now give me a rundown of our security system. Is our field showing any weakness? Any holes?"

Footsteps echoed behind her, down the hall. That was her cue to continue on and deliver Copenhagen's meal.

She took a few silent steps back and as the person behind her turned into an adjacent hallway, she continued walking towards Copenhagen, hoping he'd think the footsteps had belonged to her all along.

She rapped gently on the door, though it already hung open.

Copenhagen and the other man sat hunched over a book-sized screen resting on his desk which displayed an aerial shot of the ships and its surrounding dome-shaped shield.  

"Hello, Rachel." Copenhagen nodded to acknowledge her presence. She set the tray down on his desk and straightened up, eying the picture of the ships before getting ready to leave.

"Everything alright with you?" He asked, turning to look at her.

Rachel squirmed uncomfortably, hoping they weren't about to start talking about her nervous breakdown on the deck.

"Everything's great. Everything alright with the ships?"

"Everything is great." He mimicked. Copenhagen and Rachel shared a look, both catching the lie of the other. She cleared her throat and excused herself from the room.

.....................................................................

Tonight, by some miracle, Simone sat with Rachel during dinner. Her brown curls bobbed as she chattered animatedly about all the things her and Gabe had planned once all this was over. She had such faith that they would all make it out of this alive, such a desire to live that Rachel hoped at least some of it would rub off on her too.

Despite her happiness at hanging out with Simone, she couldn't help but resent her a little for the fact that the only reason she seemed to be sitting with Rachel in the first place was because Gabe was no where to be found. Still, she'd take some time with Simone any way she could get it.

"...and once we win the war, I want kids. Do you think that's crazy? Like is it too soon to be thinking about kids?"

"You always wanted kids." Rachel said with a smile. "But I'd hold off until you two know each other better before suggesting it to Gabe. It's only been a few weeks."