Past, Present and Future - The Devereaux Case Files Book 6

Chapter 7

Maxwell was removed from training without any fuss. He simply left the room to collect his belongings and shower, and then he would leave with Murray. Gideon watched the other recruits watching the door, waiting for his return, but it never came. Max was gone. He was an agent now and they deserved to know the truth. He waited until they had finished their last twenty minutes of the warm up circuit and then allowed them a short breather, to grab a drink of water and have a seat, while he talked to them.

"As you all noticed, Max is no longer with us. He left this room to become an agent. It was not our decision, as trainers, to release him, but orders are orders. Lesson number 13: expect the unexpected. You are not a real agent until you accept your first mission. Max has done so, by leaving today." Gideon let them all lounge around casually, while Seth and Sammy stood by, with their clipboards, ready to tackle their grueling physical schedule again for another day. Seth had some extra files he said he wanted to talk over with Gideon, the paper pusher of the three, so they were going to cover that just as soon as he explained Maxwell's disappearance.

"The man you all saw here, the man some of you may have seen before is Murray. Learn to recognize him. When he appears, it's never good news. Murray was my team leader, as he was with Seth and Sammy. Murray is most people's team leader in the States and when that becomes too much, he delegates to minor leaders of his choice. One of us in this very room, may one day become such a minor leader." Gideon tried to give them something positive to think about, anything other than Maxwell's absence and what it might mean for the team. He could already see some curiously angry scowls that said the recruits were unhappy to think that Max was getting out of his training just because he tested better than the rest of them. It was unfair to cherry pick.

"So Max isn't coming back?" Muhammad asked curiously, surprised to hear that Max was being taken from them. He didn't get on well with Max, of course, since he was a bit pushy and cocky but he figured that was what came with having to put a brave face on things. On the other hand, Gideon was looking at Muhammad as their new front running, just ever so slightly in front of Elodie.

"No. His training is over. Everything else he needs to learn, he will learn in the field. But as his fellow recruits, and some of you may be friends with him, you deserve an explanation: we do not share details of our missions with those outside of our team." Gideon explained point-blankly. He wasn't going to say any more on the matter until Atticus, the one who'd had some Army experience, complained that it wasn't an explanation at all.

"Yes Atticus, that is the explanation. You deserve no more than that." Sammy snapped at him, only just beating Gideon to it. He gave him a nod of recognition for the support and turned his gaze back onto Atticus, who scowled in silence now. As recruits, they got their intellectual training from Gideon, and the hard core physical stuff from Sammy, with plans and schedules drawn up by Seth, who did all the research. They worked well as a team and Gideon could see that Sammy was just as unhappy with Atticus' attitude as he was.

Seth made a check on his clipboard next to Atticus' name, in the box 'attitude' and then another further down the list beside the box 'issues with authority'. Gideon smiled to himself, thinking about how Seth was going to put together a schedule of discipline for Atticus that would tackle both those issues and cure him of them very quickly.

"However, I am a fair man. So here are the facts. A monster of a man has just won another victory. We've been after him, as a country, for years. He's young, quick and cunning. He's vicious and will pick on anyone weaker than him for no reason. We are trying to bring him down and he has just given us a way to do so." Gideon spoke as if Atticus and Sammy had never interrupted his flow. He stood there, in front of the troops, his hands behind his back, rocking on his heels. He had an air of cool, calmness about him since Murray had mentioned going after Daryl. Maybe he would be able to sleep better after all.