He pulled the hood of his fleece jumper up, shivering for a moment, although he wasn't sure it was the temperature. He glanced out of the corner of his eyes, observing Jasper as he was driving. The man didn't seem too shaken. Or he was good at hiding it.
Jason lit a cigarette and looked in the rear view mirror at Jude and Jagger. The medic was checking Jude's bandage, where a few small bloodstains were appearing, before zipping his jacket up again.
"All good, Jagger?"
The Englishman nodded. Jason took a big drag from his cigarette and stared at the gloved hand holding it. He went over a number of things in his head. Some of them clicked into place, but there were a few nagging details he didn't like. Not at all.
He watched the little hula dancer shake back and forth on the dashboard and started talking. As much to himself as to the others.
"This is why we have a rule in place not to use medieval metaphysics and hypergeometry. Or whatever they want to call it in newfangled pseudo-scientific terms... I just call it magic. This is also the reason why you report any works that may contain these... spells... or... rituals. You don't dabble in it. Period. That way you can never be tempted to try it out. I'm sure Clyde meant no harm. The guy was heartbroken when his wife passed away. He probably thought it would all be OK. None would ever find out. I guess the spell didn't work the way he expected it to be. Or there were side effects. Who knows. There must have been a reason he locked her up in there."
Jason looked to the right, out of the window.
"He should have called it in. Faced the music. Management doesn't look kindly upon these practices. But at least he would have eliminated the threat he had created."
Jason chuckled He could imagine how Norman would have reacted to this... He could just have explained it a bit better in the note. 'Hi guys. thanks for coming to wipe my arse. Much appreciated. Oh by the way, I raised my late wife from the dead. Didn't really work out the way I thought it would. Please be careful when you torch the evil bitch and don't open the hatch unless you're ready for her. Kind regards, Clyde'
He flicked the cigarette out of the window and lit a fresh one. He looked in the mirror again at Jude. Looked like the painkillers Jagger had given him had kicked in. The guy has done well. Jason didn't think he would have been able to go toe to toe with that thing as long as Jude had. That's twice the guy got wounded on an Op. Not a good way to settle in.
Jagger had pulled his weight properly as well. When Jason ran back to the car to get the knife, he thought Jude was a goner. He had little hope for Jagger to do something, seeing the way he was since he ate those won tons earlier, but amazingly, he had been able to get Jagger to realize the seriousness of the situation and the medic had apparently been able to stop the bleeding and patch Jude up in record time.
He hoped the guys would get a bit of downtime before the next Night at the Opera. Absorb some of this shit. When they had their talk over lunch it was clear their expectations and the reality of Delta Green were not one and the same. Yeah... been there, done that, bought a few T-shirts.
He closed his eyes for a few seconds, taking a few deep breaths. When he looked back again, Jagger and Jude were asleep.
He looked over at Jasper.
"If you're worried about what happened back there, don't be. This kind of stuff should unsettle you. You lost the rifle, but you stood your ground. In the end we took that thing out, That's all that matters."
Jason closed his eyes and slowly drifted away.
He woke up, some time later, when he felt the rhythm of the car change. He looked out, noticing they were off the main road and closer to the green box. He rubbed his eyes as Jasper maneuvered the car to the rear of the green box. The guys in the back were awake as well.
As Jasper turned the engine off, Jason saw the cut lock laying on the ground, at the backdoor.
"Balaclavas on and let's be quiet. we're not taking any risks..."
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