Balance (24 page)

A light knock
from the entry
startles him.
 
Opening the door,
Michael finds
Rodriguez
s
tanding
in the hallway,
a serving tray with several covered plates and a pitcher of juice
in his hands
.
  Michael step
s
out
, not wanting Rena
to hear
their conversation
.

“How is she?” Rodriguez inquires
thoughtfully
.

“I don’t know.  She hasn’t said anything.
”

“Takada has cleared both your schedules for the day.  His only request
,
you both join him
tonight
for a
private dinner.  I
’ll
take you there this evening.”

“Do we have a choice?”
Michael’s face stern, protective.

Rodriguez smiles, proud of the man standing before him,
“Michael, there was
a
very good reason for
the
exercise yesterday.  I have been aware
, for some time,
i
t
was to take place. 
Don’t be angry. 
I
f I didn’t know what i
t
was for
,
I would never have stayed quiet.  I care for her also, but that exercise was extremely important for both
of you. 
You shouldn’t
be concerned, y
ou both performed very well.  Takada is very pleased and he will explain it all to you tonight.”

Rodriguez
handing the serving tray to Michael turns and leaves
.

Perplexed, Michael steps back inside
.

Rena
sleeps for
anot
her tw
o hours
.

Wrapping herself in
a
warm robe, she finds Michael sitting on her couch reading the Protocol and Procedures manual.
  She regards him with ad
miration, her gallant protector.  A
little embarrassed
,
she
curls up
in the chair across from him
, pulling her robe tighter
.

Looking
up,
and
seeing
she’s feeling uncomfortable,
Michael
respond
s
as caring as possible,
“I kept my eyes closed.”

E
ased and humored by the statement,
she smiles
,
“I’m pretty sure you didn’t, but under the circumstances, I don’t
care.  What you did last night …
you didn’t have to
.  Thank you
.”

“Yes I d
id.
I should have
done more,
protected you …
somehow.”

Rena r
ecogniz
es
he’s
not slighting her competence.
S
he
knows
Michael
feels
completely
responsible for her, believing
her invitation was
the result of
the altercation in the cage arena hallway, even
after
Alexander explained
he’d
targeted her prior
to
the
fight.  If he really knew
how
responsible
he was
for her predicament
,
would he have been there for her last night.  Holding back her emotions,
she tries to
console
him. 
“How could you have prevented that?  Trained me better
?
I
f you didn’t notice, I handled myself
quite
well.  I think I had exp
e
cted something along those lines going in.
  It was an immersion exercise and
Ms. Smith
warned me
the soldiers knew I had an objective, but didn’t know what it was.
 
Could I have known they would react that way? 
I had no idea there was to be a
termination
.
”

“What was your objective?”

She
sighs,
“I just had to get the tall
est sold
i
er
on the
bar.
”

Michael focuses his gaze on her, willing her strength for his
impending
declaration,
“Well
,
we
’
re going to get the complete explanation from Takada
,
tonight
at dinner.”

“What?”
R
ena’s
shock
reflect
ed in
her
response
.

“You and I have been invited to a private dinner with Takada.  Rodriquez said
there was
a very good reason for the
exercise and
Takada
will explain everything tonight.
I understand
he
’s
pleased with our performance
.”

“Our performance?”

“Yeah, that one
’
s throwing me too.  Other than being restrained and forced to watch you nearly die, not sure what I did.”
Michael’s
voice suggests
his uncertainty
.

“Restrained, huh?”
Rena
asks
,
smiling at
him
.

“Yes, but it’s odd.  Something about my morning
session
with Takada made me expect
more to you going into that bar
,
tha
n a
simple
flirtation
with soldiers.”

“What was your morning
session
?
” She
asks.

“It was a painful lesson on the element of surprise.”

Thankful
for the distraction
,
and
not reflecting on the
upsetting
memories of Rena’s exercise,
Michael proceeds to tell her about
yesterday’s
training
.  He
expl
ain
s
that Takada wished
to test a theory regarding his
quickness
and agility, telling
her about
Medical’s
assessment
,
Takada’s strategy of not reacting to his advances and the ease
with
which
he
was
defeated
.

Finding
this
bit of information
quite interesting,
Rena
had thought the evolution of Michael’s hand-to-hand skills coupled with his unique physical talents
had made
him almost unbeatable
.

Continuing,
Michael
elaborates on
Takada’s staff-sword
,
describing
how cool it was and how effective Takada was using it
.

Rena
realizes
she ha
d seen
the staff
in
Takada
’s
possession
on several occasions
.

He
goes into detail about the
switchblade-
glaive,
offering to show it to her when she felt up to it.
Michael
can tell
his eff
ort
s
to distract
her are
working.
Rena
drives
the conversation,
asking questions about the details of the
sparring
session,
considering all
he
can recall, the
specifics
of the weapon
s
each used, what Takada said to him, anything
he
can
remember
.

They
move on to
discuss
the
looming
dinner, which reminds Michael about the tray
Rodriguez dropped off.  They graze on the fruits, breads and other breakfast foods provided.
 
Michael
tells
Rena
how
Ro
driguez was worried about her, eliciting
a
warm
smile
. 
Their
discuss
ion moves to
their handlers
,
noting
their proficiency at their jobs.  T
he shift in conversation
,
away from combat and infiltration
,
lifts
Rena’s mood.

Several hours later, the wall computer
chimes, announcing an arrival.

In the hall,
Rodriguez stand
s
with a garment bag
,
prompting a puzzled look from Michael holding the door.
 
H
and
ing
the bag to
him
,
Rodriguez explains,
“Takada thought you two would prefer to dine in more appropriate attire this evening.  Waters drop
ped
a
change of clothes
in your quarters
a little while ago.  I will return at 6:30PM to
see
you to Takada’s office for dinner.”

“Okay?
”
  Michael acknowledges
still confused by the invitation
, and now the clothing
.

Rodriguez turns to
leave and then
turns back, “How’
s she doing?”

“Better.  We haven’t really discussed the exercise.”

“That’s good, but y
ou might want to make sure she’
s prepared to discuss it tonight.”
 
Rodriguez
offers as he
departs
.

C
a
r
r
ying the garment bag
,
Michael
returns to the sitting room.
Rena,
still wearing her robe
, sits curled up on the couch
, a cup of tea in her hands, her mind somewhere else
.
 
Lifting her head, she turns to Michael, a questioning look on her face. 
“Takada
,
and it
appears,
Ms. Smith
,
have seen to our
dress
for
this evening
.
”
R
eading a small
card
attached to the bag.  He smiles,
and
hand
s
it
to
her
.

Enjoy yourselves, you’ve earned it.  Love
Ms. Smith
. 
PS
. Like hydrogen and oxygen.
 
PSs
. Michael
does
n
o
t
open this bag!

R
eading the note,
Rena smiles,
wonder
ing
if
Ms. Smith
’s efforts to push her and Michael together
are
altruistic
,
or
purely in
the interest of the Infiltration Team.

Michael takes the bag and lays it on Rena’s bed.

Sitting down on the couch
, he considers Rodriguez’s suggestion, “Rena are you comfortable talking about the exercise?”