‘Hey’ Jason said as he sat down to next to Celeste.
‘Hey’ Celeste replied tonelessly.
‘What’s going on? I thought they’d just put Sarah’s leg in a cast’ Jason asked.
‘Yeah, so did I. Apparently they needed to break her Fibula as it was cracked and they couldn’t fit together correctly. Sarah wouldn’t let them near her leg, so they put her under anaesthetic’ Celeste replied with a hint of anger in her voice.
‘And Claire?’ Jason asked.
‘I don’t know. I haven’t heard anything since we got here’ Celeste told him.
‘Ok. Well, as you can probably tell, I’m in desperate need of a shower. There is one thing I want to do first though. You wanna come with?’ Jason asked, standing back up. Celeste nodded.
‘Sure. It beats sitting around here’. Celeste followed Jason as they made their way across the courtyard to the West Wing. There were two guards outside. When Jason tried to enter one of them pushed him back.
‘Authorised personnel only’ they said.
‘But I am authorised’ Jason told them.
‘Identification? ’ the other responded.
‘General Carson gave me the key to Colonel Blake’s room. It’s on the second floor, room two thirty-two’ Jason told them, taking out the key.
‘So you are…’
‘His son. Are you going to let me in or not?’ Jason asked. The guard stepped aside.
‘Thank you’ Jason uttered as he led Celeste through.
‘What was that about?’ Celeste asked.
‘No idea. They’re probably just uptight because of the invasion’ Jason replied. Together they entered the lift at the end of hall and stood in silence as the metal doors closed.
‘So what do you think he left here?’ Celeste asked him and the elevator shook.
‘I don’t know, it could be anything’ Jason replied.
‘Did you know him well?’
‘Not really, no. He was the kind of man who liked to keep secrets’ Jason replied as the doors opened revealing a long hallway with a white ceiling, black carpet, brown walls and light brown doors. The doors had a small piece of silver on them with the number stencilled in. The door closest to them read two hundred and sixty-one. They walked down the corridor and found two hundred and thirty-two and Jason unlocked the door. The walls of the late Colonel’s old room were an off-white colour and the bright afternoon sunlight spilled in through the arch windows at the end of the room which was long and very large. The timber floor shone with the iridescence that the light provided. Strangely the objects in the room were a large desk which was neatly cleaned; all his books stacked, no dust on the polished wood. It looked brand new. The chair also looked new, like it had never been used before. Closer to them was a three seater couch, a Jarrah wood table; on which sat a glass chess set, and a singular reclining chair, made of leather. There was a TV attached to the wall on the opposite side from the couch. There was a doorway which led to a bedroom, as Jason knew perfectly well but he felt compelled to open it anyway.
‘Hey, Jason?’ Celeste called out. Jason turned. Celeste had walked over to the desk and was looking at a picture. ‘What’s this?’ she asked. Jason walked over and had a proper look. It was obviously a younger Jason in the picture. There was also a woman, with wavy dark blonde hair and hazel eyes. She, as well her husband, was smiling with their son, clearly happy.
‘That was taken on my eighth birthday. Probably the last day we actually spent together as a family. After that dad was either here or on assignment’ Jason told her, smiling slightly himself.
‘You look so happy’ Celeste said.
‘Yeah I was,’ Jason replied, sitting down in the chair. He sighed. ‘You know, I remember being in here when I was, I don’t know, twelve or thirteen. He’d come back from training a group of soldiers and we’d just sit and play chess. I never beat him, because I couldn’t. He was an excellent chess player. He actually won a few tournaments, but that was before he joined the military’ Jason said as his bottom lip trembled. He opened the top drawer and found nothing except for a few pens and loose sheets of paper. Jason closed it and opened the second drawer and found a large yellow envelope. Jason opened the envelope and pulled out several sheets of paper. Some showed letters and numbers which made no sense to him. Others were formal papers with directions to certain places. Jason was about to put back the envelope when he felt something else inside. It was a note.
‘What does it say?’ Celeste asked seeing Jason reading it.
‘To Jason, I can’t tell you exactly what this envelope means, but in time you’ll know. All I can say is it’s very important. I’m sure you can figure it out. Love, your father’ Jason read.
‘What the hell does that mean?’
‘He knew he was going to die’ Jason said closing the envelope and placing it on the desk. He then opened the third and last drawer, revealing his father’s service revolver, which Jason immediately pocketed. That was when they noticed the rattling of the door handle. Jason quickly got up and pushed the chair in before walking fast towards the bedroom, taking the envelope with him, signalling for Celeste to follow him.
‘Little fast isn’t it?’ Celeste whispered.
‘Not funny. No one’s supposed to be here except for us,’ Jason whispered back, crouching against the wall. ‘Now stay quiet’ he added. Just as Celeste crouched next to him the door opened and someone walked in and started opening the drawers at the desk. Jason took a quick look around the corner. All he could see was that the person was a tall male.
‘Damn it!’ The man exclaimed as Jason moved his head back behind the wall, closing the drawers.
‘It’s not here’ the man said.
‘You’re sure?’ said a voice over a radio.
‘Yes. They must’ve moved it. What should I do?’
‘Get out of there. Make sure no one sees you. Return to your position and await further instructions’ said the voice. The man left without a word.
‘Come on. Let’s go’ Jason said peering around the corner. The door was closed again. Jason opened it and looked outside. The man had disappeared. Together Jason and Celeste walked back to the elevator. When it reached the bottom they went to their quarters and that was when they spoke, after Jason closed the door.
‘Well that was interesting’ he said.
‘What?’ Celeste asked.
‘Someone else is after the envelope’ Jason replied.
‘Yeah’ Celeste replied, distractedly.
‘I’m going to take that shower. You do whatever you want’ Jason said as he turned and headed towards the bathroom and turned on the water. When he left, twenty minutes later and walked back out, Celeste had fallen asleep on the three seater couch. Jason smiled before pulling the blanket off one of the beds and placing it over Celeste’s body. He then, even though he had no idea why, kissed her forehead. Jason then walked over to and collapsed on his bed, pondering the reason as to why anybody would the envelope.
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