The killer detective

5 - Isaac's giveaways

"Em... Well..." I froze on the ladder and didn't even have to turn around. I knew exactly who it was. Isaac was seriously fast on his feet or he got to the storage by car. There was no way he would be able to drink his coffee while chatting with others in such a short time! I'm doomed! I bit my lip, clenching the metal ladder in my hands hard. I was a piece of dead meat. I hung my head down, waiting for my sentence.

"Sergeant Major Benuard Reed!" He saluted to Isaac. If I looked down at Ben, I bet I would be seeing him sweating even more than in a sauna. He would need a proper shower after this little episode here. I wasn't far from getting sweaty, either. My whole body felt cold, only the place on my back, where Isaac was staring, felt like it was on fire. This was going to be a major downhill.

"At ease on the ladder." My body stiffened at those words. My head fell even lower and I knew this wasn't anywhere near even badass bad. Isaac basically reminded me that I was supposed to salute him as he was a higher-ranking officer. I was supposed to salute him even in my sleep or despite having my hands overly full. There was no way he was going to pass this with just a simple sentence. He and his personality would never allow disrespect of his army position. Even if I am not even a stupid resident! I basically don't work for the army, why would I... Good dammit! I wanted to hit the ladder with my fist, but that would mean I could easily lose my balance at this point. 

"Althea, get down." Instead of letting go, I gripped the ladder even harder. Isaac was firm with his orders, probably standing down, Benuard at his side not daring to move an inch. I didn't have a choice now. I either decided to go down myself, or Isaac would make sure I would get down any other way. Even if he had to shoot me in my legs, and sadly, he was allowed to. I had to start climbing down. But not wanting to face Isaac and his facial expressions nor his anger, I was definitely taking my time going down. This is gonna be a very long day ahead. I sharply exhaled before my feet touched the ground again. I stepped aside, not daring to look at Isaac. He wasn't saying anything. At least something. I don't want to deal with this. I refuse to deal with this! I mean... It's not even my mistake that something like this happened! Isaac, you better know what to do! You shouldn't be taking it out on innocent people, you know? I wanted to whine, but that wouldn't get me anywhere with him. He didn't care if I was a girl or a piece of rock. To him, it was all the same. On top of that, Isaac hated when people whined or complained. I learnt that hard way throughout our missions we'd had so far.

Isaac gripped the ladder and swiftly climbed up despite his big build. He needed to check the storing spot, just in case me and Benuard were making fun of things. I bet he thinks it was just a stupid joke and wants to check it, so he can give us tons of laps around the whole area... My tired legs. I sniffled in my head while keeping a poker face.

"System notification?" Isaac shortly asked Ben. He wasn't mad. On the contrary, he sounded very deep in his thoughts. See? It wasn't a joke, Isaac! Now you know we're in deep s**t! And your type of personality is not going to help us at all! I crossed my arms in front of my chest.

"Sergeant Major Reed! System says the spot is occupied. Nothing missing." Ben reported in a very loud voice. Even though he was standing a few meters away from me, I could still feel the insides of my left ear nearly exploding. He's only a few meters above us, you don't have to make this a rock concert! I glared at Ben.

"Central?" Isaac was up on the ladder, leaving Ben still standing at attention while reporting to him.

"Yes, I've been at it this whole time. No one came to deposit or take anything." Benuard answered.

"Well, that is quite a mystery. The equipment nor guns here aren't easy to just take without authorized access from the central system... The alarm would just shut everything down." Isaac put his hand inside the empty spot and searched through it as if the rifle was invisible and still in its original spot. It doesn't have a specification of being invisible, Isaac! It's just not there, no matter how much you search! I was still annoyed.

"No one else accessed this whole storage today!" Ben called to Isaac from the floor to remind him what he had said a while ago.

"So you want to tell me... That the weapon just evaporated?" Isaac looked down at us, probably hoping that we'd tell him otherwise. Or at least Ben, who was on the duty! But he fell silent. He doesn't know what happened to it? Oh dear me. This is seriously bad. Really bad. I was silent the whole time, nervously shuffling around with my eyes facing the floor. I seriously did not want to meet Isaac's eyes. Even though I could imagine how his eyes looked like. They were as cold as Komodo dragon's eyes waiting for its prey to finally die, so it can have its meal of the day.

Then a very quiet thought suddenly escaped my mind.

"And what if someone hacked the system." Oh damn, damn damn! I shouldn't have said it. This is the end. Goodbye, world. If they now put me up for investigating this thing because I came up with an idea, hell will break loose! My stupid mouth! I wanted to hit my lips for even saying something like that out loud.

"Ben, is that possible?" Isaac climbed down. He didn't look happy nor angry. But I could never tell. His poker face was always present. I bet when his children were born, he welcomed them to the world with the same facial expression as he was giving us now.

"I... No idea. Might be. But it hasn't ever happened. The only access to the network is from here or the heads. No other way to get in. And heads are tightly watched. The system there is protected probably even better than here..." Ben was nearly stuttering. He was speaking very fast, too.

"Aight, I'll call the heads, you two get this place tidy," Isaac said without any sign of emotions. No, just don't call the heads. This will become even more spaghetti than it already is. Isaac, please, be wise. Let us rest and have a nice day. Let someone else, who is supposed to take over the shift, deal with this! Okay? Pleaaaase, let me go home! I was making puppy eyes, but Isaac didn't see them. Or he was way too good at pretending that he didn't see them.

"Roger!" Ben went and started taking care of the ladder he brought. The cart was left up to me. Time to silently disappear before the disaster comes. I started silently shuffling, following Ben, so that Isaac wouldn't be able to order me around in case he had decided to hand out his pieces of favorite exercises.

"Oh and Ben..."

"Sergeant Major Benuard Reed!" While Isaac was dealing with his giveaways, I quickly started pushing the empty cart back to the front desk hoping I will escape this hell unscathed.

"Twenty laps around the main hangar, full kit."

"Roger that!" Ben was fired up. I just wanted to get home. I shook my head and continued pushing the cart to the entrance after hearing that number. One of the wheels squeaked. I felt a gaze piercing a spot right in the middle of my shoulder blades, which was slowly moving up to my nape.

"Don't shake your head, Alth. Twenty laps." I jumped up. He noticed. f**k!

"But...! I didn't!" I tried backing myself up. I had nothing to do with this! It was all Benuard's fault anyway! Or whoever was having the storage duty before him.

"Want thirty?"

"No, I want my office," I mumbled with my cheeks filling with air. One would think that being over ten meters away from Isaac, he wouldn't hear my silent protests.

"You conscripted once, so you are a part of the military! Even though you serve in civil." He started giving me a lecture with his superior voice. I know that! You don't need to tell me! But look at others! The conscripted girls serving in civil have it always so easy with their superiors! They even buy them cakes!  What an Isaac giveaway day!

"You want the thirty?" He shouted at me since I was still going my own way and not paying him any attention. My body automatically turned, tensed, saluted, and shouted back: "No, sir! Twenty laps around the main hangar! Full gear, going to pack right now!"

"Aight." He nodded, not paying me any more attention. I started running while pushing the cart. This was a hell of a day.

________________

I and Ben were jogging side by side. At least it wasn't raining.

"You know, don't envy you." Ben looked at me while having an easy time jogging. He wasn't even breathing hard!

"Me... neither." I was panting, trying to catch my breath. I hated full kit laps. As if I didn't have enough exercise so far. On top of that, Benuard was a specialist in explosives. Light kit. But as for me... I lugged a heavy rifle, a couple of handguns, and whatnot. I was carrying a kit, which was a few kilos heavier than his. Lucky bastard! 

"How many done?" Isaac shouted at us while leaning back on the metal wall of the storage when we were passing by.

"Two laps!" Ben shouted back. But an airplane landing behind the storages on the runway cut him off.

"What?" Isaac shouted back.

"Ten!" I shouted to Isaac.

"What?!" Ben squeaked and looked at me.

"Lieutenant's words are valid! Learn to count, sergeant!" Isaac shouted back at us and took to his phone.

"Roger!" Ben straightened his back and kept running next to me, adjusting to my slower speed.

"Just wait, Ben." I thrust my heavy rifle into his full arms. For him to run with it. He should enjoy everything that comes with this!

"Want more? No? Then get going!" I pushed him a bit to the side with my left hand.

"Isaac, any news?!" We were running around Isaac again. Third lap and I thought I was dying. I was surviving on the awful airplane food from a couple of hours ago, my stomach was shouting its serenades and I had to run. Damn you, Benuard.

"Basil's on it." Isaac was still laid-back, relaxing in the shade of the storage, while I was sweating oceans. Then he picked his phone up.

"Captain Isaac. No, we didn't investigate. Yes, the sergeant is running. A system error? Is that...? All right. I'll relay." I heard Isaac's phone conversation with probably someone from Central. Isaac put his phone back into one of his many pockets. 

"Someone will come have a look. Enough jogging! Go shower!" Isaac shouted at us and walked away, while I dropped on the ground dead. Damn you, Isaac! Collective punishment is never the answer!