Blood Lily Company - Afghanistan - Year 2

XXXI

Thank God we received Domi's code, as Kris was becoming hellish to deal with. No patience, dark circles under his eyes, sudden gestures and manic energy, spent cleaning. The base was so clean ... He had even scoured the kennels and had decided to tackle the septic tank, which is a very good idea, because, in winter, it smells less and it freezes quickly.

But before, we received Domi's code and I immediately copied it in the holotable. We were all there, all the patrol and Lin, around the table, to look at the various paths taken by the Viking's avatar. As a basis, I had put an injured Tito in his arms.

The path where Erk was fine should have brought him home at least two days ago or less. I changed the parameters, adding an injury to an arm, a moderately serious thing that would prevent it from carrying Tito for a long time.

This path brought him home today and we saw no one coming, of course. I increased the severity of the injuries, but it only served to nurture a sense of anxiety, so, in the middle of the path finding, I shut the table down, despite Kris's grimace.

We asked for satellite time to try to find an unusual activity, but we did not get it, which sparked Kris' anger. Lin caught him by the arms, put him on his knees and grabbed his hair, forcing him to stay motionless. We were all blown away. We had never seen her deploy such speed or such strength. Kris struggled but zilch. Lin was trembling a little, she was holding him so tightly, but Kris couldn't free himself.

- Kris, you have two futures opening for you if you don't calm down immediately. A sedative and, without Erik, I don't know what consequences there will be for you, but I'm willing to take the risk to protect the company. Or a certain time in the pit, and with how cold it is, you'll be sick when we can go get him.

He tensed like a strung bow, arching his back and I thought he was going to break something, then suddenly he relaxed and Lin held him so he wouldn't get hurt. She let go of his hair and combed it gently, taking the opportunity to stroke his hair and calm him down, or reward him.

- Very good, litla mín. Now here's what I can do. I will contact Machin and ask for photos of the area, at sunrise and dusk. High definition digital photos we can zoom in and see details. It might take a few days for him to have the authorizations to put everything together. I can't use these photos to force you to obey, because that would stupidly put the lives of our men in danger. However, I want you to promise me that you will do everything to remain calm. If that's not possible, I will take action.

He was calm, she supported him, still stroking his hair.

- Kris, you have to understand... You can't fuck around like that. I need you... He needs you. You can't leave him alone like this, Kris.

- But... I can't do anything.

- You can pull yourself together, but I know it's going to be difficult and you don't see how it would help him. You can help me run the Company so that everything is perfect when he comes back, so he doesn't have to worry about that on top of the rest. You can rest so you're calm and ready to go get him when we know where he is. You can... there are lots of things you can do, Kris. Wasn't it Mauricio who told you that Erik would feel bad if you didn't enjoy life while he was in bed or away?

Kris nodded.

- That was good advice. Remember it.

She let him go. And that's when he decided to empty the septic tank. And that's when we decided to help him. It took us two days at least. We opened the hatch and Jo gave us the pump. He did a simple calculation and told us where to dig so that we only had to start and then use the principle of communicating vessels. While our patrol dug a shallow but extensive hole, the sentries who were not at their posts unrolled the right amount of pipe to drain the tank to our hole.