Edgar didn't answer Daniel's question right away. Instead, he turned to look at the five soldiers, who had their heads down. Feeling the intensity of his stare, they raised their heads and looked at him nervously. Edgar said to them, "Let's head back first."
He then turned around and walked down the stairs, without bothering to wait for the others. When Edgar came to the entrance, he saw the battalion commanders and deputy commanders under his leadership in front of the building. A concerned frown appeared on his face. "What are you all doing here?"
Are you planning to rebel?" he asked in a cold voice.
Everybody stood at attention, solemnly. They were afraid of disturbing the leaders upstairs, so none of them uttered a single word. Finally, Mack Yang, the Commander of Battalion One, stepped forward. "We were just worried, sir."
Edgar looked at the soldiers indifferently and said, "Head back to the camp first. We'll talk about it later."
At once, the soldiers dispersed and got into their military vehicles, heading to the Eagle Special Brigade.
Apart from the high-ranking officers, none of the members of the Eagle Special Brigade knew what had happened. However, everyone could sense the change in atmosphere in the camp, which seemed to have fallen sharply below freezing point.
Maggie listened to the rumors that were spreading around her like wildfire. But she wasn't interested in rumors, she only wanted to know what had actually happened. She even thought about getting some factual information from William, her father.
Of course, it was just a passing thought. First of all, William would never reveal any military secrets to her. Moreover, she couldn't ask him anyway, because that would be considered as bypassing the leadership ladder. As a person of principle, she couldn't act outside the chain of command.
But the more she thought about it, the more restless she became. Eventually, it got to her head and she could no longer concentrate on the important tasks at hand. As a result, she had no choice but to devour whatever rumor or gossips she could get her hands on. When they finished talking, everybody's face looked overcast.
Rapid response forces were required to carry out sensitive psychological training to correspond to specific events. If there was anyone around who couldn't sense the gloomy atmosphere in the military camp, they would not be qualified to be in the Eagle Special Brigade.
While they sat there doing nothing, Cathy walked into the laboratory. Immediately, the members of the technical instruction team stood up and greeted her solemnly in one voice, "Madam!"
Cathy tried hard to put on a smile, but it was obvious to everyone that she was faking it. "Sit down," she said. She walked to her desk and looked through her drawers.
"Madam," Elijah walked to her and asked, "what happened?"
Elijah had been working with Cathy for a couple of years now, but he had never seen her face look so dreary before.
Cathy looked at him and then at everybody else in the room. All eyes were on her as she smiled weakly and said, "I don't know yet. You should carry out your training and research as usual. You don't need to bother yourself with matters that don't concern you."
After letting out an exasperated sigh, she added, "Carry on with your work as hard as you can. You should always be prepared in case of an emergency. If you fall behind on your training, it may end up in a disaster for all of us. So, keep working hard!"
"Yes, madam!" the members of the team answered in chorus.
something went terribly wrong during the mission and that's why our chief captain was demoted. What do you guys think?"
Jake asked. He liked gossips more than women. With curiosity written all over his face, he continued, "Everybody knows that it is very difficult to join the Eagle Special Brigade. I find it odd that this secret mission was carried out by five people from the logistics department. Maybe, the five of them were members of a secret troop. They must have been pulled out of their troops to form a special team for this mission… Or…perhaps I'm going too far with my speculations. But don't you think that the untimely return of those five soldiers was a result of our chief captain's fury?"
Maggie stood up abruptly, and her chair fell backwards with a loud bang, drawing the attention of other three. Ignoring their gaze, she placed the chair back in its place. Then she grabbed her hat from the desk and walked out of the laboratory.
"What's up with her?"
Jake asked, blinking obliviously.
Shrugging her shoulders, Edith said, "Maybe she's in a bad mood."
Garth patted Jake on his shoulder and said, "You may eat whatever you want to eat, but you can't say whatever you want to say. We're no longer students. We're in a basic level workplace in a military camp. We're in the Eagle Special Brigade, a small brigade in a large army. We have a duty to live up to. We should not involve ourselves in things that don't matter to us. It's just like Cathy said—it won't do us any good."
With a simple smile at the corners of his mouth, Garth walked out of the room as well.
The members of the technical instruction team had a relatively easier schedule. They didn't need to attend training from morning to night like the Falcon Commando. When there was nothing for them to research on, sometimes they would test the preliminary result of their research during the field training with Falcon Commando.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Love Began with the First Meeting