[center][h2][color=#FF7800]Boraro[/color]
Raven's Rock, Camp Hannula, Pöyrisjärvi National Park, Finland[/h2][/center][hr]The room was dark except for the light of the screen, quiet bar the rattle of the keyboard - since Enri didn’t have time to grab her music library - and seemingly peaceful. On the outside, at least, a storm of thoughts brewing in her mind that she would rather not think about. And that was when the door opened.

[color=#FF7800]”Good evening.”[/color]
[color=#FF7F7F]”Is it?”[/color] Enri didn’t even look up from the computer.
By Ebrima’s standards, it was. He was alive and the world didn’t end.
By Enri’s standards, she was thrown into a war zone, re-lived something she would rather have stayed forgotten and the fucking world almost ended.
[color=#FF7800]”About Colombia.“[/color] He started directly. A people person he was indeed not. [color=#FF7800]”Mistakes were made. I thought-”[/color]
[color=#FF7F7F]”Thought what? That I was expendable? Not high enough on the ladder to bother with?”[/color] The venom in Enri’s voice snowballed with every word.
[color=#FF7800]”...that you were [i]dead[/i].”[/color] Ebrima held his ground, [color=#FF7800]”I saw an inch and a half of ferroglass shatter with a single shot, a spray of blood and then you slumped over the steering wheel. Two seconds later, we were rolled over in the ditch and taking fire from two directions. We would have gone to check if we had either the time or a reason to think you were still alive.”[/color]
[color=#FF7F7F]”I know.”[/color] She said after a pause, [color=#FF7F7F]”When you showed up, I broke into Raphael’s computer for his login to get access to the evidence files for Shalev’s case. Heard the radio comms. I guess you never were one to lie, even if it would’ve helped you.”[/color] She explained as casually as if talking about the weather, [color=#FF7F7F]”Not that it would have, If you’d been lying, they would’ve found enough child pornography on your computer tomorrow to make you the first person to be executed in Cameroon since 1997 and no one could tell it was AI generated.”[/color] She added matter-of-factly after a brief pause, the delivery leaving no doubt to even those who didn’t know her that yes, she could and yes, she would.
There was a hint of a wide-eyed expression on Ebrima’s face, the Enri he used to know being significantly more subtle about being just as vicious. [color=#FF7800]”Raphael will not be happy when he eventually finds out.”[/color]
[color=#FF7F7F]”Eh, they’re keeping you around with your rap sheet, I’ll be fine, not to mention long gone by then.”[/color] She dismissed it with a wave of her hand. [color=#FF7F7F]”I have to ask: How many made it out?”[/color]
[color=#FF7800]”Out of the ambush? Shalev, the Masons, Brodén, Belyayeva, Crowstep, Moses, Sundström, Bastion and myself.”[/color] 75% casualty rate in one ambush, just like that.
[color=#FF7F7F]”...and?”[/color]
[color=#FF7800]”Into custody? Shalev, Brodén, Sundström and I.”[/color] 90%.
[color=#FF7F7F]”Fuck…”[/color] Enri sighed, Ebrima nodding in agreement.
[color=#FF7800]”I won’t say you had it easy, but seeing you was like seeing a ghost.”[/color]
[color=#FF7F7F]”That’s rich coming from the guy wearing your skin.”[/color]
Ebrima broke into chuckles, a sudden bout of headache immediately making him regret that.
[color=#FF7800]”Got shot in the head a few hours ago.”[/color] He replied flatly to Enri’s quizzical look.
[color=#FF7F7F]”[i]Sucks[/i], doesn’t it?”[/color] Enri asked, only a hint of the previous hostility remaining. [color=#FF7F7F]”We’re a right pair of stubborn fuckers, aren’t we?”[/color]

[hr][center][h1]Interlude: Last Campfire[/h1][/center][center][h2]2200 Local Time[/h2][/center][color=#FF7800]”I got the impression that by now, Doctor Keller knows better than to expect miracles.”[/color] The fur-lined Michelin Man that appeared from the darkness beyond the campfire’s light replied to Sam’s comment in Ebrima’s voice, giving Skye a thumbs up only she would probably understand as he rolled a log to sit on closer to the fire with his foot and took over some of the roasting sticks from Adam.

Enri hadn’t joined the fire. ‘Outside’ was generally a four-letter word for her nor did she have much in common with the operators - the madmen and madwomen who willingly did [i]that[/i] every week. She thrived best behind the scenes, in her own little world.