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Chapter Four: An Ambitious Suggestion
“What do you think he wants?” Nicholas wanted to know. Jess merely raised a brow, straightening his tie.
“How in the world am I to know? I’m sure he’ll explain all of it to you over dinner.”
He made a face. “I hate formal occasions,” the politician said, tugging at his stiff white collar.
“I’m inclined to think that you hate any and every occasion, Nicholas Benedictine.”
“Are you coming with me?” he asked a bit nervously.
“I’m not going to sit with you at the table, if that’s what you mean,” she replied shortly. His eyes searched hers, and Jess softened slightly. “Don’t worry about it, Nic. I’ll be watching.”
“Of course,” he murmured absently. “It is your job after all, isn’t it?”
Jess nodded and patted his shirtfront. “There. You’re ready, I guess.” She shook her head at him. “I still wonder how you became a member of the Council without being able to tie your own tie.”
“You and me both,” he concurred.
The ride to the restaurant was silent. Jess was going over security for the evening on her small and portable electronic notepad, and Nicholas was lost in thought. Therefore it was a mild shock when their transportation came to a smooth, gentle halt, and the chauffeur climbed out and opened the portal for them.
“Fun, fun, fun,” Nicholas muttered under his breath, smoothing his dinner jacket as he stood in front of the upscale eating establishment, waiting for Jess to emerge from his transportation unit.
“Indeed,” she said dryly, eyeing him. “Try not to be too stiff with Mr. Draygon. You sure you’ve never met him in a Council gathering before?”
“Positive,” he said with equal dryness. “I think I would remember a name like his.”
She scowled. “Behave yourself,” she mocked.
“Heavens above, Jess, you sound like my mother,” he said in exasperation, mimicking her mockery.
“I hope that’s a compliment,” she said sternly, giving him a shove toward the door. “Hurry up; we’re already 5 minutes late.”
“Didn’t you know? I planned it that way. I’m trying for fashionably tardy.” She threw him a look. “Okay, I’m going, I’m going.” He traversed the concrete walk that went up to the door and entered the restaurant, propping the door open for Jess to come in behind him.
The interior of the place was atmospherically rich. Tall, tapered candles stood in the center of each table, their flickering flames casting soft light over the faces of the patrons and occasionally catching a gleam from some of the silver and gold cutlery. The low murmur of cultured conversation whispered in the ears of the new arrivals, punctuated by a calm, quiet laugh here and there.
A man in a black suit stepped forward, a creamy napkin folded over his left arm. “Ah, Monsieur Benedictine,” he said in an appropriately pitched voice: not too loud, not too quiet. “You have a table waiting for you already. Right this way, please.” He turned and began weaving his way through the small, sheltered aisles between the tables. Nicholas followed.
Jess’s voice whispered softly in his earpiece. “Nice place.” He shook his head ever so slightly, smiling faintly.
The host stopped in front of a small, immaculately decorated table in the back corner of the restaurant. Seated at this table was a middle-aged man in a business suit who seemed to be murmuring softly to himself, unless you noticed that he was wearing an earpiece. He looked up when Nicholas approached and slipped the equipment from his ear, rising with a warm smile.
“Mr. Benedictine, I’m so pleased you could come.” He reached out and shook Nicholas’s hand. “My name is Robert Draygon. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
“Please, call me Nicholas,” the younger man said. “It’s my pleasure as well.”
“Of course, of course; you must call me Robert then.” He was silent while Nicholas took his seat, and then spoke again. “How’s the leg?”
“What? Oh, yes, fine. My physician tells me it’s healing nicely.”
“Well, that’s good, isn’t it?” It appeared to be a rhetorical question. Draygon took a sip of ice water from his glass and folded his hands on the tabletop. “Shall we get down to business? Or would you rather wait until we’ve ordered our dinner?”
“Now would be fine,” Nicholas replied.
“Alright then.” The older man thought for a moment. “Would you mind doing me a favor?” Nicholas gave a slow nod. “I was wondering if you could take out your earpiece and give us complete privacy.” Seeing his companion’s hesitation, Draygon held up a hand. “I wouldn’t normally ask it, seeing as how security is essential, but… I consider this matter that we’re going to discuss a very important one.”
Jess is going to kill me for this. “It’s no problem,” Nicholas said, slipping the piece from his ear and letting it hang against his collar.
“Thank you,” Draygon said warmly. “Let us proceed, shall we?”
Her place against the wall wasn’t the best for eavesdropping, or even keeping on eye on Nicholas, and he had effectively cut off her only way of discreet communication with him.
He was so dead.
“What can I get for you gentlemen this evening?” the man inquired.
“Wine for me,” the older Councilman requested.
“Just water is fine,” Nicholas replied.
“Of course.” The waiter departed swiftly, and the two politicians returned to their discussion.
“As I was saying, your rise fascinates me, to the point that I had a very interesting idea recently. I’m sure that you’re aware of the fact that our current Head of the Council is stepping down.” He leaned forward across the table. “It is my opinion that you should campaign for the position.”
Nicholas was very pleased to discover that his mouth did not fall open, but that certainly didn’t keep his shock from showing on his face. Draygon settled back in his seat, wearing a satisfied smile.
Technically, things hadn’t always been this complicated. Primary school, finishing school, advanced education…those had all been relatively simple. He had Jess and Tim with him pretty much the entire time, for all those years, and they were the best of friends.
That last fact was really the only thing that hadn’t changed.
Finishing advanced education with a degree in politics was when things started to get interesting. Tim, being two years older, graduated first and went on to pursue his dream of being a doctor; Jess followed Nicholas out of advanced education with an area of expertise in self-defense and management. Nicholas became a politician; she became his bodyguard and campaign manager. For the new Council member, the world changed, became multifaceted; life wasn’t just about his friends and his studies. He had other responsibilities.
And yet, though he may have griped about the conditions of his occupation and struggled to get used to all the new customs and rules, it hadn’t been anywhere near complicated…until now.
Now…things were complicated. Just to clarify.
Plus, it was rather odd to be having a meeting of this magnitude and not having Jess whispering in his ear. Maybe odd wasn’t the right word. Unnerving was more like it. He probably shouldn’t have removed his earpiece earlier. She was going to have his head for this. No doubt removing his method of communication with her, his head of Security, was just as bad as sending half his protectors home for vacation.
Finally, Draygon was finished. “I understand that this is a lot of information and ideas for you to think about, Nicholas, but I think it would be to your benefit to do so. Sleep on it. Consider all of it carefully. This could be a big step for you and your career.” He dabbed at his mouth and stood up, reaching a hand across the table to shake Nicholas’s. The younger man accepted it mechanically, his mind whirring. “It was a pleasure meeting with you, Nicholas. Remember; just think about it.”
“Alright,” Nicholas heard himself say. “It was a pleasure to meet you too.” Draygon gave a smile and a nod and turned away, taking a call on his earpiece. Which reminded Nicholas to put his own back in his ear.
He did so in time to hear a string of choice, half-muttered curse words. The wince he gave was an understated reaction. “Jess.”
She cut off abruptly. “Nicholas!”
He rubbed his temples. “Please, please, please stop swearing. I don’t really need to hear that right now.” Astonishingly, she was silent. “It’s time to go; meet me at the front door.”
“Got it,” she said tersely. Her tone of voice told Nicholas that he was indeed in serious trouble, but at the moment, he couldn’t find the energy to be worried about it. He had too much to think about.
Jess was waiting for him at the door as he instructed; her face could have belonged to a granite statue for all the expression she showed, but he knew she was furious inside. The transportation ride home was absolutely silent. Jess didn’t say anything and Nicholas decided it would be best to wait till they had more privacy before he invited the outpouring of her wrath.
It wasn’t until they were inside that she spoke. “Why did you take out your earpiece?” she said in a very controlled voice.
Nicholas flinched in advance. “Because he asked me to…?” he ventured.
She exploded. “And that was a good enough reason?!!” Jess demanded. “I don’t get it! Are you asking for someone to kill you? Do you know how easy it would have been if this had been a trap? There’d have been no resistance whatsoever.”
“Look Jess, even if I hadn’t taken the earpiece out, it still would have been easy!” he snapped. “In fact, whenever I take a step outside my own home, it would be easy for someone to kill me! Someone could kill me right now!”
Jess glared. “No they couldn’t,” she bit off. “What do you think all your Protectors are for? Dining companions? It wouldn’t be easy to get past the perimeter I set up and coordinated!”
Nicholas rubbed his eyes. He could feel a headache coming on. “That’s beside the point,” he murmured. She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot on the floor impatiently. “Jess, I’m sorry. He wanted more privacy for our conversation. I can understand where he’s coming from, so I, I…” He motioned helplessly. “I obliged.”
“Didn’t you wonder how he knew that I would be able to hear through your earpiece?” she inquired. At least she wasn’t yelling at him anymore. He raked his fingers through his hair absently.
“No, not really,” he admitted uncomfortably. When she rolled her eyes, he felt the need to defend his actions. “Jess, it’s not like we’re the only ones who use earpieces for eavesdropping equipment, and that particular use isn’t a secret either. Other people do the same thing. I just figured that he was being cautious.”
Jess sighed and dropped limply into a chair. “Nicholas Benedictine, I swear you’re going to be the death of me one day.”
He shifted uneasily. “I hope not…”
“Hn… Okay, I’m sorry for screaming at you. Just, next time you decide to break off contact with me, could you give me a warning first?”
Nicholas smiled faintly. “I can do that,” he murmured.
“Great. Now that we’ve secured your safety in the future, let’s move on.” She leaned forward, staring up at him intently. “What did you talk about?”
The news that had sent him into such a dazed state returned to his mind, full force. “Oh my god,” Nicholas muttered, sinking onto the divan across from her. Jess frowned.
“What is it?”
“You’re not going to believe this, Jess…”
“Try me.” He couldn’t seem to spit the words out. “You’re starting to worry me, Nic.”
“Sorry…” The young man swallowed. “Draygon has been following the progress of my career, and he says it’s fascinating to him that I can be so young and yet so popular at the same time, and he reminded me that the Council’s Head is stepping down soon, and he told me that he thinks I should run for the position.” He took a deep breath and blew it out, watching for Jess’s reaction.
“The position of the Council’s Head,” she clarified, staring at him.
“Yeah.”
“Oh my god.”
“I know.”
There was a moment of silence.
“Well, are you going to run for it?”
Nicholas’s mouth fell open as far as it possibly could. “Are you insane? Me, run for Council’s Head? That’s ridiculous! Never in a million years!” Never mind that he’d told Draygon he’d consider it. It was just too impossible.
“Nic, it can’t be that ridiculous if someone actually thinks you could do it,” she said reproachfully. “Maybe you don’t give yourself enough credit.”
He leaned forward, trying to make her understand. “Jess, I’m not this type of guy. I don’t want to be in the public eye anymore than I already am. And have you even thought about the responsibility? It would be enormous! I can’t even imagine taking on something like this!” At this point, he pushed himself off the divan and began to pace the floor feverishly. “And what if no one else thinks I would be good as the Council’s Head? What if they all hate me? What if I lose?”
“If you lose, then you lose. You won’t have to deal with the pressure anymore,” Jess interjected calmly. Nicholas didn’t seem to hear her. He stopped pacing and looked at her.
“And what about you, Jess? Do you have any idea how much more work this would add to your plate? You’re already handling more than you should; this would be way too much.”
“Hey, I’m doing just fine,” she protested, scowling.
“That’s not what I meant,” Nicholas said distractedly, running his fingers through his hair again and again, and finally just leaving them there, starting to pace again. Jess rolled her eyes and waved at him, annoyed.
“Stop that; you’re driving me insane, and you’re going to wear a hole in the floor.”
“Yeah right.”
“Well, you never know. Seriously, if you walked the same area long enough, it would probably work…”
“Thanks, I needed to know that.” Nicholas rubbed his eyes. “What the heck am I going to do?” he muttered.
“Look, there’s nothing you can do about it tonight,” Jess pointed out, getting up and stretching while smothering a yawn at the same time. “Go get some rest.”
“What’s Tim going to say about this?” the young politician murmured, apparently not paying close attention to what Jess was saying.
“We’ll call him in the morning and find out,” she said irritably. “Now, go to bed.”
“Mm hm.”
Jess smacked her forehead and walked over to him, turning him around and giving him a shove. “Earth to Benedictine, earth to Benedictine. Come in. Do you read me?”
“Very funny,” Nicholas said, coming out of his daze.
“Oh good, you’re still alive. I was beginning to wonder.”
“Hah hah.” He paused. “What were you saying?”
“Go to sleep.”
“Oh. Right. ‘Night, Jess.”
“Night, Nic,” she replied with a smirk. He’s such an idiot. She turned. Heaved a sigh. Guess that explains why Tim and I are friends with him…
(A/N- Wow, a plot development. Shocking, right? So, just to clarify, primary school is the equivalent of elementary and middle school combined. Finishing school is the equivalent of high school, and advanced education is college. Oh yes, and in case anyone was wondering, Jess and Nicholas are about the same age; they're in their mid-to-late twenties, and Tim, as mentioned, is two years older, so late twenties to early thirties. In case you were curious. Hope ya' enjoyed it! Thanks for reading, and please review! -I.I.)
