RED Boss

“Really? Why? I thought they would put you with Ray or Mills.“

“Not that I won’t enjoy the company.“ Max smiled sweetly at her best friend. “Max and Conrad on the prowl again.” 

“Who knows what goes through Nick’s mind.”

“You tell me, bossman. I haven’t been officially assigned anywhere. Maybe you heard wrong… Are you meant to be my babysitter?“

“Come along, bossman.“

“Well it was Ray who told me where to go, so the joke theory is a significant possibility.”

“If you’re looking for pity you’re barking up the wrong tree. Ain’t nobody on anyone’s shit list. Like Ray said, you’re just recovering.“ Jax shook his head but threw Conrad his keys. “Ready to join the big leagues?“

“Is SKIN the big leagues because of your egos?” He shot back as caught the keys. “Your letting me drive your baby?”

“I fucking knew they hated me.“ Jax mumbled. “I was planning on following Vincent around. I know, don’t lecture me about fucking up our deal with ‘em. Somethin’ ain’t right with that man lately.“

Conrad gave him a look. “I’m not saying anything. In fact I welcome you getting higher on the shit list than me.”

“Sucker,“ Jax muttered under his breath when he saw the look on Conrad’s face. “You should know better, man. An attack means someone is acting in aggression or violently towards you. If no one was there… Was it an preemptive attack or did you tunnel into a room filled with natural gas? Is that what we need to figure out?“

“Jealous?” Conrad rolled his eyes, not looking for another lecture. “I think I dug and hit something I wasn’t supposed to. If it was preemptive, why the hell would they have let me out alive? I went in alone, it would have been easy to make me disappear.”

“Would you be able to tell us your route and where exactly you hit the gas?“ Nick asked, already formulating multiple plans and backup plans to fit this. Grabbing Conrad makeshift chart, Nick looked it over then back up to Conrad confused. “Was it a methane gas exposure or another natural gas? Are you sure you went undetected?“

“What else did you see or hear before your exposure?“

“Yeah, I don’t think I got very far, I just went east instead of west. I only chewed through one wall. After I got through I felt my chest closing up and got out of there. But I couldn’t smell or hear anything. There was no way anyone was there.” Conrad stopped and tried to think back to the moment, though it was fuzzy. “I didn’t smell the gas itself, or I don’t think I did. So it’s a strong contender.”

“Who do you think is more important? Are you fishing your compliments or reinsurance or something? Man, we’re cool.“

“Ray and Mary. Then you’ll get the father talk from Mills.“ Jax chuckled. “What do ya mean?“

“Mary’s already been here.” He smiled at that before his face grew somber again. “The attack.” He gestured to his bandaged up body. “It was exactly how it was before, but they didn’t know I was there. I swear no one knew I was there. I got into this room and then it hit me. But no one else was in the room. I don’t know how but-” He began coughing again, and he took another drink to try and help his throat. “We have to figure it out.”

“Don’t start coughing up your lungs now, you were fine when I walked in.” She handed him a bottled water, then waited for him to calm down before speaking again “You do know that I’m always available to you and the others? A simple text message would’ve been good. “Hey Lis it’s Conrad I’m about to go in the Underground to see what the vamps are up to.” I would’ve kept it between us.” 

Conrad gratefully took the bottle of water and shook his head as she spoke. “And let you die down there? You’ve got kids and Micah. There was no reason for you to be down there. And I know it was dumb, but if more people went with me in that hole, there would have been a body count. I felt it hit me within a few minutes. Can you imagine a hundred drugged up rats trying to fit through the hole? The same thing would have happened as last time.”

“Not too long. We were getting a bite to eat while we followed some high profiled SKIN targets.“

“Man, you fucked up. I’m sure you’re going to get shit from everyone, I won’t add myself to the list. What else did you find out?“

“Hopefully you didn’t lose them.”

“Waste man power on finding something in the areas we hadn’t expanded on yet? Isn’t that way we need man power? Expanding. We do the things we do for a reason, Conrad.“

“I know.” He didn’t know what else he could say. He didn’t regret it, couldn’t when he knew others would have died if they burrowed through to that gas. “That’s not our biggest worry anymore. Nick, it was natural gas. No one was in the room I was in. No one even knew I was there before they found me afterwards."

A frown creased her forehead when he winced. She hated that she couldn’t make it better for him. “Not even a warm milk with honey?” she offered, thinking it might be soothing. “Angry, worried, the usual after one of their own is hurt but ultimately they’re ok,” 

“I have to admit I hadn’t even thought of trying that. All I’ve been given is IV fluids.”

“Hello.” Julissa said sternly “Now normally I’d be all nice and caring but Nick told me what happened. Give me a reason not to knock you upside the head for doing something so stupid.” She glared 

Originally posted by ilikethewayyousoundinthemorning

“I thought it was the best call?” He tried weakly, before launching into a hacking fit.

Noticing the wires, Jaxson pulled back and opened Conrad’s bottle for him before handing it over. “Tell me about it… Sam feels a little better but I still can’t keep anything down. I brushed my teeth twenty times today.”

“Man, don’t mention it. Anyone would have done the same.“

Conrad gratefully took the bottle and sipped from it slowly. “How long were you guys down there?”

“Just barely,“ Nick grimaced. “What were you thinking? Were you thinking?“

Conrad winced, knowing this was going to happen sooner or later. “I thought I could find something in the areas we hadn’t expanded on yet. I didn’t want to waste man power on nothing, so I thought I’d scope it out myself.”

His answer didn’t do anything to ease her worry but she tried not to let it show. “Sounds unpleasant,” she rested her hand on his, “Anything I can do to remove the elephant?” 

He shook his head, wincing at the sudden pain in his throat. “I don’t think so. How is everyone else?”

Jax shut the door softly behind him and moved quietly to the side of the bed Conrad was on. He had two bottles of water in his hand and waved one in front of Conrad. “Hey, bro. Thirsty?” 

Conrad reached out to him with his wired up hand. “They have been doing IV fluids, but my mouth is so dry it’s insane.”