The Good Husband (Part 1.1)
-Nathan’s POV-
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
The nervous drumming of my nails against the desk emulated the frantic building of my mood. I knew I needed to calm down, but knowing what had to be done and how to get it done were two completely different things.
My fingers kept their agitated beat, sounding more and more like a tribal pulse as they continued. My heartbeat seemed to join the pulse as it took everything in me to focus on the issue at hand and not give in to my primal nature. There had to be some kind of mistake. Danni couldn’t be gone. Or, as Pompey had put it, “most likely dead,” buried under tons of rumble where my facility stood only hours ago.
It was fortunate she’d told me over the phone. Who knew how I would’ve taken the news in person. My tolerance for her would’ve been very low, to say the least. Who was I kidding? She and I both knew how I would’ve reacted if I had been given a choice. I recalled the silent snarl plastered over my face by the conversation’s end. Other than losing my wife and one of my bases of operation, she couldn’t shine any new light on who was responsible. Instead, Pompey left the line with promises of proper restitution. For her sake, she better make good on her offer. Yet again, I knew before hanging up the phone that her days were numbered. It didn’t matter if she found a way to conjure Danielle from hell itself. How much time she had was the only thing I hadn’t decided on yet.
With the matter of Pompey all but resolved, the question that persisted was ‘who?’
It seemed inconceivable this mission was a human-based effort. Even with the strength possessed by their sheer numbers, most of the human species was in denial of our presence, and their threat remained easily controlled. The few that have known about us usually consisted of lone fanatics. The classified minorities in the ranks of the world’s militarized governments have had some play, but to openly attack us wasn’t their style. They were more concerned with concealing our existence from the masses and studying us where they could. We had gotten pretty good at hiding throughout the years. Maybe the game had changed?
Whatever that change was left my plan in ruins. Danni was only weeks away from returning home and, at long last, triggering the events that would secure our species’ survival as well as my role in it.
I took a moment to notice the rhythmic tapping of my fingers had ceased as my body sat frozen behind my desk. Whoever had done this ruined me, and for that, they would pay a heavy price.
I jumped up from the chair, pacing my office aimlessly, no closer to an answer. I barely heard the phone ring as I tried to decipher my next move.
Absently, I picked up the receiver, “Hello.”
“Hey Nate, how about we go golfing after our meeting today? I have some money I need to win back from you.”
I couldn’t register the voice and didn’t care to try. “Today isn’t good for me, rain check,” I flatly said before I hung up the phone.
The phone started back with its insistent noise, again I answered.
“Nathan? Are you feeling alright?”
I could tell it was the same voice I had only moments ago hung up on, not Pompey with any updates. My jaw tightened with renewed irritation.
The man cleared his throat, “Well, I hope you’re up for the meeting you’re manning today on the wonders of neurological empathies.”
The reason I even bothered to be in my office was refreshed. I looked over at my desk that held the now scattered notes to my pending PowerPoint. Even my well-orchestrated version of me was falling apart. I couldn’t have that. However, the presentation didn’t meet with what I found important, so the trained monkeys would have to do this conference without me.
“Robert.”
“Um, it’s Scott. I mean, it happens. Yeah, buddy, what do you need?”
The scowl on my face deepened, “Scott, I need to withdraw my presentation from the assembly.” I paused for dramatic effect then continued before he could answer. “Please give our colleagues my sincerest apologies. I’ll get back with you on that rain check—”
“You’re joking, right?” Scott asked as he failed to hide his excited disbelief.
It was as if I had handed him the keys to a brand new sports car. The chance to make Nathan Smith shine just a little less was all most of my colleagues hoped for.
He continued, “I mean, is everything okay? Do you have a reason for your absence that you would want me to relay, or does the board already know?”
I could almost feel his hope for the worst-case scenario in his syrupy-false tone.
The waves of anger started to build further. I wasn’t in the mood to play games with the sack of wasted skin.
“Do I sound like I’m joking? Do you think I’m here for your amusement, Scott?” I snarled.
The line went dead with another quick bout of silence.
“No, of course, I don’t think that. I just thought—”
“Your thoughts mean less to me than the most trivial notions I’ve ever bothered to conjure. Do what I have demanded of you if you value your position here at all, Scott.” I said as I discontinued the unwanted conversation with a slam of the receiver.
My gaze went from the wall down to the phone that now lay fractured. Note to self: have Nancy buy a new phone.
I noticed small chunks of the apparatus had found their way onto my pristine cherry wood floor.
I heard an ever so light tapping at my office door that bounded loudly in my inner ear.
“Mr. Smith, are you okay in there?” Nancy’s mousy little voice intruded.
I was sickened further by the second. It was time to put some distance between this place and myself. If I stayed, there was no knowing what else could be littering the floor.
“Sir…?” she dragged out.
I knew I only had moments before she would turn the door’s knob. It was tempting to release my rage and end her poor existence in what she laughably called a life. The flare of my nostrils let the inner me become fully aware of her presence. The wisp of her perfume tantalized my urges. I would actually be doing her a favor...
“Focus Nathan…”
“Did you say something, sir?”
I cleared my throat before answering her, “Yes, I said I’m fine, just a little under the weather. I think you should go home. I have already cleared my schedule for the day,” I acted out with a surprisingly even tone through my continued scowled expression.
There was a pause on the other side of the door and a slight tremor of the knob, making my hand quiver in response. I unintentionally cocked my head to the side as my scowl calmed, and I waited. It was as if she was still unsure of what to do. If she picked walking through the door that separated us, that would be a gruesome choice for her indeed. What would she choose?
