"I can't believe he actually left," one Beta officer muttered, his voice filled with disbelief.
Nicholas didn't even bother looking up from the papers in front of him.
"Neither can I."
A chorus of quiet laughter spread through the room, a release of tension that everyone desperately needed. Heads shook, eyes rolled, and the atmosphere lightened considerably. The knot of anxiety that had been tightening in everyone's chest eased slightly, replaced by a sense of shared absurdity.
Then everyone returned to work.
The operation had only just begun.
Nicholas had barely returned to the stack of reports on his desk when his phone vibrated. The device buzzed against the wood, its screen lighting up with an incoming call that cut through the ambient noise of the operations room.
He glanced at the screen.
Soren.
He sighed to himself before answering, pressing the phone to his ear.
"Hey."He said.
"You're not coming home tonight, are you?" Soren asked.
