A Fragile Truce

Four people were seated at a café table, Maitho on one side and the remaining three on the other. Brigid and Epona had placed their weapons on the table and covered them with paper napkins. It was a show of truce, even though it felt like a temporary one. For his part, Maitho didn't have to cover his makeshift weapon, since he had used the cafe's cutlery.

The next few minutes were filled with silence. It seemed as though one side of the table was trying to evaluate the other. During that time, Bevan tried numerous times to start a conversation. But no sooner had he opened his mouth than he would close it again and purse his lips, as though he was worried they would open on their own. Brigid sat with her arms crossed, using a spoon to slowly stir the Americano that she had ordered earlier. Epona had leaned her chair back against the wall and was now staring at the ceiling, as though it contained answers to the mysteries of the universe.

Eventually, Maitho decided to break the silence. "Let's start over again, perhaps with an agreement." he looked at each person sitting opposite him. "Let's agree that the only person who actually wants to be here is Bevan." At the mention of his name, the red-haired young man perked up and smiled wide, as though he was told he would be receiving a Nobel Prize. He immediately adopted a serious expression after looking at Brigid. "So what say we at least attempt to have a conversation, if only for his sake?"

Maitho zeroed his attention to Brigid. Since she was the leader, her voice mattered the most. A few seconds and a deep breath later, the woman nodded.

"Not good enough," said Maitho. "I want you to say it. Whatever pride is asking you to take half-hearted measures, now is not the time to listen to it."

A flash of anger danced in Brigid's eyes, but it was soon gone. "Don't push your luck."

"As I had said before, you can walk out right now. But know this, I will speak to Bevan. And it seems as though he is ready to talk."

Brigid tossed one quick look at Bevan, who looked back expectantly. Sighing softly, she returned her gaze to Maitho. "Very well then. You said that you came into contact with this Jonathan Cray," she said. It looked like she was ready to talk.

"I did. It was tonight," said Maitho.

"And we found you tonight."

"Yes you did," said Maitho. "Which is why I wonder if this is all just coincidence. Or if it was supposed to happen according to a plan." He watched the faces of the three people, trying to see if he could catch something from their reactions.

Brigid shrugged. "I hadn't thought of that until you mentioned it. But it might be a possibility."

"We are not working for anyone," said Bevan, leaning forward until his chest almost touched the table. "We do know know a bit about you, but that is because of our common friend."

"Who could truly be a common friend as you said," Maitho paused for a second, "Or whose name you might have used to gain my trust."

"No," said Bevan, shaking his head slowly. "I know what you are thinking. But please let's think about every possibility right now. At least listen to our theory. It might just be more plausible."

"That theory should explain how you found me here in this café."

Bevan leaned back in his chair. His gaze traveled instinctively towards Brigid. The woman ignored him. He slowly turned away, revealing his disappointment at the lack of support for a brief second.

Perhaps he wasn't looking for support. Maybe he was looking for permission to talk. Maitho made a mental note of that.

Eventually, Brigid began to speak. "The truth is. We knew you were at Jonathan Cray's place." She took a sip from her cup before proceeding. "Epona was positioned outside, on top of the house."

"So you saw everything that happened inside."

"No." Brigid shook her head. "We were too late for that. We just saw you leave the house and we followed."

"So why the lack of trust? I was clearly escaping the Cray mansion. I don't see a reason for the hostility."

"Because it cuid hae bin a trap." This came from Epona, who had finally chosen to speak at that moment. Her Scottish accent was so strong, that it might have been fairly challenging for most people unfamiliar with the dialect to understand her. But to Maitho's ears, it was as though she was speaking in simple terms.

"How could it be a trap?" He looked from one person to the other, but he got no response. "What exactly happened when you met Jonathan Cray?"

Bevan opened his mouth to speak but a quick look from Brigid was enough to make him look at the walls and pretend he hadn't done anything.

Whatever the team was hiding, Maitho had to know. But perhaps forcing them to reveal it wasn't the best course of action. Instead, he took another route by asking a different question. "How did you guys know I was at the Cray mansion?"

"What's wi' th' interrogation ya gommy?" Epona snapped, turning to face Maitho as though she was challenging him to argue. She had practically called him an idiot.

For his part, Maitho was not going to back down either, but he wouldn't resort to petty insults. "You guys approach me out of the blue right after I experienced a dangerous situation. You can see how suspicious that might be. I don't trust any of you. And from what I can see, you guys don't trust me either."

"I guess we are at an impasse." said Brigid.

Another silence filled the room. With the abundance of mistrust, it seemed as though the conversation might go nowhere. Something had to be done to change the atmosphere. If the mistrust continued to remain, then Maitho was worried that the meeting might end with everyone just leaving the café out of sheer frustration.

"You said Charon told you about me. How can I believe that?" said Maitho.

Instantly, Bevan looked at his leader. It seemed as though she had the answers. But if that was indeed the case, then why hadn't she been the first to approach Maitho?

"This is sich a waste o'-" Whatever Epona wanted to say got cut off by three different sounds going off at the same time. Maitho watched Bevan, Brigid, and Epona all pull out their phones and realized that they had received message notifications. His body became rigid, but before he could think about what was happening, his own smartphone vibrated to indicate that he had received a message as well.

Maitho pulled out his phone and checked his lock screen. TRUST BRIGID, the message bar showed. He looked up to see three pairs of eyes looking at him.

"That was from Charon," said Maitho.

"We were told to trust you," said Brigid.

"Ah I don' believe dis." said Epona, clearly showing her frustration.

"I was told to trust you as well," said Maitho. "Pretty coincidental that we all receive this message right now of all times, don't you think?"

"Not exactly," said Brigid. "I tried reaching out to Charon earlier, when we had left the café. But he hadn't responded. I guess this is his way of getting us to work together."

All of this seemed like a series of coincidences, but Maitho held back on jumping to conclusions. He needed more information and like it or not, Brigid's team was the only one who could provide them. "Listen, there must have been something that Charon said to convince me to trust you. I would never believe that he would just ask you to blindly reach out to me. That man thinks three steps ahead."

Brigid nodded, surprising both her teammates.

"He did?" asked Bevan.

"How come ya didnae ye tell us?" This came from Epona, her disappointment clearly revealed in her tone of voice.

"Because if I had, then Bevan here would have gone on his own to do something about it like the trusting fool that he is." Brigid turned to Epona. "And you would have probably started spying on Maitho, which makes us no different from the people who are after us." She didn't wait for a response, instead facing Maitho. "Just to be clear, this is a temporary truce until we solve this problem. We are not partners or friends."

Maitho responded without a shred of hesitation in his voice. "I have been on my own and I am not looking to join hands with anyone, so let's get this all over with quickly. What did Charon tell you?"

"He wanted me to ask you a question about the first time he met you in the hospital."

"I'm listening,"

"He wanted to know why you laughed when he said that he would take care of your hospital bills."

No matter how long anyone had been watching Maitho, the incident at the hospital was perhaps the one thing that only he and Charon knew about. No one else could be remotely aware of what had happened.

"So what are we doing next?" asked Maitho.

"We are going to take you to our base of operations. Then we are going to fight back."