Flavour

The shadow informed Noah of what her boss had told her. He had said, "I will have that tap up and running in a few seconds. Have his people contact me and I will send them a secure link to sign into the tap. They won't be able to do much but they can listen in, see the number that is being called and activate the redirect, which we will set up, if necessary. He can also end the call. These limited actions and this level of access should be enough for what they are trying to achieve."

After the shadow had relayed the message from her boss, Noah nodded and said, "Yes, that is indeed plenty. I am very grateful for his help. It has proven very vital at these moments. I will tell Anthony to contact him right away. Could you forward me the contact information in the meantime?"

The shadow nodded and did what had been asked, while Noah began typing his message to Anthony. Normally he would have called him but with the noise from the chopper, that would be pointless at the moment.

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While Noah was flying in the air in a chopper, Laila, Steve and Maria were still in the hospital. Steve had by now become more awake and less drowsy as the after effects of the sedation had mostly worn off. This had also caused him to regain his appetite. Now realizing how long he had not eaten, he was craving a proper meal but none of the available meals at the hospital met his criteria for a 'proper meal'. It was all quite bland and the portions left quite a bit to be desired as well. So, Laila had offered to go and get him something to eat from outside, using this as another reason to get herself away from Steve's room and out of the position of the third wheel.

On her way out she of course first consulted the doctors to see if she was allowed to bring him outside food or if there were diet restrictions for Steve, considering he had just had surgery. Fortunately for him, the doctors told her that as long as the meals weren't spicy, contained alcohol, red meat or were very greasy, he was okay to eat whatever he wanted. They did add that staying away from foods that could cause obstipation were advisable as well but this wasn't too much of a concern for a meal for one day. They also told her that they would give them a brochure before Steve would be discharged. With those words Laila went out to get Steve a meal that was healthy enough to help with his recovery but had enough flavour for Steve to actually enjoy.

She had gotten far from the hospital when a familiar voice called out to her. She turned around and saw that it was Jake. She had forgotten all about him with everything that had happened today. Seeing him, she realized that they had left the house while he was still there. He had been the last one on her mind, despite being the reason for their lucky break. They walked up to each other and Laila said, "Oh my gosh Jake. I can't believe I forgot about you. How are you? What happened to you after we left."

Jake showed a little hurt smile as he said, "That's alright. Don't worry about it. You were worried about Noah's wellbeing. So much was going on, I had a hard time following everything myself. I can imagine it being even worse for you. I am just glad to see that you are okay. From what I heard at station, Noah is doing fine as well but Steve got hurt." Laila arched her brow hearing this, wondering what Jake had been doing at the station but Jake wasn't done talking yet and said in frustrated tone, "I can't believe that Harold actually did something so stupid and put everyone in danger like that, including you." He casted his eyes down before he looked back up with an expression that revealed just how upset he was feeling about the situation as he said, "Especially you."

This is when Laila smiled and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder as she said, "I know you didn't mean for this to happen and that you would never intentionally physically harm me. I for one, don't blame you for what happened. If there is anything that I find blame with you for, it is the people you decided to associate yourself with. Instead of taking the second chance you had been given, even though it was a harsh second chance, you decided to go for a game of double or nothing. You got blinded by a chance to get revenge and you didn't see the people you were partnering up with, for who they really are. But as fate would have it, you didn't take it to a point of no return and you ended up doing somewhat of the right thing in the end. Let's see how you go from here."