142

Allenby sighs and runs his hand along the back of his head in frustration. "Damn it, I shouldn't have accepted this assignment," he mutters loudly, his eyes trained on Balogh. "Should have known that you'd still hold a grudge over that issue," he says before he looks at the four of you and says, "Well, we're off to a rocky start at this point. But whatever there is between me and Sergeant Balogh, there won't be anymore trouble from this point onwards, correct?" His gaze lingers on Balogh, who nods and says, "No, sir. There won't be any trouble after this."

"Good. Now I'm here to escort you to your living quarters, where you'll be spending most of your time between shifts. Despite what some of you might believe, this isn't a paid vacation; it's a job. We are here to guard the President of the United States, and you are here as representatives of your country's military to aid us in this matter. So whenever your shift is over, you will report back to the living quarters and remain there until it's time for your next shift," he says, shifting into serious mode immediately, completely unfazed by Balogh's attempt at violence earlier.

"Now, I will need to take your Magifonas for the sake of security and to reduce the risk of any sort of leak," Allenby says, stepping forward and extending his hand. "They will be returned to you after the end of the President's stay, and I promise that our staff will not do anything to the contents of your phones, so whatever kind of pictures or videos you have on your phones will remain on your phone," he says wryly, and this defuses the tension for the most part. Chuckling, everyone takes out their phones and hands them over to Allenby, who stares at Balogh for a while longer before stepping back and gesturing at the four of you to come with him.

Even then, you still cannot help but wonder what happened between Balogh and Allenby.

Next