A Dramatic Turn: Chapter Two: In Which Laura meets her Adversary
Title: In Which Laura Meets her Adversary
Word Count: 1046
Rating: T Warning for references to terrorism and bombings
Disclaimer: don't own them
A/N: My contribution to the Round-Robin between marzipanilla nvgvup and myself.
Chapter One
Laura Roslin was trying to get to the Green House for lunch. She was finishing up a meeting with the president of the university, Richard Adar, and it was running long. Probably because he kept making passes at her.
“What is it, Laura?”
“I’m not interested in being your mistress, Richard.”
“Never stopped you before.”
“Things are different now.”
“How so?”
“I met someone.”
“You frakin’ him?”
“That’s none of your business, and if we’re finished here, I have a date. Good day, President Adar.”
“Dean Roslin,” he said in a tone of defeat.
Because of her boss, Laura was late for her lunch with Bill. It wasn’t a date, not really. She couldn’t figure out why she had him in mind when she said she had met someone-or why she felt so guilty letting Richard touch her, like she was betraying Bill.
They weren’t dating. They barely even tolerated each other most of the time. And he was so proud. He wouldn’t even take a ride from her. She later learned he had waited nearly an hour in the sweltering heat. All of that could have been avoided, but no. He was simply too proud.
So why was she rushing to the Green House? It had been several hours since she’d last eaten anything. That must have been it. She was hungry. It had nothing to do with Bill’s remarkably bright blue eyes, or the way he spoke to her with such respect-even when he was arguing some point. He was the first man who had ever truly respected her career. She could talk about her job without his eyes glazing over. He didn’t seem to find her boring, and when they talked, they had actual intellectual discussions. Sometimes they got a little heated. A few times, it looked like Kara the barista would have to break them up, but they ended every lunch they shared with their friendship intact.
Friend. Laura Roslin had a friend. She was friends with Bill. Somehow, seemingly overnight, a man she had barely been able to tolerate became her best friend. Her only friend, really. Sure she was still friends with Marcy, but their lifelong acquaintance had stopped making sense, and they’d grown apart. After her awkward date with Sean that Marcy had set up, Laura took the position as the dean of liberal arts, and she quickly became overwhelmed with work. That wasn’t such a bad thing, though. It took her mind off of things that were of no use thinking about. Her family was gone.
Laura wanted to get to the Green House because she was hungry, and she wanted to see her friend. She wanted to open up to him and tell him things about herself that she usually kept quiet. She wanted to hear about his life too. Seeing Bill was the highlight of her day, and she couldn’t wait to get there.
Because she was in a hurry and not really paying attention, she didn’t notice the presence that was looming behind her, as she walked across the campus courtyard.
“Hello, Laura,” said a voice from behind her.
Laura quickly turned around to see her former adversary. Tom Zarek had been a teacher of philosophy at the progressive school Laura taught at years ago. It turned out his philosophy was that of anarchy and destruction. He had blown up a government building. Thank the gods nobody was inside, but his point was well taken. Something about Zarek’s demeanor bothered Laura, who was an avid mystery reader and was particularly good at solving the mystery prior to the protagonist, and she reported him to the Colonial Security Center of Terrorist Activity. She was careful to preface her report with expressions of uncertainty and that her basis was from her gut. The investigator assured her that she had done her civic duty; that too many people would have let their suspicions go unreported, and Laura was a good Colonial citizen for reporting them.
Any guilt Laura may have felt with Tom, melted as soon as it turned out she was right-he was guilty, and her suspicions led the CSCTA right to him. Tom was smart, but he couldn’t outsmart an entire investigative team. They found enough evidence, made the arrest, and Mr. Zarek was sentenced to life without parole. The school washed its hands of him, and Laura went to sleep pleased that she had helped put a dangerous man behind bars. However, the prison was not far from NCU. That thought was always in the back of her mind, especially when she took the job as dean.
Tom clearly wasn’t behind bars anymore; that in itself was disconcerting. Laura quickly looked around her for options. She was wearing her pumps, which wouldn’t be ideal for running. Everyone was scattered, so calling for help wouldn’t do much good. She was very far from the nearest call box-what she always called the blue light specials. Plus, campus security was notoriously slow: Tom would have time to kill her several times before they arrived, and he only needed to kill her once. He didn’t appear to be armed, but she couldn’t be sure. But any weapon he had was concealed; maybe he didn’t want to kill her. But there was only one way to find out.
“Hello, Tom.”
“It’s been a long time, Laura. How’ve you been?”
“You know. Got a new job.”
“I noticed. Very nice.”
“Has its perks, I guess.”
“You’re probably wondering what I’m doing here. What I want.”
“That crossed my mind, yes.”
“I’ve decided to blow up another building. I wonder if you’re fast enough to do anything, this time.”
“What building?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll tell you. It’s part of the game. It’s the student center by the bus stop. If you hurry, you might be able to save the people.”
“Why, Tom?”
“You don’t have time for that, go.”
So Laura ran. And she got on her cell phone and called campus security after all, then the police, then the CSCTA. Her hope was most of the people would be out of the building before she got there. She wanted to call the prison to report the obvious escape, but she didn’t have time. She had to run.
Word Count: 1046
Rating: T Warning for references to terrorism and bombings
Disclaimer: don't own them
A/N: My contribution to the Round-Robin between marzipanilla nvgvup and myself.
Chapter One
Laura Roslin was trying to get to the Green House for lunch. She was finishing up a meeting with the president of the university, Richard Adar, and it was running long. Probably because he kept making passes at her.
“What is it, Laura?”
“I’m not interested in being your mistress, Richard.”
“Never stopped you before.”
“Things are different now.”
“How so?”
“I met someone.”
“You frakin’ him?”
“That’s none of your business, and if we’re finished here, I have a date. Good day, President Adar.”
“Dean Roslin,” he said in a tone of defeat.
Because of her boss, Laura was late for her lunch with Bill. It wasn’t a date, not really. She couldn’t figure out why she had him in mind when she said she had met someone-or why she felt so guilty letting Richard touch her, like she was betraying Bill.
They weren’t dating. They barely even tolerated each other most of the time. And he was so proud. He wouldn’t even take a ride from her. She later learned he had waited nearly an hour in the sweltering heat. All of that could have been avoided, but no. He was simply too proud.
So why was she rushing to the Green House? It had been several hours since she’d last eaten anything. That must have been it. She was hungry. It had nothing to do with Bill’s remarkably bright blue eyes, or the way he spoke to her with such respect-even when he was arguing some point. He was the first man who had ever truly respected her career. She could talk about her job without his eyes glazing over. He didn’t seem to find her boring, and when they talked, they had actual intellectual discussions. Sometimes they got a little heated. A few times, it looked like Kara the barista would have to break them up, but they ended every lunch they shared with their friendship intact.
Friend. Laura Roslin had a friend. She was friends with Bill. Somehow, seemingly overnight, a man she had barely been able to tolerate became her best friend. Her only friend, really. Sure she was still friends with Marcy, but their lifelong acquaintance had stopped making sense, and they’d grown apart. After her awkward date with Sean that Marcy had set up, Laura took the position as the dean of liberal arts, and she quickly became overwhelmed with work. That wasn’t such a bad thing, though. It took her mind off of things that were of no use thinking about. Her family was gone.
Laura wanted to get to the Green House because she was hungry, and she wanted to see her friend. She wanted to open up to him and tell him things about herself that she usually kept quiet. She wanted to hear about his life too. Seeing Bill was the highlight of her day, and she couldn’t wait to get there.
Because she was in a hurry and not really paying attention, she didn’t notice the presence that was looming behind her, as she walked across the campus courtyard.
“Hello, Laura,” said a voice from behind her.
Laura quickly turned around to see her former adversary. Tom Zarek had been a teacher of philosophy at the progressive school Laura taught at years ago. It turned out his philosophy was that of anarchy and destruction. He had blown up a government building. Thank the gods nobody was inside, but his point was well taken. Something about Zarek’s demeanor bothered Laura, who was an avid mystery reader and was particularly good at solving the mystery prior to the protagonist, and she reported him to the Colonial Security Center of Terrorist Activity. She was careful to preface her report with expressions of uncertainty and that her basis was from her gut. The investigator assured her that she had done her civic duty; that too many people would have let their suspicions go unreported, and Laura was a good Colonial citizen for reporting them.
Any guilt Laura may have felt with Tom, melted as soon as it turned out she was right-he was guilty, and her suspicions led the CSCTA right to him. Tom was smart, but he couldn’t outsmart an entire investigative team. They found enough evidence, made the arrest, and Mr. Zarek was sentenced to life without parole. The school washed its hands of him, and Laura went to sleep pleased that she had helped put a dangerous man behind bars. However, the prison was not far from NCU. That thought was always in the back of her mind, especially when she took the job as dean.
Tom clearly wasn’t behind bars anymore; that in itself was disconcerting. Laura quickly looked around her for options. She was wearing her pumps, which wouldn’t be ideal for running. Everyone was scattered, so calling for help wouldn’t do much good. She was very far from the nearest call box-what she always called the blue light specials. Plus, campus security was notoriously slow: Tom would have time to kill her several times before they arrived, and he only needed to kill her once. He didn’t appear to be armed, but she couldn’t be sure. But any weapon he had was concealed; maybe he didn’t want to kill her. But there was only one way to find out.
“Hello, Tom.”
“It’s been a long time, Laura. How’ve you been?”
“You know. Got a new job.”
“I noticed. Very nice.”
“Has its perks, I guess.”
“You’re probably wondering what I’m doing here. What I want.”
“That crossed my mind, yes.”
“I’ve decided to blow up another building. I wonder if you’re fast enough to do anything, this time.”
“What building?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll tell you. It’s part of the game. It’s the student center by the bus stop. If you hurry, you might be able to save the people.”
“Why, Tom?”
“You don’t have time for that, go.”
So Laura ran. And she got on her cell phone and called campus security after all, then the police, then the CSCTA. Her hope was most of the people would be out of the building before she got there. She wanted to call the prison to report the obvious escape, but she didn’t have time. She had to run.