AN:
Before the chapter starts I wanna thank my gorgeous reviewers DeadFicDude, Novaglare, mulzypops & TheAmazingQwerty!

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Music tip:
Fran Healy – In The Morning
youtube: watch?v=7z_rXLELnBk

Lovers of Freedom

Chapter 9:
Target

"You sure you're alright?"
Adam threw a cautious look in Mitch's direction, while they drove together back into the city. When he had returned the evening before with their food, his guest had just been sitting on the couch, head in his hands and unmoving. He had forced himself to eat something, but obviously something very serious had happened during Adam's absence.
But Mitch hadn't said a word about it. Was it because of Murphy's call?

"Yeah, don't worry," Mitch finally replied and continued to stare out of the window, while Adam sat on the driver's seat. Of course he was lying. "Sure. You know Murphy is going to murder me, if you look like hell. He'll think I did this to you," Adam said without thinking first and then pressed his lips firmly together as he realized, that he indeed could be responsible. Surprisingly Mitch began to chuckle lowly and shook his head, before he replied, "No, actually you're not the reason. Just didn't sleep well, have a lot on my mind at the moment."

"Do you mind telling me what exactly?"

"I do actually," Mitch answered coldly and was silent for the rest of the drive.
They arrived on the parking lot, but this time it was hard to find a free spot. As he finally did, Mitch was out of the car even before Adam had stopped it properly. With a sigh he excited the car as well and followed Mitch, who was already on his way up the stairs. He thought about calling the other boy back, but it was no use. He wouldn't listen anyway.

To be honest the sudden change of Mitch scared the hell out of Adam.
He was the one who wanted to try the whole friendship-thing again and now that Adam had promised to bury the hate, Mitch pushed him away. His answers were short and he avoided direct eye contact most of the time.
Adam knew they weren't friends - not even close - but things needed to change before Murphy would see him like that.

"Mitch, wait!"
Adam finally caught up to him in the main hall. On the left side was the reception, to the right three elevators. With crossed arms Mitch stood impatiently in front of them, as Adam approached him. "You have to stop this right now!"

"Why should I?"

Adam exploded and gave a false laugh, before he raised his voice, "Because it's not just your ass on the line. It would be great if you for once, Mitch, for once be thinking of all the people who are involved!"
People began to look at them, although Adam couldn't care less at the moment. His blood was boiling, but at least he had Mitch's attention now. A cold glare was the first sign of Mitch's rage, as he turned around and raised his eyebrows. "Say that again, Adam. I dare you."

Of course he wouldn't retreat now.
It probably would have been the right thing to do, but as Mitch stared at him with a challenging look in his eyes, he slowly repeated, "Do me the favor, Mitch. Try not to be selfish for once." Mitch was ready to go for his throat, but he held himself back - as usual. Instead of showing how upset he was, Mitch lowered his voice and the hate he had first shown on the day before in Adam's hallway became visible again.
"You have no idea who I am, Adam! Right now everything I do is for the sake of other people!" Slowly he retreated, but before Adam could formulate an answer, he continued with a humorless smile on his lips. "Glad to see that you couldn't keep your promise after all – I was worried for a second that you would actually pull through."

"You're making it very hard for me, you know that?! Stop sulking! When Murphy sees you like that-"

"He wouldn't lift a finger."
Mitch turned around again and continued to wait for the elevator.

Adam didn't know what exactly it was – the tone of his voice, the tense stance or the wrinkles on Mitch's forehead. Something was bothering him more than before and somehow it was connected to Murphy, wasn't it?
"What is it with you and him? At our first meeting it was like that as well."

"Back off, Adam."
Mitch got nervous and threw him an unsure glance.
"Oh god, this whole behavior of you this morning is because of him, right?"

Panic.
It was barely visible in Mitch's eyes, as the elevator arrived and he quickly turned away, but Adam was able to see it nonetheless. He was right.
"Just stop it, please!"
Mitch tried to get away, but Adam grabbed his upper arm tightly to hold him back and turned him around again. "No, tell me right now! What the hell is going on between you?!"

He tried to free his arm, but Mitch wasn't strong enough. The panic on his face mixed with his despair and Adam began to be afraid. It couldn't be that bad, could it? Murphy seemed to be a nice guy who actually tried to save their jobs, if his words were honest. But Mitch's reaction on the other hand was so untypical for him… Adam wanted to believe that Mitch was exactly like that, but he knew better. Adam's opinion of him had always been characterized by his anger towards the former friend. Their fight had been ugly and he still couldn't forgive Mitch for the things he had said-

But he should feel the same about Adam. So why wasn't he? Sure, Mitch was fuming because of Adam's behavior, nonetheless he should've reacted completely different during their last days together. Mitch had every right to be mad at him, probably more than the other way round. Still he wanted them to be friends again and did everything he could to help Adam. It was ridiculous, but what was the reason for it?
Was it really just because of Murphy?

"I'm not," began Mitch with a shaking voice and tried to get away again, but Adam tightened the grip around his arm. Before Adam had the chance to question him further regarding the topic, an arm appeared in his line of sight. The attached body separated them a second later and Adam had to give up his grip on Mitch. Immediately the person pulled the surprised Canadian a bit to the side, then he put himself between his protégée and Adam. Another pair of hands grabbed Adam's shoulders and stopped him from moving, even though he was still standing on the same spot.

"I have no idea what's going on here, but you better get your hands off of Mitch, Adam!"
Jerome.
With a protective stance he stood in front of his best friend and stared at Adam with a cautious look. They must've arrived in the hall a few seconds before and Adam could understand why he was acting like that:
Mitch's scared face, the visible panic and the despair -
Adam grabbing and stopping him from getting away.

Ian was standing on Adam's right side, while the rest of the guys slowly stepped closer. He raised his hands to defuse the situation and opened his mouth to calm them down, as Mitch beat him to it.
"It's alright, seriously. It probably looked much worse than it really was. We were just arguing about something." The smile on his face was convincing and Ian released Adam's shoulders, but Jerome continued to stare at Mitch doubtfully. "That's what you're saying all day long – 'Everything's fine, don't worry.' Somehow I can't believe that anymore."

"I am glad to see you all have arrived safely. Welcome to the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, my name is Tom Murphy. Why don't we relocate this nice… chatter to my bureau?"
Murphy stood in front of the elevators with a welcoming smile on his friendly face.
Even though Murphy had just saved him from replying to Jerome, Mitch's face couldn't have been more worried and anxious than it did right now.

Adam is getting questioning - but he seems to have a quite different impression of Murphy.
What do you think is going to happen next?!

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