Next day, Death's flat
Death sat in his easy chair and stared at the list in front of him. He had written down the names of the watchers, Lander had given him the day before. One name he had already crossed out: Lander.
Letting his eyes wander over the other names, he finally stopped at one name: Sean O'Brien. Death recognized the name because Sean O'Brien happened to be the vice-director of French headquarters – a very high-ranking man with many connections and great power.
Death hacked into the watcher database and loaded Sean O'Brien's file. According to it, the man had been a field watcher for about 33 years before he was called back to HQ five years ago. He had watched only two Immortals during the years. His first assignment had been a 120-year-old woman that had been killed shortly after by the Kurgan. His other assignment still appeared to be alive, although his high killing rate seemed to be an indicator that the Immortal was a Hunter.
Examining O'Brien's picture a little bit closer, he saw a grey haired man of about 59 years. His skin looked very white and a little bit bloated while his eyes had the colour of very light aqua; all in all not a very attractive package.
Death searched for any entry concerning O'Brien's family or relatives, but found none. He almost missed a small link to another document that required a high-level code. Not that this could stop Death – he needed a little longer to hack it, but in the end the file appeared on his screen.
Very curious about what he was to discover, he began to read …and found himself disappointed as he finally finished. The document mentioned a gay relationship between O'Brien and another watcher about 35 years ago. It seemed that a teacher caught them in action at the watcher academy. It had been a big scandal at that time, and the other man involved had been moved to another Department. O'Brien apparently hadn't suffered any consequence – obviously, he had good connections.
Two hours later, Death stood next to O'Brien's office, that was located in the fifth story at watcher HQ, and waited. Because it was 12 pm., he expected the other to leave his office soon to go to dinner.
He only had to wait ten minutes before the O'Brien's door opened and he could see the big figure leave his office. Death noticed slight traces of sweat on the other man's face as O'Brien hurried towards the elevator.
Behind him, Death also hurried to jump into the elevator at the last moment before it's doors closed. In there, Death smiled with his young and innocent Adam Pierson face at the other man as he greeted him shyly. Lowering his eyelashes, he pretended to play nervously with the books, he held in his arms.
Death had planned this meeting in every detail. He wanted the other man to notice him. That was the reason he wore a green shirt that not only emphasized the colour of his green eyes but also the strength of his body.
Although both men reminded silent, Death could feel the other man examine him very closely. He looked up and let a shy smile appear on his face when he saw that the other man was smiling very friendlily in his direction.
A few moments later, the elevator stopped and Death stepped out. Pretending to stumble, he let go of his books and fell to the floor while he let a cry of pain escape his mouth. When he looked up with pain-wide eyes, he saw the other man hurry to him while his face showed a very concerned expression.
"Everything all right?" he heard the gentle voice of the other man asking when O'Brien knelt down next to him and began to search for any injuries. "Have you hurt yourself?"
"No, I'm ok," Death moaned through gritted teeth. "It hurts a little, but I am sure it's nothing." He let a slight smile appear on his face when he looked into the other man's face. "Really, I'm all right." When he saw only concern in the man's eyes, he was sure that O'Brien had bought his act.
Pretending to try to get up, he then cried once again before he let himself fall to the floor again. There, he held his left leg while his face grimaced in pain. "Ahhh… maybe I have sprained my leg," he then moaned while he looked with puppy-wide eyes into the other's now even more concerned face.
"Come," the other said very gently, "let me help you. I'll take you to my office and we will call the doctor for you. Your leg has to be examined." With that, helped him up, and supported him back into the elevator, obviously trying to avoid causing any new pain.
A few minutes later, both men sat in O'Brien's office while the doctor examined Death's leg. "I can't find any visible injury," the doctor said after a few minutes of examination. "I don't think you have broken anything. But it's very likely that you sprained your leg. I'll give you an ice bag you can put on it, it should prevent it from swelling. It would be also very good if you wouldn't walk around the next hour."
After the doctor had left, Death looked up into O'Brien's now very relieved face and said with a very shy voice, "I'm so sorry that I caused so much trouble … I really want to thank you for your kind help…"
A very generous smile appeared on the watcher's face while he shook his head. "It goes without saying…Tell you what, you give me the number of your superior and I let my secretary call him and tell him what happened to you – he should not concern himself about your whereabouts. My driver then will take you home in an hour."
"But I," Death whispered with an unsure voice, "I really don't want to cause any more trouble."
"No, no," the other man laughed. "You don't…I have some free time. You can stay here. We could talk a bit about our work and have a drink…What do you think?"
Death only smiled at him very gratefully. "OK."
When O'Brien turned to order the drinks, the face of Adam Pierson disappeared for a second and revealed a very dangerous one instead. The former young looking eyes now held a very cold expression as they followed the other man's back. "This is so easy," Death thought and grinned evilly.
During their conversation, Death very carefully placed some hints of how he regarded Immortals. In the end, the other man had to have the impression that he regarded Immortals as abnormal and liked them not very much. After one hour, they finally said goodbye to each other and O'Brien's driver brought Death home.
One day later, Death got a call from O'Brien. He asked if Adam's leg was all right and if they could meet to have a drink and continue their interesting conversation. Death grinned - apparently everything went exactly the way he had planned. The other man obviously had taken his bait.
