Operation Honey Trap vs The Emperor of the Apocalypse-Chapter 165: Can we Taste your Medicine?

"You have to watch this video, Alton," Delphi was chasing after him as they marched down a little used road towards the capital. "I went to great lengths to get Han to download this, and I’ve carried it across the Island, waiting to show it to you."

"Delphi, that phone is the detonator for the bomb, so you would have had to carry it anyway. I really don’t want to see images of your little tryst with Brenner. I can tell it will put me in an awful mood. Let’s just put the whole episode behind us, shall we?"

"No way!" she said stubbornly. "That little comment of yours goes to show exactly what still runs through your wild imagination, so I need you to see this to put it to rest."

"I can’t keep an eye on you 24/7, Delphine. At some point I just have to trust you and trust your feelings for me. That’s why I don’t want to see it. There’s not always going to be video evidence is there? I need to work out this jealousy stuff on my own."

"Well, I agree with all that," she said, not wanting to dissuade him from trying to control his over-the-top jealousy, "but just this once where I have a video, and your imagination is clearly doing somersaults, can you please watch it?" she wheedled, fluttering her long eyelashes at him.

She just really wanted to put an end to all of the snide ’Brenner’ comments. Plus she did feel the need for a teensy bit of vindication.

"Oh alright, woman. How can I resist you when you look at me like that? Let’s stop for some rations!" called Alton to the team.

Delphi handed Alton the phone and he pressed play. It felt weirdly momentous to Delphi, seeing as this one little incident had set off such an unpleasant chain of events.

The start of the video was Delphi entering the bathroom. A hand reached through the door before she could close it, and the lights went out, sending the image pitch black, for fifteen, maybe twenty seconds. They seemed long to Alton, while he watched the flickering image and couldn’t see who had entered the bathroom, or, more importantly, what they were doing with Delphi.

The light was flicked back on, clearly by Delphi. She turned towards Brenner and pushed his chest, causing him to take a step backwards.

He came back towards her and pinned her against the wall with his body and one arm.

Their heads were positioned close together, and it was clear that they were talking. Brenner looked down, and Delphi tried to adjust her small top to cover more of her breasts.

She ducked under his arm and turned the lock, pulling the door open.

Alton’s hand could be seen reaching in and grabbing Brenner, dragging him through the half-open door. Delphi looked around in surprise, before she locked the door again.

Alton finished watching the video and sat for a minute without saying anything.

He rubbed his eye sockets with the palms of his hands.

"What?" she asked him cautiously.

"That just makes me think two things. One, I really wish I gave Brenner two black eyes."

"He didn’t do anything too terrible," Delphi said reasonably.

"And two, I’m sorry I was such a jerk. You asked me to listen to you and I wouldn’t hear you out. I should have trusted you, not driven myself half-mad with jealousy and ignored you."

He reached over and pulled her into a hug. "Can you forgive me," he whispered into her ear, tracing a tender line down her cheek.

She nodded, with a little happy smile. This is what she had wanted from him weeks ago!

He leant in and gave her a long kiss.

"Woah!" called Niko. "The Generals are taking sharing rations to the extreme!"

Delphi pulled back with embarrassment, her cheeks burning.

"Grow up, Lieutenant," said Alton, unconcerned. "You’ll just have to get used to it."

He reached over and pulled Delphi back into a clinch, deliberately kissing her again in front of everyone.

A cheer rose up from the team.

"About time you two," called Loveday.

"I thought you’d never manage to get her across the line, General," said Indy. "Better late than never."

"Does that mean we won’t be subjected to your incessant flirting anymore?" called Arrie.

"Good going, General," called Wolf. "I thought you said you didn’t have the answers to making a woman fall for you? It looks like you do!"

Alton sighed, Wolf, Wolf, Wolf... Always so straightforward. Not necessarily for the greater good... Was he missing the embarrassment gene?

"Alright, alright, settle down troops. You’ll have to learn to live with it while we have to live with you buggers."

That set everyone to whooping and whistling at them again, and Delphi covered her eyes with her hands.

"Listen. I’ve put up with more drama from you lot than a bloody soap opera. It’s time for a taste of your own medicine for a change."

"Can we taste the medicine you’re tasting, General?" called Niko. "It looks like the good stuff. We don’t want to taste our own."

"You’ll be tasting some dirt in a minute, Lieutenant, when you have to get down and give me fifty."

Everyone laughed good-naturedly. "Alright, troops," Alton called, "time to move out! We’re crossing the Derwent today, come hell or high water."

Delphi had planned for them to use the old Bridgewater Bridge to cross the Derwent River, which would land them in the north of the capital.

It was largely disused, having been replaced by a new bridge many years ago. The bridge had a lifting span that was still used to allow large boats to transport goods up and down the river.

The team hid in a copse of bushes just north of the old bridge. Alton had the binoculars focussed on it.

"This feels like déjà vu," he hissed at Niko, thrusting the binoculars into Niko’s hands.

"Here, take these and have a careful look for me. Any sign of men clinging to the pylons and I want to know about it!"

Niko laughed. "Don’t beat yourself up over it, General. They would have been well-hidden on the west side of the bridge. We had no chance of spotting them."

"Pfft," he blew out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. "Two sets of eyes are better than one," Alton growled. "I know this bridge isn’t used anymore, but they’re onto us now, and they know we’ll be heading towards the capital, so we need to be extra cautious from here on in."

After a few more minutes of careful surveillance of the bridge and its surrounds, Niko and Alton decided it looked safe to cross.

"Move out privates," called the Lieutenant, waving his big arm. "Make it snappy. We don’t have a good track record on bridge crossings, so let’s not spend any more time on this sucker than we have to."