10-27-2014, 09:51 PM
The completion of Reed's tasks coincided well with Jacques' own. He left the board room with friendly and familiar hand shakes and smiles. He had a way with soldiers, having grown up around them his whole life, and in departing he had given them his heart-felt thanks. They had been ordered to take lives, something that never quite sat right with any civilized man, no matter the cause. But any traces of discomfort with the act, any lingering doubt or concern they had felt had been scoured away. They had taken lives, but had saved countless more with the action.
He told stories of the children that had been taken into the Legionnaire headquarters, of a family reunited, of the discovery of a doctor among the refugees who even as they spoke was treating wounded only a few hundred meters from where they stood.
To each of the embassy guards he had given a Legion challenge coin; something rarely seen in the hands of men not of the company but well earned by the Chinese sharpshooters. They would later be able to engrave their own names on the coins, and were encouraged that should they ever visit Morocco, or anywhere in Africa the Legion stood, they need but show the coin and find brothers in arms and open doors. And of course, should any want a new line of work, the recruitment center doors were always open.
The last was delivered more as a teasing joke for their commanding officer and the ambassadorial staff in attendance.
The walk back from the Chinese embassy to the Legion HQ was a quiet one; the streets in the embassy district were still busy; people still came and went seeking their respective embassies, or whatever help any embassy could offer, but the line to the Legion HQ was certainly the longest. Word had already spread that the refugee camp set up in the neighboring manors was the most organized, and people came to see the lists of inhabitants to seek out missing loved ones.
Legionnaires stood guard on the street behind hastily built bunkers of cinder blocks torn from compound walls and mounded dirt, and they maintained an orderly cue. Clean water was provided by large stew pots with ladles for those stuck waiting to drink, and a Legion medic, clearly exhausted but still pressing on, walked the line with another Legionnaire as protection to make sure no one waiting was in dire straits.
Jacques men were tireless in their commitment to his cause, and he longed to be able to give them the rest they deserved. More were coming from Casablanca though, and with their arrival the shifts would be shorter, the rack time longer. But until then, pots of coffee were always brewing in the embassy kitchen. At least so long as those supplies lasted.
"I trust your visit was to your satisfaction, Ms Reed? Dare I ask if you've any other unusual requests for me?"
He didn't seem as tired as he had that morning; the visit with the Chinese soldiers had brought some energy back to him, although it was hard to tell how much of it was an act since he was in public.
He told stories of the children that had been taken into the Legionnaire headquarters, of a family reunited, of the discovery of a doctor among the refugees who even as they spoke was treating wounded only a few hundred meters from where they stood.
To each of the embassy guards he had given a Legion challenge coin; something rarely seen in the hands of men not of the company but well earned by the Chinese sharpshooters. They would later be able to engrave their own names on the coins, and were encouraged that should they ever visit Morocco, or anywhere in Africa the Legion stood, they need but show the coin and find brothers in arms and open doors. And of course, should any want a new line of work, the recruitment center doors were always open.
The last was delivered more as a teasing joke for their commanding officer and the ambassadorial staff in attendance.
The walk back from the Chinese embassy to the Legion HQ was a quiet one; the streets in the embassy district were still busy; people still came and went seeking their respective embassies, or whatever help any embassy could offer, but the line to the Legion HQ was certainly the longest. Word had already spread that the refugee camp set up in the neighboring manors was the most organized, and people came to see the lists of inhabitants to seek out missing loved ones.
Legionnaires stood guard on the street behind hastily built bunkers of cinder blocks torn from compound walls and mounded dirt, and they maintained an orderly cue. Clean water was provided by large stew pots with ladles for those stuck waiting to drink, and a Legion medic, clearly exhausted but still pressing on, walked the line with another Legionnaire as protection to make sure no one waiting was in dire straits.
Jacques men were tireless in their commitment to his cause, and he longed to be able to give them the rest they deserved. More were coming from Casablanca though, and with their arrival the shifts would be shorter, the rack time longer. But until then, pots of coffee were always brewing in the embassy kitchen. At least so long as those supplies lasted.
"I trust your visit was to your satisfaction, Ms Reed? Dare I ask if you've any other unusual requests for me?"
He didn't seem as tired as he had that morning; the visit with the Chinese soldiers had brought some energy back to him, although it was hard to tell how much of it was an act since he was in public.