Broad shoulders, short, elegant and precise black hair, a chiselled face, a posture as stiff as a rod of iron - even if anyone but him would have dared to sit behind that desk, that dark silhouette left me in no doubt whom I was facing. Gathering all my courage, I stepped forward until I was right in front of the dark figure. His face was cast in shadow, so at first I couldn’t see what kind of lack of expression was on it at the moment. Only when my eyes got used to the gloom did I see the darkly motionless, beautiful mask which he called ‘face’.
He stared at me in silence.
I stared back at him in silence.
We stared at each other in silence.
Then we stared at each other in silence some more.
I cleared my throat.
He remained silent. And stared at me. Silently.
I stared back. And I did it in silence. We stared. At. Each other. In a long, silent silence. Full of silentness.
All right… maybe it’s time for someone to say something.
You remember that I mentioned my courage? The one I had been trying to gather? That was all gone now. Faced with the stare of his deep, dark, sea-coloured eyes, I had no courage of my own left. Oh, what the hell! I could always pinch some from someone else!
‘Mr Ambrose?’ I took a step forward. ‘You asked for me, Sir?’
He continued his stare for a moment longer. Would it surprise you to hear that he did it in silence?
Then…
‘Yes, I did, Mr Linton.’
More silence.
I wet my lips.
‘So… What do you want from me, Sir?’
God, if he says come here and kiss me, I’ll-
I cut off the thought before it could really form. But… what if he did say that? What if he demanded it, in that voice of his that brooked no argument? What would I do?
Would I run?
And, more importantly, would I run towards him, or away? My throat suddenly felt very dry.
‘What do you want, Mr Ambrose, Sir?’
He leaned forward, until both of his powerful fists rested on the desktop, knuckles down. ‘I want…’
‘Yes?’
‘I want file 38XV180!’
I blinked. ‘What?’
He cocked his head, questioningly. ‘Are your ears malfunctioning, Mr Linton?’ Leaning forward a little more, Mr Ambrose fixed me with one of the superbly cold glares that were his speciality. For some reason, it filled me with a warm and fuzzy feeling. ‘Bring me file 38XV180! Now!’
Thank you, God! I shot the words silently towards heaven as relief flooded through me. Thank you so very much! The world is back to normal!
I snapped to attention. ‘Yes, Sir!’
For some reason, a wide grin spread over my face.