Scriostóir - 18

Cerdic listened to the reports on the boys from Gebhard and Mr. Shadrick. “So,” he said when they’d finished, “everything is well, with the possible exception of Rick.”

“Something is obviously bothering him, but he wouldn’t tell me what,” Gebhard replied. “He said he was just feeling cooped up, which is normal, but I think there’s more than that. You might have better luck talking to him than I did, Cerdic.”

“You didn’t get any feeling that he was thinking of leaving though?”

“Not at all, although we didn’t talk long enough for me positively say so. I honestly think it’s something else; perhaps because he’s at that age when hormones are running rampant. He might just be feeling the need to release his frustrations. My suggestion, for what it’s worth, is that you loosen his leash a bit. Maybe take him out to a club. That should be safe enough as long as you or one of us is with him.”

“Maybe I will. It would give me a chance to find out if that’s really what’s going on with him or if it’s something I should worry about.”

With that said, Cerdic dismissed the two men, telling them that he was tired from his long trip and needed to rest. As soon as they’d left the office however, he began to pace. Gebhard’s information on Rick had only served to deepen the feeling that there was something off about the boy, and he didn’t think it had to do with raging hormones.

Every time Cerdic had spoken with Rick he had felt the tension rolling off him. It was as if he was trying to keep something hidden from him. Cerdic had checked the boy’s background and what he’d found had meshed with what Rick had told him, so it wasn’t that. And, according to what Manny had said, he was more than willing to do the jobs assigned to him, even when they involved letting a man or woman have their way with him so that Manny could steal the information they were after.

Cerdic smiled as he thought about that. It was a good pairing, one he had never considered before. It meant there was no chance that Manny would be caught breaking into a hotel room because Rick was there with the person in question or one of their subordinates. It never ceased to surprise Cerdic how sexually obsessed humans were, and how easy it was to use that to entrap them or distract them.

Turning his mind back to the problem at hand, Cerdic made a decision. He would take Gebhard’s suggestion, but carry it one step further. Rick and Manny had earned a reward for jobs well done. He would take them up to his private retreat for the weekend. Then he would watch, analyze, and decide what, if anything needed to be done about young Mr. Ward.