Chapter 404 - Sarah's birthday (4)

Youngster grabbed Aiden's wrist, and tried to get himself lose, but he didn't stand a chance. His legs moved, trying to kick Aiden, but it only made Aiden tighten his grip. Aiden advanced two steps, fearing that youngster might kick Sarah.

"Nick!" Sarah cried and looked at Aiden. "Please... he is a friend."

Aiden let go of Nick, throwing him backward. "Too friendly.", Aiden scoffed.

Sarah wanted to go and check on Nick, but realized that if she does that, Aiden will blow a fuse, he is already agitated. At the same time, few other people from the room rushed to Sarah and they ended up in a group hug.

Aiden glared at a youngster who was sitting on the ground and coughing. When Aiden turned to Sarah, to his horror, he saw five people sticking to her, two males and three females. He removed one, but five came instead! He saw Sarah smile and greet them, so he stopped himself, but only barely. He wanted to remove those pesky people who were clinging onto Sarah.

Aiden looked on the side, and observed a large room, with one rectangular table in the middle. One man with a thick black moustache was sitting at the table, looking at Aiden curiously.

"Boss, you didn't tell us you will bring a bodyguard." Young man with glasses let go of Sarah and turned to Aiden.

The man who was sitting at the table spoke slowly. "You are too young to see, Emir. He is not a bodyguard. That is an angry look from a lover."

Emir sized up Aiden. "How can you tell, Mishi?"

"Must be experience, it comes with age!" Another young man said mockingly. It was obvious that Mishi was the oldest one in the room. Aiden estimated that he is in his early thirties.

"Hi everyone!" Sarah warmly smiled while looking at every face in the room.

Emir looked at Sarah, with eyes open wide. "Boss! Is he really your lover?"

"You should ask first if it's safe to bring him here." One of the girls said while rolling her eyes at Emir.

"Teresa, if Boss brought him here, then it's safe." Emir said matter-of-factly.

The girl backed down and looked at Sarah apologetically.

"Let me introduce you... " Sarah turned toward the people in the room. "This is Aiden, as you can tell, he is with me. Aiden, these are Petar, Lucija, Tereza, Marija, Mihaly..."

"Call me Mishi." The man with the moustache interrupted Sarah.

Sarah continued. "The chatty one is Emir, and the one you threw down is Nikola."

She looked at the youngster who was getting on his feet while his eyes didn't leave Aiden. "Nick, are you OK?" Sarah felt guilty. If she told Aiden that there would be people inside, maybe he would not be so edgy. Or if she told Nick that she is coming with her boyfriend, he would not be so clingy... but she can't fix the past.

Nick nodded and smiled at Sarah but didn't try to come and hug her anymore.

After they finished with introductions, everyone took seats at the table. Nikola sat as far as he could from Aiden.

"Now that we are over with greetings, we should do some background sharing." Sarah looked at Aiden. "This is Aiden, we met at an University. We work together... and we are dating. He has my trust. That is why he is here." Sarah looked at the people in the room. Few of them looked back at her suspiciously. "If you have a problem with him being here, let me know. If we can't resolve the issue, we will leave. No questions asked."

Emir jumped out of his seat. "Boss! How can you leave?!" He looked at others. "You! Better think how all of us got here. If it's not for Boss, where would you be now?"

"It's OK, Emir." Sarah pacified him. "Everyone has the right to their opinion. And can you please stop calling me Boss?"

"I can't help it. You are my Boss."

Sarah smiled and shook her head helplessly.

"If you have any questions, now is a good time." Sarah looked at the people in the room. Tereza was looking down, and Nikola was glaring at Aiden. Others seemed relaxed. "I will take this as 'no questions'."

Sarah looked at Aiden who was happy to finally get some attention from her. It was not a long time, but he is not used to sharing her with anyone. He listened as Sarah spoke. "We all met about five years ago. Things happened, and we got to know that each of us has some skills. We decided to keep in touch, and to meet in person at least once a year. As you can see, it's a diverse bunch, and they are the closest thing to friends I have." Sarah looked around the room and met friendly smiles directed at her.

"Nick found this place." Aiden listened to Sarah's story and looked around the room which was actually a cave. "We agreed that it's a good spot to make something like a base. We meet here every June. We usually meet once more, but time and location for that will vary. Lucija and Petar are responsible for getting the electricity and network here. Emir can do magic with computer hardware. Tereza creates and maintains various electronic devices. Marija and Mihaly have skills similar to mine."

"How about him?" Aiden tilted his head toward Nick without looking at him.

Sarah was about to speak when Nick shoot up out of his chair proudly. "I am going to be world famous hacker worthy of being Sigma's partner!"

Aiden's face darkened. "What did you say?" How can anyone other than him dream of being Sarah's partner?

Nick flinched when he heard Aiden, and Emir and Marija burst into laugh.

"Don't laugh!" Nick protested while gathering his courage back. "I am pretty good already!" He faced Sarah. "Sarah, my average time to crack SHA-3 is under three minutes!" He looked at her eagerly expecting a praise.

"Not bad." Sarah smiled faintly. She sees him as a kid, and would usually praise him more, but she didn't dare to provoke Aiden again.

Nick pouted, disappointed by small praise he got. "I know I should do better, and I am working on it. And soon I will be good enough to claim title as a vice-captain of Sigma's army!"

"Only if I'm the captain!" Emir exclaimed.

Aiden leaned close to Sarah. "Sigma's army?" There was a hint of mockery in his voice.

"Don't listen to them. These two are too energetic." Sarah waved her hands defensively.

"Boss, how can you say that?" Emir was offended. "Each of us here owes you something, and we made a pledge to be your loyal soldiers! I will never forget that you helped me when I was in a pinch. No one wanted to help me, and you did without asking for anything in return."

Sarah turned to Aiden and smiled. "This is nothing like a private army. Everyone is doing their own thing, and if it happens that someone needs help, we know where to turn to." Sarah looked at others. "Correct?"

"Maybe you should accept that we are all grateful to you." Petar spoke. "We don't mind being called Sigma's army or calling you Boss. We all feel that way, right?"

Everyone in the room nodded.

Sarah rubbed her temples and looked at Aiden who was smiling at her.

Aiden felt proud that all these people are willing to follow Sarah, and amused that she is rejecting it, unsuccessfully. Aiden hoped to get a chance to find out why are they so grateful to Sarah.

"So, is he joining?" Emir asked eagerly while his eyes darted from Sarah to Aiden repeatedly.

Sarah frowned. "Joining what?"

"Sigma's army." Emir smiled widely, ignoring Sarah's displeasure.

"Absolutely." Aiden smiled at Sarah, he took her hand in his and kissed it. "I also owe her a lot."

Nick didn't like what he saw. He didn't like it at all. 'Why is he kissing her hand? And why is she not pulling her hand away?' Nick had a hard time hiding his displeasure. "Joining? As what?"

Aiden looked at him and said with a straight face. "As a captain."

Nick's face twisted from anger. "Captain is right below the Boss!"

Aiden chuckled. 'That is exactly where I like to be.' He looked at Sarah, but he didn't give voice to his thoughts.

Sarah was able to guess Aiden's thoughts based on his mischievous expression. She blushed and tried to hide her discomfort with a giggle.

Nick was irritated seeing them act so close. He wanted this newly introduced person to disappear. "Positions are assigned based on skills. Do you have what it takes to support such a claim?"

Aiden was amused seeing that the kid in front of him got all fired up. "There is only one way to find out."

Emir was excited that there will be a show to watch. All of them hoped for a good one. Their thoughts were almost the same. 'If Sarah brought him, he must be good.' They looked forward to seeing how good he is.

Sarah wanted to say that there is no such thing as a captain and vice-captain, but she saw that everyone is excited, so she kept quiet.

Mishi spoke in his usual lazy manner. "As soldiers of Sigma's army, all of us have Greek alphabet as our moniker. What will be yours?"

Aiden glanced at Sarah and smiled before facing Mishi. "Omega."