"I don't remember anyone saying that you were crazy," replied General Greyson as he lifted his eyebrows up in surprise. "Where is this going?"
Captain Levi Zaitsev once again looked around the room and took a deep breath in. Letting it out, he sighed. "Then, if I am not crazy, then why did I see the target with blood-red eyes? I mean, there were no whites, no pupils or irises, just blood-red eyes."
Greyson leaned back in his chair and stared at the man in front of him. "Can you remember anything else about him? Other than blood-red eyes?"
"Nothing really. I mean, he was fucking fast," paused as soon as his words registered. "Sorry about the language, Sir." Greyson simply waved it off. While it was not considered to be good form to swear in front of a superior officer, he did understand that some circumstances warranted it.
"What else?"
"Nothing really," shrugged the other man. "I mean, he died just like everyone else when the bullet pierced his brain."
Greyson paused for a second before picking up his phone yet again. It seemed like this was going to be one of those days. Dialing a number, he waited for it to be picked up.
"Is it 2 pm yet?" came the grumbling voice from the other end of the phone. Hearing that she had picked up, he put the phone on speaker so the captain could also hear what was being said.
"Not yet," he gently laughed, not realizing that his voice had become softer when he spoke to her but Zaitsev picked up on it right away.
"Then why are you calling me again so soon?" huffed the voice.
"I have a question for you, Natalia," said Greyson.
"Ask me when I am more awake," she mumbled in response and the two men could hear sheets rustling in the background.
"Just answer me this one question and then I won't bug you until 2 pm when Richards and I will be paying you a visit."
"Fine, but then I am going back to sleep."
"What has red eyes and can move very fast?" asked Greyson as he confirmed with Zaitsev that that information was accurate.
"Ugh, it is too early for riddles," Natalia groaned. "Say it again, I wasn't paying attention."
"What has red eyes and can move very fast?"
"It depends," came the response and Zaitsev's eyes widened. General Greyson just raised his finger to his lips and motioned for the other man to remain quiet.
"On?"
"On a lot of things. Look, I am tired, please just tell me what it is that you want."
"I need to figure out what this thing could be."
"Fine. Red eyes, very fast, right?" asked Natalia.
"Yes," said Greyson, not getting at all frustrated with having to repeat himself so many times. He stood by his initial assessment that she was adorable like this.
"A werewolf can run really fast, but they have yellow irises," she started before being cut off by a yawn. "Where was this again?" she asked, cutting off her own train of thought.
Greyson and Zaitsev exchanged a look, it was technically a top-secret mission and no one was to know where the team had been deployed. "Columbia," said Greyson, and Zaitsev looked at him in surprise. He could be court-martialed for that offense.
"If you could be a bit more specific, please, and thank you," said Natalia as another loud yawn came across the speaker. Zaitsev looked at Greyson and shook his head, warning his boss not to do it.
"Where the Andes meet the Amazon rainforest," said Greyson completely ignoring Zaitsev.
"Has anyone ever told you how annoying you are?"
"Not today they haven't," smiled Greyson.
"Consider me the first for today then. Anyways… are there any large cities there or towns with a decent population?"
"Not really, not unless you count the indigenous reserve," confirmed Greyson.
"No, not enough people. And I am not even going to ask what you were doing in that area. But it isn't a vampire. Although they do have red eyes and can move very fast, they need to live in places with large populations where they can remain anonymous and have access to a lot of food." There was a slight pause. "It could have been a demon, but I can't say for sure."
"Anyway, you would know for sure?"
"If I met the person that saw the thing with red eyes, I can probably be able to tell. And I can assume that since you are calling me and I know that you aren't in the Andes, it was one of your men and they made it home just fine."
"Fine being a relative term, but I can bring him with me and Richards, at 2 pm," stressed Greyson with a smirk on his face. He was going to have this meeting come hell or high water.
"Yes, yes, yes. Today at 2 pm. Now, for the love of all things Holy, please let me get to sleep!" Chuckling, Greyson pressed the button to take the phone off of speaker and hang up.
"Demon, Sir?" asked Zaitsev as he looked at the other man. Now he wasn't sure who was more crazy, him or the General.
"More than likely, but you are going to be coming with me at 2 pm to confirm it."
"Yes, Sir," said Zaitsev as he stood up and saluted the General. The debrief hadn't even happened yet, but neither man was really going to point that out.
"Just keep the red eyes out of your report and it should be fine," confirmed Greyson.
"Should I include the possibility of a demon on Earth?" asked the other man in a face and tone so deadpan that Greyson didn't know if he was being sarcastic or not.
"We'll also keep that part out for now. Was there anyone else on your team that was exposed to the target?"
"Just one other, plus the sniper," confirmed Zaitsev as he made his way over to the door. Greyson nodded. "Make sure to bring them too. We will meet here at 1230. Dismissed."