“So, I guess this means all of you have made up your minds?” Lex asked as she glanced around at her friends.
Casey looked backwards before she spoke. “We can talk about it more when we get back home, but yeah, pretty much. I figure that’s what we wanted, anyway—citizenship so that we could be safe here. It even involves a job, which is definitely fine by me.”
As she looked around, Lex could see most of her friends nodding. She sighed with exasperation in return. “But we haven’t even looked at the contract yet! Maybe there are some terrible things in it,” Lex concluded.
Casey stopped then, turning to look at Lex with a laugh. “Then you should definitely be the person to take a look at it, because you were the one who looked so closely at the last one. Do you think you can review it and let us know so that we can figure out what we’re going to do by the time we leave this city for the rest of the tour in two and a half weeks?”
Lex sighed. “That’s part of the problem, Casey. The contract we all signed had some bad stuff in it, well, except for you, Lou,” she said, turning a little to look at the man in question. “Maybe there will be things not in the contract like there were before.”
Shrugging, Casey continued walking forward. “If that’s the case, I think we can handle it. We did it once before, didn’t we?”
“I guess,” Lex said with a sigh, feeling uneasy still but somehow comforted by Casey’s words.
A few days later, Lex found herself feeling even easier in her mind about the offer but still worried. She’d read the contract through a couple of times, carefully. The document had been short enough so that it hadn’t been too difficult, and it also seemed that whoever had written it up had been trying to be clear in what they’d said. From what she could tell, it seemed much more like a normal employment contract than the one she’d read in America, but she wanted to be sure.
Lex had taken most of a day to find an English-speaking, employment contract lawyer, and Riss had helped her find information about some of the lawyers in town to select one that people seemed to think the most highly of. With the contract folder in hand, Lex set out from the house for her appointment. Since no one else had an interest, Lex ascended the stairs of the old building on her own and came to the fourth-floor offices marked for the lawyer she had an appointment with.
“Mr. Mathieu,” announced the young woman in the blue business suit who showed Lex into a small office.
Lex came forward over the well-worn Persian carpet to shake the older man’s hand. He’d dressed in a pressed grey pinstripe suit with a white shirt and striped tie, his grey hair short and combed back, not one strand out of place. He looked at Lex over the top of his black plastic-framed glasses and smiled.
“Well, young lady,” he said, the smile carrying over to his voice, “what is it that I can help you with?”
His English had a slight accent that Lex hadn’t heard before but assumed was Flemish. She smiled in return, still feeling somewhat off-balance, but sat in the chair in front of his desk and slid the folder she carried across the desk to him.
“My friends and I received this employment offer. I was hoping you could take a look at it and let me know if there are any hidden surprises in the contract and whether it looks like it’s on the level or not.”
She waited while he opened the folder and noted when his eyebrow went up as he saw the first page. He took it and held it up to the light, then nodded.
“It passes the first test of actually being an official EU contract,” he said, holding the page up for her to see the back of it overhead. “If you take a look here, you can see the watermark. With these types of contracts, they’re supposed to have this mark.”
Lex eyed the complex of letters on a shield over twined vines and then noted the swords on either side of the shield. She nodded as she looked back at the lawyer.
“It sounds like you’ve seen these types of contracts before?” she asked, her own eyebrow rising as she let the question settle in the air.
He nodded at her, his smile broadening a bit. “Oh, yes. It seems that the Special Forces like to catch you Americans as you visit Brussels, so I’ve seen a few of these before.”
Her eyes widened. “What do you–” she stopped, not certain what she wanted to say. “I guess I figured this sort of thing was secret.” She knew her confusion showed in her face as she looked at the older man, but his smile held steady.
“Certainly their business isn’t well known to the general public, but I have a young relative who’s in the Special Forces. When I see her at family events, we sometimes get to talking about business, and she’s not shy about telling me things that aren’t supposed to be secret.”
“I see,” Lex said, feeling even more confused.
The lawyer’s smile seemed unwavering, however, as he continued. “I won’t charge you my full fee for reviewing this, since from just glancing at the document I can tell that it’s the same contract I’ve seen before but customized for your group, so it won’t be as much work for me as a new contract review. I will review it thoroughly, however, and I’ll let you know if I find anything strange. Is the beginning of next week soon enough for you?”
Lex nodded, smiling. “That would be really great, Mr. Mathieu. Thank you for being willing to take care of this so quickly.”
“Not at all,” he said, standing to shake her hand again as she rose to go. “I welcome the chance to help, and I hope that you enjoy your time here in Brussels.”
Lex thought about her meeting with the lawyer on the subway ride home but decided that she probably just shouldn’t worry unless her final meeting with him turned up something odd. The days in between seemed to fly by, especially since they had a show to play over the weekend, which the entire band agreed went better than anticipated. Having Casey inform everyone that they’d probably need to order more CDs sooner than expected, since they continued to sell well at shows, had definitely been a bonus.
So, in what felt sooner than she’d anticipated, Lex sat in front of the lawyer’s desk again, watching a beam of late-day sunlight find its way across his desk.
“As expected,” he began, “the contract is standard for others I’ve examined before, with the exception that it covers six people. The terms of employment seem normal: citizenship, a position, salary, expectations, etc. You can get further details within the contract, but as an overview, the standard schedule is a five day, thirty-five hour week to actually be on the premises of the central headquarters buildings of the area where you’re assigned, and to be on call to some extent when you’re not actually working normal hours. I assume this has to do with utilizing everyone’s special talents as needed.
“As you requested, I tried to find anything that seems ambiguous or would leave open large holes as to intent or expectations, but the contract is worded straightforwardly for the most part, and I don’t legally see any way they could get around that.”
He looked at Lex then, and she smiled at him in return. “I know you haven’t requested me to advise you about this choice, but if you had I would encourage you to accept this offer, since it seems fair and aboveboard. Of course, my opinion may not suit you, so you must determine for yourselves what you wish to do. If you take a quick look at the contract, I’ve tried to identify any areas you might want to ask your contact for more information about.”
Lex smiled at him, feeling her shoulders descend a few inches after hearing Mr. Mathieu’s opinion on the contract. She flipped through the papers to glance at his notes—on sticky papers, attached to the relevant sections— closed the folder, and met his eyes again.
“Thanks so much for reviewing this, and for your advice,” Lex said, standing to leave and shaking his hand. “I’ll be sure to think it all over before the next time I talk to our contact.”
“Good luck to you, young lady,” Mr. Mathieu said as he let go of her hand. “I’m sure you’ll be successful no matter what you decide.”
That night when she got home, Lex called everyone together so she could discuss her findings. She explained the responsibilities and work structure that she’d confirmed with the lawyer, and the fact that the contract seemed plainly worded enough that it couldn’t be assumed to incorporate anything that hadn’t been called out. Lex looked around the table when she’d finished speaking in order to see what the rest of the group seemed to think.
“It sounds fair to me,” Kate spoke up. “I think we should take it.”
Riss and Victor both nodded in response to Kate’s statement, neither adding anything else. Looking over at Casey and Lou, Lex could see the two looking at each other as if deep in conversation, but neither spoke. After a few moments, Lou smiled subtly and Casey broke out into a grin.
“We agree,” Casey said. “Let’s do it.”
“There’s one more thing I wanted to talk to all of you about,” Lex said, looking cautiously around the table. “I wanted to get everyone’s agreement on this before I talked about it with the people who’re making us this offer, though. I want to see if we can get the Chens included—Lily, Mr. Chen, and Lily’s little boy. I know that it would be something extra, and that the Chens might not go for it, but I feel I owe it to them to try, at least. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t go for it if the people here say no, but I would like to ask and give it a try. What do you all think?”
Lex brought her gaze up for the first time since saying her piece, not sure of her reception. The first person she saw was Kate, nodding fiercely.
“Hell yes,” she said. “I owe her, and I’d like it if I had a chance to pay her back.”
“Well, you know I wouldn’t say no to getting the Chens here,” Casey chimed in with a smile. “I’d love to be able to work with Mr. Chen again, and I owe Lily so much for keeping you alive.”
Riss responded, “Yes. Let’s try at least, because without what she did for us, we never would have ended up here in the first place.”
“Let’s do it,” Victor added. “I think they’d be strong additions to our team.”
Lex looked curiously at him for a moment, but Kate spoke up to answer her unasked question. “We both met Mr. Chen. Do you remember back after you defeated George? He made it a point to find out who trained you, and managed to have Mr. Chen reassigned to giving him lessons instead. Victor and I sat in on a session, and it was funny: I could tell he didn’t want to train George. But, that wasn’t much of an issue because of how lazy George is.”
Nodding, Lex responded, “Yeah, he’s about the last person Mr. Chen would ever want to teach.” She looked over to Lou and asked, “What do you think?”
He nodded in response. “I saw what Lily was able to do for Kate, and I’ve seen the results of the training that Mr. Chen gave you and Casey. I agree that they would both be good to have around, and that we owe them. Let’s give it a try.”
Letting out a breath she hadn’t been aware of holding in, Lex spoke again. “Thanks, you guys. I’ll give Rolf a call and set up a meeting to talk about it, then. Who’d like to go with me?”
There were glances around the table as everyone started to rise, then a chorus of “Not me,” and “We trust you, Lex,” followed by a few smug smirks, until she sat at the table alone. She looked after them for a moment as she got out her phone and started dialing. “You guys,” she muttered to herself, feeling her cheeks heating up with a blush as she put the phone to her ear to listen to it ring.
She and Rolf met in a restaurant near the middle of the city for lunch on one of the days the band didn’t have a show. In a few days, the group would leave the city to widen their tour, and Lex already felt bad about it. She’d come to like the city, with its beautiful old-stone buildings and friendly people, and to her surprise she looked forward to returning.
As she scanned the busy restaurant, full of people who seemed to be on lunch break from their work, Lex spotted Rolf at a corner table. He waved in her direction, which she returned, ducking her head, then headed in his direction.
She felt ridiculous, but she tried to swallow it down and act as if everything seemed normal. It had started a couple of hours ago as she’d stood in front of her small closet, staring at the contents and wishing that she could change them.
It’s just a lunch meeting,
she had tried to tell herself, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach. Due to the quick move and the fact that they hadn’t had a lot of time to go clothes shopping, her choices had seemed limited to clothing she wore onstage and a few casual outfits besides.
After a while, Lex had chosen a simple black t-shirt with a v-neck that didn’t dip too low and some black jeans paired with boots. She’d looked at herself in the mirror with trepidation, however, not wanting to show up looking completely gothic. At that moment, Riss had walked by and caught sight of Lex looking into the mirror. The other woman had slowed as she passed and then backed up so the doorway framed her slim figure.
“Isn’t today the day you’re having lunch with Rolf?” Riss had asked, smiling one of her barely-there smiles.
“Yeah,” Lex had muttered, shooting Riss a glare from under her lids.
“Hey, there’s no need to be all defensive,” Riss had said as she had entered Lex’s room and stood to the side, looking at Lex’s reflection as well. “That’s really, uh, dark, you know.”
“I know,” Lex had said, an edge of despair in her voice. “I don’t have a lot of choice, though. I guess I should have packed more clothes, but there’s no time to go shopping right now or anything.”
“No, but,” Riss had trailed off, looking at Lex’s reflection thoughtfully. After a moment she’d smiled, the effect more pronounced.
“I’ll be right back,” Riss had said finally, darting out of Lex’s door only to reappear seconds later with a small, dark green jacket.
Lex had looked it over as Riss had handed it to her, shaking it out and holding it up in front of her. It had had almost a military-style cut but with simpler lines. She’d put it on and buttoned the cuffs at her wrists, then checked the collar, making sure she’d folded it over properly. The jacket had fallen to her hipbones, and as Lex had looked at it in the mirror, she’d found herself smiling because it had seemed like the perfect thing to add. Her outfit now had looked put together instead of like something scraped out of the bottom of her closet.