Pathline (18 page)

That silence
d
them for a
moment;
the
D
i
rector was the first to recover.
"How do you know that?" 

The tension
in the room was thick
now;
the D
irector looked at the woman with cold calculating eyes. 

"How do I know it was a
C
harger that attacked your plant?  The evidence is pretty obvious.  Or perhaps you mean how do I know about
C
hargers?  Which actually helps
make
my point.  The agency has chosen to ignore or hide the existence of AP supers for long now,
but
that
doesn't mean others out there are blind to it. 
And I believe that any tactical team that you would assemble to deal with the problem would be ill equipped to handle a situation
like this.  If I may explain?"
she added, sensing rebuttals from the men before her. 

The
D
irector gave her an analyzing look, then nodded. 

"
T
hank you.  My firm has experience with AP supers, we've dealt with them in the past,
and we
even have a few on our roster.  They are an invaluable tool to us, one I do not have reason to believe the agency has gained yet.  Any team that you would assemble would undoubtedly put its focus on
D
efenders, as most would do. 
That is a mistake. 
A
D
efender may possess great strength, but that strength requires proximity.  A
C
harger can attack from afar, and if close combat is nec
essary then agile, well-trained
R
unners can more efficiently defend a battle line than any
D
efender.  It is my personal opinion that
D
efend
ers have been vastly overused
.
S
ecurity is more a game of strategy and not one of sheer force.  A better balanced, more efficiently utilized team should be the goal for the government.  My firm can provide that.  We possess not only the training, experience, and strength to properly protect this nations interests, but also the level mind to see beyond the obvious solutions and instead bring about more beneficial resolutions to some of the agencies more delicate operations." 

She sat back in her seat and addressed herself to the
Director.
"I have a
C
harger on my staff, and I can assure you from personal experience that attempting to go up against a hostile
C
harger without a
C
harger on your side is foolish at best.  People put far too much faith in
D
efenders
;
my firm has a 100% success rate on its operations and I don't employ a single
D
efender.  Feel free to look over our history on your own, and to contact clients of ours, our reputation speaks for itself.  Look
D
irector, the agency needs to keep its publi
c face clean, we both know that;
it's the reason you've kept the APS situation from going public, the reason you've classified this attack.  By contracting out your AP work to Blackthorn you can maintain plausible deniability. 
Your agency can keep its hands clean of this whole mess, while still maintaining a hold on it.  My people can go in, get this matter settled with, quickly and quietly, and the agency can take all the credit.
  I hope you'll give this proposition the thought it deserves.  A military contract with Blackthorn can only benefit the
agency;
it's a win-win situation." 

She leaned forward and placed a
business card in front of the D
irector.  "Don't let this matter get out of your hands
D
irector, a failure from your team on this could do great harm to the agency and everything you've worked so hard to build.  Do not let your pride stop you from accepting help that you sincerely need."  She nodded at the others curtly, then st
ood and turned towards the door.
"I'll
leave you for now
.
" 

The
D
irector called a security officer to walk the woman out.  After she'd left
,
the others remained in their seats thinking. 

The
D
irector turned and looked to the
Head of Government.
"
W
hat do we know about Blackthorn?" 

T
he
H
ead
rubbed his hands over his face.
"
W
e did a background on the firm when we got the meeting request.  They checkout.  And as far as what we could find they do claim a 100% success rate.  I wasn't aware that she had managed that without any
D
efenders on staff, but I guess if she's telling t
he truth about having AP supers
that might help account for it.  If she's got a
C
harger that would definitely provide her with advantage.  I hate to admit it, but her proposal makes sense.  Agent Donovan, AP information is your specialty, what do you think?" 

They turned to look at Donovan
.

"She raises a valid point, the agency does rely
too
heavily on
D
efenders for operations
and none of them have ever dealt
with something like this before;
frankly I'm not sure they
could
w
in.  If API had access to a properly trained tactical team we could vastly expand our efforts.  You're crash-training your people now, but if Blackthorn is what they say they are then you'd
have access to supers with
suitable
experience and training time.  My people could handle the Blackthorn directives, allowing the agency to maintain its focus on its usual work." 

Rune noticed that Donovan seemed keen on the idea of having tactical autonomy, but was restraining herself to appear objective in her opinion. 

The
H
ead of
M
ilitary stood abruptly.
"
Y
ou people all seem to forget just
who
our teams of made of.  These
D
efenders can handle anything you throw at them, and they are not going to be alone out there, they have a whole support system with them, I have not doubt they'd show Blackthorn a thing or two about doubting the usefulness of a
D
efender." 

Rune caught Donovan rolling her
eyes at the Heads words. 

The D
irector lo
oked towards her.
"Rune, any thoughts?  You're part of the team assigned to this, you've been there with them, been part of the training.  How do you think they're doing?  In your honest opinion, do you think they can handle this?" 

No
.  It was the word that came to her mind, unbidden, at the question. 
But Rook can
.  She paused to thin
k of a way to phrase her answer.
"The agency may not have a
C
harger on its roster, as Blackthorn claims to have, but we do have a
C
harger tied to this operation. 
The teams are making good
progress;
together I believe we can succeed in this.  The decision is ultimately yours
D
irector, obviously, but I side with the Head of
M
ilitary on this, I think our people can handle this matter.  If you should wish to establish a future relationship with Blackthorn after this case, I would have no opinion on that, it may very well be in aid to the agency, but for now I believe we should keep this job in-house."  She hoped that sounded as level headed as she wanted it to.  She glanced at
Donovan
who was watching her carefully. 

The D
irector dismissed them after that.  Eri and Rune walked in
the same direction for a while.

"
I
nteresting," the agent said,
"
v
ery interesting." 

Rune didn't respond. 

As they reached a parting point Eri
paused and addressed Rune, "D
on't th
ink you and Rook are fooling me.
I know that something else is going on here, and I have no doubt Rook has assembled one of his little outsider teams
to work on this job.  It's the only way you c
ould possibly think these fool D
efenders could win this.  Make no mistake Rune, that little scenario carries with it more risk than handing the job over to Blackthorn." 

Rune looked at her.
"
W
illing to place the
future
of outsider supers in the hands of a stranger?  Not like you Eri." 

The agent bristled
.
"
A
nd what exactly do you think I'm doing now? 
B
etween the agencies brute teams and Rooks unknowns I've been left little choice.
  I'm a
survivor;
I go where the odds are.
" 
She turned around and headed down a hallway leaving Rune
alone
. 
 

This is dangerous
.
Rune played out the meeting in her head again as she made her way to the south wing.  Blackthorn wasn't
just any private security firm;
if Cordova was telling the truth, and Rune doubted she would lie on something so loaded, then they had not only known and dealt with AP supers before, but they also had some on staff.  That undoubtedly meant mercenary experience. 
Dangerous ground indeed
.
A
mercenary tie to the mainstream meant a clashing of worlds and that put outsider supers in a different sort of risk.  Blackthorn hadn't threatened to expose the AP situation, Cordova obviously recognized the value of limitin
g the spread of the information;
it definitely gave her an edge in a contract situation. 
I need to speak with Rook
.  She hurried her pace and made it to the bottom floor of the south wing glancing into the common area to check for him.  He wasn't there. 
Good
.  She headed to the elevator and pressed the third floor button.  She was knocking at his door a moment later. 

"I was just updating Briggs on our progress her
e, what did Eri want?"
h
e said as she walked in. 

Rune walked him through the meeting with Blackthorn, ending by adding what Eri had said before they parted. 

Rook huffed.
"
O
f course she goes where the odds
are;
she's only ever been concerned with her own hide.  But this is bigger than Eri's self-serving.  If the agency hands over the job to Blackthorn then we loose our link to it and our chance to find out who is really behind this.  We need to deal with this
ourselves
, outsiders d
ealing with the outsider threat.
I'm sick of these
bureaucrats
making
decisions for which they have no idea of the true fall out potential.  They keep messing with lives that they don't even know about." 

Rune went over and sat on the edge of his bed.  "The
Head of Military
is pushin
g for the agency to keep the op;
he has full trust in his unit, he'll persuade the director."  She paused,
hesitating because of his mood.
"I think it might be time to bring Serk and Malik into this, let them know what we've figured out about the hostile
C
harger
.
" 

He rounded on her.
"Are you joking?!  What makes you think they won't just turn around and inform their superiors?" 

She stood and met his gaze on even grou
nd.
"
T
hey
aren't bureaucrats.  Their main concern here is the success of the mission, and doing that with the least possible harm.  Some of these people
can
be trusted Rook, they put their lives on the line on a regular basis to protect the nation." 

Rook shook his head dismissively
.
"
T
hat's the bi-line they use to win over the
masses, these are
media
supers, all they care about at the end of the day is their publicity."