Pathline (5 page)

But Rune was not speaking to him.  Agent Donovan had turned around now and was meeting her gaze full on. 

"Eri, you
know
who we need"
Rune said sharply
,
addressing her directly.
 

The
D
irector frowned, a confused look on his face as he
glanced between the two of them. 
"Who are you speaking of Rune?" he asked. 

"
Rook
" Rune answered, still speaking to
the agent
. 

Agent Donovan
snorted.
"
Rook
?  You know as well as I do that he hates the government and would never agree to work for us" she shot back at Rune. 

Rune stood her ground
.
"
T
hen maybe you should try asking him to work
with
us instead
.
"

The
D
irector continued to frown as he looked between them, fin
ally he addressed Agent Donovan.
"Who is Rook?" he asked. 

The agent hesitated a moment before heaving an exaspera
ted
sigh and breaking eye contact with Rune to answer the
D
irector.  "Rook is a high-level
C
harger that Rune and I have had occasion to cross paths with in the past
.  As I already stated, he has a high distrust of the government and will not be easy to convince; but Rune is right, having him on board would considerably tip the scales in our favor." 

The
D
irector
'
s frown deepened as he looked between them once more
.
"
D
o either of you have a means of locating this Rook?" he asked. 

Agent Donovan
nodded, glancing back at Rune.
"Yes, and with our history the two of us would be the most suited to persuade him into
cooperating with the government.
I
f you desire it we could track him down
and be back
within 48 hours
.
" 

The
D
irector continued to frown at the agent, but after a moment he nodded
.
"
D
o it, but I want a full report from the both of you once this is over
.
" 
He glanced back to Rune, then turned and walked out of the room. 

Agent Donovan
turned to face Rune again, crossing her arms in fro
nt of her.
"I've got to hand it to you Rune, you've got quite a set of
stones
on you
;
I
wouldn't have risked it
.
" 

Rune returned to her seat, and opened the packet Blythe had handed her. 

Serk stood
up and addressed the agent.
"
W
hat the fuck what
that
about?"

Blythe turned around in his seat and looked at Rune
with curiosity
. 

The agent took a step back and sat on the edge of the table behind her.  "I'm not just the head of the API division, I also happen to be an AP
S.  A
C
harmer, to be precise"
she answered
,
with defiance in her voice. 

Suri turned around in her own seat and looked back to Rune
.
"
B
ut how did
you
know that Rune?  How do you two know each other?"  The confusion on her face was echoed on several other
s
around her. 

Rune looked up from the files in front of her
.
"There was a time, in the early days, when
W
a
nderers were considered
anomalous
. 
I've spent some time on
that
side of the line." 
She returned her attention to the files. 

Catha stood up next to Serk
.
"As if working with
W
anderers wasn't bad enough, now we're expected to work with
these
freaks?" she
said, gesturing
at the files on her table. 

Beside her, Rune noticed Blythe shake his head at Catha's comment. 
From her perch on the front table,
Agent Donovan
looked out at Catha with disdain. 

Malik stood
, putting his hands up to quiet the room around him
.
"Cath, Serk, sit down. 
We're all here for the same
reason;
we're all on the same side. 
And frankly we could use all the help we can get
here;
we're
coming
in blind on this. 
If API has information that can help us, if they have resources that we don't, then all the better.  We all have our orders, so I suggest we all focus our attention on learning all we can from these files." 

Everyone sat back down after that, although some murmuring continued throughout the room. 

Helo
, who was sitting towards the front, turned to look at the agent
.  After a few moments he spoke.
"So what are you to us then?  Sou
nded like you have a super name;
d
o we call you that, or Agent Donovan?" 

The agent
turned to look at him, analyzing his expression.  "My super name is known to those who have fought alongside me, to the rest of you I am Special Agent Donovan, head of API division and your supervisory agent as of tomorrow morning." 
She looked around the room, as though challenging any of them to question her authority, when no one spoke she hopped off of the table and headed out of the room. 

Rune glanced up as
Agent Donovan
left
, rubbing her temples.  She looked down at the files from the packet, other than the picture of the
C
harger responsible for the attack she wasn't going to learn anything new here. 
No point sticking around, especially if she was going to have to get up early
tomorrow.  She stuffed the files
back into her packet and got up, dropping it off on the front table before turning towards the exit. 
She could feel the eyes of the others on her as she walked out, but she didn't spare them a glance. 
She would have been tempted to attempt a glance at Malik, but right now he was one of
them
, she would deal with him later. 

Sh
e headed towards the south wing
wanting nothing more than a strong drink before bed. 
The
s
outh wing was basically made up of small apartments that were used by visiting government and military officials
,
as well as supers on jobs. 
The bottom floor contained a small bar and cafe, as well as an entertainment
room, which
were
free for them to use while on call. 
Rune stopped off at check-in to get her room number and key, then headed straight for the bar hoping she'd have time to finish a drink before the others started to arrive. 
The bartender was a regular and smiled at her as she took a seat in front of him. 

"The usual
,
or are you looking for something stronger tonight?" he asked
,
with a raised brow. 

Rune let out a dry laugh
.
"Make it a double of your strongest drink, and let's see how fast I can get it down
.
" 

The bartender laughed at her response and pulled out a glass from the counter. 
He had no sooner set the drink in front of her than she grabbed the glass and downed it. 

"Thanks love" she said as he laughed again
,
and she stood to make her way to the el
evator.  The elevator doors had just opened when she heard voices coming down the corridor heading to the check-in desk. 

She'd been given a room on the third floor so she didn't have long to wait in the elevator. 
Thankfully her room was towards the end of the hall, which suited her just fine. 
As she walked in
and locked the door behind her
she noticed that her bag had been brought up and left on the edge of the bed for her. 
She headed to the bathroom, to splash water on her face and get ready for bed.  As she ran the water she looked down at the simple platinum band on her right hand.  She was glad that Marcus had conceded to wearing the rings on their right hands instead of left, it just raised
fewer
questions when they were on the job.  The
Records Department must not have come across their wedding certificate yet, otherwise they would have been given a single room. 
And we would have been called in to give statements and sign affidavits
, Rune thought with temporary relief.
 

She should have waited downstairs for
him
, so they could have had a chance to talk, but she didn't think she had a long talk in her and this wasn't something that would be quick to explain. 
She'd kept her past hidden from everyone she knew, she treated her life as a need-to-know issue when it came to disclosures. 
Marcus knew who she was now, what did it matter who she'd been? 
She changed into her
nightgown, dropped her bag onto the floor, and climbed into bed turning off the light as she did. 

As the time went by she heard voices in the hall, and movement in some of the neighboring rooms. 
Slowly
the sounds began to get less frequent and more muffled.  After about an hour the quiet prevailed, but Rune still couldn't fall asleep. 
She was staring at the ceiling, lost in thought
,
when she heard a light knocking on her door. 
At first she thought it might have come from another room, but after a moment she heard it again, clearly at her own door. 
She considered ignoring it and pretending she was already asleep, but curiosity got the better of her.  She got out of bed and made her way to the door, trying not to make a sound, to look
through
the peephole. 
Marcus stood there, leaning on the wall next to the door,
an indiscern
ible expression on his face.  She hesitated a moment, then reached out to unlock the door and let him in. 
He walked passed her and went to sit on the bed as she relocked the door. 

"I bribed the check-in clerk into giving me your room number" he said, watching her
as she walked back to the bed.  "I'd hoped to find you in my room when I came up, but I guess the paperwork hasn't gone
through
yet." 

His tone was even, but
his eyes searched her face for response. 
She sat on the opposite side of the bed from him, apprehensive to answer. 
She'd never felt this way around Marcus before, but then again her past had never come up this directly before
either
. 
She had no idea how much he'd want to know, how much she should tell him.  She loved him, but there were parts of her life that sh
e'd kept hidden from everyone.

Rune put h
er head in her hands and sighed.
"
J
ust ask
.
" 

Marcus got up and knelt down in front of her, pulling her hands away f
rom her face.
"
S
o, about this Rook"
he said
,
with a small frown around his eyes. 

She looked into his face, surprised
.
"
Rook
?" 

Marcus got up and sat next to her
.
"I know you don't like talking about your past, I get that, but we will have to discuss it eventually.  For tonight though I'll settle for an answer to a single question, do I need to be worried about Rook?"  There was a slight smile at the corner of his mouth, but the frown around his eyes remained. 

Rune laughed, more out of relief than
anything else.
"
M
e and Rook?  That's what you want to know?  You have nothing to worry about Marcus, Rook and I have worked together before but there's never been anything romantic between the two of us." 

He raised an eyebrow at her, as if still unsure, then leaned over and kissed her.  "Okay then, that will hold me for now, but we're
due
for a long talk after all this is done
.
"