Pathline (19 page)

Rune looked at him in silence.  She crossed her arms and walked over to the desk
.
"I might remind you that
I
am a
media
super, and have been for
years
.  Do you trust
me?
" 

He looked at her, seeming to be biting back his words.  He took a deep breath and sat on the bed where she'd been a moment earlier.  "You're a completely different case.  Rune... I don't want to argue with you." 

She walked over and sat next to him on the bed.  "I trust them Rook, not just Malik but Serk as well.  We may not always see eye to eye, but he's a decent man and he'll want to make sure that his people are as safe as possible out there.  Look, we can wait on this, we still don't know enough.  I'm heading out first thing tomorrow morning to do recon with
Blythe;
we should be able to get better details to go off of.  The rest of the unit will probably be departing tomorrow afternoon to set up a base camp near the target location.  We'll speak again once you're there."  She got up and left his room. 

She walked down a couple of doors to her own room. 
Marcus
was waiting inside, sitting at the desk looking over some paperwork. 

"You were over in Rook's room?" he asked with raised brows. 

"Donovan pulled me into a meeting and I was
speaking
with
him about some potential issues that might arise from it." 

Marcus put down his paperwork.
"
W
hat kind of meeting?" 

Rune rubbed her eyes, tired
.  "API D
epartment issues.  I guess there's some doubt as to how well prepared the unit is for dealing with the hostile
C
harger." 

Ma
rcus stood and came towards her.
"
W
e're doing very well I think, considering the circumstances and limited time. 
Does
Donovan have a problem with how Serk and I are handling the situation?" 

Rune sighed
.
"Donovan has a problem with anyone she can't boss
around;
it's nothing personal Marcus, really."  She rubbed her neck and went over to the bedside table, pulling out a bottle of pain killers from the drawer. 

"You know you can talk to me about this stuff too, about your life before, about that world."  Marcus said, frowning as she popped a couple of pills into her mouth and drank from the water bottle on the nightstand. 

She pulled her nightgown out of
her bag.
"
I
t's not that simple.  We both need to get some rest, I need to head out first thing tomorrow and you'll be busy with the transport details as well, why don't we just try to get some sleep." 

He walked back to the desk and put the paperwork aw
ay into a folder.
"
Y
ou can't keep shutting me
out;
you're going to have to let me in
to that side of you that you hide
.  I want
all
of you Laura, you either trust me with that or you don't." 

He turned and walked into the bathroom, she heard the shower turn on a minute later. 
She changed and got into bed, her mind replaying everything that she'd learned that day.  The doubts creeping in along the edges, taking root. 

She was up at dawn the next morning.  She moved quietly to avoid waking Marcus and got ready to leave.  She considered just leaving without waking him, but figured that might not help the situation. 

She walked to the bed and leaned over him, lightly kissing his cheek
.
"I'm taking off, I'll see you soon." 

He rolled over and opened his ey
es.
"
B
e careful
.
"

S
he nodded as she walked away
.
"
A
lways
.
" 

Sh
e met up with Blythe downstairs.

"
W
e cleared to go?" he asked. 

She glanced at her sat-co
m.
"
A
ll clear.  You take t
he east sector, I'll cover west.
W
e'll meet up for a sit-rep at
1900;
I'll send the location to you. 
Y
ou know how to reach me if you need help.  You set?" 

Blythe smiled.
"
L
ike the line." 

She
chuckled;
the phrase was an old
W
anderer reference.  She winked at him and they set off, wal
k
ing out the door a few steps then each wandering away.  She was walking
along
a broken down sidewalk on a quiet street.  Although she figured most places would be quiet this time of day.  She was in a small rural town in the south-east.  It was already warm here.  Didn't seem to matter what time of year it was in the south-east regions of the country, it always seemed to be hot and humid down here.  The area was not among her favorite places, but she wasn't here to vacation,
she was here to work. 

Having grown up in an outsider community, and then traveling extensively for her work with the agency she'd learned to recognize the clues that identified an outsider presence in a town. 
A mercenary super wouldn't stay far from an outsider neighborhood or hangout, always keeping an ear out for potential work or community warnings.  They all knew that all it would take was for just one APS to get caught by the government for all of them to be in danger.  It kept them alert to the movements of other AP supers in their area and created a sense of community amongst all outsider supers since even mainstream class supers working in the outsider world found themselves tied to the APS plight eventually, due to the type of work they usually found. 

Based on the aerial surveillance the agency had gathered Rune knew that the west end of the town was the poorer area and figured this was the most likely location of the outsider element in town. 
She noticed that the end of the main street she was walking down ended at the edge of a marshland whi
ch appeared to turn to full swamp
further
out
.  As she stood at the edge of the murky water, looking out, she noticed a small light shinning from deep between the trees. 
She glanced around and took a step to the left and wandered to the side of the building.  It looked from outside like an old abandoned farm house, rotting wood board
s
covering the windows on this side.  She quietly make her way around and found the source of the light, it was coming from a porch light set at the front of the building, leading to the door. 
She glanced through a gap in the boards of the windows closest to her.  Inside she could make out a dirt floor littered with beer cans and
plastic
cups with a counter set at the far end. 
Looks like I found the local dive hangout
,
she thought.  She headed back to town and made a mental note to return there after dark. 

She settled into a local diner and ordered breakfast, making small talk with the waiter and listening to the conversations going on around her.  She got a potential lead on Mana before she finished her second cup of coffee.  It was
subtle;
a passing comment between two diners behind her, but it was enough to her practiced ears.  She calmly finished her coffee, paid her check and strolled out of the diner.  The town may be small, but it was near enough to the highway
that
it seemed the people here were used to seeing strangers passing
through
.  T
hat would help her and Blythe get closer without arousing much attention, but it also put a time limit on their presence.  A 'passerby' wouldn't be sticking around town for too long. 

She came up on a
warehouse that had been
converted
into
apartment
s
, a bit lush for the area. 
T
he more she saw of it the more the place screamed mercenary.  After a couple of hours wait she got her first glimpse of Mana.  All she'd seen of him before were the few blurry snapshots of him that the agency had retrieved from the power plant surveillance.  In person the image was different.  Based on looks and surroundings the guy profiled a lot more like a
mercenary
D
efender than a
C
harg
er.  And she knew the type well;
b
urly, square-jawed, cocky, money driven and ruthless.  This guy would not go down without a fight and was accustomed to using deadly force to get his way.  He probably maintained his muscled physique as a way of complementing his dangerous image, to show others that it wasn't merely his super ability they should fear, that he could
also
cause damage with just his hands. 

A man like this wouldn't have the patience needed to plot and scheme. 
Who are you working for?
  She observed him from a distance throughout the day.  He definitely liked to live large and flaunt his cash around.  Had a nice little following of local bimbos too.  Never gave any one of them too much focused attention
though;
he liked to rotate between them often.  She noticed he kept a sat phone with him at all times, and he checked it at least once every couple of hours. 
He's on the clock
.  Something must be happening soon, he's here killing time waiting for the order to come through.  She hoped that the unit was ready, because if Mana's behavior was any indication they might need to move on hi
m very soon. 

As the rendezvous time with Blythe approached she picked out a local bar for their meet and sent him the location. 
She sat at a table near the entrance
and ordered two drinks while she waited for Blythe to arrive, to dissuade any one from attempting to join her.  She looked
around;
the place already had a decent amount of patrons.  Although it didn't have the appearance of a sports bar, there were two large screen TV's hung above both ends of the bar and it seemed as if most of the customers coming in were waiting for a game to start.  For now the screens were showing a pre-game interview and commentary show.  Rune glossed over the coverage, looking towards the
TV's
simply as a means of fitting in. 

Blythe walked in a couple of minutes later. 

As the waitress brought them their drinks she smiled at him and said, "
Good
timing, game should be starting in about
fifteen
minutes;
they just do a quick news update before switching to the game feed." 

Blythe returned her smile and thanked her before turning his attention to Rune.  He did take the moment to glance over at the screens first though, confirming the alibi. 
He
turned back and winked at Rune.
"
G
ood seats you managed, we've got a direct view for the game." 

She chuckled and shrugged
.
"
O
f course, what else did you
expect?
" 

The bar wa
s really starting to fill up
, with the noise level escalating at a nice rate.  It would be hard now for anyone to hear what they were saying.  Blythe started tell
ing her about what he'd learned.
H
e'd gotten a read on the local law enforcement and the general security presence in the town.  Not much for them to contend with, they should be able to move about without arousing much attention to the op. 

"I also found a nicely isolated field just outside town that would allow
enough
cover for the
op;
we would just have to push the
C
harger in that direction.  We could minimize the chance of anyone seeing anything, and I'm sure the agency can make up a reason to surround and close off the area.  Call it a public safety issue or training exercises like they usually do to keep the press out of it." 

They both laughed.
H
aving both worked primarily on government ops they had heard many of the agencies myriad of excuses or stories they regularly made up to distract the press.  They discussed locations and movements as well as possible strategies to deal with the info Blythe had gathered.  Ru
ne was about to start telling B
lythe about her own surveillance when something on the
TV
screens distracted her.  Blythe followed her gaze to the news report playing above the bar. 

A
reporter was standing in front of a
n urban
down
town scene depicting broken store windows, burned out cars and a heavy police presence.  "The local police department had to bring in
SWAT
teams to get a handle on the situation, finally managing to subdue the rioters early this morning.  Although the streets around me are now quiet, the area is still wrought with tension and the police commissioner has maintained a strong hand on the situation, lest the riots restart."