Wolf_Chapter 2

         Tim was bent over an article he was finishing, his hazel eyes narrowed under thick, but well shaped, eyebrows.  His auburn hair was disheveled from a long night of reports and editing, but his handsome features weren’t affected by the shallow circles under his eyes.  He sighed as he marked off one last grammatical error, and went to his computer to fix the article.  Tim’s job at a small newspaper company was rarely difficult for him even if it took a good amount of time to do.  He had it easier than most of his other peers, mostly because he was usually very proficient in this area, but he tended to leave things till the last minute.
         It was done now, though.  And it was only one o’clock in the morning.  He leaned back in the chair behind his desk, wondering if he should have a cigarette before he left, but before he had time to search his desk for a cigarette pack, there was a soft knock on the door.
         “Come in.”
         A tall black-haired man, who couldn’t have been older than twenty, yawned his way in through the office door.  The man wore a clean suit that didn’t match his wild, ear-length hair.  His eyes were sharp, clever, but had plenty of humor in them.  He smiled when he saw Tim’s tired face.
         “Do you have a report for me?”  Tim said simply.
         The man raised his eyebrows questioningly.
         “Hmmm?  What happened?”  Tim’s suspicions were mirrored in his tone.
         “I don‘t have nothing new.”  The man said, “The girl never goes anywhere she‘s not supposed to, and nothing‘s happened to her at home.”
         “That’s good.”
         The man grabbed a chair and sat down.  “Have you heard anything from New York yet?  I heard they‘ve been investigatin’ some weird movements in China, or something.”
         Tim eyed his friend questioningly, “You should‘ve heard about the experiments in China from the meeting last week.”
         “They never tell us field agents anything they don‘t think we need to know.”  The man replied, “They glossed over the finer points and told us general stuff.”
         Tim sighed, a bad habit of his, “It might be better if you didn‘t know.”
         “Oh, but I want to know.  I have the right to know, me bein’ an agent and all.” The man’s serious words contradicted his laughing eyes, which held some unspoken joke.
         Tim frowned at him, and partly wanting to change the subject from classified information, he said. “Are you going to tell me what you‘re hiding?”  Tim had known Touya Cooney for years.  Touya kept many secrets, but he never hid the fact that he was keeping them, not from his friends that, is.  Touya liked knowing what others didn’t know and tormenting people with those secrets.  Even so, he was skilled in facades, when the time came to be professional.
         “Who said I was keepin’ anything from you?” But Touya’s eyes sparked.
         Tim closed his eyes and sighed, which obviously pleased Touya.
         “How long’ve you known Amy, Tim?”  Touya looked a little less himself as he fixed a more serious expression on his face.
         Tim thought for a moment, “I…worked in your position as a guard for about three years.  But after the incident two years ago, I had to keep a close watch on her.  I‘ve been a ‘friend’ ever since.”
         “So she‘s only known you two years.”
         “She thinks we‘re childhood friends.” Tim‘s face hardened a bit, “I had our Special Technologies faction abduct her for a few days to replace her memories.”
         Touya mocked an appalled expression. “So you had her brainwashed?”
         “Something like that.”
         “…and you don‘t mind that?  Her memories of you aren‘t real, and whatever feelings she has for you…”
         “No.  It‘s my job to keep her alive, and it’s our organization‘s responsibility to keep ourselves unknown to anybody.  It‘s business.”
         Touya put on a distant face and started picking at a fingernail with his thumb, “And what if something goes wrong?  Will you miss her?”
         “No.” Tim said, a little too quickly.
         Touya eyed Tim skeptically, “Hmmm…I don‘t believe anyone could stay neutral when they‘re around that girl so long.  She‘s too…interesting.” Touya smiled, his grin breaking his calm expression. “But, whatever you say, Tim.”
         Tim held up a hand, “This isn‘t important.” he said, “But what I do want to hear from you is a more detailed report from guard duty…..”
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         “Sashay, no!” A mother yelled to her child a few tables down from where I sat.  The girl, one of three, had picked up an open ketchup packet and was currently enjoying smearing it all over her face…hair…clothes…the table…the chair…  The mother, who had been busy chatting to her friend about the latest tips for weight loss, had only just realized her child’s paint job.
         I was snickering under my breath.  It was so much fun to come to the mall when these types show up.  I secretly wondered why a mother would want to inflict self-torture.  Why couldn’t she wait for trips to the mall until the kids got older…a lot older.
         I took a sip of my Starbucks latte.  The mall was more crowded than usual.  There was some sort of convention thing going on in the mall, so I had had a hard time finding a seat, to say the least.  At any rate, I was enjoying the mall more than I would normally.  I was alone, so I wouldn’t have to keep a conversation going, and there were lots of people to keep me entertained.
         I drained the last drips of my latte.
         I thought I would look around before I got bored.  I’d seen it all before, but all the stores had put out their most eye-catching displays, knowing that they were likely to make more money today than usual.  The book store sounded like a good place to wander towards, so I headed up towards that end of the mall.  The crowd thickened, though, and I felt small as I climbed through the herd of shoppers/conventioneers.
         I ascended one of the small stairs that separated the mall into sections. Suddenly, I felt something slam into my chest.  My body jolted and my right foot slipped.  My arms instinctively flung themselves out in a falling motion I had learned in my karate class, and I lost my hold on my purse which went flying through the air in some odd direction.  I literally rolled down the last four steps.  There were a few people who noticed my fall; those eyes merely glanced my way, but most people seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere.  An old couple sitting at a bench at rushed over to help.
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         Amy didn’t waste any time getting out of the way of everyone’s feet (the last thing she wanted was a foot breaking her hand).  She sat on the bench with the old couple swarming her, trying to make sure she hadn’t broken her back.  Actually, the fall went smoothly, at least as smoothly a fall could go, and she doubted she would get more than a couple bruises.  The only thing she was concerned about right now was breathing.  She couldn’t remember if she had ever been hit that hard before.  The years her father had forced her to go to karate had taught her how to take a punch, and deal with pain, but her lungs didn’t seem to want to work at the moment.
         The old man and woman kept swarming, jabbering about calling an ambulance and asking Amy questions that she certainly couldn’t answer while she was wheezing and choking.  Somewhere in the back of her mind, Amy felt annoyed at the couple.  It wasn’t that bad of a fall, and they didn’t have to stand there trying to force her to talk.
         “What is your number, dear.  Let me call your parents.”  The woman said.
         Amy looked up into the woman’s face, but something else caught her eye.  There was a dark haired man standing about four yards away from Amy.  He would have been completely unnoticeable, completely ordinary, had he not been staring at her, smiling.  But his smile was full of mischief, as if he was finding her pain funny.  He leaned one shoulder against a wall, still grinning at her in such obvious amusement that Amy felt a surge of anger, thinking it was definitely him that hit her.
         But all thoughts of that man were wiped from her mind a moment later.
         “Are you all right, Miss?” A smooth, calming voice came from behind the couple.  A man ¾ a beautiful, handsome man ¾ stood behind them, a look of sincere worry in his dark blue eyes.  He was pale, but not unhealthy looking.  His strong jaw and high cheek bones were his finest features and his dirty blond hair was clean and combed.  He walked up to Amy and bent down to look at her at eye level, which seemed very strange to her until he said…
         “Her pupils are not dilated.  She did well, falling the way she did.  She should not be too badly injured.”  his voice and tone were very proper like an Englishman‘s, with a very slight German accent that suggested he had spent enough years in the UK to almost completely cover his German roots.  But even his British accent was giving way to an American one.  It was hard to say what his accent truly was.
         “I‘m fine.  I need to catch my breath.” Amy huffed, still trying to catch her breath.  This man’s voice calmed her breathing slightly.  She felt less panicked.
         The man looked at her skeptically, “I doubt you are fine.”
         “Well, I am.”
         The man still looked disbelieving, “Let me get you something to drink.  If you are still ‘fine’ afterwards, then I will let you go, with no further qualms.”
         “Whatever, agreed.” She didn’t like the idea of having a stranger treating her to something, but at that moment Amy remembered… “My purse!  I dropped it.  Oh, no.”
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         Amy examined an indent on the table of the small café the German man had brought her to.  One of her elbows leaned on the table and her chin rested on her hand.  The stranger didn’t attempt to force a conversation, which was fine with Amy because she was thinking about the man who had punched her in the chest earlier.  She had memorized the dark haired man‘s profile in the two seconds when she noticed him staring at her through the crowd, but as for his face, she couldn‘t remember what it had looked like.
         Out of the corners of her eyes, Amy saw the German man sip his water.
         “Do you normally have entertaining little accidents like these, or did I catch you at a bad time?”  The stranger spoke for the first time since ordering Amy’s and his drinks.
         Amy, who had recovered mostly from the fall, began to feel at ease.  “Well, you caught me at a bad time…but that can happen anytime.”
         She said it without thinking, but the German man chuckled anyway.  She had the feeling he was being polite.
         Amy seemed to be regaining her composure.  She cleared her throat and said, “How long are you going to keep me here?”
         “I wonder?  How long will it take…”
         It sounded very odd the way he said this.  It was as if he was giving an answer to a different question, and Amy couldn’t fathom why his eyes suddenly became a little distant.
         “I‘m…Sorry?” She said, wavering.
         He was brought around again.
         “No, I‘m sorry.  I was thinking about something else for a moment.  That happens often.”
         “Sorry.” she stood up, knowing what it felt like to want to be left alone to her thoughts.
         He, however, lifted a hand and motioned Amy to sit down, and to Amy’s surprise, her body obeyed.
         The man smiled, “I see, this wont take much longer.”
         Out of the corner of her right eye Amy saw a short black woman who was sitting a few seats down from them gesture in their direction.  It didn’t take Amy long to realize that something was wrong…and whatever was about to happen might not be good.
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         “No, Tim, she went into Café Deleon with the man, but I‘m not sure if they‘ve left yet.”  Touya was standing, hidden, outside of the café, talking on his cell phone with Tim.  “Have you found anything in our inventories that‘ll mach that man?.…No?….I know, but you wouldn‘t want me blowin’ cover unless I had to…” Touya hated setbacks, but the rules were to keep Amy’s surveillance secretive.  “…Tim, I‘m sorry, but I‘m goin’ in….yeah, Tatiana already saw me…”
         Touya loved this café, and on any other occasion, he might’ve stayed to talk to the cashier woman who worked around this time of day.  She even waved to Touya, but he ignored her completely and headed over to a table where a black woman named Tatiana sat.  She had on a pair of kaki Capri’s and pea coat with an intricate butterfly design beaded onto the left bottom of the jacket.  Her dark brown hair was decorously pinned, curled and straitened into two buns, and side swept bangs.  She looked every bit a high-class woman.  Even though his plain white T-shirt, jeans and black jacket didn’t exactly match her style, he joined her, trying to look as if he belonged with her.
         “It‘s been a while, Mr. Cooney.  I hope you‘re doing well.”  The lady played the part of an old friend or ex-girlfriend, but both of them knew that her clever brown eyes held something vindictive.  Her hands curled delicately around her coffee, adding to the atmosphere she wanted to create.  Touya decided that the best move would be to play along with whatever act Tatiana wanted.  He had a split second to pick a character, and with ease, he dropped his usual sly personality and became a gentlemanly ex-boyfriend.
         He smiled graciously, and sighed.  “I‘ve missed you.  We never talk anymore since you stopped calling.”  Touya remembered the last time she called.  It was a bomb threat.
         “Oh,”  She blinked, trying to look confused. “but you told me not to.  I was scared you‘d be mad.”  She perfected to image of an shy upper-class woman by looking down at her coffee.  “You didn‘t call either.”
         “You‘re right, I guess.  It is partly my fault.” he waited a moment to let an awkward silence take place. “Was that your new boyfriend I saw you with earlier?  The one with the blond hair?  I didn‘t know you liked that type.”
         Her eyes hardened, “No, he‘s a busyness partner.  Definitely not my type.  In fact, he‘s over talking with a friend of yours right now, but I‘m sure you noticed.”
         Touya glanced over towards Amy, who sitting across from the blond haired man and staring at the table.  “Jealous, hmmm?  What exactly does he want from her, she‘s too young.”
         “With love, age doesn‘t matter.  Dirk has a way with women.  She might just be….swept away”
         “I‘m sure age would matter to this girl, especially if she ever figures out how much of a difference there is, and she doesn‘t seem to be swept away.”  Touya gestured in Amy’s direction.  “Actually, she seems quite bored.”
         The woman smiled, her perfect lips stretched awkwardly, “Dirk will work his magic.  If you wait, you will see.”
         “I don‘t think I‘ll wait, thank you.”  He made a motion to get up.
         Tatiana smiled again, “You might want to.  I hear that secrecy is a major deal with your people.”
         “Is that a threat?”
         “Yes.”  She moved a piece of her hair out of her eyes and tucked it behind her ears.  “We have been given orders to do all that’s necessary to apprehend this girl.  That means we have no restrictions on what we can do.  Secrecy is expendable.”
         Touya furrowed his brow, “You mean to say that your people, the Others, they are allowing you to break those laws?”
         “Only if necessary.  Otherwise I would have broken them awhile ago.  Its frustrating having to deal with you.”
         Touya gritted his teeth, but it wasn’t visible. “So, keep her in public, and I can‘t stop you, is that what your plan is?  Tell me, why now?  The agency knew that you people would come up with this plan sooner or later, but why did you choose now to act on it?”
         “We have our reasons…besides both of you know that this girl wont become useful until she is seventeen….do you need any other answer?”
         Touya didn’t reply.  Touya was bound to secrecy, as everyone in his agency is bound.  It would be his life if he broke it.  In the past, the Others, which Touya’s agency worked to fight against, always held to their own codes of secrecy.  Since both sides fought using the same rules, the fights were balanced, fair, but now the balance was upset.
         “You will stay here with me, understood?”
         Touya ran through all the different possible actions he could take.  All seemed like an action movie, with him being the hero who saves the maiden in distress without a scratch.  He only came to one inevitable conclusion.  He had to risk his life and break the Code of Secrecy; other actions might hinder the Agency’s position.  The Agency was unforgiving about it’s rules, so by breaking the rules, Touya was sentencing himself to death.  One man’s sacrifice for an entire cause.  It sounded noble, brave, but Touya knew that he wouldn’t be remembered that way.  He would forever be known as the lawbreaker of the Agency, no matter how honest his intentions were.
         Touya reached into a lower pocket of his jacket for his gun, knowing full well that Tatiana could see his movements.
         “Sacrificing ourselves, are we?”  She closed her eyes and shook her head.
         Touya returned to his usual sly smile, “Naw, I was a deadman when I joined the Agency.  It‘s not much of a sacrifice.”
         Tatiana made a sweeping motion across the table with her right hand, as if she were scraping a half moon on its surface, and Touya raised his gun to shoot.  There were two bangs, one from a gunshot, the other from an unknown source.  After a moment, the situation seemed to sink in to the people in the café.  They turned their heads and watched, then started scrambling towards the exits.  Some screamed, yelled, pointed.  People outside the café either stopped to see what the commotion was about, or they ran the other direction, suspecting danger. 
         There wasn’t any smoke to hide the scene.  Touya and Tatiana both stood, facing each other, frozen.  Touya had his gun out, pointing at Tatiana who held her right lung, wheezing like it had been injured, but she had no blood on her.  She seemed out-of-place in a battle, with her high class look.  Touya wore the only blood.  He had a gash on his left cheekbone that seeped blood onto his white shirt and black jacket, but this was the only wound. 
         “Gotcha.”  Touya said.
         Tatiana rolled her eyes, “You defeat me and all you have to say is ‘gotcha’?  Really, you need to work on your image.”
         Touya ignored her.  She was temporarily lame, so he had time to catch the man named Dirk and Amy who was with Dirk.  As Touya expected, the two of them used the commotion to escape.
         “Good luck finding them with all these people.”
         Touya grinned, “I make my own luck, bitch.” And he was off.  Touya mentally beat himself for allowing Dirk and Amy out of his sight.
         For a passing moment, Touya considered calling in to the Agency for backup, but he soon gave up on the idea.  It would take at least thirty minutes for any backup to arrive and Touya didn’t have that kind of time.  So Touya went over his other options.  The probability of Dirk leaving through a main entrance was high because it would be easier and less suspicious to conceal himself in the crowd that came through the doorways.  Touya wouldn’t need to search the store exits or emergency exits if his theory about Dirk leaving through a main entrance was correct.  The food court exit was the closest one to where Touya was at the moment, but something in him said that Dirk wouldn’t leave from there.  Touya guessed that he would leave through the next exit over from the food court, or from an exit from the other side of the mall.  Dirk might even stay in the mall for the time being and leave later when the coast was clear.