The Society

Chapter 4: The Protector Part II

The Protector - Ian Dawn

I made my way over to TriBeCa, it was time to check in with headquarters. After I had received all of this information I would have to store it in a safe place. The safest place I knew was the unassuming, grey stone building masked as a private members club, that we called our headquarters. I walked in and was greeted by our receptionist, Miss Walker who was wearing a blue blazer and had her blonde hair in its normal neat bun.

“Hello Mr. Dawn, please proceed.” I gave her a slight smile and continued towards the big marbled stairs leading up to the second floor.

At the top of the stairs I turned around and took the view of our main lounge area. The walls were lined with dark wooden bookshelves and the room were scattered with red leather wooden armchairs and sofas. It had a mixed feel of an old gentleman’s club and an upmarket library. Some members of the other families were milling about, having lunch, reading or having discussions with each other. I started by heading off to my study.

I placed the folders, I had received from Mr. Rosenthal in my safe. When I closed it shut and heard the pleasing but muted snapping sound from when the lock slid into place, I noticed a presence behind me.

“So it’s here that you’re hiding?” I could have recognised that voice from a million miles away.

“Andy, what are you doing sneaking up on me like that?” He laughed and his blue eyes flashed with mischievousness, before he could lunge at me, throw something or do anything stupid I distracted him. “How about lunch?”

Andy laughed so hard it looked like the raven tattooed on his neck was flying, “You’re only saying that because you know that I would give you a hard time otherwise.”

“How about this, I buy you lunch and you promise not to throw anything at my head?”

“I will take lunch but I make no promises!” Andy grinned at me and started walking towards the exit.

“Can you just behave like an adult for once…” I groaned and followed him out.

“Now where is the fun in that?” Even though I couldn’t see his face I could tell that he was smiling.

                                                                                          

The plates had been cleared of food, a little bit of bread was still left in the bread hamper and the bottle of red was nearing its end and there were no other members of the families in the dinning hall apart from Andy and I. He looked at me, as if he was trying to decipher something from my face.

“So, how are you getting on with your new project?”

“Yeah, I guess it’s going good. I got a lot of old files from Mr. Rosenthal today to read through. I guess it’s going to help me understand what has happened in the past.”

“So you don’t feel weird about it? You are essentially just observing her?” Andy looked at me and I could see that he didn’t understand why I had accepted this task. Maybe that’s why they choose me and not him.

“I don’t look at it like that. If anything I’m just protecting her. She was not brought up with it, the way that we were. For her, when she finds out... It will be completely new and shocking. I just want to be able to be someone that she can lean on, when that happens.”

Andy nodded, “So what do you want to do tonight? Do you want to get the gang together and go out for drinks?”

Typical Andy only think about fun.