Sui Generis – 37

 

Later that morning, once Brand and Mag were dressed and had eaten, Brand called Antton, asking if he and Mag could come over. Antton agreed, saying that since they didn't have a car, he'd pick them up. However, when the SUV showed up at their front door, it was Randulf, not Antton, in the driver's seat.

Brand cocked an eyebrow as he slid into the passenger seat. "I figured you'd be long gone, back to wherever you live."

Randulf smiled ruefully. "Most of the time I 'live' wherever I'm needed at the moment."

"You don't have a home?" Mag asked in surprise, after he got into the back seat.

"Define 'home'. I have a place where I keep most of my junk, but that's about all it is." He chuckled. "A storage bin that looks like a house." 

Mag frowned. "Is it like that for all the Enforcers?"

"You've seen Antton's place, so what do you think?"

"Honestly, that you're even more homeless than I used to be—and that's saying something."

"Not homeless. Just a…a nomad. And how the hell did we get on this line of conversation?" Randulf turned his attention to driving while asking Brand, "Have you come to a decision?"

"Since I haven't been asked yet…"

"Okay. If Antton or the council asks, will you say yes?"

"Yes. I have a question though. Is Antton the right-hand man for the council, so to speak?"

"There are several high-ranking Enforcers, one for each geographical area. He's one of them and supervises the western half of the country."

"So I'd be working for him?"

"To start with. Then when he's sure you can handle it, you'd be available for anyone who needs you."

"Just like you and the others are," Mag put in.

"Yes. Ulrik's based out of Sweden. Dante's Italian—big surprise—and Vesper's a Londoner born and bred."

"I thought he was British from his accent, as slight as it is."

Randulf grinned. "Don't tell him he has one. He thinks of himself as a man of the world and thus… Is 'accentless' a word?"

"Works for me," Brand said. 

 "So anyway, back to the original question—yes, you'd be working under Antton."

Brand and Mag instantly broke into gales of laughter, causing Randulf to look at them in bewilderment. Then, apparently, he realized what he'd said and shook his head.

"That is not what I meant and you know it. Believe me, he's as straight as they come."

Brand asked, once he'd stopped laughing, "Are most Enforcers straight?"

Randulf nodded. "Most, but not all. But then that's true in any organization. If you're asking will you be ostracized by some of them the answer is, probably not. Still, when it comes down to it, we're all human, well human in our reactions to things, so who knows what you could run into? So far, I haven't had any problems and I suspect you won't either."

"Whoa. You?"

"Yes, me." Randulf chuckled. "As they say, don't judge a book by its cover. I wouldn't have figured either of you were just by looking at you. Ulrik sort of guessed because he'd seen you together often enough on the streets. But as he said, homeless kids tend to find someone else they feel safe with, as a way of keeping from becoming targets of punks looking to cause trouble."

"Not always," Mag replied. "There are loners out there who don't trust anyone—and with good reason. But I guess that's neither here nor there at the moment."

            "Nope," Randulf agreed, as he made a right-turn onto Antton's street. "In a minute we'll have… well, not more important things perhaps, but other things to talk about."