The bell must have been announcing the start of a shift, and the shuffling was the clamoring of a few ladies who were about to be late for duty. Sergio immediately pictured Vera, impatiently tapping his foot outside the barracks door, though he hadn’t actually told either him or Marco a time to report.
His mind quickly replayed everything he had heard and learned last night and he was beginning to narrow down what he might need to repeat to Vera – the relevant bits he spoke of. In the interest of getting to know Marco better, if she was indeed a good fit for the order, if everything Sacco had longed for was even possible. On the other hand, why were any of these intimate details and stories so relevant now anyway? Sergio was reasonably sure that Sacco was not going to come back, and he didn’t want to go repeating every personal account that Marco relayed to him to anyone else. Precisely none of her stories were relevant to Vera’s orders about finding out if she would stay in D6 or not. And she had specifically asked him not to tell anyone else how she and Sacco had met.
He considered going to procure them some breakfast, but didn’t want her to awaken to an empty room. Surely she would remember that he had spent the night here? He hoped her attitude didn’t reverse, as it sometimes did, though she had seemed much more trusting of him after they had gotten to D6. She was completely out of her element here, and such a large bunker would be intimidating to anyone. But as well as trying to make her first impression on the organization she was trying to join, she also had Sacco’s doomed name hanging over her head, and it seemed only a few people could see her as an individual. Most of the Hunters only speculated about her relationship with him, and Sergio felt sorry for her.
“Sergio?” Marco said quietly with a yawn.
Shit. Before he could even figure out how best to handle the days’ first conversation with her, it was already happening.
“You’re still here, thank you.” She leaned against his back, laying her head squarely between his shoulders.
“Yeah, sure.” He squeaked out, not knowing how to respond to any of her.
“Do you think Vera wants to see me right away? He said he’d send someone but I assumed that would be you.” She sat up as she finished her sentence, allowing Sergio to fully concentrate on words again.
“I don’t know, but I can go find out.” He stood up and took a step towards the door, but turned around to gauge her reaction to the proposition.
“No, it’s okay. The man must have to sleep, same as we do.” She giggled. “We’ll see about breakfast first, yeah?”
Sergio could agree to that with no hesitation.
Chapter 24: The Calm Before The Storm
There was a forceful pounding on the metal door to Marco’ room and Sergio’s heart jumped – thinking it was the guards come to drag him to a holding cell for being in the women’s barracks – he swallowed a mouthful of thick saliva and felt his chest sink as all the air left his lungs and the color drained from his face.
Marco too was frozen and pale for a moment, though she had most definitely locked the door after letting Sergio in last night.
“Polo! We’re going down to the showers before the morning briefing.” Sergio recognized the voice of Anna, Vera’s daughter and top sniper of the Order. He held his breath.
“I-I’ll meet you there in five minutes!” Marco called back, looking around the room agitatedly as if trying to find a secret compartment to stuff Sergio into.
“You remember how to get there, right?” Anna growled back, sounding closer to the door than she did before. She definitely inherited her gruff tone of voice from her father.
“Yes, Captain!” Marco resounded clearly, probably hoping that addressing Anna by rank would help convince her to leave, although her face only showed annoyance.
A muffled ‘hrmph’ was heard and then a few pairs of footsteps lightly shuffling away, and finally Sergio could breathe and move again.
“Do you see what I mean?” Marco rolled her eyes, referring to her previous disdain for Anna treating her like a child. “I was pretty sure I am older than her anyway, wasn’t she born in the Subway?”
Sergio shrugged, having no inkling to Vera’s personal life. Though the question begged his curiosity, as there had never been mention of Vera’s wife or Anna’s mother, whichever it turned out to be. The Colonel simply had never talked about those things. Even having met Anna a few times before, at first Sergio didn’t understand their relationship until Maro had mentioned it on watch one day.
“Okay, I’ll have to go then.” Marco clambered out of the cot and pushed past Sergio uncomfortably closely, rummaged through a small pile of clothes on the desk and picked out a black uniform. “I’ll go out and make sure it’s clear for you. Not that anybody really cares except for us.”
“Give me a code word?” Sergio asked, looking around the room to make sure he hadn’t left anything. He felt rather silly for being so concerned. Did anyone really care? Or was it only she and him that cared what people might think if they saw them together? Sergio simply didn’t know how to feel. He shoved his hands in his pockets and felt the machine gun casing that Sacco had given him, noting its presence to ask Maro about later.
“Sure, I’ll uh—” Marco unlocked the door and peered around its edge, left and right. “I’ll go out to the end of the hall and if it’s clear I’ll say ‘I wonder what time it is’ have you got that?”
“I got it.” Sergio gave a smile and a nod but she didn’t look back in his direction.
Marco threw her chosen clean uniform over her shoulder and picked up her rucksack from next to the door before walking out of the room confidently. Sergio sat still momentarily, listening for any kind of commotion or conversation, though it seemed that the barracks had been abandoned for the day by women leaving for duty and by the group heading for the showers. He looked around the room, which was laid out similar to his own, a cot, a chair, a desk with a lamp, a crate for storage and a small shelf above the desk. What was missing was a personal touch; most Hunters had posters or drawings on the walls, books on their shelves, some had weapon parts and tools, others had musical instruments or a typewriter. He wondered how Marco might decorate if she were to stay, would she hang up all those clippings and postcards from Sacco’s belongings?
“I wonder what time it is!” Marco’ voice echoed rather loudly.
Sergio recognized his cue and hurried to his feet, almost scrambling out of the room in case someone turned up that Marco had not seen. Flicking the lamp next to the bed off, he left the room and closed the door behind him, rushing to get to the end of the hall and out to the stairwell. He expected Marco to have disappeared down to the shower facilities but she was standing next to the stairs waiting for him.
“We’ll meet up again later?” She said uncertainly, searching his face for confirmation.
“Sure, don’t rush yourself, I need to find Maro and get your grey uniform from the laundry and then I can meet you in the mess hall, okay?” Sergio patted her arm with one hand, trying to pass his reassurance through his touch.
“Yeah that sounds good. Ugh, wish me luck with Anna.” She groaned.
“Hey, Vera said we’d be going out together, so don’t worry about spending too much time with her.” Sergio had just realized that he hadn’t shared that piece of good news with her yet. Her face was alight with the revelation. “I’ll go find out what’s up and I’ll see you for breakfast.”