Chapter Four
How it happened, she could only guess. But she was not consulted on the matter—which she appreciated in a small way—and was only given an order from the supervisor of army analysis. "Ruth, you're to report to Foreign Intelligence. You've been transferred to the permanent staff."
And that was all there was to it. She packed up a box of all her things from her desk, most of which was unneeded clutter that she'd throw away when she set up her new desk. Tom tried to insist that he carry the box, but she wouldn't allow that. The line between them was not as clearly drawn as she would have liked. He was her bodyguard, which she still felt she did not need, and he took his duty seriously. But Ruth took equally seriously her ability to have a job and be as normal a person as she was allowed. That was also why she made people call her Ruth, as her family did, and not 'Princess Louisa' or 'Your Highness.' And she called him Tom and not Mr. Quinn, which she knew annoyed him. But he worked for her, so he listened. Well, technically he worked for her grandfather, as all the Royal Guard did, but he was assigned to protect Ruth, and everyone knew that Ruth could convince her grandfather to let her do almost anything.
She carried her box of things down the hall with Tom following behind her as always. Her stoic shadow. It would be interesting to see where Major Pearce put Tom in the new bullpen. Ruth certainly didn't want him sitting next to her desk. In army analysis, he'd had a chair against the wall where he could watch the entrance and the windows and Ruth from his vantage point. He guarded the door when she went to meetings. And she hoped he'd be told to just guard the door here. It unnerved people to have him sitting there sometimes.
Ruth did allow Tom to open the door to Foreign Intelligence for her, as her hands were full. And apparently that was some kind of protocol that he was supposed to open doors first. But Ruth did not expect to walk into a briefing.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, when the room went silent and every head turned to stare at her.
"That's alright, Ruth," Major Pearce said, waving her forward. "Nice of you to join us. Your desk is over there." He pointed to a desk in the back of the room, right across from the large windowed office that belonged to the head of the department who, in this case, was Major Pearce himself.
Major Pearce then continued with whatever he was saying, which seemed to be an introduction of sorts. Ruth placed her box on top of the desk beside the nameplate that read 'Louisa Ruth' which she knew was better than her proper name and title, but she still did not entirely like. Also on the desk was a file folder that she did not open just yet.
"Our immediate task is getting the department properly up and running. And that means developing a communication procedure with our foreign bases and a means of transmitting information. On each of your desks are the files with your individual assignments. Each of you is going to be in charge of a particular part of the world, about three or four bases apiece. I suggest taking today to familiarize yourselves with those files as well as with the database we've already compiled from copies out of the registry." He pointed to the rows and rows of file cabinets on the far wall. "Everything should be well-organized and easy to find. And if you have any questions, you're to report to your immediate superior who is listed in your assignments. Any questions?"
There was a small murmur and the shaking of heads.
"Right, off we go," Major Pearce said, releasing his department to their work.
Ruth did not draw attention to herself as much as she could manage. She went back to her desk and sat down to put her things away. Which mostly consisted of shoving things into drawers and leaving the rubbish in the box to be disposed of later. She tried not to pay attention to what Tom was doing. Leave him to sort himself out. Her colleagues were all already reviewing their files, and Ruth did not want to get behind.
"Getting settled?"
The voice startled her, causing a stapler to fall out of her hand and land with a loud clang inside the metal drawer of the desk. "Ye-yes," she stammered, looking up to see Major Pearce standing over her.
The smallest hint of a smile crossed his lips. Oh his lips. She should not be staring at his lips. But how could she not? The smile quickly went away, however, and he continued speaking. "Mr. Quinn has requested to be stationed by the front entrance, but I've insisted he remain in the hallway. Our work is likely to be of a sensitive nature and I do not approve of anyone other than army personnel in this department without an otherwise urgent requirement. Is there an urgent requirement for him to be inside the department at all times?" he asked.
"No, sir," Ruth responded. She could not tell him how glad she was that he wasn't kowtowing to Tom's overly cautious approach. Most people in the army deferred to members of the Royal Guard, particularly when it came to her. But Major Pearce was a horse of a different color, it seemed. And Ruth liked it that way.
He gave a curt nod. "Good. I shall inform him of that. I'll let you review the materials, though you were the one who drafted all the assignments, so it should not take you too long. You'll need to speak to your supervisor as soon as you're prepared to do so."
"Yes, sir," she replied.
With that, Major Pearce walked away. She watched for a moment as Tom was given the news of his placement. Oh Tom was not happy. Well, that was just too bad. He could complain to the Head of the Royal Guard, who would in turn report it to the King, who would in turn come talk to Ruth directly about it. And Ruth would explain the situation and that she was now working with Major Pearce. Sir Harry Pearce. And the King would recall the heroism that earned Major Pearce his knighthood, and that would be the end of the discussion. Ruth would not be in danger when working in an office at the capitol army base with Sir Harry Pearce.
Ruth quickly turned her attention to the file folder with her assignments. She had, as Major Pearce had said, prepared all of the files for the assignments. But she had not anticipated being a member of the team, so she did not know what she was going to be assigned.
To her surprise, the top of the page read 'Operational Liaison' which was not a position Ruth had created when she developed the structure for the department. But as she read on, she quickly understood what it was she would be doing. And she smiled. Particularly when she got to the bottom of the last page and saw the name of her supervisor. She took a notepad and her file folder and went to speak to the supervisor, since she was ready.
She did not knock on the door to Major Pearce's office, though in hindsight maybe she should have. He looked up from the papers on his desk—very neat papers, she noticed—and gave a small nod in welcome.
"Ready to begin?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," she replied.
He gestured for her to take a seat, which she did. "Well, to start off, no one here is to call me 'sir' for any reason. Respect for rank is one thing, but I've found that formality gets in the way of proper collaboration on a team. I may be the director of this department, but you and everyone else here will call me Harry. That was part of my introduction that you missed with your tardiness."
"I am sorry," she interrupted anxiously. "I wasn't told I was being transferred until I walked in, and then I needed to clear out my desk."
"It's fine, Ruth," he assured her and quickly moved on. "Now then, you've reviewed your assignment?"
"Yes. Though I didn't create this position in my initial report. Who did?" she asked.
"I did. Upon reviewing your report, I immediately saw the one gap in the structure. And you have been assigned to fill it."
"I see," she said warily.
"You will be an analyst still. Sort of the head analyst in the department. Everyone's positions and responsibilities are largely their own, and they'll work together. But you will oversee them. And you report directly to me. I have found that I work best when I have a right hand of sorts to help implement and oversee my decisions. I can handle the higher ups and the politicians and whatever else on behalf of the department, but I need someone to be in charge when I'm not here, and I need someone I can trust."
"And you've chosen me?"
"You created the department, Ruth. Who better to make it function than you?"
It was a great compliment he was paying her, and she knew it. And despite her other responsibilities outside of her army position, she had every confidence that she could do exactly what Major Pearce—Harry—expected of her. "I think you've made a good choice," she said.
He laughed a bit at that. He had a wheezy sort of laugh that made her feel warm inside. "I don't need you to bolster me and parrot whatever I say and do, and in fact I'd prefer if between us you speak your mind about my decisions when you disagree, but I'll accept the praise for this one."
"Good," she replied. "And for what it's worth, I don't have any problem disagreeing with you when there's cause for it."
"I'm sure I'll eat my words in the future when such a disagreement does occur, but for the moment, I'm glad."
Ruth smiled. She was glad of it, too.