The Rook Chapter 3 – Heading in to Work
Heading into Chapter 3 of The Rook, I begin to wonder what life would be like were I to work for an organization that dealt with the supernatural. I mean, the X-Files were part of the FBI, a part that was pretty much shunned and ostracized from the rest of the agency. Dean and Sam Winchester aren’t really anything official in Supernatural and Buffy may have had her Scooby Gang but that was more of a group of friends rather than any kind of job. I suppose it would be more like Men In Black…lots of guns and strange coworkers who might look like dogs or cockroaches. So I’m thinking we’ll find out more about just how close the Checquy is to MIB in this chapter, and how Myfanwy fits in (or used to).
Inchoate Thoughts
Waking up with no memories but with an ability to control others with a touch…it’s a pretty cool start for a story and things kept getting better as we got through chapter 2. We learned that Myfanwy is a member of the Checquy Group, a secret government organization that protects the British realm from supernatural and extraordinary threats, and that she’s actually quite high up in the administration of the agency. She may not have gained any of her memories back but her prior self did manage to squirrel away a bunch of letters that offer to provide her with clues as to who might have caused her mind wipe and who is out to get her. So far, it’s looking like it was one of the other 7 top level agents but that only means that the danger level has ticked up a notch.
With some basic knowledge of the group memorized from the letters, Myfanwy managed to stay alive during her first weekend but now she’s gotta head into work. Most people have reasons to dislike Mondays but Myfanwy seems to have a better justification than most since someone is trying to kill her. With that in mind, I’m looking forward to seeing how things play out during her first day on the job.
Heading to Work
For someone who’s in the crosshairs of an assassin, Myfanwy sure seems to take a lot of chances. I, for one, would have been a bit more cautious when calling a cab to take me from my safe house to my residence but then I love the cabbie’s reaction not only to the fact that she doesn’t know where her house is but then to the Rolls-Royce waiting for her when they arrive. And the offer that he’ll wear a purple shirt if she calls for him again makes me hope that he shows up again in a later chapter. At this point, I should mention that in addition to having the book on the Kindle app on my iPad, I’m also listening to the audiobook. This is narrated by Susan Duerden who voices a grumpy, gritty cabbie that really makes this bit player come alive.
The Rookery
Now that we’ve made it to a company car we get a briefing on the workplace. The Rookery sounds like a fortress with secret passageways and security while at the same time Myfanwy is supposed to know all the ins and outs of the corridors and secret doors. She and her counterpart, the other Rook, run the show in this building but apparently her predecessor was promoted upwards from being a Rook to something else. Considering chess there aren’t many pieces that out rank a Rook – the King and Queen of course and the Bishops are kinda up there but are more on an equal level as the Rooks. Did he move up to a Queen or King? And does the Queen have to be female? From the sound of it, Myfanwy’s original personality, who she’s calling Thomas, didn’t seem to like her predecessor much but this Conrad Grantchester seems to have been around for a while in the organization. One of the big things I think we learn is that the Pawns all have special abilities of some sort so there are gonna be a lot of people around Myfanwy that can do things ordinary people won’t understand. They can also be dangerous. So far it doesn’t seem like any of the people wearing latex gloves had any powers so maybe they were just Muggles. If that’s the case, will Myfanwy’s power work on the powered members of the Checquy? I’m thinking we’ll find out soon enough.
Conspiracy Theories
Somehow it does not surprise me that the building that houses a government agency for the supernatural is being picketed by a bunch of conspiracy theorists who are claiming the government is keeping all it’s secrets in the building. Kinda like Area 51, it’s so well known I’m pretty sure that even if there were secrets held there at one point, they’ve long been moved. Here, the conspiracy nuts are correct but who’d believe them.
Assassinations
Back to the reason Myfanwy is in Thomas’ body…someone tried to assassinate her or at least managed to mind wipe her. According to Thomas there were only 4 cases of a member of the court killing another member in history, and all but one of those were quickly tracked down and dealt with. Perhaps the idea was not to kill her but to mind wipe her as they did. If Thomas had gotten close to figuring out the plans of whoever attacked her they might have resorted to the mind wipe to throw her off without drawing the full wrath of the Checquy by assassinating her. Or perhaps they only needed to get her out of the way for a period of time for their plans to come to fruition. In any case it doesn’t seem like assassination is a commonly used method of taking care of business for members of the court.
Frau Blumen
Finally a friend? At least Steffi has some affection for Myfanwy and she’s one who knew Thomas fairly well. As a former instructor, she also pointedly mentioned how “Miffy’s” potential power has always been much greater than she had ever displayed.
Primer on Gestalt
Now we learn about the other Rook. With Thomas into the administration of the Checquy and very good at it, the organization needed a Rook that was good at the day-to-day tactical situation. That was Gestalt. This being consisted of 4 separate bodies controlled by one mind and that mind was very capable of hand-to-hand combat, coordination of strike teams, and with 4 bodies, could be all over the world at the same time. As a Rook, Gestalt did not have to participate in operations but he preferred to be hands on and to get those hands dirty, and with 8 hands, they could get pretty dirty indeed. He was the one called in for the messy and difficult tasks and with 4 bodies carrying out the actions of a single mind, Gestalt was able to accomplish the impossible.
Retrospective
We’re now into the thick of things. Once Myfanwy showed up at work she pretty much lost all ability to run away. She’s now fully committed to this course of action and trying to figure out what happened to Thomas is going to be a make or break situation for her.
Throughout this chapter we learn more about the Checquy Group and some of their members and even find that Myfanwy has a friend for two in the higher ups who she might be able to turn to for assistance. But there are also some sketchy figures that could easily be the one or part of the group who wiped her memory.
It seems with each chapter the mystery deepens and the anticipation builds to find out just what the deal is and I’m really enjoying the ride. With the next chapter introducing us to Gestalt, I’m itching to read ahead to find out what he/she/it/they are like in person.