Roni’s new throne room left a lot to be desired, but considering that it started with a hospital bed and an assortment of medical equipment, he couldn’t complain.

In fact, he was so comfortable he was considering adopting the same setup once the doctor cleared him to leave.

William’s assistants, a bunch of super nerds Roni felt right at home with, were quite enterprising. They had rigged him up a contraption that suspended two large monitors over his bed, which he could move every which way he pleased. A regular hospital rolling table doubled as his keyboard desk, and the large towers were cooling behind the bed.

Bridget wasn’t happy about the freezing temperature in the room; it wasn’t the optimal environment for someone sick with pneumonia, but perfect for keeping the equipment running at optimum level.

Roni was used to working in a cold room.

Besides, Sylvia had brought him a sweater, a scarf, a knit beanie, and fingerless cashmere gloves to keep him nice and warm. She was a keeper, just as Mildred had told him.

Damn, he missed Barty and his wife.

Working on and off all morning, Roni had been taking occasional naps when he’d gotten too tired. The fucking pneumonia was making him not only weak like a baby, but melancholy. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be thinking about his old crusty handler and his wife, Mildred.

Being sick literally sucked the life out of him. It might have been his imagination, but Roni was convinced his hard-earned muscles were shriveling by the hour. Once he was back on his feet, he would be back to the scrawny scarecrow he was before a year of working out had filled him out a bit.

Fuck. He hated working out.

What a waste of time. The hour a day he spent working on improving his unimpressive physique could’ve been put to better use hacking and programming.

Someone knocked on the door.

“I’m busy!”

Another disadvantage of working from a hospital room was the doctor or one of her nurses interrupting him with their unnecessary checkups. He really didn’t need his temperature and blood pressure taken once an hour every hour, day and night. It wasn’t as if pneumonia was a deadly disease, at least he didn’t think it was.

Ignoring Roni’s clear dismissal, the knocker, a Lord of the Rings elf prince lookalike, opened the door and strode in as if he owned the place.

“I’ll be brief,” he said in a monotone voice. All that was missing was an Austrian accent, and it would’ve sounded a lot like the famous “I’ll be back.”

Roni gave the intruder a once-over. An intimidating dude. “And you are?”

“Brundar.” The elf lookalike didn’t offer his hand. Instead, he inclined his head in a gesture that looked more like a nod than an attempted introduction.

Wait a minute…

Brundar? The guy who gave Andrew the shivers?

It was good Roni was meeting the guy here, where he’d established his position as king, and not at the dojo. Otherwise, he would’ve felt intimidated as hell.

“I heard about you.”

Brundar lifted a brow.

“Anandur threatened Andrew to bring you as my initiator if Andrew refused to do the honors.”

Brundar regarded Roni as if he was an ant under a microscope. “Anandur should’ve done it.”

Roni grimaced. “He couldn't get aggressive with me. I was not enough of a challenge.”

Brundar nodded. “I can see how that could be a problem for him.”

“But not for you?”

The guy affected a chilling smile. “Not for me.”

He could see why Andrew didn’t like the guy. From now on whenever Roni imagined a cold-hearted assassin, he would see this guy’s face. And the fact that Brundar was enviously good-looking, like a fallen angel, only enhanced the chilling effect instead of softening it.

“What can I do for you?” It would be in Roni’s best interest to have the guy indebted to him. If he ever needed anyone taken out, Roni would know who to turn to.

“William is not here, and you’re supposedly one hell of a hacker.”

“Not supposedly. I’m the best.”

Brundar’s lips twitched. “And modest, I see.”

Roni shrugged. “It’s not boasting when it’s the truth.”

“Can you hack into a university's computers and change the name of a student? A friend of mine got accepted, but she needs to go under a different name.”

“So you need me to change her records to reflect a different one?”

“Exactly.”

“I will need a new social security number for the new name.”

“I’m having them done. Birth certificate, social security, driver’s license, passport, the works.”

“Excellent. When do you need it done?”

“How soon can you do it?”

Roni had a lot on his plate, and hacking into hundreds of security camera feeds was time-consuming. If he waited until he was done with all of that to help Brundar’s friend, it would be several days before he could get to it.

“William left a big project for me, but I’m willing to take a short break to help your friend. It will set me back a couple of hours.” Let the guy think it was a bigger deal than it really was.

“Thanks. I owe you, kid.”

Roni smirked. Music to my ears. “Get me her old and new papers.”

“I’ll come later when I have them. Does it matter to you what time?”

Roni shook his head. “Not really. I’m sick, as you can see, so I need to take short naps from time to time. If I’m sleeping when you come back, wake me up.”

Brundar nodded, then smoothed his palm over his blond hair. “I don’t know how it works with you being a human. Do I pay you? Can I get you something in return for the favor?”

“I’ll take an unspecified IOU.”

It was funny to watch the guy who was pale as a vampire to start with, getting even paler. “That can be anything.”

Roni chuckled. “Don’t worry. I don’t want your first-born or anything like that. I don’t even know what kind of favor you’re good for.”

“I obey the law. So whatever you have in mind it can’t be illegal.”

Roni lifted a brow. “Says the guy who just asked me to falsify records.”

Brundar shifted, putting his weight on his other foot. “That’s different. Think of it as a witness protection program.”

“What did she see?” Roni got excited. He was so bored with the project he was working on, he was hungry for a good story.

“It’s not like that. Her ex-husband is dangerous. If he finds her, he will harm her.”

The smile evaporated from Roni’s face. “Say no more, my friend. It shall be done. No future favors required.”

For the first time since he’d arrived, Brundar regarded Roni with real respect. Apparently, his hacking skills hadn’t impressed the guy as much as his gallantry.

“I appreciate that. Whatever I can help you with, I will. Not as a favor, but as one warrior to another.”

Roni snorted. “Warrior?” He looked down at himself. “Damn, this sweater must make me look good.” He patted the sleeve. “But regrettably it’s all false advertisement. There isn’t much underneath.”

Brundar didn’t laugh at his joke. Hell, the guy looked like he never did.

“We utilize different weapons, but we fight on the same team.”

Roni lifted his palm for a high five, but Brundar ignored it.

Strange dude.

He let his arm drop. “Thank you. I always thought of myself as a cyber warrior, but you’re the first one to acknowledge me as one.”

Brundar inclined his head. “I’ll be back with the papers.” He turned on his heel and walked out without saying goodbye.

Kind of impolite, but then Roni often acted just as rude if not worse. The difference was that Roni was well aware of it and did it on purpose, while Brundar was just weird.