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strike her.  Had he been a few seconds later he would have been too late to help her, so he had to act fast.  He quickly walked up behind her.  She was so petrified she never even noticed, but the Rogue did.  The Rogue broke his pose and stood up straight once he saw him.  That gave him the opportunity he needed.  Alessandro knocked her out and threw her towards the mouth of the alley.  It was his job after all and the lives of the Brotherhood have to remain a secret, even if it means keeping the Rogue a secret as well.  He still felt bad about having to be so rough with her; although after what he had seen of her, she needed to get hit in the head. 
    Deserving or not, after he killed the Rogue and cleaned up the mess he sat on the rooftop watching over her for the rest of the night anyway, waiting for her to regain consciousness.  Oddly, it was the same thing he did the first night he saw her as well. 
    Alessandro leans against the tree and thinks about what Michael said before.  He knows he’s right; of course, he is.  These people need them no matter how many times it takes. 
    With that in mind he gets into his car and leaves the cemetery.  He heads downtown, hoping there will be something to do there.
    He parks his shiny black Porsche a few blocks from the downtown shopping district.  The roads are always so busy there; it would be easier to just walk the perimeter. 
    As Alessandro crosses 3 rd street and 4 th street , he notices the same girl he saw before in the cemetery crossing the street just ahead of him.  Intrigued by all of these coincidences, he decides to follow her.  He never followed her before and has no idea where it would lead him. 
    Turns out it leads to a coffee shop.  He is not completely surprised considering coffee shops are so trendy these days.  Alessandro laughs to himself and follows her in a few steps behind.  As soon as he enters, his senses are slammed with the scent of a mix of different flavors of fresh coffee.  He never drinks the stuff, but he has always thought it was a glorious aroma.  He breathes it in deeply and stands in line behind her.  As he waits, he begins to notice small things about her, like how her shiny dark hair smells like sweet coconut and her pale skin doesn’t appear to have been kissed by the sun at all this summer.  The cool confidence he always imagined she had is replaced as she stands fidgety, seemingly insecure and out of place.
    “Hey Anna-Marie, what can I get you?” the guy asks from behind the counter.
    Anna -Marie . . . hmm . . . Alessandro thinks to himself.  He didn’t know what her name was and decides immediately that Anna-Marie fits her.
    She gives the man a seemingly forced but friendly smile .  “Hey Pete, can I get a large Mocha and a banana nut muffin please?”
    “Sure thing !  How have you been?”
    “Pretty good , actually.  I’ve been working a lot more lately.  It helps.”
    “Good, I’m glad to hear that.” 
    After a few minutes he reaches over the register and hands her the coffee and the small bag with the muffin inside, “Here you go, the best Mocha around.”
    “Thanks , Pete.  I’ll see you later.”
    “Bye , Anna-Marie.  I’ll see ya.”
    Alessandro doesn’t drink coffee, so he has no clue what to get.  Hell, he will just get the same thing as umm… Anna-Marie.
    Once he has his expensive coffee he picks the table behind hers and sits facing her back, so he can see what she is doing on her bright pink laptop.  He cranes his neck and looks over her shoulder to see what it is she is looking at so.
    “ Wild animal strikes again.” reads the headline.
    “ Dammit!” Alessandro says out loud and he knocks over his coffee after the words from the article slam into his brain.  Ignoring the spilled mess, he looks harder at the screen. 
    It appears to be some kind of online news article.  Damn technology is growing.   He thinks to himself.
    He watches as Anna-Marie scans through the