Chapter Text
Prologue
2002 Early October, Never Never Land
A drop of water rolled slowly down the window top and gathered speed as it continued its journey to the bottom, running into other rivers and pulling together what bits it could. It finally reached the end of pane and ran from this to the next adventure. Never stopped.
Life didn't seem like a cycle, there were those who said but no. This had ended; they had closed it up and shut her off. She was lucky she was still here, that she too had not been debunked. Laughing to herself bitterly she reflected, what else would they put her on now? No, she was the guarantee, she HAD to stay. This whole lot was just pretence. The house, the salary and research funds for what she wished. They were all bribes for keeping quiet and as long as she accepted she would be alive and well and with her very own 24hr covert security team peering over every aspect of her life.
Taking a deep breath she stood up, pushing against the desk for support. It had to be done. She should be leaving in just two weeks and noone else would bother. Who else was there left? They had all been happily reassigned and paid off. Left to their own devices too, or so they would think. She knew as well as anyone that they would not get away unscathed. Ramsey had known, he would though. Ramsey would be the kind of guy who'd organise it, if he'd been in charge and had taken the last free time they had to tell her this over a beer. That had been one of the only times she'd drank a beer voluntarily. Getting to the bar she'd suddenly seen why it was such an appealing thing to do, sometimes you need something that was slow to act. Compared to vodka beer was like water, mind you Ramsey had no trouble getting drunk on it and she felt herself wanting to give in to the mellow brown squishy nectar..
She'd allowed herself to get pissed that night, as Nate had rambled on about what to expect and what she could do. He told her the ins and outs of the operation. Not being entirely sure mind you because each person would coordinate these things slightly differently, but she had her guidelines. She should have asked him why he was telling her this, why she should trust him that he was not a mole, why she should not think this a trap. A healthy bout of paranoia that no doubt he'd have been proud of. She'd always thought the best of everyone. She could be cynical very easily but inside deep down she knew it would figure out ok. There had been just a few times when that had not been true. When waiting had taken that privilege away from her heart, when she had been devoid of hope, had broken.
Today she was close, merely holding the pieces together for what she must do.