One Month Later

"You sure you're going to be fine here?"

Wes nodded, blue eyes bright as he stared at me. His hair was no longer dark. He'd died it back to the sandy brown I was used to seeing a few weeks earlier. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

"You know I don't want to leave, right?"

"I know. But, it's safer if we're not together. I get that. People are still trying to kill you."

I grimaced at the brutally honest tone of his voice. "Now more than ever."

"Where are you going to go first?" He glanced over my shoulder to where a black car was waiting. It would be taking me to an airport where I would be boarding a private plane and going to start my new life.

"I have no idea. I'll contact you as soon as its safe and I'll try and pass word to people I trust whenever I can. Once I'm set up somewhere, I'll figure out a way to get regular communication set up between us."

Wes smiled but it was forced. "I wish you didn't have to leave. It'll be okay, though. We'll see each other again. At least this time, I know that you're alive and would much rather be back here."

"You have no idea how true that is."

I looked past Wes to the bungalow behind him. It was situated directly on the beach. The waves were blowing in a gentle, salty breeze. I could taste it on my tongue as the sun beat down on us.

As safe houses went, it was a good one. He'd been relocated out of Oregon, courtesy of the CIA, to Virginia Beach. It was an area I knew he would enjoy as he'd always enjoyed the heat and the sun. And it wasn't as if he were here alone.

In the doorway of the little bungalow, I could see Grace and Malcolm Ortiz. They were watching us say goodbye. I'd already bade my goodbyes to them and thanked them for uprooting their lives and moving across the country to take in my brother. It was because of them that the safe house for Wes had been set up with such care. They would look after him as if he were their own. And he would help them, too.

After all, it wasn't any easy thing to get over the loss of a child.

Daniel was missing and presumed dead. One of the Scorpion bombers had detonated an explosive just outside of his room. The blast killed two nurses and injured a third. Daniel was simply gone. The technicians from the Global Centre for Covert Operatives had ruled the most likely explanation that Daniel had simply been too close to the bomb and had been blasted into a thousand little pieces, never to be found or recovered.

Daniel was the only one of our party who'd died from the bombers. His parents had been getting coffees when it went off. Jack had already been gone. A bomb had gone off near Tasha's room where Lia was waiting but they'd both walked away unscathed. He wasn't the only casualty but he was the only one who I'd ever talked to and cared about.

His death hadn't been an easy thing to come to grips with. For days, weeks, I'd woken up screaming his name. Or Patrick's. Or Gregory Lauer's or my parents or any of the other people I'd watched die. But it was the last conversation with Daniel at the cabin before we'd rescued Jack that kept replaying in my mind. The one where I'd promised that we would talk once I'd gotten back. Eventually, I stopped screaming his name but his face never disappeared from my nightmares.

The hardest thing about it all was the never ending tirade of 'what ifs?'" Daniel had told me that he loved me. I hadn't had an answer for him then. If he were alive, I doubted that I would have had one for him now. But it was difficult knowing that I would never have the chance to give him a reply. Never have the chance to learn if, perhaps, I could have loved Daniel.

In another life, there was not a doubt in my mind that it could have worked. I'd thrown that other life out the window the moment I'd left for Oaks at fourteen. If I'd stayed, if I'd never left and been content, how many lives could I have saved?

My parents?

Daniel?

Patrick?

Gregory Lauer?

I didn't know and I would never have the chance to know. There was no going back now. Not when I'd committed to this life. Not when I'd found out the truth about my parentage and the world that I lived in. It didn't mean it was easy. I would probably be surrounded by death my entire life. Each time it would be a little more difficult, I knew that, and I would never ever forget the faces or names of those who'd died as a result of my actions. But I would honour them each and every day by living.

The car horn honked behind me.

"I think that's your cue," Wes said.

I nodded. "I guess so." I pulled him into a rough hug. "I'll see you again, Wes. I swear. One day, it will be safe for me to come home and when that day comes we can be a real family again."

"Just because we're not together doesn't mean that we're not a real family. I love you, Mel."

"Love you, too, baby brother."

He groaned and pushed me away but it was half-hearted. I could see the reluctance to let me go in his eyes. We'd spent the last month together in a top-secret hospital for the CIA. My identity had been firmly kept a secret and in order to do so I'd been limited to one floor. As such, we'd spent a lot of time together, re-learning how to be siblings.

I waved goodbye to Malcolm and Grace who smiled at me, tight-lipped. I got the feeling that if they didn't see me for awhile, it would be all right.

Then, I headed for the black SUV that was parked at the end of the drive. I hopped into the back, coming face-to-face with Lia. Max was driving. Brent and Lydia would be meeting us at the tarmac. Tasha was not going to be in attendance for my send-off. She was with her father at their safe house in Switzerland as she finished recovering from her injuries.

Lia handed me a little black binder as Max pulled away from the curb. "Here's your new identity. It's got everything you need. Passports, credit cards, driver's license. They've got a nice place set up for you."

I flipped open the binder to reveal my new life. Jessica Collins. My new name. I glanced at the photo to see myself with a waterfall of dark brown and tanned skin, the look I now wore instead of my characteristic blonde waves. I searched through all of the documents Lia had given me. There were several other extra passports and documents under varying names in case my identity was compromised.

"Thank you."

My best-friend, my sister, nodded with tight lips. "Are you sure you're going to be okay out there by yourself?"

"I'll be fine," I assured her. "I've got it all under control. As long as I've got you guys holding down the home front, everything else will work out okay."

"Jack?"

I shrugged. "He's gone. Last thing I heard, he was going to the Caribbean to recuperate. I have no idea where he'll be after that."

"You aren't going to stay in contact?" Max asked, speaking for the first time from the driver's seat.

"Not frequently. We've got a rendezvous set up in about six months' time. It's too dangerous for us to be near each other. We'll figure it out. We'll fight this thing. And then we'll come home."

A few minutes later, we pulled up at an airstrip. Brent and Lydia were waiting for us near a small private jet. They looked about as happy at this arrangement as I did. None of us wanted me to leave but we all knew it was the best scenario. I didn't want to put anyone else in danger. Scorpion was still actively searching for my head on a platter. It seemed that they didn't care about the fact that I was their only leverage against Jack anymore. They just wanted me dead. There had already been one attack on my life while we were in the hospital. I wasn't much too keen on thinking about when the next one might occur.

"You ready, kiddo?" Brent asked as we jumped out of the car and drew near. It was good to see him on his feet. It made me feel less guilty about leaving.

"As I'll ever be. Where am I headed?"

"We've got a place set up for you in Rome until you figure out your next steps," Lydia answered. "There's a document in the folder that gives you a student visa to be there for the next twelve months. After that, we can discuss next steps."

I nodded. "Okay."

No one seemed to know what to say next but we all knew that it was time for me to leave. So, I hugged everyone and said goodbye. Told them that I loved them and that I would be in touch once it was safe. And then, alone, I stepped onto the plane and prepared to leave my old life behind.

"Melanie Briar?"

I turned instinctively at the sound of my name. I still didn't prefer people calling me by Briar. Clarke was the name I'd grown up with. It was the name of my parents. It was my name. At least, it was my name until it'd gotten changed to Jessica Collins no more than fifteen minutes earlier.

There was a woman sitting on a seat against the wall. She was older, easily in her late fifties, with greying dark hair and hard green eyes. There was a lanyard hanging about her neck with a CIA identification card swinging from the end. I still wasn't on good terms with the CIA. They were still pissed I'd killed a few of their members since there hadn't been any hard evidence to link them to Scorpion. Still, Malcolm and Grace had vouched for me and, given the fact that I'd helped to release dozens of prisoners from a Scorpion stronghold, I'd managed to work my way back into their good graces enough for them to trust me a little bit.

"Yes?"

"Please, have a seat." The woman gestured to the seat across from her.

I took it warily, gingerly sitting on the edge. "What's this about?"

The woman pulled a beige file free from a bag I hadn't noticed and handed it to me. I glanced at her with a raised brow and then flipped it open. I paused as my eyes landed on the image on the first page.

"That was taken a month and a half ago."

"That's impossible. She's supposed to be locked up in an MI6 prison for the rest of her life."

"She escaped two months ago. We have reason to believe that Isadora Savalas was working in conjunction with Scorpion during the Paris attacks. There is evidence to suggest that she is targeting you, specifically."

"That's not surprising. I killed her mother." That was when it clicked. Isadora. Izzy. The men on the boat who had kidnapped Daniel. They'd called their boss Izzy. And then I knew that this CIA woman was right.

The woman in Spain. My first kill. Dimitra Savalas. Her daughter, Isadora, had attempted to kill me at Oaks a few weeks after Dimitra's death. She'd been locked up after that in a heavily secured facility run by MI6. She was supposed to be locked up for life, having proven to be a dangerous member of society. I'd hardly been her first target. I'd just been the one that got her caught.

"We are urging you to proceed with caution. Reports of Miss Savalas' location come pouring in every day but we have no concrete leads to her positioning as of yet. She may very well try to kill you again."

"She can get in line," I muttered.

"We have ways to get in touch with you should we have any pressing details come to light. We just wanted to alert you to her newfound presence within society." The CIA woman got to her feet and headed for the door. "I wish you luck in your new life, Melanie."

"Thank you." My words fell of empty air. The door had already folded up and she was gone.

I settled into my seat, buckled up, and prepare for take off. I listened to the engine start to rumble, opened the blind to the window to look outside where Max, Lia, and her parents were still standing to send me off. I smiled at them sadly, raised my hand in a solemn wave and felt the wheels start to move as the pilot directed the plane down the runway and prepared for take off. And as the plane began started to pick up speed in order to catapult into the sky, I sat back and prepared to embrace my new life.

It wouldn't be easy but I'd done this before. I'd left without looking back. Moved forward without fear for those I was leaving behind. Said goodbye to loved ones for what could be the final time.

It was different this time around. I was no longer the young girl I'd been when I'd first left for Oaks. Now, I was a woman and a skilled operative, ready to take on the world in full. I'd lost people I loved. I'd gained new family. I found a home in the people that I cared about. I was a different person.

It would be harder this time because I was being hunted. I would have to be more careful. I couldn't afford a slip-up. But this time I was ready.

Let them come, I thought.

Let them come.