CHAPTER 31

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The Compound

2011

Morning dawned on the next day as Xander, on no sleep, sipped his coffee by his window. His mind was too occupied for sleep as it was feverishly obsessed with the implications of Fiona's letter.

How long has she been tracking me? Had her attraction to me been just a front she put on to infiltrate me?

It was then that Xander heard the creaking of a door outside his window. He immediately darted to the wall and pressed his back against it, peering out of his window from behind the white lace curtains. He didn't see much, but only Fiona's red locks, peaking out of a skull cap, glowing in the day's first light. Fiona took her jogs in the morning, while Xander ran in the evening.

Xander waited for about thirty yards of separation to grow between them and then he slid open his window and climbed out. He knew that the window wouldn't creak as much as the door; it also gave him a better angle of cover than the door would have. Xander followed her at a distance, bolting from a position of umbrage to another. He minimized his time of exposure in the open and crotched low just as he was taught in stealth class earlier that year. He was thankful for spring, as grass was silent. If it were fall or winter, stealth would be much harder over the dead leaves. Staying in the shadows as best as he could he was able to follow her across the Compound to a remote corner of it – the pond of the Thicket.

The pond of the Thicket was glimmering under the light of the new day. A morning dew hovered over its surface in a murky fog. This is where much of the small wild life convened, where geese and frogs took a morning swim. On the water's edge, two wooden park benches sat facing the water.

Xander did not spend much time down in the Thicket since Ezra's death. It was a memory lane that led him off an emotional cliff. But this was no time for a reflection of the past, for what Xander observed shot him back to the present.

Xander veered left and flanked her, in order to get the best position. He found a large oak that stood at the edge of the wood. From behind the oak, now positioned at her 8 o'clock, Xander watched as Fiona approached the far bench. She produced a piece of bread from her sweatpants pocket. Tearing into bite size portions, she began throwing pieces into the pond for the ducks. With a smooth slight of hand, Fiona's other hand waved over the side of the bench leaving a chalk mark on its side. Xander was not deceived by the diversion and noticed the move.

She left a signal behind... is she making a drop?!

The motion was so quick and nonchalant, a passerby would see nothing more than a girl feeding the ducks in the morning, catching her breath from a jog.

Fiona took out of her workout hoodie a small envelope. She sat down on the bench and surveyed her six o'clock. Xander spun for cover, with the urgency of a soldier with bullets heading his way. If he had not flanked her, he would have been spotted. Xander stayed motionless behind his cover, unsure of what Fiona was doing.

But then he heard footsteps, fading in the distance.

She's leaving...

After her jogging steps could not be heard any longer, Xander turned from cover and eyed the bench. The chalk had been rubbed away, no sign of the envelope.

She aborted the drop.

Xander remained in the shadows along with his racing thoughts. He had spotted her in the act but did not have any evidence. His breath thinned out as he could not catch it from the sight. He was paralyzed in shock and became light-headed as his world turned upside down.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

That night, Rearden came to visit him through the same hidden door behind Xander's book shelf for the final weekly update. The meetings throughout the year had typically remained short and casual, as she was his handler, respectful of his process. She wore her typical, uneventful wardrobe – her hair pulled back into a ponytail. She had changed her shoes since class that morning from navy blue flats to a worn out sneaker. Her casual presence only echoed the notion that the mission at hand was off the books and an unofficial undertaking.

"Anything new on Fiona?" she asked. Xander paused a moment considering his play.

"I haven't been able to pick up on any suspicious activity," he lied, straight-faced and locked on her eyes.

"Nothing?...You have been watching her for most of training and you got nothing... you should have been able to find something, Xander." Rearden asked again.

"I got nothing... she seems normal – focused on training." He shrugged, convincingly. Rearden's face fell to an austere expression.

"So our Intel was wrong? Is that what you are saying?"

"Yes..." he knew he had report a firm conclusion. "She is not a double agent."

Rearden looked him over, scanning him for any signs of deceit.

"You know the consequences of withholding information from a superior?" She asked, reraising his bet. Xander affirmed with a nod, not taking his eyes from Rearden's. She considered the response again in a tense moment of distrust. Then she smiled, as if she found in his eyes what she was looking for.

"Playing your cards close to your chest I see...I have taught you well," she responded, turning on her heel and heading for the bookshelf. She swiped her keycard on the side of the bookshelf, prompting it to swing off the wall and again turned to him from the top of the stairs that led into the tunnels below the Compound.

"Get some sleep, Xander. You got your final exams tomorrow."

And with that Rearden descended into the depths of the Compound, closing the shelf behind her.

Xander exhaled the tension from the discussion. A weight pressed down on him as he considered the exchange.

Rearden knows I'm withholding Intel. But I just can't turn Fiona in yet. I have no hard evidence, even though what I have seen indicates she's a mole of some kind but it's still not adding up. I've looked Fiona straight in the eyes and I can't sense disloyalty. I'm supposed to be the master of deduction here... She seems too happy and innocent... She seems to genuinely like me, she can't be faking that. Could she?

But if she was making a drop at the pond,then the biggest question is who is she relaying her observations to? Who wasthe drop for? Who is using her to spy on me?    



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