Present

I stared at the screen in front of me playing live footage from England, watching the movements of Queen... or the lack of movement. The second attacks had happened just thirty minutes ago. She should panic and move, but instead she was still at the last safe house I saw her in.

"Come on. Move." I whispered to the screen, willing her to make a run for it like I had planned. Hell, my beautiful plan was turning into a hot mess. I knew a few people had already made a run for it. Had to abandon their second targets and make their way back to our home base because security had already increased. "Move, you fucking piece of shit." I swore, once again willing her to move. She never did.

Then again, she might be in the system, could have covered her tracks already. Fuck. Merde. What if she had?

When my phone started ringing, I jumped. I flipped it over to look at the screen, but the number wasn't saved as a contact. I could either ignore it like I normally did with unknown numbers, or pick it up and respond carefully. Last time I picked up for an unknown number, it had been Max calling me, and my gut had told me to pick it up. Slowly, I lifted my phone and listened to my gut again, flicking my tongue piercing against my teeth to let out a small burst of nervous energy.

Pick it up.

Okay, my gut had never been wrong before. Unless we're talking about when my gut told me it was a good idea to join Queen's Court, but I blame that on the dairy I had eaten before making that decision.

"Bonjour?" The greeting came out of my throat as more of a question than anything else. I didn't know who was on the other end; I needed to tread carefully.

"Is this Jacqueline?" I heard a British voice ask me, but they said my name with care. They made sure to say it with a French accent, slowly and purposefully.

"Who's asking?" I asked as I took hold of my ear piercing and started rolling the sleepers through the hole. Another nervous habit of mine. I should really choose some nice earrings to wear instead of these.

"Um, we met briefly while you were with Esmond in England. You might not remember me-"

"Ciara?" I asked, standing up but still watching the screen in front of me.

"Yes!" She shouted in surprise, but then quietened down again. "I mean, yes, that's me."

"What can I do for you, cherie?"

"Well, nothing much. Um, Esmond gave me your phone number and said that if I needed to contact anyone while you guys were all spread out that I should call you because you would be at the centre of it and-"

"You have me. What do you need to communicate?" I asked, a little disappointed that she had called for business reasons. The image of her soft brown curls and honey brown eyes flashed in front of my eyes, her small and sweet smile playing on plump, rose coloured lips. I forced myself to let go of my earring and stop toying with my tongue piercing. My god damn tongue piercing that I wanted to use on-

"Um, well, I thought you might want an update on the cure." She said, taking an audible breath.

"Have you finished it?"

Esmond said she was intelligent, but even with her abilities, I figured it might get closer to the deadline before she could figure it out.

"Oh, not yet. I'm at about sixty percent, but um..."

"That is amazing, génialité. You are making a cure for a virus within days of being tasked with it."

"Well, I made the virus..."

"It is not your fault it is being used, you know that."

"Well, they wouldn't be using it if I hadn't made it."

"This is surely not why you called me. Not to tell me the cure isn't finished and to fish for someone to tell you this isn't your fault when you already know. You are too smart to think otherwise."

"Well... I was making plans to come over and help you all with the last stages of the resistance, I guess. I should have the cure done within the next twenty-four hours. I'm not sleeping until it's done."

"You need to sleep-"

"I will... when it's done. Look, I wanted to make sure I wouldn't be a hinderance if I came over there. I'm not good at fighting, but everyone I care about is there. I thought I could do this from afar, but I can't, Jacqueline."

"A hinderance? J'aimerais que tu sois là, tu serais une évasion bienvenue. Et tu dois arrêter de dire mon nom comme ça, tu vas me faire tomber amoureuse de toi."

"I would be a welcome escape, not a hinderance?" She asked, and I froze. Ciara was a certified genius, like myself, just in an unfamiliar area. Of course she spoke French.

"Uh-"

"Don't go shy on me now. I'm fluent in French, and a handful of other languages." She said. I bit my bottom lip to keep myself from saying anything else. "How could I make you fall for me, Jacqueline? Especially by just saying your name?"

"Mon amour, you don't know how devastating your voice is, do you?"

"And you don't know how attractive a French accent is to me, do you? How much I love piercings and a brain on par with my own?"

"You are distracting me from my work."

"Am I supposed to be sorry?" She asked. It made me laugh, but only for a second. Something cut me off. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm just watching Queen's home in England. I've been watching since the second attack. I only just saw movement." I said, sitting back down again and putting her on speaker, putting the phone next to my keyboard as I watched the shadows move in the house. As I watched the garage door open and a car take off. I played the video of the car leaving back, zooming in to the driver's seat and seeing blonde hair.

"She's running, isn't she?" Ciara asked. I took a deep breath.

"Not yet. She thinks she can still stop us. She's going to her main warehouse to watch over production and make sure nothing else goes wrong."

"Which warehouse?"

"I'll tell you when you get here with that cure." I heard her let out another slow breath.

"Okay. Don't let all the exciting stuff happen without me there, though."

"Never."

"Well... thank you for distracting me from impending doom for a few minutes."

"You're welcome. Thank you for doing the same for me."

"You're welcome." I moved to hang up the phone but heard her voice come out in a desperate plea. "Jacqueline?"

"Yes? I'm still here."

"Was everything you said true? Because I've been led on before and time is potentially short-"

"How about you get your ass over here and I will show you exactly how I feel." I told her. The confident facade she had on before seemed to falter.

"Oh... you know I was telling the truth too, right?" She asked. I imagined her shoulders lifting to close her body off, to make herself seem smaller as her confidence slowly ebbed from her body.

"I know, and if you don't fix your confidence, then I am going to have to fix it for you."

"And how would you do that?"

"Well, by the time you get here, I will have formulated an exact plan that will have no chance of failure. And will involve one of the piercings that you love." I heard a gentle laugh from her, quiet and light, reflective of who she was.

"I'll see you soon, Jacqueline."

"And I will see you, belle."