Present

I stood in front of the Director. My eyes flicking between my page of notes and her cold eyes.

"I need the whole debrief, Agent Triggs." She said. I nodded slowly. My words kept re-reading the same words. The words I needed to say to finish the debrief and my verbal report on the mission.

"Max died in hospital. The blood loss was too severe, they couldn't save her. I let her team go, Queen manipulated them into everything so I figured they might like freedom for once. Um, Queen's body was identified by DNA of a runaway child from decades ago. Jennifer Hewitt. I made sure that any trace of Dusk was gone, that there was no way that the drug could find it's way to the public." I said, closing my notebook and handing the file over to her.

"I understand you were very close with your target on this one, Agent Triggs. But this case was enormous, and you having finally closed it is going to do great things for your career." She said, looking through the evidence I had placed in the file. There was a lot in there, from locations of safe houses and warehouses to a list of people who had bought places in those safe houses.

"If you're looking for your name in there, you would be happy to know that it... disappeared from the file on transfer from Queen's computer to official evidence." I said, tilting my head to the side as her eyes slowly looked up from the paper to meet mine.

"Well, if that is the case, then I guess I approve the case for closure. And your application for a month of leave. You haven't had leave in..." She trailed off, and it wasn't a shock. She didn't know the answer because I hadn't ever taken it.

"Ever." I said. She nodded.

"Yes, so it seems." She said, placing the closed file on her desktop. "I have something I wish to propose to you, and you can use your leave to think about the offer." I nodded for her to continue. "I currently don't have anyone lined up to be the next Director. As you know, I haven't filled the second-in-command position yet. It's been open for four years simply because I can't find a candidate I am happy to fill the space with. Now, this case has shown you have excellent investigating skills but also a talent for discretion. Both are necessary parts of my job, along with keeping everyone here organised. Now you also displayed that by using a team of criminals to get the job done. Excellent work with that, by the way."

"Thank you." I said, even though I knew that leadership had nothing to do with me. That had all been Sierra, because that was one of her many talents, her ability for leadership.

"So, what I would like to do is officially offer you the position. It will come with a pay rise, more stable hours and less on the field work if that would interest you. I'm sure you will want a break from the field after this one." She said, tapping the file. "Now, as I said before, you can use your leave to think-"

"I'll take it." I cut her off, not needing the time to think about it. This was the plan.

"Alright, I'm going to send you the paperwork today, as well as some important files and pieces of information you may need." She said, looking at her computer. "Now, I also know that you were close with Dr. Ciara Simmons/Smith. You may have noticed her absence since your return." She said.

"Uh, yes I have. I also noticed the new building. What happened?" I asked. We had made sure that there was no trace of Ciara coming to Austria or Spain. Jacques had erased every part of her travel, every image from every camera that placed Ciara anywhere other than England. As per the plan, we needed the Director to think I'd had no contact with Ciara since I brought the Dusk tablets to her to see if she could find a cure.

"Dr. Ciara Simmons/Smith. We suspect she was working with her family the entire time she was with us, biding her time to get control in order to destroy us from the inside. When we realised we approached her, asked her to hand over any cases of importance to her coworkers and leave on suspension until we figured out what to do with her. Instead of going quietly, she initiated Burn Protocol. It burned the entire building to the ground within a few hours. Any trace of what she was working on is gone." Lies.

Ciara had told us what had happened. The Director had found out she was trying to make a cure for Dusk and ordered her to stop work on it. When Ciara refused, there was a threat of death, which was when Ciara decided she needed to lie. She said she would cease work on it, that she would focus on her paperwork instead that she had fallen behind on because of wasting time on the cure. She then finished it in secret. Only when it was complete did she call a meeting with the entire lab department and told them they needed to evacuate and that they may not hear from her again. A few asked why, and she told them. Each one of the lab personnel knew the truth and was trustworthy, since Ciara had vetted them upon employment. So I had at least a few allies on the inside that I could rely on.

"I had no idea she was a Simmons..." I trailed off. The Director nodded.

"When we hired her, we thought we would give her the benefit of the doubt since she had been separated from them for years. We were wrong and now we have to get used to a new building and a useless laboratory head." The Director said.

"That's unfortunate."

"It is, but things are now looking up. With you helping me, we can get MI6 back on track. So, go on your leave, come back rested. If you have any ideas, bring them to the table. Our investors will want to hear from my new right hand."

"Investors? We're a government branch." I said. She smiled.

"All in due time. Now go, I don't want to hear from you for four weeks aside from returning your new contract."

"Don't have to tell me twice." I said, standing up from my chair and turning towards the door.

"Oh, and Esmond..."

"Yes?"

"Watch your back. You've made some enemies taking down Queen."

"I will." I said before leaving the office and walking out of the building.

This was going to be fun.