He waited an hour at the bus stop, longer than he had for any of his previous contacts.
Rosebud was supposed to deliver information about the target. A speeding car or two would occasionally stop to ask if he wanted to ride along. He would politely decline as if he were waiting for one.
"Reality never presents itself. You simply have to decide how much you want to see." a woman's voice replayed in his mind.
If he allowed his mind to think it would only venture into scarred memories cascading one after the other.
He grew impatient.
"I'm sorry, can you help me in understanding this sentence, I'm not a native English speaker."
The voice came from his left. He didn't turn immediately, protocol dictated a pause, a moment to assess.
When he did look, he saw someone young. College student? Perhaps, though naivity was meaningless in this line of work. What mattered was whether they could deliver.
She took out a journal and started reading,
In three our kingdom, and 'tis our fast intent To shake all cares and business from our age, Conferring them on younger strengths while we Unburdened crawl toward death
He gently picked up the notebook from her and wrote down a few sentences. The exchange was clean, mechanical. Just as it should be.
"Thank you" she folded her hands.
Now that they had confirmed each other's identities, they took a cautious turn at the bus stop just to be sure no one was listening.
She got straight to business. Good.
"Ren, one of my classmates is close to Thyme."
"Tell me how you are going to do it."
"That's my business. Making contact, getting information. It's mine." she quickly snapped.
There it was—the rookie mistake. Thinking the work belonged to her alone, as if Mirage operated on individual ownership rather than chains of information. He'd seen it before. The ones who lasted learned quickly that no part of this work was truly theirs.
Her stance retracted slowly once she realized the misstep.
He kept his expression neutral, voice level. "It's my business to share your information."
Not a threat. Just a fact. He was the relay, the connection between her and the organization. Nothing more, nothing less. She would learn that boundaries existed for a reason—to keep people like them from becoming liabilities.
Or she wouldn't learn. And then she wouldn't last.
Either way, it wasn't his concern. He was just the messenger.
YOU ARE READING
Knight Syndrome
FanfictionRen has spent most of his life surrounded by the F4 and Gorya, but as his friends start to venture out into the world, he realizes that he has no life of his own. Enter Ameena, a mysterious girl with a secret double life as an espionage agent who fi...
