Never Truly Living

Chapter 20

The months seemed to fly by for Vesper, and soon it was Vera and Oliver's fifth birthday. M called to check in soon after their birthday, as she usually did. She inquired about their healthes and informed Vesper about that there was space for them at the primary school down the street from them. In the excitement of celebrating her children's birthdays, she had completely forgotten about enrolling them in their first year of primary school. She thanked M for her help, and the call was rather short.
The year seemed to fly by after that, summer came and went, Sam was home for the summer and offered to help with Oliver and Vera while Vesper was at work, as Margret was taking care of her grandchildren.

Soon, it was mid October, her son and daughter were at primary school, and she was at work. It had been cooling down and the streets and sidewalks were wet from the rain. She was walking down the hallway early in the morning in Treasury Services when she spotted a few employees gathered around a television. She inched closer, catching the news anchor say, "—a possible 'cyber-terrorist assault' on the British Secret Service" and her pace picked up. She strode quickly over to the television, her heart pounding. When she got near, she saw it.
MI6 Headquarters in London, the SIS Building at Vauxhall Cross was spewing plumes of thick, black smoke from its upper levels. As she stepped up to the TV, her breath quickening, ignoring her coworkers' concerned looks, the anchor went on, "—indicate at least six dead, many more injured, with victims being evacuated to local hospitals within minutes of the explosion."

She stood there, staring at the building as it burned. It was unlikely, she knew, that James was injured, as he rarely spent any time at that building, often deployed on missions around the world. But this was still serious; M still worked there, as well as a great number of MI6 employees.

She had no idea, for how could she know, that in the early evening on a beachside bar on an island in the Mediterranean, James Bond was watching the exact same news broadcast, and that it would bring him back from the dead.

•

She waited for a call that night from M, but got nothing. She even called the number M had given her, long ago in London, and left a brief message. Nothing.

She soon found out why, as it was soon revealed that eight MI6 employees had been killed in the attack. M, it seemed, had survived, and was now on the hot seat from members of parliament and the public to find the person responsible. That was why she hadn't contacted Vesper. She had far more important business.

Vesper read the names of the victims in the newspaper after Vera and Oliver had gone to sleep, her heart in her throat, and, when she did not recognise any of them, she threw the paper down and leaned back on the sofa in relief. He was still alive, as far as she knew.

So she waited as October went on, as the first of the embedded spies whose identities had been released was executed, wishing her son and daughter a good day at school, and working as she'd always done. She following the news religiously, watching and reading each day of the public pressure on the head of MI6, and then the announcement of a public inquiry.

And then, terrifying reports of a terrorist attack on the London Underground, several dead in an explosion that derailed a train, and, the same day, a shooting at the inquiry itself. Vesper learned that there had been fatalities, but that the majority of them had been security guards, and there were no reports of any MI6 or public employees sustaining or succumbing to injuries.

After that there was nothing. No reports of a perpetrator being apprehended, no news on the future of MI6 or its chief. Nothing. The trail had gone cold.

So as November began to creep in and snow began threatening to fall, Vesper went on with her life. She worked, read to her children, fed them, and took them to the park when it was nice.