My taxi arrived at the SS Headquarters. It was chaos. I tossed a handful of marks at the driver and shouted, "Keep the change!" before hopping out of the vehicle. I ran down the stairs and into the building. The lobby was crowded, and the sirens outside were deafening. Finally I found the man I was looking for in front of the elevators, spattered in blood. I ran towards him and threw my arms around his neck. "Daddy!"

He stood there for a second and then hugged me back tightly. "Charlotte." The moment was short lived. He grabbed my shoulders and held me at arms length. "Why aren't you at the hospital?"

"They brought Erich in, I knew he was in your car," I told him. "Dr. Porter let me leave early to find you."

"You should be in that surgery," he reprimanded.

"I wasn't in the right headspace," I said defensively. "He's in very capable hands. I'm just a surgical nurse; there are dozens of people just like me on hand." He gave me a look that said a lecture was coming.

"Obergruppenführer," an officer said, getting my father's attention, sparing me for the moment. "We've identified the Semite you captured, he goes by Doc."

"American Resistance?" I asked him.

The officer looked from me to my father. "Charlotte asked a question," my father said.

"We, um, don't know, sir," he said. He shifted uncomfortably. "He hasn't told us anything yet."

"Then make him." Dad shook his head. The elevator doors opened and we both got on. "I vary my route every day, and yet this Semite found us."

"How?" I asked.

"I don't know, but I intend to find out."

"Are you going to put Athena on the case?" I asked him. The other two officers in the elevator glanced at me briefly at the mention of Athena. When I met their gaze, they quickly looked away.

"No, I'll handle this myself." The doors opened on his floor and we got off.

"This is exactly what she's trained for," I said as we walked down the hall. As soon as we were in his office and the door was closed behind me, I rephrased my statement. "This is my area of expertise. Someone leaked your route to terrorists, let me find out who."

"In your last four years with the SD you've uncovered a half dozen traitors in our ranks. The SS is grateful for your work," he said. "But you're not needed on this case."

"Why bother creating Athena if you're not going to use her when it matters the most?" I asked. "Someone tried to assassinate you, dad."

"I am quite aware of the situation, Charlotte." He shook his head. "If these terrorists are targeting me, they won't be above targeting my family too. I'm not putting you in the crosshairs any more than necessary."

I shook my head. "You're impossible."

"You came by your stubbornness honestly," he said with a hint of a smile, but it was quickly wiped away. "I want you trained for field surgery as soon as possible. I would feel better knowing you can take care of yourself out there."

"What do you think I spend my spare time doing? I definitely don't spend it cooking and cleaning. You know mom actually got me a subscription to Good Housekeeping for my birthday? I'm about as far from their cover girls as you can get, though I suppose that was the point. You should be counting your blessing you're finally going to marry me off."

He tilted his head. "You must be even better at your job than I thought. That boy is serious about marrying you. You don't take a job working for your girl's father unless you're really ready to put a ring on her finger."

"Please, Joe's been ready to get married for ages. You're the one that sent me on a six-month mission in Florida just to put off a proposal. Someone's not ready to let his little girl go. That's the only reason Joe's off in god knows where, doing who knows what."

"You're my oldest daughter, and one of my top agents," he said. "I'm not letting you marry anyone until they've proven themselves to me."

I hesitated before finally asking. "Have you heard from him recently?"

"He's checked in," he told me. "You know I can't tell you any more about his mission."

I nodded. "I know."

There was a knock on the door. "Obergruppenführer?"

"Just a moment," he told me before going into the hall. I walked over to his desk and looked it over. There was a photo of mom, and another of me with my three younger siblings. Under a large book, a folder stuck out.

I slid the folder out and flipped it open, glancing over my shoulder at the door. I looked back at the folder. Joe's photo was paper clipped to the page. I scanned it, but there wasn't anything here I didn't already know. I flipped the page; this one had notes in my father's handwriting. Off to one side was a phone number. I pushed up my sleeve and scribbled the number on my wrist with my father's pen. Then stuck the folder back under the book, just as the door opened.

I tugged my sleeve back down over the number as my father walked back into the room. "I shouldn't keep you any longer," I told him.

"Dinner this week?" He asked. "Your mother would love to see you."

"I'll be home for V-A Day, that's only two weeks away."

He nodded. "I'll remind her." I gave him a hug. "Be careful going home."

"It's Brooklyn, dad, not a war zone." I laughed. "Try to hide your disgust." I reached for the door. Looking over my shoulder, I added, "Tell mom I love her."

OoOoO

When I got home I went straight to the phone. I pushed up my sleeve, revealing the phone number. I hadn't had the chance to read any of the notes, but I was hoping this number was how they'd been contacting Joe.

I dialed the number. It rang four times; I was beginning to think that I'd been wrong. Then he answered. "Hello?"

"Joe," I sighed in relief.

"Lottie?" He asked confused. "How did you get this number?"

"Poked around in my dad's office while he was out of the room," I admitted.

"I thought Athena was off duty?" Joe teased.

"Athena is. However Charlotte Smith is very much active, and very much worried about her boyfriend."

"No need to worry, I'm fine," he told me. "Everything is good here, I promise."

"Please, you should really know better than to lie to a spy."

"There was a situation," he confessed. "But it's been handled. There's really no need to worry. Hopefully I'll be home next week. I'm just waiting on my contact to get in touch."

"Good, I'm ready for you to be home. We've barely seen each other this year."

"How's everything back home?"

"Someone attempted to assassinate my dad today," I informed him. "He wasn't the only high ranking official to be targeted, not all of them were as lucky as he was."

"Lottie, that's– that's awful, I'm sorry. But he's okay?"

"Yeah, he's alive. His aide is in critical condition, but Dr. Porter is optimistic he'll pull through."

"Any idea who coordinated the attacks?" Joe asked.

"No, but they had to get their information from an inside man," I told him. "The routes change every day, someone would have had to feed the attackers the schedule."

"Resistance?"

"I don't know, but I intend to find out." I groaned. "I'll let you go. I'll call again tomorrow?"

"I'm not sure we're going to be sticking around here much longer," he told me.

"We?" I asked.

"Just a girl I've been watching out for. I'll call if I can, okay?"

"Yeah, sure, talk to you soon. Be careful. I love you, Joe."

"Love you too." He hung up and I sat there for a moment. Then I stood up and did the dishes. I always found doing the dishes was a good way to clear my head. It was also the only household chore I actually enjoyed.

When I was done I rang out the dishrag and took it over to the window. I draped the red cloth over the windowsill. I looked out over my view. It didn't hold a candle to my father's office view in the heart of Manhattan, but it was home.

OoOoO

That night I took a walk to Prospect Park. Personally I found it leagues better than Central Park. Tourists didn't visit Brooklyn, so the park was always less crowded. But us locals loved it.

I walked under one of the arches. This one had a little alcove where a service door was. A man stepped out of the alcove as I walked by, his face concealed by the darkness. "How's the weather back home?" I asked.

"Clear skies for me," he answered.

I raised an eyebrow, though I knew he couldn't see. "Clear skies? I heard it's been a bit cloudy in the city." He started to speak, but I cut him off. "Did your wife try that recipe I gave her last week?"

He tilted his head. "No, she hasn't yet. She hasn't even gone to the store for the ingredients. She needs more than a week for that sort of thing."

"Well, someone tried the recipe," I insisted, my voice rising. "Are you sure you didn't accidentally give it to someone else?"

"What are you accusing me of, Artemis?" He asked.

My head snapped around, no one was here. It was the middle of the night; of course no one was here. There was no one to listen in. I dropped the act. "Have you not heard about the attempted assassinations today in Manhattan?"

He shook his head. "No, what happened?"

"What happened is that someone used my intel," I snapped. "We have a timetable. I cannot have your people taking matters into their own hands and messing everything up."

"I swear, no one's used your intel. We haven't even scouted all the routes. Like I said, this takes more time, you know that."

"How well do you trust your men?" I asked. "Is it possible that one of them could have taken the intel and planned his own attack?"

"I handpicked this team after months of consideration. They're the best of the best. None of them would ever even think of betraying our mission. We're loyal to this cause."

"If I find out that any of your people had a hand in this-"

"We know the consequences."

I shook my head. "If you hear anything, you know how to contact me. The SS will randomize routes again after something like this. I'll put out the signal again when I have the new schedule." He nodded. I turned away, annoyed that I didn't know anymore than I did this morning. "Liberty, equality, fraternity," I mumbled. He repeated the words back to me in French.

I walked out of the tunnel in the opposite direction. I stepped out into the night. Leaving Artemis behind me and become Charlotte Smith once more.