Wow! Thanks to the people who reviewed! There were a few amusing guesses and some people I didn't even think of! A few people got close or guessed partly, but nobody got it completely right...Oh well! Enjoy this chap guys, leave a review please! xox

"If you're sure, Rose, I'm certain I can arrange that."

"Yes, I'm sure."

"How much time will you need?"

"A month should be sufficient"

"Very well, I'll inform your class. You're a damn fine teacher, Rose, and we'd be sorry to lose you, so why don't you take the time and keep your leave." I smiled.

"Thanks, Diana. I'll see you early September."

"Bye!" She chirped, and I hung up. I sighed to myself. Excellent. It was exactly what I needed-time away from the academy to concentrate on the huge, screwed-up mess that was becoming my life. It had been a week since the Benefactor's message, and every day I was receiving some more tidbits from them, drawing me ever deeper into their dangerous trap. Clues about who it might have been, clues about what exactly Douru had been trying to hide, clues about which ops team might have set me up. I knew what I had to do; I just didn't want to do it yet. I had to go to Russia and get closer on my own, chase down a few old friends that were willing to help me and find out what had happened. That would come, I thought, walking down the street in the twilight dusk. But as for now, I had a murder to commit.

Murdering Sonya Karp proved more difficult than I had anticipated. For a woman of fifty-five she moved fast and far, and, as I remembered, she was sharp as a cobra. I'm sure she knew I was following her, and it satisfied me a little that I scared her. That she knew she was being pursued, that she knew, like all the others, I was going to find her, and when I did…I smiled grimly, drawing my coat tighter around myself. It was cold tonight, the streets and wind were frosty, but the air was heavy with anticipation. Suddenly, Sonya stopped where she was, right under a tree in central park, a streetlight illuminating her figure.

"Rose Hathaway," she said, sounding calm, but towards the end her voice quavered.

"Sonya," I said silkily. "Karma's a real bitch, huh?" My shots hit their target, square in her back, and she crumpled forwards, the blood staining her expensive cream colored jacket. After signing my name, I briskly turned and walked the other way, feeling the strange high that always accompanied doing something like that.

Killing Sonya wasn't really for a purpose, more of a statement and personal revenge. She had been very high up in the agency, and once upon a time, a mentor, but everything had changed the day they'd denounced me. I wanted to send a message to them that nobody was untouchable, that nobody could hide, that I'd always find them. And I had succeeded in the best way possible. But revenge on those who had hurt me was not only what I'd needed. I'd realized with the addition of Dimitri in my life, with my friends and even Abe, that I had a profound need to clear my name. I couldn't live under a shadow any longer. I needed to find the evidence that could redeem me and expose all these people as the traitorous scum they always had been. There was one more person I needed to finish off with before that happened, though.

His name was Joseph Zelokos, and he'd been my boss on the assignment. He had hidden himself very, very well, but I knew he was in New York for a few days on business. Getting to him, however, would prove impossible. He had a bodyguard twice my size, and was officially the most paranoid person ever. And trust me, working in the CIA, you get to meet a lot of paranoid people. My own paranoia was probably what had got me this far, come to think of it. I'd been wanting to get Joseph since the first time I had started out on this crusade, but it had always been impossible. I was beginning to think that it was never going to happen, that I should just give up and settle my scores with him at a later date.

A police siren from around the corner successfully made my heart jump somewhere into my throat, but I forced myself to do what any self-respecting New Yorker would do-go and have a stickybeak. So I turned the corner, walking as normally as possible, and saw a crowd of maybe fifteen civilians, an ambulance and a grim-faced, seasoned NYPD officer, all staring at the same thing.

On the stairs, lying on his back with an unopened envelope in his hand, was Joseph Zelokos.

He had been shot in the head, and there wasn't much left of that part of his body. I pushed forwards through the shocked crowd, almost sure of what I would see. On his crisp white shirt in black writing was that fateful word-The Benefactor. I gulped, and following the policeman's orders, the civilians walked back down the street, grumbling. I went back to Rosemarie's apartment and quickly got changed, then walked the block back to my apartment with a strange feeling in my chest. This person knew so, so much about me, what my patterns were, who I had to settle scores with. The doorman jumped out from behind the door and I nearly screamed.

"S'only me, Miss Rose. "

"Oh! You-you scared me," I gasped. He shook his head ruefully.

"Sorry, Rose. Anyways, I just had a message to give to you. It was lying on the doormat." I looked at the writing and recognized it-ornate, black ink.

"Did you see who left it here?" I asked, almost desperately. He shook his head.

"No, sorry, ma'am. Maybe one of your admirers?" I shook my head wearily at him, and climbed into the lift, wasting no time in ripping open the envelope. With shaking fingers, I read the note.

You're welcome. –B.

DPOV

"Who the hell is this benefactor? I groaned. There's got to be something we know about him." Mason shook his head.

"Nothing. Zip. Nada. Zero. Nien. Nil."

"Okay, we get it, Eddie said impatiently. Could it be a copycat?"

"A copycat targeting the exact same type of people as Rosemarie?" Mason shrugged.

"Hey, maybe sociopaths have friends, too. Maybe they all go to a sociopath meeting every month." He stood up, and raised his hand, putting it on his heart.

"Hi, I'm Mason, and I'm a sociopath," he said solemnly, making both Eddie and I chuckle. Usually, it wouldn't even be half funny, but it was three am and none of us had slept in thirty hours. The murders-Karp and Zelokos, who were both involved with Rose Hathaway and on the nuclear arms committee- had taken place only fifteen minutes apart, from what the ME would tell us. Now we were brainstorming, and the only thing we had to show as three industrial-sized empty bottles of Red Bull.

"Maybe it's nothing. Maybe the Benefactor is Rosemarie," Eddie argued. His eyes dropped. "If it is Rose, that's something she would do. Try and throw us off a little."

"Well. Your friend sounds nice," I drawled, earning bleary glares from both of them that I'd maybe find intimidating if they weren't horribly sleep deprived.

"Rose was set up," Mason hissed. "She had no choice. She wants revenge, she's angry."

"Angry? More like freaking pissed," Eddie said dryly.

"Anyways. She's out for revenge, and once she gets it she'll want to clear her name." I sighed.

"Look. We can't focus on the person right now. Just the problem. If she really was innocent you can push for an inquiry."

"After she' killed one-third of the members of a top-secret organization trying to outlaw nuclear technology in small countries?" Mason snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure she'll be popular. I'm sure they'll all just forgive and forget, own up to their mistakes."

"Mase, quit it", Eddie said irritably. "It isn't helping." He sighed.

"I know, man. I just keep seeing her everywhere, you know? Thinking I see her out of the corner of my eye. The way she walked, or just a flash of her face, or that night we were casing that street and we heard something." He shook his head tiredly. "She was my best friend for sixteen years. That kind of history doesn't go away fast." There was a pause, and Mason's pained face made me feel bad. I knew what it was like to lose a best friend, but maybe not in the way he had.

"Look. Enough about her. Let's talk about the benefactor."

"Similar style to Rose-he winced-marie, maybe even a similar profile. The name "Benefactor" usually denotes somebody older, more experienced, though."

"You're throwing potshots," Mason said exasperatedly. "We've got no clue, let's just admit it and go to sleep. I shrugged, trying to divert another argument.

"Let's face it. The Benefactor's human. Rose is human. "

"Sometimes," Eddie muttered. I ignored him.

"Point is, one of them is going to have to make a mistake sometime soon." I hesitated for a split second before continuing. "They always do."

Okay! So another few murders, any more guesses on the benefactor? Lots of drama in the upcoming chapters, thanks for reading! Leave me a review :)