It was funny how life changed from moment to moment. Most people go about their lives with a blissful ignorance that things will remain as they always have. Secure in the knowledge that predetermination had already laid out a path for them that they but only had to walk in. But not for her, in just a few days, she seemed to aged decades. But beneath the weary exterior lie, a strength who's origin was, for the moment, unknown. If they remember me as a fool, it will be as a courageous fool. Taking a deep breath, she sat up a little straighter. It seemed to her as if her entire senses had been scrubbed with sandpaper she was so alert about the world around her. She could feel each seam in the padded chair she was sitting in, she was the dirt beneath his fingernails, the clinking of plates downstairs. She was each breath of oxygen in every person's lungs, she was the very air carrying the tension from the man sitting across from her. She shifted to ease the burden off the numbness in her leg, and she was every pinprick of tingling sensation.
She was the vibration of the pendulum marking time with every thud. The continuum of its beat was her, and she was it. The more time that elapsed, it seemed she became less and less of herself. The flickering flames of the fireplace voraciously devouring the dry, wood was simply a reflection of her soul, alive and burning with conflict. Every hiss and popping crack of the wood succumbing to the intense heat and further feeding the fire that was burning was another part of herself being reduced to ashes, to a memory. The fire was her, and she was the fire. She composed herself even further, with each beat of her heart, her resolve hardened, with each breath she focused her goal more firmly in her mind, with each beat of her heart she gripped tighter the future. Until, until nothing remained of who she once was.
"Where would you like me to start?"
00000
Lieutenant Holbrook's excitement died in his throat. The body that lay before them was most certainly dead, but it wasn't the target. Some of the men swore while others eyed the forest suspiciously, as if Redcoats were going to appear out of the darkness like apparitions. Holbrook gripped his musket so tightly his knuckles were starting to turn white. The consequences of Major Haddock's not in the tent were beginning to dawn on him, and it filled him with such a sense of dread his body couldn't decide if it wanted to vomit or collapse.
"Search the camp!" His voice was guttural with rage.
The soldiers hurried to obey and began a methodical sweep of every tent and corpse. The sergeant and the Lieutenant were left to look at each other, both pondering how the events of today would unfold. After a few minutes that felt like seconds, the soldiers reported back that all the dead were accounted for. He wasn't here. Holbrook swallowed his emotions and surveyed their handiwork.
"On your feet. We. Are. Leaving."
00000
He looked up at her, the surprise he was feeling evident on his face. The voice that had addressed him was a far cry from the one at the beginning of their session. He studied her closely, trying to ascertain what could have prompted such changes in the short time they had spent together. But there was nothing to be found, her face might as well have been made of stone for all the emotion it displayed.
"Maybe we should start at the beginning."
She nodded briskly, "I first established contact with Major Haddock-"
"The beginning, I said. Tell me about your parents." He cut her off with a clinical voice, as cold and dispassionate as she'd been moments earlier.
She visibly stuttered at the interruption and took a moment to compose herself before going.
"You wish me to speak of my parents?" Her voice was under rigid control.
He nodded while shuffling through his papers. When she failed to speak, he looked back up at her.
"Why?"
He took note that the question might as well have been a snarl, for she had bitten the word out between tightly clenched jaws.
"Your obvious anger is precisely why I find the matter so interesting. Your parents seem to be the reason behind your involvement with His Majesty's hated enemies. These rebels, the so-called patriots. If you are to gain our trust and prove your loyalty to the sovereign, you must convince me that you don't share their delusions."
He paused to see how she would react to his choice of words. Her body was still under rigid control, but her eyes had gone glacially cold. And when she spoke, the undercurrents of rage rippled.
"You don't believe the Irish haven't been treated by the English in mutual good faith?"
Her voice was a quiet, dangerous whisper.
"Irrelevant, I'm afraid. The Irish are subjects of His Majesty and will behave as such or face the consequences."
He imagined if he were to face a tiger in the wild, it would look at him as she did then. Her eyes were empty, utterly devoid of life and emotion. He gazed into them, and they might as well have been marble. He saw neither anger nor hatred, simply the cold, unrelenting, uncaring fact that she wished him dead. He smiled at her, it was cute, as if this petite blond could kill him.
"It won't change anything. Killing me, even if you could, wouldn't change anything. Not for your people, and not for you."
He had to admit he was enjoying himself. When he had first received this assignment, he was shocked that she hadn't been hung. But after meeting her he understand now why Haddock was reluctant. Killing something this beautiful should be a crime. Oh, the things he'd do with her, but the Major had been explicit, no one was to lay so much as a finger on her. He smiled too himself at what that must mean. His smiled wilted on his lips when he saw her smiling back at him.
"Do you find something amusing?"
Her smile grew. She seemed to ponder over the words as if they struck her as odd.
"Amusing?"
"You are smiling. That typically indicates mirth, so I say again, do you find something amusing?"
The smile that danced on her lips didn't quite make it to her eyes. "No, nothing amusing, just that it can be useful to be underestimated."
The silence that hung before them seemed to go on forever, untouched. She didn't seem troubled by it, and his pride wouldn't let him make the first move. So stayed there they did, not speaking. Her unmoving and blinking periodically, him with his legs cross tapping a crescendo with his pen. They stayed like that, locked in an eternal battle of wills until a rapping on the door caused him to jump slightly and her to swivel towards the door. Seeing his reaction out of the corner of her eye, she smirked at him. Flustered, he stood angrily and stalked towards the door.
"What. Is it."
He regretted his tone of voice when he realized he was speaking to Major Haddock. For his part, the Major simply raised an eyebrow.
"Ah, forgive me, Major, I wasn't expecting you." Shutting the door behind him, he stepped into the hallway.
"Report your progress." If the Major took any offense, he didn't show it.
"She's holding secrets, of that I'm certain. She displays a chronic distrust of the British and of our empire, she's aggressive and unruly…"
He trailed off when he saw the corners of the Major's mouth turn upward.
"Forgive me, doctor, but if that's all you've discovered you haven't progressed very far." He was chuckling now. "Tell me, in the weeks you've been having your little 'sessions,' have you actually ascertained anything of value. Anything I or anyone who's spent five minutes with her couldn't tell you?"
The doctor sniffed in indignation. "If you had not chosen to belittle me Major and impede my work at every turn, I would've made more progress. Perhaps you don't appreciate my skill, but there are those among the High Command who do. What's more, this little pet of yours is facing the noose. Whether or not that pretty little neck of hers gets broken by the hangman is based of my recommendation. I don't believe the major needs me to remind him of the potential blowback that could come on his career."
Henry's smile hadn't wavered. "I do believe you need to be alive to threaten me. Correct me if I'm wrong, but we are stationed in a battle zone, and recent events have demonstrated the enemy's abilities to strike behind our protective walls. It would be so unfortunate if you were to be found dead due to falling debris, stray musket shot, or having your throat slit from ear to ear." The smile disappeared, and the green forest of the major's eyes burned with fury.
"Or perhaps due to the restriction of the harbor thanks to our naval presence you partook of some less than sanitary seafood, suffered food poisoning the doctors have yet to diagnose, fell victim, and expired less than twelve hours later."
He placed one hand on the doctor's shoulder and gripped it so tightly he winced. "Or, you can wrap up your time here and declare Miss Hofferson of no threat to the Empire. She, being an operative for Army intelligence, is in fact a loyal servant the King and warrants no further suspicion. "
The doctor had wilted before the bridled fury in Henry's eyes. Swallowing hard and taking several steps back, he nodded his head up and down as if he were still a schoolboy.
"O- of course, Major. I will make my recommendation at once."
Henry smiled at him and hooked his thumbs on his belt. "You do that."