Chapter 16

I gasped in shock as Greg's body dropped to the floor at my feet. His blood was everywhere; he had literally had his brains blown out. 47 regarded me coolly, his pistol still raised, smoking slightly. There was a moment of calm before I bent forward unceremoniously and retched onto the floor. Nothing came out, but my body had finally caught up to the life-threatening situation I had been in.

47 walked over to me slowly and I struggled to tilt my head to look up at him. He was assessing my state with a calm, impassive eye.

"You may have concussion." His tone was matter of fact, ignoring the gore dripping off me from his recent execution.

"You think?" My ballsy, sarcastic quip surprised me, but the assassin only raised his eyebrow at me in that infuriating way he liked to do. Without another word he walked round behind me and deftly cut through the cable tie binding me to the chair. I rubbed my wrists absent mindedly, trying to get the blood flowing to them again.

"Can you stand?" He was stood beside me now, his expression unreadable. I wasn't sure; I was finding it hard to sit currently, so god knows what standing would be like. Gingerly I pushed down on the seat of the chair with my hands and raised myself an inch at a time. He watched me patiently, never once giving the impression I was hindering him. My head gave a sickening lurch as I reached my full height; wobbling unsteadily I turned to look at him, every movement a battle.

"Yes, it appears I can." He kept his eyes on me as he moved to stand directly in front of me. Hesitantly he reached out a hand and touched under my chin. The contact sent a strange warmth through the place he was holding. It wasn't helping my bid to stay upright. With surprising gentleness he tilted my head and examined the wound on my forehead. I was convinced he could feel my heart pounding as his eyes slide over my face, concentration creasing his brow.

"The wound is superficial. You should be okay." All too soon he released my chin, letting my head fall back to its natural position.

"That's a relief, I thought he'd knocked my brains out for sure." 47 didn't react, but I saw his eyes glint briefly with amusement.

"We need to get you home." He glanced at the scene around us, how were we going to hide all this? His gaze suddenly locked onto Helen in the corner, and my heart stuttered nervously.

"Has she been unconscious long?" I knew what he was hinting at

"She was like that when I got here." He nodded once in satisfaction. She hadn't heard anything to make her a problem. He quietly walked over to her and cut her arms free, then taking Greg's pistol he wiped the grip and placed it gently in her hand. I watched with fascination as he set the scene the police would find.

"Self-defense." He stated simply as he straightened up and turned back to me. A sadness I couldn't pin point suddenly threatened to overwhelm me. She would be fine; it was obvious she had been attacked. But at that moment I just knew in my gut that I wouldn't see her again. It was too dangerous; I had already caused enough damage. 47 waited for me to collect myself before moving towards the door. It was my cue to leave.

With one last glance at Helen, I hobbled slowly after the assassin using whatever was near for support as I went. After what seemed like years I made it down to the ground floor. 47 was waiting by his black Audi that I had travelled in an age ago. He opened the passenger door for me like a gentleman, and I lowered myself in as gracefully as I could manage. I tilted my head back against the leather headrest as he drove quickly through the nighttime streets of London.

"How did you find me?" I asked him, my eyes closed to stop my stomach churning.

"I've been monitoring you since Dubai." I opened one eye and regarded his profile. He noticed me looking and fixed me with his cool stare.

"You really shouldn't have done what you did Peregrine. But after hearing what you potentially saved the agency from, I suggest you tell Diana and Mahone what you've uncovered."

I opened both eyes and lifted my head to frown at 47. "Why both of them?"

He turned his attention back to the road. "Because they're waiting for you back at your flat."

My stomach dropped. What a fantastic time to receive my verdict from the agency. Concussed out of my mind and covered in someone else's blood. We were back at my flat quicker than I would have liked, I wasn't sure if I could take anymore drama tonight.

47 helped me out of the car, I probably gripped onto his arm tighter than was comfortable but he didn't show it. It felt like a walk on death row ascending to my front door. 47 walked behind me, I wasn't certain if he was making sure I wouldn't fall back down the stairs or if he was stopping me from running. Not that I could have run anywhere in my current state.

The lights were on in my flat as I nervously opened the door. Diana and Mahone were stood in my living room facing towards me, expecting me. I shuffled in to them, my face probably betraying my fear. Both their expressions were stern, but I could see concern and a tinge of shock in Diana's features as she took in my macabre appearance.

I wasn't sure if it was the concussion or nervous energy, but I suddenly felt highly delirious. "Hello everyone, welcome to my home. Do excuse me, I am currently auditioning for a role in the Walking Dead."

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Diana's face broke into a grin at this remark. 47 had come to stand beside me, facing the pair. Diana's eyes flicked to him briefly, a moment of unspoken understanding flashing between them. I was acutely aware of the strength of respect and trust they felt for each other. Mahone remained unchanged, the same grumpy expression fixed on his face, he was an ex-agent after all, he had seen it all before.

"Peregrine, we've come to give you the judgment from the board." His gruff tone held no warmth or humour. My gut tightened in nervous anticipation. "You violated the terms of your contract by not delivering the information requested by the client. This is unacceptable, and extremely disappointing from someone with your…promise." He looked at 47 for the first time then, as if accusing him of my incompetence. The man beside me didn't move, but his quiet voice instantly demanded attention in the room.

"I have some new information that might change your mind Director Mahone." The other man looked taken aback at 47's sudden intervention.

"With all due respect 47, this isn't a matter for you to concern yourself with." This time 47 shifted to face Mahone square on, ever so slightly he straightened himself to his full height. Mahone's mouth tightened in a thin line at the subtle threat.

"On the contrary, it is a matter for me to concern myself with. Peregrine is my handler, and I have intel that can prove she did you a favour deleting that program." It was Diana's turn to look taken aback.

"What do you know 47?" My agent turned to face his previous handler.

"Peregrine was attacked tonight by a member of a supposed elite group of hackers known as Cicada 3301." Diana's eyebrows shot up at this revelation, Mahone merely huffed unconvinced. "They revealed that the program in Dubai was meant to go to one of them, the client who hired us was part of their group. They also informed her that their main objective was to infiltrate and compromise the ICA."

Mahone and Diana exchanged a look. "Is that the case Peregrine?" Diana's voice was low and urgent. I nodded dumbly, 47's testimony had me speechless. He needn't have helped me. Mahone growled in frustration.

"Of course she would agree, it gets her off the hook." He jabbed a finger at 47. "I don't know what you're playing at agent, but I never agreed to let any old, public school, two bit hacker join our organisation." 47 clenched his fist; the movement was so minute that I was sure only I had noticed. "It was only because you insisted she was to be the replacement that we agreed, and now look at the mess she's caused." Mahone's sudden disdain for me felt unjustified, and I couldn't help feeling a sense of frustrated anger at his assumptions of me. Sure I had gone against their orders last time, but hadn't I proven myself?

Diana turned angrily to face the Training Director, "Enough Mahone. 47 has no reason to lie to us, if what he says is true then we have more pressing concerns than a slightly rebellious handler." She gave me a sideways look, "Besides I was just like her when I started, and need I remind you what happened to my Training Director."

This threat was certainly not veiled; everyone knew how Director Soders had died. I risked a glance to my side to see 47 giving Mahone a piercing stare. Mahone visibly deflated under the onslaught.

He shot me a bitter look, and I was sure I hadn't heard the last of this. "Very well. You are free to carry on your duties Peregrine." I was flying high; how had I managed to evade that one? I felt a huge swell of gratitude towards Diana and 47, they had risked their necks for me, fuck knows why.

My mentor turned to face me again; she smiled a reassuring smile at me. "Get yourself cleaned up Peregrine, then tell us all you know about Cicada 3301."

The computer screen illuminated my face. To say it was a surreal experience having my agent and mentor stood in the room where I had performed all of my contracts was an understatement. I had noticed 47's cursory glance around the small office room, the arrangement of screens and electrical equipment taking up most of the space. They were both looking over my shoulder at the information I had brought up on Cicada.

"They've been going for years, every so often they'll post challenges online for people to complete. Only the best succeed, they select them to join I guess, it's always just been speculation no one actually knows." I turned to look at Diana as she read the wiki page I had up.

"Have you ever tried to complete one?" I looked down sheepishly at her question. My silence drew her gaze to me.

"Once." I was reluctant to answer, knowing this was probably why I was on their radar. "I started one a few years back when I had just moved here." I met her eyes now. "I thought they were just some prank, someone playing a game on the web." I could feel 47's eyes on the back of my head as I spoke.

"Did you finish it?" His voice was quiet and calm. It made me shiver slightly.

"No, I got to the very end and chickened out." I turned away from Diana's x-ray stare and focused on my computer again. "It started to get a bit weird."

The black and white image of a Cicada glared at me accusingly from the screen. "How so?" Diana didn't sound angry, just curious; it gave me the strength to keep going.

"They tried to make me hack into a well known politician's private life and find stuff to blackmail them with." I shook my head slowly, "I just thought the joke had gone too far, not that they were…" I trailed off. I had been naïve then, unaware the world was run by hidden groups manipulating us all. I wondered for the first time what my life would have been like if I had completed it. Banishing the thought from my head, the past was the past, I turned to face them both.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before." Diana smiled at me, 47 remained expressionless.

"We never asked Peregrine. You're telling us now anyway."

A sensation of drowning suddenly hit me; I rubbed my aching head with my hand tentatively.

"I'm such an idiot." I said, almost to myself.

"You're learning Perry." Diana looked sharply at 47, the use of my nickname jarring her. His gaze was fixed on me, and I stared into his eyes for a moment trying to keep my head above the surface. He broke away first to look at Diana.

"So what now?" She seemed to think for a moment.

"I'll take this information to the board and see if I can persuade them to pursue this. In the mean time you and Peregrine lay low." He nodded, their easy relationship evident.

"This is a load of hooey." Mahone's gravelly voice interrupted. Diana sighed turning to face him, I strained to look at his silhouetted form in the doorway.

"There is concrete evidence that this group exists and is a real threat to the agency Mahone." She spoke slowly as if talking to someone who was stupid. Mahone marched into the middle of her and 47, suddenly my little office seemed very crowded. I didn't like being lower down than everyone else, but I didn't have any space to stand. I stayed tucked behind my agent and mentor as Mahone started to get annoyed.

"So far it's just the word of some green horned handler, and the ramblings of a lunatic who attacked her. I've seen little evidence to persuade me that this fabricated group of technical wizards could do any damage to the ICA."

"He knew my codename." All three of them turned to look at me. Mahone looked like an enraged bull at the moment, I struggled to keep the confidence in my voice, I felt very small. "He also had information about my contracts."

47 turned back to Mahone, "That's true, he did." Mahone looked from 47 to me.

"You seem to be very keen to defend this girl 47." There was an accusation in his voice that I didn't like. 47 gave the smallest shrug.

"I am just telling you the truth Mahone. If you don't want to believe it, that's up to you." His calm voice seemed to anger Mahone even more.

"I came here to dismiss this handler for her misconduct. Not get into some argument about the existence of the tooth fairy." My face flamed with chagrin; so they had been here to fire me. At least Diana was determined to keep fighting for me.

The tension in the room was starting to get uncomfortable, when a loud ping from my computer made us all turn towards it. A message had popped up on my desktop; it was unmarked. Slowly I moved my mouse over it, very conscious of everyone watching me. After a moment of hesitation I clicked on it.

The image of a Cicada appeared set against a black background. I leant in to read the strange, staccato text beneath it, my heart thudding loudly.

We are the enlightened.

Epiphany is upon you, the pilgrimage will continue.

A bird with clipped wings does not fly; the wolves are closing in.

3301

I read it in a steady voice, which slowly got quieter as I reached the end. A silence hung in the air after I had finished. Then Mahone shifted uneasily.

"What the hell was that?"

47 turned to the Director, leveling him with his ice-cold stare. "I believe that was a threat from the tooth fairy."