Central Park - July 20, 2012 - 1628 hours

Marlene had invited Elizabeth for a walk through Central Park and Elizabeth accepted for the sake of not being rude.

"So, what was it like? Being a nurse for all those soldiers must've been hard work," Marlene asked.

Elizabeth nodded. "Yes, it was brutal at times. Especially when I had to break the news to the family when a loved one had passed on," she answered.

"I can imagine. So, you've never been married, then?" Marlene asked with a smile.

Elizabeth eyed her sideways. "Nope. Always been single," she lied.

"Well, that's hard to believe. You seem like such a nice woman. I'm surprised no one's snatched you up, yet!" Marlene said playfully.

"I guess I just haven't found that special someone," Elizabeth replied bashfully.

"What about Kowalski? What's going on between you two? I know you two went out on the terrace last night," Marlene cooed in a singsong voice.

"Well . . ." Elizabeth started awkwardly with heat rushing into her cheeks.

"Did he—kiss you?" Marlene asked, emphasizing the word 'kiss' by nudging her with her elbow. Elizabeth didn't meet her eye. "He did, didn't he?!" Marlene urged excitedly.

Elizabeth felt as if she'd turned into a tomato. Without answering, she playfully pushed Marlene's shoulder and she laughed.

"I'm sorry, I'm just so happy for you two! Kowalski's a really nice guy," Marlene said.

Elizabeth looked down. "I know," she replied with guilt twinging in her chest. She turned her head away from Marlene and saw a car parked on the side of the road about a hundred feet away. A man in casual clothing and sunglasses was leaning against it and seemed to be watching them.

"Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth hadn't realized she'd stopped walking and looked at Marlene with a start.

"Is something wrong?" Marlene asked, expressing concern.

"No! I mean—I remembered that I left my jacket at the diner. I'm sorry," Elizabeth blurted.

Marlene eyed her suspiciously. "Are you sure there isn't anything wrong? You know you can tell me," she asked again.

"I'm fine. Thanks for the concern, though," Elizabeth assured her with a smile. She glanced back at the street and noticed that the car was gone, along with the mysterious man.

"Marlene, why don't we go back to the apartment building? My allergies are starting to get to me," Elizabeth suggested. Marlene agreed and they started back to the apartment building.

Elizabeth didn't see the car nor the man all the way there.

— § —

There's a difference between being told you'll be watched, feeling like you're being watched, and knowing you're being watched.

Elizabeth wasn't sure of how much more paranoid she could get. She jumped at the sound of doors closing and checked her surroundings like a burglar after a bank heist. Well, Hans was right about one thing. She was smarter than he thought. Elizabeth was about to take a chance. If someone was really following her, she was going to put an end to it.

Elizabeth was now walking down Fifth Avenue on her own. She'd been walking around random blocks for three hours now, looking for a pattern on who might be following her. There was only one thing that remained constant: a man wearing sunglasses, a baseball cap, and jeans was walking several yards behind her for the past hour. Elizabeth gradually slowed her pace and stealthily checked behind herself from the corner of her eye by turning as frequent as possible, either around the block or across the street.

When he was a few yards behind her, she stopped and looked around as if she were lost. When he continued to walk past, she tapped him on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, do you know where the nearest rest stop is? I need to make a call," she asked innocently.

The man nodded. "Yes, it's two blocks that way," he said, pointing down the street.

Elizabeth smiled and walked around him to where she was just outside an alley. "Thank you, I really need to start charging my—"

Without warning, she pulled his arm behind his back and pushed him into the alley and against the wall.

"Who are you?! Did he send you?!" she hissed into his ear.

"Hey! What's your problem? I don't know what you're talking about!" the man replied, struggling against her grasp.

"That's a lie! He sent you, didn't he?!" she asked again, turning him around and pushing her arm into his collar-bone.

He stared at her blankly and pushed her off before attempting to escape. But he was falling before he'd even realized Elizabeth had tripped him. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground with Elizabeth on top of him.

"Where's Ryan?!" she asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about! Let me go!" the man gasped.

Elizabeth stared hard into his eyes. She was so sure he was the one following her. Then again, she nearly felt that everyone was following her. With a frustrated sigh, Elizabeth stood up and offered her hand to help him up.

That's when the tables were turned and he pulled her back down to the ground, pinning her.

"Hans was right, you'll believe anything."

"What are you talking about?! Get off me!" Elizabeth ordered.

"Just don't worry about Ryan," the man said softly in her ear. "He's going to be just fine. But only if you do what Hans says."

Elizabeth jerked one of her arms loose and brought her fist into his face. She seized his moment of shock and rolled over on top of him.

"You can tell Hans that if he hurts Ryan, I swear, I'll—"

"He's not going to hurt him! Get off me!" the man exclaimed.

"—I'll kill him!" Elizabeth finished. "And stop following me! I can do what I need to do just fine without one of his rats following my every move."

Elizabeth stood up and stormed out of the alley. The light from the sun caused her head to throb and she touched her temple. When she examined her fingers, there was blood. She assumed she must have hit her head when she fell.

Apartment 48D - 2017 hours

Once Elizabeth made it back to her apartment, she went into the bathroom and cleaned her wound and applied a bandage.

After she'd finished, there was a knock at the door. She was surprised to see who was there.

"Skipper? What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk," Skipper replied with seemingly no emotion. He didn't look happy. Reluctantly, Elizabeth gestured him inside. He walked past her and she shut the door behind him.

Elizabeth turned to face him and could feel the dagger in her boot pressed against her leg with a burning cool that would slowly drive her crazy. Was she really going to do this now?

Skipper turned around and faced her. It seemed that he wasn't sure where to start. "What happened to your forehead?" he asked finally. He asked the question as if he already knew the answer.

Elizabeth's heart plummeted. "I tripped and hit my head," she lied.

Skipper scoffed and examined the floor as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Do you make a living out of lying?—because you're really good at it," he asked.

Elizabeth gulped. "What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb with me. For your information, I was out earlier. I saw you in that alley. I decided that my decision to stop digging into your past was a mistake. So, I dug deeper. You didn't even exist before eight years ago. Then, I did a facial recognition. Your real name is Amanda Taylor. You left London eight years ago and were never seen nor heard from again. And worse than that, you were married to my arch-enemy! I knew you looked familiar," he said, turning away in incredulity, running his hand over his face.

Elizabeth hugged herself tightly as the tension rose inside her. She tried to find the words to say, but found herself speechless.

"So, my question is, why are you really here?" Skipper asked, turning back to her tucking his thumbs in his pockets.

Elizabeth stared blankly at him for a moment as her adrenaline increased with her heart rate. In the next second, her hand found the inside of her boot and she ripped the dagger from its sheath as she flung herself at him.

Skipper was caught completely by surprise, but acted on instinct, catching her in the arm. Elizabeth kneed him in the stomach and he doubled over for a second while releasing her arm. Skipper started to straighten, but Elizabeth turned three-sixty on her heel and brought her foot into his back, sending him stumbling forward. She pulled him back by the scruff of the neck and brought the dagger down hard into his face, but Skipper caught her arm again just before he lost his ear.

"So that's what you're here for?! Hans told you to kill me?!" Skipper deduced.

Without answering, Elizabeth broke away and attempted another roundhouse kick and Skipper grabbed her leg and threw her on her back. The shock of striking the floor sent the dagger flying out of her hand and sliding next to the end table at the far side of the room. She and Skipper looked at the dagger, and then to each other.

"You don't have to do this. I don't know what Hans said to you, but I'm not the enemy here," Skipper tried to reason, extending his hand toward her to help her up. Elizabeth stared at it for a moment as if she'd never seen a hand before in her life. He was offering to help, even after all she'd lied about? She accepted it and regained her footing and made a last second decision to back out, pushing him to the ground

Elizabeth leapt over him and could nearly reach the dagger, but had to crawl just a couple more feet. She tried to pull herself closer, but Skipper grabbed her legs and pulled her back, turned her over, and pinned her down.

"Why are you so determined to kill me?! Am I really worth it?! Is Hans?! What have I ever done to you?! Or do you just love Hans so much that you'd kill an innocent man to satisfy him?!" he yelled.

His accusation took Elizabeth aback, igniting her hatred for what Hans was doing and making it burn more fierce than ever. She spat in his face and bit one of his arms. Skipper cried out in pain and Elizabeth pushed him off. Finally, she pulled herself to the dagger and grabbed it as she got to her feet. After kicking Skipper in the chest to land him on his back, she got on top of him and held up the dagger.

Skipper's life flashed before his eyes.