Our surveillance mission was far more coordinated than any surveillance operation I'd ever led before. We had coordinated shifts in two-person teams with multiple stations around the office building. We had every entrance and exit under our watch, along with all the major roadways that lead to the office. Liz, Macey, Zach, and Bex rotated between pairs for watches, while, unsurprisingly, I was always paired with Townsend, Abby, or Mr. Solomon. In other words, someone to keep an eye on me.

Progress was slow over the first few days of our time in Paris. We couldn't consistently identify any of the people entering and exiting the building, so we were unable to draw any patterns. The population surrounding the building seemed quite random. Even with photographing every person entering and exiting the building, someone would still enter and never leave or leave without having entered as far as we could tell.

Our first big break was when we noticed a familiar face saunter into the complex, Mr. Winters himself. Abby was convinced this meant we had motive to strike, but Townsend preferred continuing with the planning surveillance: "Abigail, as usual, you are too rash for your own survival."

"What does that even mean? I'm alive!" Abby spat.

Mr. Solomon carefully considered, "It would seem that while this does a lot for confirming our hunch that this building is a Circle stronghold, we should take caution as Ed suggests. We still don't have the necessary intel to conduct any sort of operation."

"Surely we have enough information to begin contact with the CIA on a raid," Abby suggested. "They can start putting some sort of ops team together from some of this data."

"Not until we're sure." That seemed to be the only response Mr. Solomon was willing to provide. An air of caution seemed to pollute the air following all that had occurred this semester. No one wanted to be responsible for yet another life.

And so, like the five days before, I found myself sitting on a rooftop with Townsend, looking down on a side entrance to the building. The brick exterior grew more and more common each day. I'd already spent two hours jotting down notes and checking the camera to make sure we were getting everyone. Today was Abby's turn to sit in the hotel room and watch back through all the tapes.

Townsend had said very little today. Things had been slightly weird since the attempted assassination incident, but on the bright side, I wasn't in a secret prison somewhere. Still, I was eager to break the silence.

"So what exactly is our goal here?" I asked. "I mean, when do we have enough intelligence to do something, and what exactly is that something that we are planning to do?"

Townsend sighed, "You know exactly what that is, and if you don't you're not as ready for this as you think."

"I think we both want two different things," I snapped with annoyance. I was tired of people telling me that I wasn't ready. Graduation was technically right around the corner, if I was even going to be able to graduate, all things considered. "You seem to want to find the perfect intelligence that will allow us to capture the Circle members and methodically dismantle them, brick by brick. I just want them gone."

Townsend smiled, "My way is better."

"How so?"

"What makes the Circle so powerful, Ms. Morgan?" he quizzed me. I was getting really tired of pop quizzes. Townsend must have noticed because he added, "Humor me."

"They've got money, influence, power," I rattled off, almost verbatim from the lesson Townsend gave us on the Circle when he was our CoveOps teacher. "They've got agents everywhere."

"Exactly. What do you suppose happens to those double agents if the Circle headquarters is, for example, bombed?"

I hesitated, so he continued, "They don't just go back to their former lives before they flipped. They keep looking for more money and power, however they can manage to find it, whether it's with existing organizations or by forming new ones. People don't change just like that."

"You could argue that no matter what, groups like that are going to pop up," I said defiantly. "Isn't it your job to stop them?"

"Yes, and soon it will be yours, and you'll start to realize the importance of doing things the right way," he chided.

I decided to end the conversation there, not as a sign of defeat but because a single line kept running through my head: "People don't change just like that." Was Townsend trying to imply something? Mr. Solomon came to mind. Townsend was always reluctant about Mr. Solomon's past involvement with the Circle. Surely Mr. Solomon had changed though. He had been helping to dismantle the Circle for years now. How could he have not changed?

Relief came in the form of Macey and Zach, who came with bags of chips and a new battery for the camera. Macey chimed, "We're here to relieve you."

Townsend nodded, "Nothing out of ordinary today. Keep an eye out though."

Zach nodded, "Will do."

Zach and I met eyes. It looked like he had something to tell me, but Townsend and Macey aren't the best company when you want to have quasi-romantic discussions, so I handed Zach the notepad and followed Townsend down from the rooftop.

Once we were back down on the street, Townsend thrust his arm in front of me, causing me to grind to a complete halt. I looked up, "What's wrong?"

Townsend scanned the crowd. He lowered his voice before saying, "I thought I saw something. Stay close."

I nodded. We continued walking through the crowded street, with Townsend leading and me following closely behind. Townsend must have turned around to check that I was still there every twenty seconds at least. I kept scanning the crowd as well, trying to see what Townsend had seen. The way he continued to walk made me think that he saw more than just "something."

Townsend had us take an even more convoluted route back to the hotel than normal that involved two taxis, a very crowded bus, a stroll through a few parks, and finally a brisk walk through an exposed plaza. It must have taken an extra hour to make the two mile trek to the hotel. I stopped Townsend when we got into the hotel stairwell, "What was that all about?"

"Standard procedure when a spy identifies a potential threat," he rattled off as though I had just begun my training a week ago.

"Yes, I know that," I groaned, "but what was the threat? What did you see?"

"I thought I saw someone who I know to be a Circle agent, and I thought he had seen me as well."

"Did you see him? And did he see you?"

Townsend shrugged, "I can't be sure on who, but someone saw us."