Chapter 4
Violet was woken up earlier than she would have liked by Bea and Sunny jumping onto her bed, their giggles giving them away before violet even opened her eyes.
“What time is it?” she asked, keeping her eyes covered by the duvet, hoping it was still early enough that she could tell them to go away so she could have an extra hour of sleep.
“Half 8!” was Bea’s gleeful reply, a miraculous sound since it took harassment and threats to drag her from bed on a weekday. Violet sat up, groaning slightly at the effort, before glancing at the two giggling teenagers.
“Okay, I’m up, why don’t you go sort some breakfast and I’ll be right down.” She said, with a small smile, still trying to shake off her sleepiness, “I’m sure a nice bit of cake will go down very well!” Violet added, the with a very large strong coffee bit left unsaid. She waited until the pair had made their way downstairs before climbing out of bed and following them down the two flights of stairs to the kitchen.
She could hear the crash of pans as she approached and laughing too, the sizzling sound of oil interjecting over the sound of the voices. As she actually entered the room, Klaus passed her a large steaming mug,
“Here. I thought you might want this, I’m guessing there was a jump ambush?” he asked with amusement.
“Standard birthday protocol,” Violet replied taking a sip of coffee, “They get heavier each year but at least it’s no longer 5am like it used to be.” She took another big sip of coffee, before putting the mug down and walking around the table to go check on the cooking of breakfast.
. . . .
The park was quiet, a few people out but for the most part people weren’t out in the cool afternoon air. Jane paused, allowing herself a moment to take it all in. It wasn’t the pyramids of Giza or one of the great sights of the world, but there was a great deal of beauty in a British winter, she never failed to appreciate it after a time away.
It was a settling influence, reminding her there was good things around her as well as the bad. Across the park she could hear giggling from a couple of girls at the top path of the park, one blonde, a little taller than the other who was dark haired. Both seemed to be fairly bundled up, well at least they were until the hat fell off the blonde and she carried on.
A darker haired woman swept over picking it up, Jane recognising her. Q, again, two spotting in two days. Someone had also jogged over to catch up with Q, he had dark hair, and although she could not see his face, it looked like it might be the same guy as she had seen last night.
She squinted, trying to get a better guess at the ages of the two girls, they looked to be about 12, 13. Not beyond the bounds of biology to be Q’s children, after all Q could just have looked young for her age. Putting it to the back of her mind to investigate later on, she headed off in the direction of home. She had a dinner date with a rather gorgeous blonde later, that should, at least for now, be her priority.
. . . . .
Monday morning rolled around quicker than Violet would have liked, after a lovely birthday weekend it almost seemed a pity to have to go back to work, but it was at least Klaus’ turn to drop the girls off which meant she could get up a little later.
The base of her new heels clicked against the floor as she walked up the stairs from the car park, Violet smiled slightly at the sound. They might not be the most sensible or practical but it could not be doubted that Sunny and Bea had picked well, and her new toolkit from Klaus was in her bag, hopefully to be used at some point during the day, the ultralight power drill in it was a delight to use.
She smiled cheerily as she passed Klaus who was going the other way, but didn’t otherwise acknowledge him, best for their family privacy people didn’t necessarily make the connection between them. She carried on along the corridor to her own department, slipping in through the door, glancing around supervisorally to check everything was in order, before carefully putting her coat and bag away and making her way over to the explosives desk, she had plans to be getting on with.
The morning went quickly and with only minimal hiccups, the explosions were kept controlled and the there was only one junior burned, and that was because they didn’t have their safety gloves on. Lunchtime rolled around, and she was glad of the break as she retreated into her office to wolf down a couple of sandwiches.
Lunch eaten she was back at it, determined to finish the new explosive pocket watch prototype if it took all afternoon. No doubt it would need tweaking after testing, so it was best it got through to field testing as quick as possible. She flitted around the room, checking in on all the projects, taking stock of where people were up to.
Little Josie, the newest recruit to R+D, seemed to have a particular proclivity with the explosives, Violet noted with interest, filing it away for further use, maybe she would get her to have a look at the pearl earring explosives, see if there was a way to refine them based on the response agents had fed back so far.
. . . .
It was midday before Jane tipped in, having spent the morning doing paperwork at home so Eve would get off her back about getting it filed. Paperwork in one hand, fancy coffee in the other Jane walked into M’s office area, giving eve a winning smile as she did so.
“Your paperwork, and a caramel French pressed latte, in exchange for a few bits of information.” Jane said, placing the paperwork down on the desk, but keeping the coffee just out of reaching distance, glancing over at Eve, who’s response was that of slight suspicion.
“Before I agree to anything, what information?”
“Just a few bits of information about Q, nothing too high security.” Jane replied innocently, passing the coffee over when Eve nodded.
“Fine, but if it’s restricted I can’t tell, you know that.” Eve replied, taking a sip from the travel mug.
“Is she married, and does she have kids? “Jane asked leaning against the desk, perched slightly on the edge of it.
“No and no.” was the calm reply, before another sip of coffee, “Was that all, Jane?”
Jane paused, considering,
“For now.”