The opportunity to execute my plan presented itself that same day, purely by accident. While Vir was in online meetings and phone conferences all day – from his bedroom, as he was actually still on bedrest – I went to Betty's office again. Since Vir had a lot of things to do that he had missed out on the past week, I had an excuse to be out of his hair.

Maybe that was for the best too, considering I my mood was not the brightest, and I wasn't sure I could keep a straight face in front of him. I was about to betray him and his Pack within seven days after all. I could rid my face of emotions fairly well in front of most people, fake my feelings and no one would know.

I mean, that is literally the reason I was the one in the intelligence competition in the Fortis pack, and not Allison. I have a great poker face, Allison does not. But Vir was my soulmate, and the most intelligent man alive. I was sure that he would be able to sense that something was wrong. He did before, after all. He noticed within a week that I wasn't honest, that I hadn't played fair in the intelligence competition back home.

So instead of going up to see him that morning, I went straight to the floor where his personal assistant was located.

"Hi Betty!" I walked inside her work space with a small smile on my face, genuinely happy to see her. She was a sweet old lady who really tried to help me fit in the Pack when I got here, so she kind of felt like a grandmother to me.

"Hello dear, how are you?" the woman said, smiling lovingly as she looked up from her old computer. You would say that the Intelligence Pack would be more focussed on equipping their main building with high tech gear, but clearly they had skipped the Alpha's PA. "I heard some congratulations are in order for managing to find out that someone is the cause of this chaotic situation. Well done, dear!"

"Thanks! I think it was just luck, to be honest, but I saw something of a pattern in the chaos, and after discussing with Vir he agreed with me that it was definitely not natural. So I'm great, today." I said, only partially lying. I mean, if you ignored the entire situation which involved me having to betray Sapientiae, I was feeling quite good.

I wasn't ill, at least.

That would count for something, right?

"How is it going in here, Betty?" I then asked, looking around the office. It seemed as if she was swamped with work, as boxes with documents to be digitised were stacked high everywhere in the room, pieces of paper littering the area. Strands of hair that were normally neatly tucked into her tight bun, were now framing her face in flat, grey curls. A dark blue hue coloured the underside of her eyes, showing how tired she was. "Do you need any help?"

The older woman sighed, looking up from her busy typing once more. "I don't know why the Board has decided that right now all archives need to be scanned in or typed out. They told me they expect it to be done within the week. I got the entire floor working on it, but there are so many boxes, that we don't even know where to start." She stood up as she complained, walking over to a box that was still filled halfway.

"Do you need me to...?" I asked, waving around to all the boxes, offering my help.

"No no, dear," Betty insisted right away. "Now that I know exactly what to do, I have become quite efficient. This doesn't take longer than a day or two, trust me. It's just that during these weeks a representative from the Sapientiae Alpha's office has to visit all the governmental buildings in the area. This week I would have to go to the South-East of the Pack, where we were supposed to check security and see if there have been any problems lately. I guess that will have to be moved to next week then." She shook her head as she mumbled in herself.

The South-East of Sapientiae? If I was not mistaken, that was where I was supposed to go to change the train coordinates! I had memorised the building name, address, new coordinates and all the specifics of my assignment. Building VP28, 4021 Newton Rd, Sapientiae. Wing S, room 4.32. Change the destination coordinates to Vakrhabar Desert (coordinates: 38° 19' 36.7284'' N and 109° 52' 41.7324'' W). Talk to Johanes from the cleaning crew, tell him I wish to inspect the ladies room for privacy violations.

Turns out, if I had enough motivation, I was able to learn difficult things by heart. HA! Take that, French teacher.

If I had any luck, it was possible that Betty was supposed to visit that particular building this week. I would have a reason for being there, that would be amazing!

"I could do it," I opted coolly, trying to seem uninterested. "I mean, technically, I could count as a representative from the Alpha's Office. If you'll let me, it will take some work off your plate. What do you say?"

Betty sighed, and wiped a stray of grey hair that had come loose from her always perfect bun, behind her ears. She was contemplating the pros and cons of my offer.

"Shouldn't you spend some time with your mate, dear?" she said with a wink. Right, I forgot that she had guessed right away that we were fated to be together. I blushed a little.

"Oh no, he is in meetings all day today, so I thought I'd get out of his hair. I will see him tonight again, for sure." Walking over to her desk, I sat down on the leather chair opposite of her. I was trying to look confident, and maybe even a little arrogant, but not too eager. "I will force my way in if I have to, just to make sure he is taking it easy. So I have nothing to do today really, not unless I can help you with your situation, that is."

The woman hummed in agreement, looked at me once more and then sighed. "You know dear, that would actually help a lot. Can you grab the manual from the top of that shelf right over there? The large white binder next to the three black one- oh no wait, the one left from the blue one, yes that one."

I took it and gave it to her, but she pushed it right back into my hands. "It differs what to do per company, because each has their own security level based on what they are working on. For example, the food and water distribution of the entire city is way more important than the department of motor vehicles, where they just hand out driver's licences. Though they both don't hold a candle to the security required for the Sapientiae police department or NIWI, the National Institute for Warfare Innovation." Betty was talking rather quickly, so I had to focus to understand her properly. "Please take a moment to read it through carefully for the companies that you could go to today. I think you should manage to do three today, that would be great. I presume it would be best to start with something like the Institutes for Agriculture, Energy and Labour."

I tried to take in all she was saying, but the more she mentioned, the more stressed she seemed to become. "Oh no," she continued, looking at the map of the city of Sapientiae that was on one of the walls. "They are in completely different neighbourhoods that have the worst public transport system, that wouldn't work. Hmmm." She tapped a few times with her neatly polished nails on her lip, before pushing a few strands of hair behind her ears. "Oh that could work, that needs to be done as well," she mumbled, then turned to her desk again, searching for a piece of scrap paper she could scribble the names of the governmental buildings on.

Betty then composed herself, breathed in and out a couple of times, before turning to me and handing me the note she had just written down. "I just realised there is so much more I still have to do, so you really are being a huge help, Livia."

I smiled sweetly. "No problem, Betty, I'm happy to help." Though I kind of have my own agenda here too, however much I don't want to.

"I have written down three institutes in the same area of the city that should be within walking distance from each other. There are many other buildings I still have to visit in this area as well, so if you have extra time you can look into the right protocol and do another, though I absolutely don't expect you to!"

I looked at the note she had given me. I read it once, then twice, then three times, but the specific building I had to go to was not on there. "May I ask, Betty, what area of the city are these buildings in?"

"Of course, dear, they are in region 5 of the city, East of the Pytheas Avenue. I believe the first two I wrote down are on Pasteur Road, the other is on Planck Road."

I had studied the map of Sapientiae extensively, and knew now instinctively that Newton Road was a few blocks North of Pasteur Road, as that area of the city was ordered alphabetically on the names of famous scientists. If I now memorised the protocols not only for the institutes I was supposed to go to according to Betty, but also the one Mr. Montgomery had blackmailed me into going to, then I would be able to make an extra stop almost unnoticed.

"Alright,that is definitely walking distance! I will make sure to read the properprotocols for the check-up, and then I will head over there. Do you mind if Itake the binder with me?"

***

Hi lovelies!

I'm so sorry for the long wait! My life has been crazy busy these past few months (40 hours unpaid internship for 9 months, yay! (Though it really is very much fun)) so there hasn't been a lot of time to write lately. 

However, I have written chapter 43 and 44, and today I'll also start on chapter 45, so hopefully I'll manage a slightly less long waiting time between chapters from now on. Just, don't get your hopes up. I'll for sure finish this story because it is by far my favourite one, it might just take a loooong while. 

Let me know what you think about the chapter!! 

Liefs,

Sanne