Hannah knocked on the front door.

"Haven't you got a key?" Scott asked.

"Yes," she replied frostily. The key sat at the bottom of her coat pocket, but she'd not once considered using it. After all, it wasn't her front door.

"Okay."

The door opened.

"Oh, Hannah, there you are. Where have you been, what have you been doing? We were getting worried about you." Diana stood in the doorway. Hannah was surprised to see the genuine look of concern on her face.

"I'm fine, Diana" she replied, suddenly exhausted.

"Mrs Page, Hannah has been helping General Briggs with some very important work," Scott said smiling at Diana.

"Ah, Mr Scott, how nice to see you again, please come in." Diana stood back and gestured for them to enter. "Hannah, did you forget your key again?"

Hannah felt a gentle prod in the small of her back. "Go on," he whispered. Reluctantly, she entered, choosing not to answer Diana's question.

The smile on Diana's face seemed to crack a little. "Well, never mind. Come on into the kitchen. I'll make us some tea and you can fill me in on your important work, Hannah." Diana rubbed her hands together, the perfect smile now fixed.

"Actually, I'm just going to head up to my room for a shower. Bye, Scott," Hannah called out as she walked towards the staircase.

"Yes, about that..." Hannah stopped, her foot barely on the first step. "General Briggs insists that you should have round-the-clock protection. Mrs Page, could I borrow your spare room for the next few days. Although, I am sure there is nothing to worry about, General Briggs would like Hannah to have to have round-the-clock protection until we find the perpetrators of the attack the other day."

Hannah rolled her eyes and knew it was useless to argue.

"But what about Zeke, I mean, Mr Matheson, I thought he was looking after Hannah?" Diana asked her tone suspicious.

"Indeed he is, Mrs Page. Zeke will be running area surveillance and is leading our on-going investigations, but General Briggs felt it best that I stay within arm's reach of Hannah at all times; just as a precaution." Scott smiled at her again. Hannah almost laughed, watching him trying to dazzle Diana with his brilliant white smile. Annoyingly, it seemed to work.

"Very well, I will ask Maria to fix up the spare room for you. Hannah, go freshen up then and come straight back down. I will take Mr Scott to the kitchen for tea."

Hannah sped up the stairs, onto the landing and almost ran straight into Edward.

"Sorry," she said and tried to move past him.

"Why the hurry, Hannah?" Edward asked, "Where have you been hiding? Mother worried that you might have returned home to your real parents,'" he said, his fingers adding quotation marks in the air to emphasise the word real.

"Not now, Edward please." She waited for him to move but he didn't.

"Could you please move?" Still he did not move out of the way.

"What's your problem?" She asked and tried to push past him. In an instant he grabbed her and pinned against the wall.

"What's my problem? You are Hannah, you are!" His hot, sweet smelling breath, made Hannah's stomach flip over. She tried to avert her eyes away from his lifeless gaze. Edward traced his index finger down the side of her face and it came to rest on her lips. "You and your secrets, Hannah, you think you are oh so clever don't you? You're not the only one with secrets, do you know that? I have secrets of my own, I know things..."

Hannah turned her eyes back to meet his.

"And what secrets do you have then Edward," she asked quietly, coaxing him. At first it seemed as if he hadn't heard the question, fixating instead on the movement of her lips beneath his fingertip.

"Tell me Edward, what is it you think you know?"

Like a switch had been pressed, his eyes shot up and he stared so closely, so intensely at her, that she shivered, seeing nothing but the cold hatred living behind those eyes.

"I know plenty. You think everyone loves you for being so damn perfect, but trust me, not everyone loves you Hannah. Getting one hundred on your SPR means absolutely nothing; some people hate you, in fact some people want you dead and gone. Just like me Hannah, they want you dead and gone. One hundred per cent perfect and yet still not good enough; that's you Hannah."

Hannah knew she should feel afraid, here she was with her supposed step brother wishing her dead and yet it all seemed so trivial. Did he really think she cared one iota about her SPR level? Why was he so intent on his hatred of her? And then, something just clicked.

"What was your SPR rating then Edward? You won't have gone up, because that's not possible, but ...did your level drop slightly? His right eye twitched. "Or did your SPR level fall a lot?"

"Bitch," he hissed in her face. "Shut up, just shut up." A little spittle flew from his mouth and landed on her face.

Undeterred she continued. "Ah, so it plummeted then."

"I said shut up," and he swung his right hand back as if about to slap her. Hannah moved quickly, not giving him the time for his hand to connect with her face. In one fluid movement she raised up her knee quickly connecting perfectly to his groin. She knew she had hurt him, not from any moans or groans of pain, but from the rush of air he expelled into her face, just before he hit the floor and lay writhing in silent agony on the polished wooden floor. The thud of him landing so heavily on the floor must have been heard from below, because Scott leapt up the stairs, shouting out Hannah's name, closely followed by Diana.

"Hannah, are you alright?" Scott asked, looking down at the crumpled Edward who lay gasping for breath, but other than that still silent.

"Edward, Edward, whatever is the matter, what happened?"

Hannah took the opportunity whilst Edward was incapacitated.

"Edward must have thought I was an intruder or something. He jumped me and I didn't realise it was him either, so I kind of hurt him in a very sensitive area."

Scott looked around and then straight at Hannah, knowing full well she was lying.

Diana got on her knees and tended to Edward.

"My silly boy, what have you done to yourself? Fancy attacking Hannah by mistake; don't you realise you could have hurt her. Scott, could you help me pick Edward up and take him back to his room." She turned back to Edward. "You are going to stay there young man until you are well enough to come out and apologise to Hannah for any upset you might have caused her."

Edward was incapable of replying, but with eyes bulging, he pointed at Hannah with his left hand, whilst clutching his groin with the other. Scott and Diana carefully tried to lift Edward and he squealed in pain. Hannah looked directly at him, smiled and then turned her back to him and escaped to her room.

Once there Hannah fell back against the door and began to shake. She felt sick to her stomach, not because Edward had threatened her, but because she had hurt him and had taken such pleasure in doing so. She would never have thought herself capable of such a deed. Trying to slow her breathing, she focused on the task ahead. You can do this!

Hannah turned the lock on her bedroom door and went over to the bathroom and turned on the shower. She then crept over to the walk in wardrobe and found the shoe box at the back. She removed the lid and tucked her hand inside the first shoe and withdrew the letter her mother had given her. Then she picked up the other shoe and removed the other items hidden inside. Carefully, Hanna unfolded the picture of herself as a baby, being held by her parents; the look of joy on her mother's face filled chest with a painful ache. She fought off the urge to cry and folded the picture and placed it in the side compartment of her school rucksack, the list she left on her bed. She couldn't even bring herself to look at the picture Shane had drawn for her, so she returned it to the box. Finally she pulled out the paper she had taken from the archives. She'd almost forgotten she had it and as such hadn't even had the chance to review it yet. Aware that time was running short; she folded the paper up and put that in the bag as well. Hannah grabbed two sets of clothes, her toothbrush and an envelope of money. Diana had given her in her first week with them.

Hannah changed her clothes and put on those she had first arrived in. Diana had tried to get her to throw them away, but Hannah had resisted. The worn jeans were now a little baggy but for the first time in a long while she felt and looked like herself. She collected a few more items including her phone and finally she was ready. She picked up her mother's list from the bed and began to read the names written down on the crumpled paper. The first name at the top of her list made her double take. How could she possibly go to them, after everything that had happened, after all the pain she had caused them? No, she wouldn't call on them, not yet anyway. She read the next name on the list. It meant nothing to her, so for that reason she decided that would be her first destination.

Having turned off the shower, she left her room and locked the door. She snuck past Edward's door and crept down the stairs, stowing her bag behind a large pot plant by the door. Hannah took a deep breath and prepared herself to lie again. The sound of Diana laughing met her as walked down the corridor towards the kitchen.

"Hannah, there you are. What on earth are you doing in those old clothes again? Honestly, Agent Scott, she has a wardrobe most girls her age would die for and yet she prizes those old jeans above anything else."

"Hannah isn't like most girls though is she?" Scott briefly looked at Hannah then averted his eyes.

"Come and sit down, Hannah," Diana instructed.

"Actually, I am incredibly tired, so I think I will just go to bed and see you both in the morning."

"But I haven't seen you properly in days. There are things we need to talk about, your birthday present for one thing." The disappointment was again evident in Diana's voice.

"I'll see you tomorrow, we can catch up then, but right now I need sleep. Goodnight Diana," she turned to Scott, "goodnight Agent Scott and thanks for everything."

"Night, Hannah. Please shout for me if you need me."

"Thank you."

Hannah left the room, hurried down the corridor and retrieved her bag and coat. She silently let herself out of the front door and ran up the drive, sticking close to the line of trees. The clouds obscuring the moon, helped hide her in the shadows. When she got to the gate, she threw her coat and bag over the top and then climbed up and over in one smooth manoeuvre. She picked up her belongings just as small black car pulled up sharply. Hannah moved over to car, opened the door and got in.

"Where to milady?" Tucker asked.

Hannah was beyond relieved to see him and that he had got the message she had sent him earlier from her bedroom.

"We are going to see a woman called Anne Holland in Pretta Heights," she said as she read the first name on her mother note, which she had just opened.

"And who might she be?"

"Well, according to my mum's notes, she's the woman who arranged my adoption."