Action, Reaction and Consequences Ch. 05

His mind ran through the key points that were highlighted in the video. They were:

In her role, she was expected to use every means made available to her to gain the intel required to finalise the operation.

They both acknowledged that Tanya was working in an environment that offered no guarantee to her personal safety. In the event of injury there was no obligation to contact Matt. He would be contacted in the event of her death.

Tanya could not be contacted by him, there was a number only to be used in extreme emergencies. If practical, limited communication may be permitted between Tanya and Matt if permitted by Mr. Smith.

To protect her, as many links or physical evidence to her identity as could reasonably be located would be dissolved. This included her marriage to Matt which simply evaporates as if it never took place.

Any assets owned by them would come under sole ownership of Matt temporarily during her assignment.

Matt would receive periodical compensation payments for the disruption to his marriage.

At the end of the operation unlimited support in the form of counselling or surgery, where required, would be provided to allow them to return to a relationship equal to the point from when Tanya became operational in her role.

If required, they would be provided with new identities under the Government Witness Protection scheme including any benefits available under such program.

Any actions caused directly by the nature of the operation that require onwards support either financially or emotionally would do so for a period of eighteen years with no redress against the operative.

He took the first statement to mean exactly what Graham had hinted at. If she needed to use her body to get information then she was expected to do that. Slut it up. It was the last one that had him vexed. They only thing that sprang to mind that would require financial cost for eighteen years would be the birth of a child. When Matt realised that this was what the statement signified he had to rush to the bathroom and heave his stomach contents into the toilet. No, there was no way on earth he was taking Tanya back.

Four weeks later he had moved into the old apartment he'd shared with Tanya. A couple of the guys from the Fire station did some decorating on the side so he threw ten thousand pounds at his gran's former home which was now his to spruce and update it where needed. Once compete it was now rented out for a thousand pounds a month via an agency. As well as the money he had accumulated off the back of Tanya's antics he also ended up with a bank balance just shy of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds thanks to his grandparent's estate.

It was hard but he wasn't going to mope around like a couple of years back when Ann, the woman he had an affair with, disappeared. There were days when he did feel depressed and missed Tanya and thought of ways to get past it. The answer was presented to him at work a few weeks later.

There was a drive to try and get an element of seasoned Firefighters to relocate to London for a minimum six-month secondment period with an option to make the move permanent after those six months with a generous resettlement package. There was the answer. A month later he was re-stationed at Bethnal Green Fire Station in East London.

Before he went, he had sold the apartment that was once Tanya's but was now in his name. This should see another three hundred thousand in his bank account within a couple of months once the sale went through the motions. He had taken out a year's storage rental and moved all of Tanya's personal items there, giving the main domestic items such as furniture and the television to a homeless shelter for abused spouses. He also sold his Golf GTI, his Yamaha R1, The Kawaski H2SX and brought a brand new KTM 1290 Super Duke R. It was expensive but by God it was fun! It's riding position suited the London streets although the 180bhp coupled to a top speed of180mph may have been overkill for the city's streets. But it was sure nice to have.

The provided him with a small furnished flat as part of the relocation but, on Graham's advice, he found a flat share that was cash only with a couple of guys where a third had just moved out. After only a week they said they were going to throw in the let as well so he came to an arrangement with the vendor to be the sole occupant with six months' rent and six months' deposit paid up front in cash. He now had an anonymous address in Canning Town.

His shift pattern was different too; it was a twelve-hour shift with four days on, four days off, four night shifts then four days off. He would be looking for things to fill his time, possibly even back dating but he was aiming for casual.

The key thing was away he was away from Bournemouth. All the ghost of the last few years were gone. His tragic family accident, death of his grandparents, his disastrous liaison with Ann but most of important he had banished any links to Tanya. He hoped to never hear or see her ever again.

RIP to that relationship as he settled down into relatively anonymity with this fresh start.

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I'm in a bit of a quandary. I have pushed the main character and his relationship with his wife hard here. The plan was to get them to come together at the end but I'm now not too sure that's how it should play out. I will be bringing Lance and Ann back from Chapter 1 as it heads towards the final curtain which will either make it to a part 7 or 8, depends how it goes as it gets written. Some, or at least one, of the characters need to die and there is another larger than life one about to enter stage left. Mr Smith & Jones also become more relevant.

I'll be back on this after the Christmas break, I'll hopefully figure out how it ends and who survives. Of, course I could create two different endings for the reader to decide which one suits their expectations?

INKENT