From Fitzroy's Private Diary (Extract 62)

Well, that was bloody. As soon as I got back, I found a telephone and rang up Alice to let her know I was safe. I did this as her partner, and because she’d gathered the intelligence for the op, but also because she was the only one who knew where I was and what I was doing. There is something about being in contact with someone who knows the vile things you have to do, and yet still holds you in…what? Regard? Affection? We don’t tend to talk about such feelings. That’s far too close to us having an altogether different kind of relationship. But I knew she would worry about me.

Still, she offered to do the debrief report, and I agreed. Not least because she lets me cheat and compare her report to mine. We work for the same department, but in our own way we’re very much a unit, not quite an ‘us against them’, but it feels like it sometimes. The damn department keeps fragmenting and splitting off, with various commanders competing for limited funds and resources. I’ve always had a disregard for rank that verges on the subordinate, but I fear I shall have to enter that game, to ensure that I - and Alice - get what we need to do the job properly. There’s no way anyone will even consider giving her a half decent rank due to her gender. Women, until Alice, have always been assets to the department, never real agents. I intend to be one of the instigators of change in that respect. Not that Alice can’t be her own formidable champion.

After a mission like this, I always want to stir things up and change the department. Within a week or two I usually succumb to my insouciant regard for it. I don’t think this will happen now. I hated what I had to do this time. I want more more direction over how the department works. Personal autonomy is all very well, but you are limited by the parameters set by your so-called superiors. I’m going to have to give up being the clever outsider and start advancing up the ranks. I see two positives on the horizon as I engage in Operation Self-Advancement. First, I have Alice at my back, and I couldn’t ask for better support. Second, the bastards have never seen this side of me and won’t know what’s hit them.