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Redacted

In the Away 2 gathering room, everyone froze when a phone started ringing.

Eva raised her hands. “Not mine!”

Everyone stopped eating lunch and started looking for the ringing phone.

Laylana, Mason, Eva, and Natalie each had a few burners, and everyone on the team had at least one tasked to missions Generally, they were powered off.

Mason, however, had an old burner that he kept charged and on out of habit. That was the one ringing.

“Who has the number?” Laylana asked.

“You and Winters…”

Before he was burned, Mason had reported to Deputy Assistant Director Evan Winters.

“Answer it?” Laylana asked.

Mason did. “Hello.”

“Those cheeky pigeons are tapping on my window again.” That was the last authentication phrase Mason and Winters had worked out.

Mason returned with the counterphrase. “They probably want your popcorn.”

“Graham… What’s going on?”

Mason looked at the others in the room. “I’ll go outside… Don’t want to interrupt lunch. Anyone want to keep me company, you’re welcome.”

No one took him up on the invitation, so Mason stepped out of the bunker and exited the barn before settling into a lawn chair outside.

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“I’m surprised to hear from you, Mr. Winters.” Mason looked around just to confirm he was alone.

“Mason, what’s going on?”

Living in the world of cloak and dagger inherently included sharply edged suspicions and over-the-top caution, so Mason instinctively dodged answering the question. “All’s good. What prompted the call?”

Winters didn’t hesitate to reply. “I was sifting through some routine FYI paperwork and found a personnel action that you’d been removed from my roster.”

“That’s been a while ago.” Mason agreed without adding any new information.

For a moment, Mason spun his thoughts through the past events related to Spectrum, his getting burned, and his release from the CIA. With the Spectrum indictments handed down, a thought occurred to Mason that there might be unrealized connections.

“No, this is a new notice,” Winters replied. “I looked into the personnel system and you’re back in the service. What happened?”

“I’m back in the service…” Mason let his words land as either an agreement or a question. “What did the system say?”

“Basic format for a transfer… but everything new was listed as ‘redacted.’ Where are you?”

Mason hedged. “Well, the phone rang, so you can guess I have service…

Winters paused, then said, "Gotcha… having service narrows it down some."

"What was redacted?” Mason asked.

"Everything…" Winters read from the report.

Effective date: 2026-redacted

Agent: Mason Graham

Action: Transfer

Duty status: Active redactedDuty location: redactedDuty controller: redacted

“Mason, what’s going on?”

Mason’s thoughts raced, and in the span of a breath he had an appropriate answer. “Mr. Winters, if you were Controller Redacted, what would you want me to say?”

Winters didn’t hesitate. “Okay, fair point. Well, I’m glad you’re back in the Agency. Your a good agent, and I was lucky to have you on my team.""Thank you," Mason replied.

"Okay, I understand you're on an op, not in harms way, and can't talk about it, so I'll be pleased to know that and let it go. Good luck on Mission Redacted and… you know the drill… get the job done and file your reports on time.”

“Will do,” Mason replied.

“Mason,” Winters said, “I’m ditching this phone now. If you need to contact me, use Agency channels. I’m sure you’re tossing yours, too.”

“Goes without saying. Working for you was a pleasure. Keep up the good work.”

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