Six months after Maya's administrative death, Simone Laurent accepted her first assignment as human rights consultant investigating corruption in Eastern European refugee processing systems. The work was legitimate—small Belgian NGO needed documentation of bribery networks exploiting displaced families—but Simone's real objective was tracking financial flows that connected back to remnants of the network that had forced her erasure.
"You are ready for field work," Katarina confirmed during final briefing at the safe house. "Your identity has been thoroughly established. Background checks return consistent information. You speak French with native fluency and English with appropriate accent. Simone Laurent is real enough that even sophisticated investigation would not easily penetrate the
