Alicia Dupuis could not comprehend why she had become a target for assassination and, more puzzling, who had ordered the hit. She was acutely aware that in the duplicitous currency of security and intelligence, nothing exists without context. More importantly, intelligence and context were askew on the periphery of espionage where there were truths, partial truths and make-believe truths. Such were the defining characteristics of the arcane game – with its intoxicating charm and deceptive addiction – that she had walked away from forever, or so she had thought.