Draft 19-Jan-2026

All That Mattered, Ch. 01

Jonathan Stone told himself he wasn’t getting light-headed. He’d been in worse air than this, after all. Still, as he surreptitiously turned his watch so he could see, he reflected that it had been quite a while since he’d been around this much cigarette smoke. It stank more than he remembered, creeping into every nook and cranny of his surroundings.

All That Mattered, Ch. 02

All That Mattered

Someone was speaking nearby. “Al-ʾamnī…al-ʾamnī…security. Got it. Taḥqīq…taḥqīq…investigation. No, that ‘ḥ’ sound should be deeper…”

All That Mattered, Ch. 03

All That Mattered

Calm, cool and collected. That was how Francine needed to appear, regardless of how she might actually be feeling. Never let them see you sweat.

All That Mattered, Ch. 04

All That Mattered

Jamie slouched in his chair, picking at the chicken stir-fry Amanda had thrown together once she’d gotten Lee settled. He’d barely said anything throughout the whole meal. Joe and Carrie had kept looking over at him and then exchanging worried glances.

All That Mattered, Ch. 05

All That Mattered

There was more activity than usual in the bull pen today, but it hadn’t been hard for Douglas to find out why: Lee Stetson had announced he was coming back to work, only three weeks after he’d been sidelined by a brutal accident, and only ten days after he’d been released from hospital.

All That Mattered, Ch. 06

All That Mattered

She’d made an excuse to be sitting out at the reception desk by the elevators, but Francine suspected nobody was fooled. Not that she’d admit to anything, of course. Her performance in the bull pen earlier had already been embarrassing enough. So, instead, she kept her head down, focusing on presenting the image of someone who was too busy to be bothered and pretending that everything else was normal.

All That Mattered, Ch. 07

All That Mattered

He didn’t even make it to his office door before people were coming at him.

All That Mattered, Ch. 08

All That Mattered

Amanda looked up at the sound of the Q-Bureau door being unlocked. It was a welcome interruption: she’d gotten stuck on her latest translation, and her Arabic-English dictionary was sending her in hopeless circles. Something in this transcript was eluding her, something important—but how could she find the correct words for the fix if she couldn’t even find the vocabulary to phrase the question?