-9.25 Hunter Reiner is born.

-8.25 Simon's and Alicia's marriage is rocky. Simon spends most of his time at work; Alicia and Marcus Bryant spend time together. Alicia and Marcus begin an affair, and once again Alicia soon becomes pregnant. Simon's unconscious suspicions eat away at him. He becomes involved with Wolf agents in counterintelligence.

-7.25 Hannah Reiner is born. Simon is a full agent by this point.

-7 Hunter's intelligence merits testing by the [IF]. Simon will not allow this. When Simon and Alicia argue, Simon hits Alicia.

-6.75 Internal investigation reveals treachery; nine [IF] officers from Reiner's special ops unit are Court-Martialed under charges of treason, Simon among them. Two are convicted, the rest reassigned to low-security positions. Alicia, realizing Simon is a traitor, leaves with the children and serves him divorce papers. She has the children's surnames changed to Gabriel. Simon does not fight for custody or visitation rights. Simon and Marcus sever all contact.

-6.5 After staying with Alicia's sister and her family for 3 months, Alicia moves with her children to Kodiak, Alaska. Marcus visits after they settle in, but stays only for the afternoon.

-6.25 Marcus returns and Gabriels fly to Seattle, where Hunter is preliminarily tested. When Marcus returns to [CS] (where he is an instructor for the Marine AIT) he finds an email awaiting him: "Leave my family alone."

-3.75 The Wolves show Simon proof that Hannah is Marcus Bryant's daughter, and suggest that Hunter is his son. After three days, Simon assents to their murders.

-3.25 The Gabriels live happily; Marcus visits once a year and never stays longer than an afternoon. Hunter is ready for his final assessment test before admittance into a preparatory academy (pre-[BS]). Because several attempts had been made by the Wolves against the lives of known [BS] candidates, and because of the email he receives ("Last chance."), Marcus invites the Gabriels to his ranch in Oregon to administer the test. He asks Liam Hansen, a friend from his former SOTF unit, to handle security as a favor. The Gabriels stay two days, and Alicia and Marcus come a a reconciliation of sorts. The Gabriels leave on a charter plane with Hansen and an SOTF soldier. En route, Hansen stuns Alicia and the pilot. The soldier straps Alicia and Hannah together in a parachute and dumps them from the plane. Then the soldier, wearing a low-altitude parachute, jumps with Hunter. After being blown off course, the soldier lands badly and hits his head on rock. Hunter runs and finds the bodies of his mother and sister. After wandering through the snow for seven hours, (while Liam follows his tracks) Hunter reaches a road and is picked up and taken to a hospital. Simon, consumed by disgust for himself, declines to take custody. Hunter defaults to Alicia's sister, Samantha, and her husband Thomas.

-3 Because Hunter passed the assessment test, he is erolled in an IF preparatory academy in San Francisco in accordance with Alicia's wishes. Although Samantha accepted custody of Hunter, his integration into her family has been minimal. A counselor hired to help Hunter through the loss of his family has little effect, and Hunter is introverted to the extreme. He interacts with neither his cousins nor the children at school, even those who attempt to make friends (like Naomi Bishop). He introduces himself as Gabriel.

-2.25 A boy named Eric takes an interest in taunting Gabriel. When Gabriel continuously fails to respond, Eric beats Gabriel up. Gabriel is not seriously harmed, and as punishment Eric is denied his home visit that weekend. Gabriel stays late Friday and attacks Eric in a bathroom, beating him severely. A mental image of his family stops Gabriel, and in shame (and fear), he flees the school and runs away.

-0.5 Gabe travels north, staying at orpanages and homeless shelters for a few weeks at a time each, then moving on. He learns basic lockpicking and pickpocketing, as well as careful observation and self-reliance. He spends seven months in Oregon, searching for Bryant's ranch. When he finally locates it, he finds the horse pens empty and both houses burned to the ground. Gabe continues north, without any specific destination in mind, unconsciously drawn back toward Alaska. Almost two years after his departure, however, he is arrested in Seattle for burglary. He is returned to the [IF] after Samantha consents, and placed in an advanced study program to catch him up with the next [BS] group.

0 Gabe tests proficiently and is cleared to proceed to [BS].