“I wasn’t the one who destroyed it,” he said.
“You did your part,” she countered. “You’re too smart and introspective to not have figured that out by now.”
“Leaving me I understand,” he said. “But the way you did it? You knew me better than anyone. You had the knowledge and the tools to hurt me more than anyone else could. And you used them.”
“I told myself it had to be a clean cut,” she said. “That if I didn’t put a thorough end to it, then there would always be something there.”
“It wasn’t clean,” Jason said. “And there will always be something there.”
“I know,” she said. “We both hurt one another when that was the opposite of what we wanted. After you died, Kaito and I had a lot of talks about what we did. To you.”
“I wasn’t just hurt, Amy. Take it from someone who’s been destroyed more than once; if you wanted thorough, you got exactly what you were after.”
“What happened to you, Jason?”
“You did, remember?”
“I didn’t pay for that crazy car in the drive. Where do you make that kind of money?”
“I’ve been working.”
“As a private security contractor, you said. Did you find some gold out in the desert or something?”
“Actually, yes.”
“You never used to lie to me.”
“I still haven’t.”
“Then why are you still holding back? You can talk about reconciliation all you like, but I see the anger behind those eyes. You’re seething with it.”
Jason turned away again.
“My anger can hurt people, Amy.”
“Really? You’re the Incredible Hulk now?”
Jason had excellent aura control. There was only one person who could make him lose it enough that it flared out. Amy staggered back. He quickly restrained it; he should feel sorrier than he was. He turned to see her looking at him fearfully.
“What was that?” she asked.
“I told you my anger can hurt people. Not a metaphor, Amy.”
He strode into the house.
Keith knocked on the open door as he appeared in the doorway of Anna’s office.
“What did I tell you?” he asked.
“They went for it?” Anna asked, getting up from behind her desk.
“The committee has tentatively approved opening preliminary negotiations with Asano.”
“Tentative, preliminary negotiations?” Anna asked. “You don’t want to qualify that some more?”
“Seriously, Anna,” Keith said wearily. “Learn to take a win.”
“What about Miranda?”
“She was a loud voice, but also a solitary one. There’s a reason that no one else spoke up at that meeting.”
“Yeah, because hedging your bets is always a sign of decisive leadership.”
“Good job on the biker spin,” Keith said, firmly changing the subject. “Getting the State Police Commissioner to start talking up a drugs crackdown was a solid move. ‘Drug-fuelled biker frenzy’ is a nice sound bite.”
“Riling up reactionary sentiment about drug use may not be great for society,” Anna said, “but it sure helps us right now. The Cabal stepped up on this one and largely cleaned up their own mess. Craig Vermillion really has them convinced that Asano represents an opportunity and they know that their relationship with Asano goes out the window if we set him on a war footing.”
“I think the opportunity he represents is what got us over the top,” Keith said. “When you look at what he did to our French guest, it’s clear that putting him down would cost us. Inversely, it means that he’s potentially a treasure-trove.”
“How are things going with the Lyon branch?”
“Slowly. They haven’t gone much past admitting they have someone, somewhere in custody. They refuse to say who or why, despite the fact that we know. Did you get anything from the Frenchman?”
“He’s not talking. No surprises there.”
“Can you go harder?”
“I don’t need the International Committee strictures to know not to torture people, Keith. Interrogation works; it just takes time. Right now, he’s still waiting for his branch to get him back. Once he realises that we’re not giving him back any time soon, the doubt will start to seep in. When we get him to engage, we’re on the path. We’re not giving him back any time soon, right?”
“Definitely not. We’re milking this debacle for everything we can get. The Lyon branch is actually offering some generous concessions; they really want us to stop asking about their prisoner.”
“Please tell me that the committee isn’t going to give him up without pushing the Lyon branch on their outworlder.”
“They won’t. They’ve realised how important the outworlders are.”
“I’m not sure that they have. That any of us have for that matter. I had my team put together a dossier on everything we have on outworlders. I’ll forward it to you, but the gist is that the Network may be about to go through the largest change since the manifestations started escalating more than a century ago.”
“It’s already happening,” Keith said. “We’ve kept the lid on this incident, but sooner or later, the magic is going public. Once we revealed ourselves to the governments, it was only a matter of time.”
“What happens when it really breaks?” Anna asked. “I know there are plans in place.”
“Yes, but you know what they say about plans,” Keith said. “I’m not allowed to share them below the committee level anyway. That’s true for every branch.”
“You think Miranda is adhering to that?”
“That’s her mistake to make,” Keith said. “You need to focus on cracking the Frenchman, Sebastian, and on making some kind of agreement with Asano. Obviously, he won’t be joining the fold, after what happened.”
“Maybe we can mash our problems together,” Anna said. “I’m willing to bet that Asano left quite an impression, so maybe we put them in a room.”
“Does Sebastian know Asano got away from his men?”
“Nope.”
“So, if Asano walked in on him, apropos of nothing…”
“It might give him a jolt we can use,” Anna concluded. “We just have to convince Asano that he can walk in here without us closing a net on him. So, who is going to do the negotiating?”
“You and me, plus a government liaison.”
Anna groaned.
“I know,” Keith said.
“The Prime Minister’s office has been pressuring us to send the Frenchman home. I hate this government so much. There isn’t a foreign interest they don’t fall over themselves to capitulate to. If they saw a rerun of ’Allo ’Allo, they’d try to smuggle secret plans to the French hidden in a sausage.”
“A rerun of what?” Keith asked.
“Never mind.”
“Also, Gladys,” Keith said. “She pushed her way into it and the committee isn’t willing to push back. They know the Brisbane branch has been trying to poach her again.”
“When are we meeting with Asano, then?”
“I’ve already contacted Vermillion,” Keith said. “He’s going to set up a time for us, then we’ll go up the coast. He lives in some little beach town, which might be nice.”
“We’re giving him home ground advantage?”
“Unless you want to meet him in your kitchen again.”