“You can talk in there,” he said. “Clive, can you do something to the door to stop them opening it up again?”
“To stop her,” he said, nodding at Sophie, “probably.”
Then he gestured at Belinda.
“To stop her, probably not.”
Jason groaned.
“Just go in and talk,” Jason said.
Belinda gently pushed Sophie back into the room, closing the door behind them. She looked around until she spotted the far-seeing crystal Jason had been using to watch the room, floating unobtrusively near the ceiling. She stood up on a chair to take it down and shove it in a drawer.
“What was that?” Sophie asked.
“He was watching you.”
“What a creeper.”
“You did try and break out.”
“I didn’t try; I did break out.”
“How are you?”
“I feel alright,” Sophie said. “A bit withered on the vine. Has it really been days?”
“It has.”
Sophie sat in the chair, shuffling to find a posture where the manacles didn’t bother her too much. Belinda hopped up to sit on the treatment table.
“So,” Sophie said. “What did they tell you?”
“Ventress, Magic Society guy, indenture.”
“The same for me. What are they after?”
“I’m not sure. According to Asano, he only came after us because someone asked him to. People at the Adventure Society were getting pressured over how long it was taking to catch us.”
“Do you believe him?”
“I’m not sure. He seems to be in charge, or at least, the others are taking cues from him. He’s hard to read, but his partner, not so much.”
“That’s the one that caught you?”
“Yeah. He's all book smarts, more interested in how we did the jobs than the fact that we did them. I've been playing along for a couple of days, taking him through stuff as I tease out information. I think Asano knows I'm doing it, but hasn’t let the guy know for some reason. Which means he's either on the level or is playing a game his partner doesn't know about.”
“Could be either,” Sophie said. “When I was talking to him, he knew I wouldn’t trust him, so he cranked up the shadiness until I didn’t know what to think.”
“So, what’s the move?”
“I don’t see any good angles,” Sophie said. “The deal with Ventress is burned, so even if we get away from these people, the streets aren’t safe. We could try the plan to leave the city, but we’d have not much more than food and a map.”
“Then what?” Belinda asked. “Going along with this guy’s plan puts us right into his hands. No way out if he’s playing us or any of a dozen other things go wrong.”
“Did they tell you they would let you go?” Sophie asked.
“Yeah. They said I should stay here, where Ventress and Silva wouldn’t dare come for me.”
“What do you think?”
“I think the one I’m worried about is you, Soph.”
Sophie sighed.
“We’ve been running further into the fire for a while now, to escape being cooked,” Sophie said. “It could be that all we have left is to choose who bakes us, if we can choose even that much.”
Belinda nodded. “I think maybe we take a risk with this guy. Jory and Janice have known him for months. The whole time he’s apparently been coming in and healing people for free.”
“Sounds like he’s running some kind of scam.”
“I know. But Jory sees him as a friend, as does that partner of his, Clive. I know Jory’s alright, and I like Clive. He’s refreshingly straightforward.”
“That’s not a lot to bet the future on.”
Belinda hopped down off the table and walked over to Sophie, giving her a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder.
“You know why I like Jory? Most people I’ve met, us included, are out for themselves. Those that don’t have are trying to get. Those that have are trying to get more. Jory could have set up shop on the Island, selling his alchemy to rich folks, but he didn't. He came here, and he helps people.”
“He can’t be doing too badly,” Sophie said. “The money to rebuild it all came from somewhere.”
“It came from Asano,” Belinda said. “At least according to Janice. Asano just gave Jory the money. No loan, no questions asked.”
“Why would he do that?”
“I think, and I’m just guessing here, that Asano looks at Jory the way I do.”
“With girlish affection?”
“Shut up. I think he sees someone who helps people. Even the god of healing sees him like that, so why not this guy? And if his response to that is to give Jory money to do it more, how bad can he be?”
“That’s a lot of ifs and guesses,” Sophie said.
“If you have anything more to work off, this is the time for sharing.”
Sophie ran her hands over her face.
“It’s not much to put myself in the hands of a stranger over.”
“I think we’re already in his hands,” Belinda said. “It’s just a matter of how much we struggle.”
“So, what do we do?”
“I think we go along for now,” Belinda said. “Those tracking bracelets they give to indentures can’t be that hard to beat. But I won’t be the one wearing it, so you decide what we’re going to do. I’ll back you, whatever it is.”
“Enter,” Arella’s voice came through the door and Jason showed himself into her office. Jason was a little surprised to find the deputy director also present, sitting behind her own desk.
“You met my father, then,” Arella said as soon as Jason closed the door. He glanced at the deputy director before turning his gaze back to Arella.
“I did,” he said. “I like him. He seems to care about you a great deal.”
“What is it you want in return for silence?”
“I’m not a blackmailer, Director. I would like to avoid any bureaucratic roadblocks in securing the indenture of the thief, but since that will aggravate Lucian Lamprey, that’s exactly what you want. And you owe me that much.”
“I owe you?”
“You sent people to interfere with my completion of a contract you posted. That’s unprofessional.”
Arella reluctantly nodded.
“I’ll acknowledge the point,” she said. “Who told you about that clause in the service agreement?”
“I found it myself.”
“You read it?” Genevieve asked. It was the first time the elderly deputy director had entered the conversation.
“That’s right,” Jason told her.
“Nobody reads it.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” Jason said. “You should see legal documents where I come from.”
“You know placing yourself between Lucian Lamprey and his objective may not be the safest position,” Arella said, pulling the conversation back on track.
Jason turned to look at her. “If I don’t, who will?”
“Does it really matter?”
“I put this woman in a situation where Lamprey can potentially get his claws into her. That makes it my responsibility to see that he doesn’t.”
“Your responsibility?”
“Yes.”
“You realise people are placed in horrifying situations every day?” she asked.
“They aren’t my responsibility. Not until I have the power to really change things.”
“And when you do, what makes you think you know best?”
“Some things are just obviously wrong, whatever world you come from.”
“So you’re going to come here and tell us right from wrong?”
“It’s easy to excuse away doing nothing,” Jason said. “It’s our tradition, our culture, our values. That does not make it acceptable to hand someone over to a predator.”
“You’re naïve,” Arella said. “It’s easy to do more harm than good, bumbling around with no idea of the realities.”
“I've seen the realities, Director. I covered up crimes by a man who tried to have me killed. I did that because the only people who would be hurt if I tried to do something about it would be the victims. Yet this woman I just had locked up in the tower has been hunted for months. Why? For taking things that didn’t belong to her? That’s the easy excuse that lets a pervert with power claw after her. Thadwick Mercer tried to have me murdered and the best I can hope for is that his mum tells him off. Every time I kill people in job lots, I get a promotion. But gods forbid a poor person take a rich person’s stuff. That’s pretext enough to hand them over to whatever filthy lech has the power to demand it. This whole thing was over hunting down the victims and you’re going to tell me I don’t know right from wrong?”