“The girl’s tracking bracelet?” Arella asked.
“Not showing up,” the deputy director, Genevieve, said. “The last location shown was in front of the cloud palace.”
“He’s hiding her with Emir Bahadir,” Arella mused. “No surprise the tracker won’t work in there. How strong is that tie?”
“Asano with Bahadir? Superficial, from what I’ve been able to gather. The connection is Rufus Remore.”
“Can Bahadir be convinced to hand her over?”
“Unlikely. My read is that Bahadir will keep showing Asano courtesy at least until Remore gets back and he can make another assessment. It might be different if we had something to offer but that’s unlikely. For a gold-ranker in this city, wanting and having are the same thing.”
Arella tilted her head, her aura senses picking something up.
“Trenslow is in the elevator. He may storm out, so go out the side door and be waiting for him when he leaves.”
Genevieve nodded, taking the second door into the conference room instead of straight back out to the hall.
Vincent arrived outside the director’s office, taking a steeling breath.
“About time, Trenslow.” Arella’s voice rang displeasure through the door. “Get in here.”
“Madam Director,” Vincent said as he entered. She was seated behind her desk.
“Where were you, Trenslow? Did you stop to wax your moustache?”
He had, in fact, done exactly that. The long, familiar process calmed him, and he felt better equipped to face the world with it in the best condition.
Arella didn’t wait for an answer, waving a piece of paper at him.
“Would you care to explain why I’m holding in my hand an order placing a prisoner into the personal custody of Jason Asano, issued by you?”
“You will find that all rules and procedures were followed, Madam Director.”
Vincent was putting on a better show of steadfastness than he thought he would manage, but he had no illusions the director didn’t see through it. Arella took a breath and sat back in her chair.
“I had thought you were my man, Vincent,” she said softly. “I thought you agreed with what I was doing.”
“I did,” Vincent said. “But then you started cutting corners; hurting the people who wanted to help you. I couldn’t understand why, but I was willing to be patient. Now you’ve shown yourself to be everything you claimed to be fighting against. Selling a woman to someone like Lucian Lamprey? Don’t even try and tell me you don’t know what fate awaits her in his hands. With a father like yours, there’s no pleading ignorance.”
“Asano told you,” Arella said. “I wondered if he would.”
“He said it won’t really hurt you. The things you’ve done will outshine where you came from. He even thought that you chose eradicating corruption as your project for advancement because it plays to the story of rising above your criminal origins.”
“He’s not unintelligent, although far from as smart as he thinks. Where is he now, Vincent?”
“I don’t know. He said he wasn’t going anywhere.”
“Of course he did; he’s arrogant and reckless. Running around, believing himself some master manipulator. If it weren’t for people not wanting to anger Rufus Remore and Danielle Geller, he would have been put in the ground months ago. He stood, right where you are, and told me how things were going to go. It never even entered his head that he was being played. You know I’m going to take his membership if he doesn’t produce the girl. I hope you told him that.”
“I guess Lamprey won’t keep his end of the deal unless he gets her,” Vincent accused.
“I’m not looking for your perspective on my affairs, Vincent. You no longer work here. Genevieve is waiting outside to take your official’s pin and other accoutrements.”
Vincent knew it was coming before he set foot in the building, but it didn’t lessen the sting. Without bothering to respond, he turned and walked over to the door.
“I didn’t tell you to leave,” she told him.
He opened the door and paused, without looking back.
“You just gave up the right to tell me a damn thing,” he said. “I thought you were different. That you had integrity. Just so you know, I don’t care who your father is. You’re worth hating all on your own.”
He closed the door behind him to find the deputy director waiting in the hall as promised. Vincent had always liked the elderly elf. She was stern but fair in her dealings, at least the one’s he was privy to. It saddened him to know she was aware of the director’s activities.
He was taking off his Adventure Society pin and handing it over when a flustered functionary came stumbling out of the elevator and rushed down the hall.
“Deputy director!” the winded woman greeted. “Something’s happening with the expedition!”
“Tell me.”
“The tracking stones connected to their badges. They’re marking people as dying. A lot of iron-rankers, but also bronze and even a silver.”
Genevieve frowned as she considered briefly, then threw open the door to the director’s office.
“Inside,” Genevieve commanded and the functionary scuttled in. She looked at Vincent and pressed the pin back into his hand.
“Why?” he asked.
“It sounds like we’ll need all the good people we can get.”
108
You Don’t Have the Strength
Emir Bahadir’s cloud palace was a sprawling, monstrous edifice. Floating just offshore on the north side of the Island, it was fully exposed to the waves and currents, yet remained as immovable as solid ground. The entire structure was made from cloud, dyed in colours of blue, purple, orange and gold. Laid out in multiple wings and towers, it was a fairy tale brought to life.
Just walking on the cloud floors gave a sense of serenity, gentle and floating, yet supportive at the same time. Jason and Emir were strolling down a great, long balcony, looking out over the Adventure Society campus.
“I can’t thank you enough,” Jason said. “There’s no place in the city I can hide her from Elspeth Arella.”
“This is why I like outworlders,” Emir said. “You have a knack for drawing a large amount of trouble in a small amount of time. Something to do with not recognising the dangers, perhaps, or simply an unwillingness to waste a second life on caution and worry. It has been my experience that helping an outworlder in their moments of early need pays off handsomely down the road. Ten years from now, I have no doubt that being owed a favour by you, Mr Asano, will be a valuable commodity indeed.”
“You haven’t earned a favour here, Mr Bahadir. You’ve made a friend, and friends don’t count favours. If you need me, I’ll be there.”
“I’m starting to see what Rufus was talking about. I am curious as to why you’re throwing away so much for a pair of thieves that, if I’m not mistaken, you hardly know.”
“I don’t really see it as a choice.”
Following the balcony to a terrace, they sank into the welcoming embrace of a pair of chairs made of clouds. Jason let out a contented sigh.
“I don’t think I’ll handle going back to regular furniture well.”
Emir chortled.
“It is easy to become accustomed to the finer things,” he said. “We must always remember, though, what we do to get them. You were saying that you didn’t feel you had a choice.”
“I was the one who caught this young woman, which makes her disposition my responsibility.”
“I’m not sure I agree,” Emir said. “She set out on her own path.”
“Yes, because orphans with a debt to a crime lords have so many options in life. If you placed someone in the hands of a filthy degenerate, would you feel that your own hands were clean?”
“I suppose not. I’m not sure I’d go so far to protect them, though.”
“A responsibility isn’t just a responsibility so long as it’s convenient,” Jason said. “I can live with burning bridges, if the bridges are rotten. If I lose my society membership, so be it.”