Janus’s knuckles were flat against the desk, his jaw was squared and set, and if he was lying, he damned sure didn’t look like it. “But I don’t do what I want to do. I do what I’m ordered. My question for you, Wolfe … will you do the same? Because if not … you become rather more … expendable.”
Wolfe let out a growl and leaned forward onto the desk, his fingernails like claws, digging into the surface. “Is that how Janus sees it?”
Janus didn’t speak for a long minute, and Adelaide and I watched this contest of wills with no small amount of alarm; she, because it seemed destined to erupt only inches from her face, and me because … well, because it was just that gripping.
“No,” Janus said. “That is not how I see it. That is how the Primus sees it. Now … will you be a good dog and respect your leash? Or do you wish to spend the rest of your life licking your own genitals in a corner of the office?”
Wolfe recoiled in fury, leaving five long scrapes along the surface of Janus’s desk. “Wolfe will not forget this.”
“Good,” Janus said. “Never forget. Never forget what I can do to you, what I will do to you, should you slip the leash.” He waved at the door. “Now get out, and close the door behind you.”
Wolfe stalked off, making me wonder if he’d stop to open the door before plunging through. He opened it, stepped through, and was about to turn it loose in a slam that would break the glass when Janus spoke up again:
“Ah, ah, ah,” Janus said. “Gently.
Wolfe seethed so loudly I thought he’d spit blood, but the door was shut without being broken, and Janus turned his attention back to Adelaide. “I’m sorry you had to see that, my dear,” Janus began. “But unfortunately, you are a part of a bigger whole, and as part of Omega, you must realize that the mission is of critical importance. Nothing else matters, nothing but winning. Succeeding. Beating the odds. What you have done today has compromised an important source of information.”
“I thought he was a definite kill,” Adelaide said, and there was a little shake in her voice. Whether it was from the confrontation she’d just witnessed or the realization that she’d blown her mission, I didn’t know.
“No, he was supposed to be capture only,” Janus said. “We did not want him dead until after we could question him.”
“I’m sorry I failed you,” Adelaide said, and I saw her cheek twitch underneath the heavy black eyeliner that coated her eye.
“It is not me who you have failed,” Janus said carefully, sticking a hand in the pocket of his vest. “It is the Primus.”
Adelaide’s face went blank with the sort of horror that can’t truly be expressed. “Please. I’m sorry.”
Janus clicked his tongue. “I trust you will try harder on your next assignment?”
“Yes, yes,” Adelaide said with a fervent nod. “I won’t fail you again.”
“Temper your enthusiasm for Wolfe’s approach,” Janus said. “He can get away with the things he does; you cannot. Even more than most of our operatives, you come into this with a handicap of your own—”
“I know,” Adelaide said, her head bowed, the points of her mohawk shaking as she did. “I’m … thankful for the opportunity. I was merely trying to do what I had been told.”
“Recall that you report to me, not Wolfe,” Janus said, “and you will not make an error such as this again. Now, go—report to the stylists downstairs, have them give you a once-over to transform your appearance. We can’t have the police hounding you every step of the way, after all.” He let a light smile grace his stern features. “Go on.”
“Thank you,” Adelaide said and stood, opening the door and excusing herself. She didn’t exactly fold before Janus but close. It reminded me of a similar conversation I’d had with Ariadne.
“And Adelaide?” Janus said, catching her just before she walked out.
“Yes?” she paused, her hand on the wooden door. The glass in the middle of it was streaked with fingerprints, a greasy mess that made it look like it had been smeared with oil.
“You did not use your power in the encounter, correct?”
“No,” she shook her head quickly.
Janus studied her for a moment, inscrutable. “Very good. Go on.”
“Thank you, sir.” She tucked the door shut behind her.
Wolfe was waiting just outside, down on all fours, watching Adelaide as she came out of the office. His scrutiny made even me uncomfortable, and I lived with him in my head. I couldn’t imagine how Adelaide felt about it.