“The same White House that might well be throwing her under the bus very shortly,” Reed said, and I could hear the anger rising in his voice.
“The very same,” Foreman said, almost in a whisper. “Look, this thing was supposed to stay quiet. Even if it went loud, it was supposed to be covered on our side as a ‘terrorist incident,’ not as the unveiling of a government conspiracy to keep secret that there was a whole ’nother race of humans with powers beyond our understanding. Terrorists are easily explained.” He leaned harder on his hand, covering one eye. “A girl who can fly and explode with the force of a bomb requires something else entirely. And if the truth about her past comes out …” He just stopped speaking, dead in the middle of a sentence, and when he spoke again he sounded like death. “Try and imagine the president explaining his way out of giving her a pardon after the truth about her actions with M-Squad comes out. Think through the political fallout following an admission that Sienna, acting as a government agent, damned near nuked a resort.” He fell back in his chair. “Yeah. It’s like that.”
“You made a deal,” Reed said, and I could see his face darken. The winds in the room started to change, like the air conditioner had swept on suddenly. “You made a promise to her—”
“Which I would keep, were it in my power,” Foreman said, looking at him limply, like he’d had all the energy drained out of him. “Even knowing the consequences. But unfortunately it is not in my power, nor anywhere near my power, because now the press isn’t going to be actively looking the other way anymore. There is no cover for this. There is no hiding, if it all makes its way out. This is the sort of shitstorm that blows even the brick house down, and the only thing the little pigs can do is run and hide.”
Run and hide, Little Pigs, Wolfe said, like he couldn’t even control himself. Wolfe will blow your house down. I felt my face pucker at that one, but I said nothing.
“I’m sorry,” Foreman said, looking directly at me. “There’s nothing I can do. I wish there was, but there’s not.”
I didn’t say anything, just stared straight ahead.
“What do we do?” Scott asked, and I heard a slight crack in the way he said it.
“If I were you?” Foreman said, and he looked weary down to the bones. “And, I’m gonna guess, I probably will be counted as one of you …” He looked up, and there was nothing but bitterness in the way he said it. “I’d run.”
Chapter 52
That broke up the meeting in a hurry, at least in its official capacity. Foreman left, saying nothing except he wanted to be with his family. He gave me one last look of absolute contrition before he closed the door. I tried to convey my sincere regrets, but I doubt he noticed in his haste to leave.
Li jetted to his office, probably not wanting to be involved in anything else that could get him charged as an accessory. As funny as I would have thought it could be to see him turn tail and run, I couldn’t blame him a bit. In truth, he’d done everything he could to aid our mission. A few minutes later, I watched him through the window as he crossed the bullpen with a box under his good arm, and I silently wished him well. But, you know, silently, in my own head, not where he might hear it.
Because I suspected that if he came back, it’d be with a warrant to arrest me. He was all about the law, after all.
Ariadne slipped back into the conference room a few minutes later to find us all sitting in silence, staring at the walls and ceiling. I noticed movement in the bullpen as people started to clear out. “I initiated a furlough for all the rest of the workers who haven’t taken off,” she said. “Since we don’t really have anything for them to do here.”
“Good call,” Reed said. “No point in letting whoever comes here to start arresting people have an easy job of it.”
I glanced out the window and caught a glimpse of Harper leaving with her giant suitcase. Rocha walked next to her, gracing her with a smile that didn’t look forced. It was an odd spectacle, watching them walk and talk. Like almost everything else in my life, it was me watching from the outside once more.
“Sienna?” Reed asked.
“Hm?” I glanced at my brother.
“We’ve got some decisions to make,” Scott said.
“Did you send security home as well?” I asked.
“Yes,” Ariadne said. “Except for a skeleton crew. Didn’t see much point in keeping them around since we’re not even guarding Sovereign and there’s no other source of attack.” She paused, and her eyes flitted to me. “Right?”