“I’d hoped you’d take care of things in my absence. I wasn’t able to find any evidence that you did. It seems you were busy running in fear.”
He snapped back, “What do you care? You didn’t even touch your daughter. You just left her.”
He didn’t know I recovered her. Well, good. That was one less threat to me, for now. I was greatly relieved, and needed to not draw attention to it. So I said, “You wouldn’t understand the mission.”
That definitely triggered him. “You and your fucking mission. You killed two billion innocent people to prove a point. For the same casualties, we could have wiped out their military and been done.”
“They would have rebuilt.”
He didn’t like it when I stayed calm. Good.
He said, “Screw the politics. I only kill a few people, I charge enough to weed out vendettas, and I make sure they deserve to die.”
“So, are you Allah or Jehovah? I’ve never met a god before. I expected a deity to have a bigger bank account, actually.” I was conversational, cheerful, derisive. The more seriously someone takes themselves, the more mockery will anger them. Was that his only account, though? It hurt him regardless.
He fairly exploded. “Hey, fuck you, asshole.” Clearly, this was not going the way he wanted.
“Me? I’m not deciding people’s fates based on perceptions.” I paced around the room, though there was nowhere to take more than a couple of steps.
“No, you just kill at random.”
“Not any more. I kill specifically. I’m here to kill you.”
“You have to catch me first.”
“I have caught you.”
“Not enough. I beat you last time.”
I snickered and shook my head. “You hurt me slightly last time. It’s not the first time I’ve been cut.” I wasn’t going to admit to it. I’d used that in combat before I met him. Never let them see you bleed. Be dispassionate and unkillable. “How’s your elbow?”
“Elbow’s fine,” he said, but didn’t sound sure. “You were hurt enough. You’re not so tough.”
That was a handy opening. “So says the guy who never actually went through Operative training.”
“I qualified for everything. You ran it yourself.”
“Yeah, but it was rushed and second rate. You never had the stress the rest of us did.”
“The mission was that.”
“Just keep telling yourself that and maybe you’ll believe it. I figured to lose all you accessories in the process. That’s how I had you filed mentally. Accessories. You were brought along to die regardless. If it saved one real Operative, it was worth it.”
“I think I proved my point. I survived.”
“Not for much longer. I’m sure you can figure out the ending, if you think hard enough.”
I wanted to probe him into thinking I had all the cards. Extreme paranoia leads to mistakes, which I’d exploit.
“Ending?”
“How you’re going to die. You waste a lot of time on graphic finales. It’s like you’re some kind of artist who craves recognition. Whereas, I want your death to be silent and unnoticed. I’m sure you can figure it out.”
I disconnected.
He didn’t call back, though I’d hoped he would.
I’d hurt him. He’d brought up my daughter. I’d not taken the bait. He couldn’t know if she was dead or raised somewhere on Earth. He’d been a good man, helping with delivery, paying attention to Chelsea, acting daddylike in a lot of ways. He thought me utterly inhuman. Good. He didn’t know she existed, so he couldn’t rush in to save her, or use her against me. Good.
“Nothing concrete,” Silver said. “The signal was broken and resent from several sources. But I’m pretty sure he’s in this city.”
“That’s good. It narrows it down. He’s scared and going to get clumsy. It’s very important that we not.”
“I understand,” she said, with a firm nod. Then she trembled.
“I can’t do that,” she said.
“Do what?”
“I can’t hack an unknown phone within divs, hours.”
“He’s had a lot of experience.”
“He’s better than me, and I don’t know how to avoid it. He scrambled his own signal in a couple of hours.”
“He’s got resources already set. We’re making it up as we go. I suspect he cultivated friends of Timurhin. In fact, Timurhin may not even know this is happening.”
“I know, but—”
I cut her off. “Silver, I have every confidence in you.” I didn’t, actually. I’d rather have had Kimbo, but he was the target and the loon, she was all I had, and she was probably second best. And of course, this is what she needed to hear. “I’m not worried about what he comes up with. He’s desperate. Just keep me going.”