'Tell her… tell her I love her.'
'Of course I will. You're doing the right thing, Julian. Take care with Finlay, he's…'
But Julian had already broken contact. Brendan stared at the blank screen, and then turned to BB as she got up off the bed and came over to join him.
'Well,' said Brendan, 'that was unexpected. I hadn't foreseen complete and utter capitulation for days yet.'
'He loves me,' said BB. 'My dear, sweet, vulnerable Julian. He always said he'd do anything for me.'
'Even betray his friends?'
'Of course. What are friends for?'
'But can we trust him to keep his word? You betrayed him to the torturers. You stand for everything he hates.'
'None of that matters. He belongs to me. It should have been his more malleable older brother, Auric. He would have been far more useful to us. But he insisted on fighting that stupid duel in the Arena and was lost to us. Julian was second choice, but to be fair, he's come much further on his own than I ever thought he would. Another official hero of the rebellion could be very useful to us…'
'Do you really think he'd kill his closest friend? His savior? Even for you?'
'Probably not. More likely he'll bring me Finlay alive but helpless, and make all kinds of conditions before his conscience will allow him to hand Finlay over. It doesn't matter. One way or another, we'll get what we want.'
'Poor Julian,' said Brendan, smiling. 'Already out of his depth and sinking fast. Almost makes you feel sorry for him, doesn't it?'
BB looked at him coolly. 'Are you asking if I have any feelings for him? Of course I do. I'm only human, after all.'
'Really?' said Brendan. 'I thought you were Blue Block.'
Evangeline sat stiffly on the edge of the bed in Finlay's quarters, still wrapped in her bedsheet. Finlay was sitting in a chair opposite her, scowling darkly. They'd been trying to talk, but not getting anywhere. Talking had never been what Finlay did best. The backup viewscreen chimed suddenly, and Finlay had to think hard for a moment to remember where it was. He'd never had to use it before. He finally found the small screen in the headboard of the bed and accepted the call. Julian Skye's face appeared on the small screen, and Finlay gave a small sound of relief.
'Julian! I was worried. How are you? Are you all right? Listen…'
'We need to talk, Finlay.'
'Of course we do! Look, I can't leave Evie just now. Why don't you—'
'We have to talk now, Finlay. Come over to my town house. I can't leave. I can't risk being seen. You have to come here. It's important. My old esper contacts have turned up a connection between Gregor Shreck and the Chojiros. They're working with Blue Block on some kind of scheme. I tried to contact Jack Random, but no one knows where he is. You're the only other person I can trust with this.'
'Yeah, right. Shit. Some days everything happens at once. All right, stay where you are. I'll be with you as soon as I can.'
'Sure, Finlay. See you.'
The screen went dead. Finlay turned away to see Evangeline looking at him in disbelief. 'You're not seriously thinking of going, are you?'
'I have to,' said Finlay. 'I need to talk to him, to explain… you saw the state of him when he left. I'm worried he might do something… stupid. I won't be long.'
'What about me? Don't I matter? I don't want to be left alone, Finlay!'
'I'll be back as soon as I can.'
'Finlay!'
'Evie, I have to do this. The Chojiro stuff might be nothing, just an excuse to reach out to me, but I can't afford to assume that. If he's right, I've got to contact a whole bunch of people… Evie, you know I wouldn't leave you unless I had to.'
'You're always leaving me, Finlay. Rushing off to kill someone, to be the hero one more time. It's always about what you need. What about what I need?'
'You're safe here. No one can get to you, not past Arena security. I have to go. This is important.'
'And I'm not?'
'I didn't say that!'
'If it's so important, I'm coming with you.'
'Evie, you can't. You're in no condition to go anywhere. And I think Julian and I need to be alone for this. You get some rest. I'll be back soon, I promise.'
'Finlay, if you leave me now, I won't be here when you get back. I mean it, Finlay.'
He left anyway, as both of them had known he would. Finlay Campbell never could turn down a call to action.
Back in his old home once again, Julian Skye turned away from the deactivated viewscreen. He felt cold and empty and very tired. Only a few days ago his life had made sense. It had been ordered, secure, even routine. Now everything he'd ever cared for was gone. Everything but BB Chojiro. But there wasn't time to feel sad, or sorry. There were things he had to do, preparations that had to be made, before Finlay arrived.
Julian moved over to the low wooden table by the fire, and picked up the small silver casket waiting there. Its lid held the Family crest. His father had used it as a snuffbox. Julian had used it for other purposes, back in his rebel days. He opened the casket and took out a single black capsule, almost as big as his fingernail. He hefted it in his hand for a moment, and then went looking for a glass of wine. Something that size was going to be hard to swallow, and he'd always had trouble with pills. But he managed it eventually, with the aid of a glass and a half of wine, and a certain amount of straining. It felt decidedly uncomfortable going down, but he was beyond caring about things like that.
A single black capsule. Just a little something to hold him together while he talked with BB Chojiro. He hoped he wouldn't need it, but there was always the chance he would.
He went and sat down in the parlor, and waited for Finlay to arrive. It took just under an hour, and when the doorbell rang, Julian was still sitting there. He hadn't moved. He went to answer the door himself. He'd given the servants the rest of the evening off. He didn't want any witnesses. He opened the front door to Finlay, and the two of them nodded awkwardly to each other. Julian led the way back to his parlor. They sat down on facing chairs before the banked fire and looked at each other.
'I never meant for you to find out,' said Finlay. 'I knew it would hurt you.'
'You killed my brother, Auric.'
'Yes, I did. I killed a lot of people in the Arena.'
'He fought well. You could have just wounded him. The crowd would have turned up their thumbs for him.'
'He fought too well. He'd had armor implanted under his skin, servomechanisms in his muscles. I really thought he was going to kill me. So I stopped him with a sword thrust to the only part of him that wasn't armored: his eye.'
'You were the Masked Gladiator. Undefeated Champion of the Arena. You could have found a way to defeat him without killing him if you'd wanted to.'
'Maybe. I don't know. There isn't time to think about things like that in the Arena. It's kill or be killed. Your brother knew that.'
'Auric. His name was Auric.'
'What do you want me to say, Julian? That I'm sorry? All right, I'm sorry I killed your brother, Auric. But you and I killed a lot of people in the rebellion, some of them just guards or soldiers doing their job, their duty as they saw it. They were all someone's brother. I'm sorry for the pain I've caused you, Julian. But there's nothing I can do about it.'
'I know,' said Julian. 'I'm sorry too. But sometimes sorry isn't enough.'
He reached out with his esp and shut down Finlay's mind. The Campbell toppled forward from his chair and
