'Now, Milo. This isn't a game, is it? It's a scam. It's a trick the Tanith use to win cash from the other Guards. And if it's a scam, it needs a sting. It needs a foolproof method to make it a sure thing the Tanith will win. You're the sting, aren't you? On demand, you can guess right… because that's what you do, isn't it? Your mind does the trick and makes it a certainty.'
Milo shook his head. 'It's just a game…'
'I have it on good authority that it is not. If it's a game, why do you play it with unsuspecting troops from other regiments? By my own investigation, you and your friends have earned a small fortune from other men in these last few days. More than you would expect to win if it was just chance.'
'Lucky, I gu— I suppose.'
'You cannot run a scam on such wide odds. How do you really ensure the bug emerges from the right hole?'
Brin lifted the censer. The bug ticked inside. 'Okay… if it matters so much, I'll show you. Pick a hole.'
'Sixteen,' she said, sitting down on the stool facing him, apparently eager.
'I say nine.' He set it down. The bug emerged from hole twenty.
'You win. You were closer.'
She shrugged.
He opened the censer and put the bug back inside. That was round one. You're more confident now. You'll play again. Pick.'
'Seven.'
'Twenty-five,' said Milo. They waited, and then the bug wriggled out of hole six and hopped across the carpet.
'Again you win. You're feeling good now, aren't you? Two wins. On the troop deck, you might have a pile of coins now, and you might wager the lot. You put the bug in.'
She did so and handed the censer back to Milo.
'Pick?' he said.
'Nineteen. All my money and all the cash my comrades-inarms have on nineteen.' He smiled. 'One,' he said. The bug squirmed out of hole one.
'And so I take my huge winnings, look you in your open-mouthed face and say good night.' Milo sat back.
'A beautiful demonstration… and one that may have just incriminated you. How could you do that, to order, at just the right moment, unless your mind knew in advance which way the bug was going?'
Milo tapped his head. You're so sure it's my mind, aren't you, ma'am? So sure it's the twisted workings I've got up here… You think I'm psyker, don't you?'
Her expression was icy. 'Show me an alternative.'
He tapped his jacket pocket. 'It's not up there, it's down here.'
'Explain.'
'At the start of each game, we reach into our pockets for the next wager. Het you place the bug and so on, but I'm the last to handle the censer. The bugs love sugar dust. There's some in the seam of my pocket. I wipe my finger in it as I take out my money and then wipe that finger around the hole I want as I place the censer down. The dust's invisible on that rusty surface of course. But the scam is, I always know which hole it's going to come out of. I choose every time: the first few rounds to let you win, and then when you're confident you've got me on the ropes and start wagering everything, I play to win.'
Lilith got up smartly, crushing the bug underfoot with a deliberate heel. It left a brown stain on one beak of the Imperial crest. She turned to Gaunt.
'Get him out of here. I will report to Bulledin and Sturm. This matter is closed.'
Gaunt nodded and led Milo to the doorway.
'Commissar!' she called out after them. 'He might not be a witch, but if I were you I'd think twice about having a devious and underhand little cheat like him anywhere near me.'
'I'll take that under advisement, Inquisitor Lilith,' Gaunt replied and they left.
They walked back together through the hallways of the hexa thedral. Night cycle was coming to an end, and dawn prayers and offerings were being made in the echoing chapels and chambers around. Incense and plainsong filled the air.
'Well done. I'm sorry you had to go through that.'
'You thought she'd get me, didn't you?' Milo asked.
'I've never doubted the goodness or honesty in you, Brin, but I've always been uneasy about your knack of anticipating things ahead of time. I always feared that someone would take exception to it and that you would land us all in trouble.'
'You'd have shot me though, right?'
Gaunt stopped in his tracks. 'Shot you?'
'If I'd let you down and landed the Ghosts in trouble. If I'd been… what she thought I was.'
'Oh.' They walked on. 'Yes, I would. I would have had to.'
Milo shrugged.
'That's what I thought you'd say,' he murmured.
