SIMON TRIED TO tamp down his anger again as he left the conference room, and failed.
He’d lost track of the alphabet soup of agencies that swept into the city and demanded his time: FBI, DHS, NSA, DEA . . . He wondered if they got a group discount on their hotel rooms. There was already talk of a civil action as well, a possible congressional investigation.
For his part, he hid behind his lawyers’ fine suits and eight-hundred-dollar-an-hour manners, and claimed ignorance of everything except his own name.
For all their questions, he knew the real answer behind all of this: betrayal. It was something he knew quite well, and the rage it inspired seemed to grow stronger the longer he lived.
First, there was Max’s idiotic move, shooting David. He could bleat and moan all he wanted about how it was meant to protect Simon, about how he was trying to save him, but it was still a betrayal. He’d given his orders. David was not to be touched until Simon said so, until the replacement for the Water was completely ready. Max had overstepped his bounds. Simon would have to find some way to punish him for that.
Next came the question of how Shako had gotten past his security. This was more housekeeping than an actual matter of pride. She’d always managed to find a way to get close to him, no matter what defenses he might have in place. But he needed to know where the hole in the wall was before he could fix it. He set Max and Peter to the task of questioning the security personnel away from the police and the federal agents, under the guise of “getting the story straight.” In fact, he wanted to know who had helped her. One of them had to have been bought by her; she should not have gotten through the front door.
Finally, there was the only betrayal that really mattered: David.
She had been with him. He had been holding her hand, and they moved together with an ease he still recognized and envied after almost five hundred years.
He was hers. And she was his. He wanted to believe David was her pawn, but he knew in his heart it was more than that.
She would have left a pawn behind to die. Instead, she saved him.
He had to admit he considered David more than a pawn as well. Never an equal, really, because he didn’t think anyone with less than a century of life could approach him as an equal. But he respected David. Respected his morality, and his intellect, and his idealism. He believed the boy had wanted to change the world for the better. Simon was not above using that, but he respected it. He’d been willing to make him one of the Council. Simon had been prepared to call David a brother and a friend.
And David had been fucking Shako the entire time.
He realized he was grinding his teeth again. With a conscious effort, he put that aside. He willed himself to be calm.
Max waited for him when the elevator doors opened. Max looked weary and beaten. The hangdog expression on his face only irritated Simon even more.
“Any word from the scientists?”
“Some,” Max said.
“What do they say?”
“What do you think?” Max shrugged. “No help.”
“Of course not. The only man who can help us is with her now. Thanks to you.”
Max said nothing. Simon would not have that. He wouldn’t have silence now, after so many years of unwanted advice. “What?”
“It seemed to me he was with her long before that.”
“Are you trying to be funny?”
“Believe me, Simon. Nothing about this is funny.”
“Have you found her yet?”
“We have our contacts in the FBI and the NSA. They’re looking. Along with every policeman in the state. But she’s had a lot of experience hiding from us.”
“Look harder.”
“You always seemed to know where she was before.”
Simon stopped in the hallway and stared at Max for a moment. Was he trying to enrage him? Where was this coming from?
“You are trying my patience, Max.”
Max looked even more exhausted. “For that you have my sincere apologies, Simon.”
“If you are looking for someone to blame for our current situation, perhaps you should start with the mirror. Or do I have to remind you that you put a bullet into our only chance of survival—”
“Simon, please,” Max hissed.
Simon realized he was almost shouting. There were employees nearby, people in their cubicles and offices, all listening to the boss on his rampage.
Simon got himself under control.
“Perhaps the boardroom is a better place to continue this discussion,” Max said quietly.
Simon scowled but nodded. They took the elevator to the top floor and opened the heavy, locked doors.
Simon entered and then froze in place.
Peter and Sebastian were seated at the table in their usual places.
But there was someone in Simon’s chair.
Aznar smiled at him.
“Hello, Simon,” he said. “It’s so good to see you again.”