It took Yuki a good deal longer to get to sleep than he would have liked. He had much to think about, when he got home from his meal with Spike, but even after he'd satisfied himself that he'd done enough thinking for the night, sleep eluded him for a couple of hours. One of his last thoughts before finally drifting off was how lucky it was that he had the next day off. After all, if I had to get up early tomorrow, it'd be that much harder to fall asleep tonight.
In the morning, he fixed himself some coffee, and reexamined his thoughts from last night. After a little while, he decided to call Cam and share those thoughts. But rather than discuss the situation via t-mail, they agreed to meet in a park not too far from Yuki's house. On his way there, Yuki stopped at a nearby deli and ordered a sandwich and another cup of coffee, both of which he took to go. He ate while waiting for Cam at a chess table. Just as he finished his sandwich, a young man about Cam's age sat down opposite him. It was no one Yuki had ever seen before, but he'd known Cam was going to use a glamour spell.
"Fancy a game?" the stranger asked.
"Strange place to sit, if I didn't," Yuki replied, and began setting up his pieces. His 'rival' did likewise.
"Been awhile since I've been to Pritt. Seems less crowded than I remember. Suppose everyone's gone to Sorret for the Fair. Personally, I prefer the quiet." This concluded their pre-arranged remarks, to let Yuki know Cam was Cam. He added, "Name's Troy, by the way," something Yuki thought would have been enough without any code phrases, but Cam had said, via t-mail, 'You never know, a guy named Troy could coincidentally sit down and ask for a game of chess. Stranger things have happened.' Yuki was fairly sure he'd been joking, but he hadn't pressed the matter.
"Yuki." Naturally, if he was being watched, making up a pseudonym for himself would be an unmistakable sign that he was up to something. He also thought it would be too risky to use a glamour, himself. Of course, they'd be in trouble if anyone overheard the conversation they were about to have, but the important thing was to make sure no one knew who Cam was. Not that he really thought he was being watched. Being a stationary agent, his training in spotting spies had been minimal, so he trusted that Cam's more extensive training would keep them safe. Certainly there was no one close enough to eavesdrop naturally, and they were both keeping alert to the possibility of magical surveillance.
'Troy' made the first move. "So, you said you had an idea?"
Yuki made his move, though he was barely paying enough attention to the game to move the pieces according to the rules, let alone follow any sort of strategy. "I was thinking... we could probably use don Finger's suspicion of chief Mireille to our advantage. Before, I guess I saw her desire to keep our work with-" he'd been about to say 'Inspector,' but suddenly worried that if anyone was listening in, they might think he was talking about a cop, which might well be worse than working with a member of a rival gang. So, after just a moment's pause, he decided to use the InterGang Sorreter's given name. "-Ford secret from Finger, as a matter separate from the assignment you and I currently share. It's strange that it hadn't even occurred to me to use her secrecy against her, for our own purposes. I mean, it's not like I have any real allegiance to Faye. But I suppose it comes naturally to... you know, develop a certain camaraderie, when you work together every day. So, I had these two separate concerns: making sure no one found out what she and I were up to in Kurok, and making sure no one found out whom I really work for. But when Spike told me that Finger suspects Faye of betraying LandOrder... well, after thinking about it for awhile, I realized if we just let him deal with her- I mean, eliminate her- then the project will come to a crashing halt."
"There's just one problem with that."
"Yes. Ford. But since Finger is laying a trap for him, both problems will be solved. You and I might not have to do anything."
"Assuming Finger's plan goes off without a hitch, and his people actually manage to eliminate them. It's always possible they'll escape. And that's not a chance we can afford to take. Alternatively, what if Finger decides not to eliminate them? If they tell him the truth about the project, it may be that InterGang would lose its stake, but there'd be nothing stopping LandOrder from continuing it. And while I'm sure Finger's main interest would be in using the system they develop for his gang, he could very well pass it on Durell, and of course to Gateman, whose idea it was in the first place. We can't allow that to happen, which means that both Ford and Mireille must die. We can wait and see if Finger takes care of that for us, but we need to have a backup plan ready. By the way, I assume that, aside from you, they're the only two people who could replicate the work that's been done so far?"
"I couldn't say for sure that Ford hasn't shared his plans or research with anyone else. He very well could have told someone else about it, in his own sorretry department, or his don, or even Durell. He says he's waiting to be sure it works, and I believe him, but... we should probably have a backup backup plan, just in case."
"Hmmm. Well, I could go to Kurok, myself, and try to obtain evidence of what you three have been up to... I mean, what Ford and Mireille have been up to. Obviously, I'll keep you out of it." Cameron took a few moments to focus on the chess board. He hadn't been paying much more attention to the game than Yuki had, but he was clearly doing better. He expected to take Yuki's queen in a couple of moves. Suddenly, he looked up and said, "By the way, it's not going to... be a problem for you, is it? Your boss being killed, I mean? I know you said you didn't have any allegiance to her, but you also mentioned camaraderie."
"Ah. Well, honestly, we've never been friends, or anything, but she's been a reasonably good boss, these last three years. On the other hand, I can't really say she's an especially good person. She treats those who are on her side well enough, but anyone else, whether enemies or neutral parties... she has no mercy. Not that she's particularly vicious, it's just... people are irrelevant to her. She'll dispatch her enemies as dispassionately as she'd blow out a candle. Her allies she'll defend to the best of her ability, but she won't grieve if they happen to die. Anyone else, she pays no mind at all. Sometimes innocent bystanders get hurt, and she takes no notice of it. I mean, she doesn't go out of her way to hurt anyone, nor to avoid hurting anyone. So... when I mentioned 'camaraderie,' I misspoke. What I really meant was... I don't know, a sort of conspiratorial feeling I had about keeping the secret of the project, with her. It was, I admit, a rather childish feeling on my part, as if we were playing a game. But of course it's not a game, and whatever the feeling I had was, it's something I'm sure she herself didn't feel, and had no idea that I felt. And even before the project started... well, I felt a sense of comfortable familiarity, the way one feels about anyone they see every day, be it at work or at school or wherever, but not the sort of familiarity that goes beyond the level of acquaintance. Anyway, she's loyal to those who are loyal to her, whether they're her superiors or subordinates. And she follows orders, as long as she has no specific reason not to. If someone like Finger or Durell ordered her to kill me, for some reason, it wouldn't even cross her mind to question the order, let alone feel bad about it. She'd simply carry it out."
"Well, that's good. I mean, I'm glad I'm not asking you to be party to the murder of a friend."
"As am I. Though I'd really like to avoid that word, 'murder.' I know it's for the greater good... not just to preserve the secrecy of the ex-Sorreters' location, but to protect the privacy of literally everyone in the world. And I know it's not like..." he fell silent then, desperately wanting to avoid finishing the thought he wished he'd never started.
"It's not like either of us has never killed anyone," said Cameron. Mercifully, he refrained from bringing up the fact that each of them had killed the others' allies, in the war... And it was at that moment, for the first time that he could recall, that Cameron really understood that he and his friends were just as guilty of killing the friends of... people like Yuki. Elves and humans alike. It's not that he'd never thought of it before, and it's not that he'd never felt anything akin to remorse. Not so much for the specific lives that he or his allies had taken, but for the necessity of it. The idea of the sanctity of life, in a general sense, rather than the lives themselves. He'd felt that, but somehow it had never occurred to him- again, not that he could recall- to think that someone in Yuki's position had just as much reason to hate him as he had to hate Yuki, or anyone else who'd fought on the other side in the war. And yet, somehow Yuki seemed to accept all the guilt himself, rather than ever for a moment blaming his former enemies. Cameron supposed that could be put down to shifting ideology... Yuki's belief that he'd been on the wrong side to begin with, while Cameron had never doubted that his own side was in the right. At least, not since before his parents were killed. But now he wondered if being 'in the right' really mattered that much. Either way, people died. That fact wasn't enough to make him regret his actions, either during the war or since, but it was enough to make him start seriously thinking about forgiving his former enemy and current ally.
"Uh, Troy? It's your move."
Cameron shook away his thoughts, looked at the board, and made a move. For now, the queen lived on. But he allowed himself a small, wry grin as he thought that at this point, he probably couldn't lose the game if he tried, short of simply resigning. Which was something he'd never done in his life, and wasn't about to start. "So, as I was saying... I could try to find evidence of what Mireille and Ford have been doing. Maybe even something to tie them to Gateman... or better yet, Durell. They'll still need to die, of course, but in case they've passed their notes on to anyone, we could use that evidence as leverage. Make sure the right people know we have it, and that as long as they don't try to restart the project, no one else need ever know about it. But we'll be watching, and if they do restart it, we'll know. And then the world will know."
"When you say 'we,' I trust-"
"I do not include you in that 'we,' don't worry."
"Good. Just checking. Speaking of which, check."
Cameron looked at the board. "I hope you don't think I didn't see that coming." He moved out of check. "All part of my plan."
"Oh, I know. I would have been safer not making that move, but I wanted to be able to say the word, just once before you beat me. Anyway, you really think you'll be able to get evidence sufficient to scare anyone important? And do so without being caught, when Finger's already in the midst of setting a trap for an enemy Sorreter?"
"Don't underestimate me. Meanwhile... I suppose you're scheduled to work tomorrow. But if you're not supposed to talk to Mireille-"
"I'm sure Spike didn't mean I couldn't go to work, or have normal business-related conversations with her. In fact, it would look suspicious if I didn't. But I suppose I will have to make up an excuse not to join her in our extracurricular pursuit... without specifically telling her I won't be joining her. Actually, when we first started the project, we came up with code words to let each other know if there was a problem, and we couldn't talk freely. I might use one of those, but... then again, I may not want to put her on guard, if we're still hoping Finger takes care of her. Maybe I'll just call in sick to work, or go to work but lay some groundwork for calling in sick later. A cough or sniffle, here or there... After all, it's probably too early to call off yet, since I don't know Finger's timetable for the trap he's setting. Might not spring it for weeks yet, for all I know. Though I doubt it'll be too long."
"Right. Well, I'll leave that up to you. I trust your judgment in this matter, mate. By the way, checkmate."
Yuki groaned.
"Hey, you said you were expecting it."
"It's not the loss, it's the pun. Mine was way better."
Cameron waggled his hand. "Ehhhh."
"Oh, go check on your friends, why don't you? I've wasted enough of my day off." Yuki stood up, threw his sandwich bag and coffee cup in a nearby trash can, and left, turning back once, briefly, to shake his fist in mock anger. But when he turned again and continued on his way, he smiled.
Cameron smiled, too, as he put away both of their chess pieces.