The Great Game

by O. J. Lowe

  He didn’t know if it was a good thing or not the meeting was taking place in Brendan King’s hotel room, but as he knocked and heard the permission to enter, he found himself wishing that it was taking place in the makeshift Unisco headquarters if only for the sense of support and camaraderie he might have gotten from having other agents lingering about the place. Here, it’d just be him and Brendan. The Field Ops Chief sat at a desk, his face solemn and a holographic projector on the table in front of him.

  “Come on in, Agent Roper,” he said, and Nick was a little relieved to hear he didn’t sound especially vindictive. Not that that meant too much. “Have a seat.”

  Nick strode in, pulled out his chair and glanced around the room at the sound of a little cough, startled a little by the man he saw leaning against the closet. Again, he didn’t know whether to be worried or not by that presence. “Pardon me, Director,” he said. “I didn’t realise you’d be in attendance.”

  Arnholt smiled. It wasn’t entirely friendly, little more than a bare of the teeth. “Thought I’d sit in on this. Listen to what you’ve got to say. Don’t mind me, Agent Roper, we’re just following procedure. We want to clear a few details up for the record. Sit down.”

  Reluctantly, Nick did as Brendan cleared his throat. “For the purposes of record, this is the interview of United International Spirit Control Organisation Agent Nicholas Roper in regards of the unsanctioned incident upon Carcaradis Island which resulted in the death of Doctor Jeremiah Blut...”

  Nick almost interrupted, caught himself at the last moment. Annoying Brendan unnecessarily wouldn’t do him any favours. “… and several hostile unidentified combatants. In attendance are Agent Nicholas Roper, Director Terrence Arnholt and Field Operations Chief Brendan King conducting. For the purposes of this interview, I’d like to remind you that it may harm your defence should you offer information not mentioned in your report.”

  Back on the mainland, it was likely that these two wouldn’t be anywhere near an interview for circumstances like this, there were far too many layers in between them for that to happen. But they’d likely done it before at some point in their careers. Out here, they had to make do with what they had. Still… There was something about this that made him feel mightily uncomfortable. “Starting from… now.”

  With the interview underway, Nick didn’t hesitate. “I want to bring into question what you just said in that statement. For one thing, you don’t have any evidence that Jeremiah Blut is dead. Unless something’s come up I’m not aware of.” But if there was, you’d probably have brought it up before now. At least I hope you would have.

  Brendan blinked, Nick wondered if he’d made a serious error there by pointing out the mistake. Screw it, if he got off on a technicality then he’d take that. Of course, he’d probably have to deal with Brendan’s ire for the rest of the time they were here but he could live with that.

  “Amend that to suspected death and confirmed disappearance,” Arnholt offered. “You’re quite right, Agent Roper, we don’t. A slip of the tongue, albeit a pretty serious one.”

  “Yet,” Brendan said. “We have evidence that he was there provided by you yourself, Agent Roper. His wallet with ID inside. If he isn’t dead, then where is Doctor Blut?”

  “I don’t know. I wish I did,” Nick said. “It’d make it a lot easier for him to answer some questions.”

  “In both your report and Agent Wilsin’s, it is stated, and I quote, that you threw him into a portal,” Brendan said, glancing at a document at his side. “Forget that for a moment. Talk us through the circumstances that led to that.”

  Nick cleared his throat, drew a deep breath. “Okay, so we entered the sewer…”

  “Why?”

  “Saw some people acting suspiciously,” he said. “The three identical men. I followed them to the water control room, saw that there was a dead body. That made it a crime.”

  “A crime it wasn’t in your jurisdiction to deal with. This was not a spirit related murder and therefore falls outside our authority,” Brendan said.

  “Yet at the same time, I wasn’t to know that without further investigation,” Nick said. “At the very least, if those three had murdered him, I considered it my duty to gather intelligence, maybe names and residences that could be presented to the local authorities. While it might not be our authority to deal with common murders, it is in our authority to assist the local law enforcement wherever it is possibly needed. If a situation escalates before assistance is offered or asked for, then there’s not a lot I can do about that.”

  Arnholt nodded, Brendan looked begrudgingly accepting of the answer. “So, you followed them?”

  “Yes, but I encountered Agent Wilsin before long. We travelled down, followed the footprints and engaged in enemy combatants. They had assault weapons, BRO-60’s and it slowly turned into a situation we could not walk away from. When shots were fired, we had to see the job through. And we couldn’t call for backup because as you doubtless know, the communication system was down. One of us could have run for it, but it would have meant splitting up and that could have been fatal. Two had a better chance of survival down there than one. At that point, it seemed more dangerous to abandon the whole situation and retreat than to carry on.”

  “We do have that on record about the communication failure,” Brendan said. “Okay, so what happened next?”

  “The triplets. We fought them in the cavern, we killed them and we tried to capture Jeremiah Blut alive. Wilsin incapacitated him but that was when we were attacked.”

  “Ah,” Brendan said. “The tentacle.” He sounded disbelieving as he said it, a tone of voice that annoyed Nick no end. For a man obsessed sometimes with the past, it was remarkable he couldn’t see past the end of his own nose when it came to the matter of belief and fact.

  “Yes, the tentacle. You have actual physical evidence of that. It came through, grabbed Agent Wilsin and I summoned a spirit to remove it from the field of play. I cut it down but more came out of there.” He shuddered a little at the memory, he wasn’t likely to forget those things any time soon. The way they’d wriggled out of the portal… He swallowed, straightened himself up in his chair and readied himself for the next question.

  “And that was when you decided to throw Jeremiah Blut to them?”

  “That was when I did what I was trained to do,” Nick said, trying to keep some of the anger out of his voice and failing miserably. Bringing it up didn’t assuage the guilt, he wasn’t going to forget those images of Blut screaming and struggling as the tentacles grabbed at him. Somehow, he had the feeling that he couldn’t have survived that. But you never knew. It might be a magical sunshine candy land on the other side of that portal. In that case, he was feeling guilty about nothing.

  “Blut said something about throwing ourselves to them because it was the only way to appease them. Something along those lines. It’s what I drew from it. So, and there were more of the tentacles coming through and who knew what else, I made an on the spot tactical decision. I threw him to them. He’d done this. Better him than Agent Wilsin or I.” He shrugged. “Of course, let us not forget one thing as well.”

  “What’s that?” Arnholt sounded amused.

  “It worked. You have records and testimony that tie the return in communications and the ceasing of the storm with the moment Blut went through there and the portal vanished. He was right. It was appeased. I did the right thing for everyone on the island was saved from the storm.”

  “Do you think it would have gotten that serious?” Brendan asked. “Truly?”

  Nick shrugged. “Hey, better to be safe than sorry, right? At the very least, people might have been injured. Or worse. And Blut was far from innocent. He knew what was going on down there.”

  “You can’t assume that. He may have been coerced. And even if he wasn’t, then he could have had vital evidence for us. We might actually have been able to get the full story as to what was going on, rather than trying to piece together opinion
and potential coincidence.”

  “He did not act like a man coerced,” Nick said. “He didn’t thank us for saving him after we eliminated the hostiles. He attacked Agent Wilsin. He could have hurt him.” He fought the urge to sarcastically add a comment about how he assumed they were still allowed to defend themselves but he got the impression it wouldn’t go down well. Losing his cool wasn’t something he did too often but doing it now would be the height of phenomenal stupidity.

  “That was when you chose to throw him through a portal…” Nick couldn’t miss the sarcasm in Brendan’s voice at that word. “… to who knows where because he wasn’t particularly grateful? Good thing you’ve never been on a mission in Premesoir.” Nick ignored that slight, not every person from Premesoir was a rude ignorant git like Brendan seemed to be implying. Arnholt cleared his throat and Nick smiled. He wouldn’t have liked that.

  “As I already said, it was a spur of the moment thing. I made a judgement call in the field based solely on what intel I had. It was an impossible circumstance and I did the best. In combat situations, you can’t always follow the rules. Both of you should know that. I regret what happened, I truly do. But in the same situation again, based with the exact same circumstances, I would do it again. I stand by my convictions, Chief King.”

  Brendan said nothing, instead moving for another holofile, flicking over it with interest. As to the contents, Nick couldn’t comment, nor could he say why Brendan would find it so interesting. At least not until it was slid across to him and he saw the picture at the top. It was an old image and not a flattering one of him either.

  “You have an interesting service record, Agent Roper. You came through our academy at Torlis, passed it with flying colours, qualified as a combat-weapons specialist with a second in investigation. Because of what we’ve done for you, you’re near the top of the spirit calling world. You could probably take Director Arnholt or myself on in a bout and win most of the time.” Nick couldn’t miss the begrudging note in his voice. “You’re one of the favourites for this tournament. And those are what the world knows about. You have a high success rate in assignments you are attached to.”

  Yeah, if I didn’t, I’d probably be dead, Nick wanted to say. He didn’t. “Is there a point to this, Chief?” He kept it as respectful as possible. If he was offended, Brendan didn’t show it.

  “My only point is that you’re a fine agent. I’d be worried if your judgement became impaired. We’ve invested a lot of time and credits in turning you into a highly trained operative…”

  Yeah and then you pull me in for doing what I’m supposed to in that respect. More things not said, Nick thought with a small smile. It might be worth it to see the look on Brendan’s face if he did point all this out.

  “Do you understand my concern?” He must have ignored the smile, instead asking the question. Nick nodded his head, his smile vanishing in a heartbeat. He really did. Unisco operatives were, as Brendan had skipped around bringing up, highly trained killers skilled in all sorts of unsavoury arts. It wouldn’t be the first time one had snapped and inevitably they needed to be brought down when that happened. Brought down with terminal intensity.

  “Yeah, absolutely. Chief, I understand why. I just want to say once more that I did everything I could. I’ll accept whatever judgement you pass over me.” He meant it as well. Nick Roper had never been under the illusion that you didn’t have to take the consequences for your actions. He’d known it would come from the moment he’d hefted that old bastard up and tossed him to the squid.

  Brendan glanced over to the director, Arnholt glanced back at him and then to Nick. “I’ve been in your position, Agent Roper,” he said. “And I’ve been in Chief King’s. It’s not an ideal situation for anyone. Not you, not me, not Brendan and certainly not the family of Jeremiah Blut. The only winners are the people who sent Blut and those triplets here. Their involvement has been silenced for the time being.” He sighed. “Either way, we can’t change the past, but the future is something that we can interact with. What we need to do is ensure that something like this isn’t a frequent occurrence.”

  “Director, with the greatest of respect, this isn’t a job where you can apply a one size fits all approach to what happens. There are too many variables.”

  “Oh, I agree,” Arnholt said affably. “And I don’t want to dull your effectiveness. Next time you might hesitate, it could cost you your life and I wouldn’t want that on my conscience because I’d warned you on your future conduct. I wouldn’t want that from any of my agents. You have a job done, you hesitate and you jeopardise everything. Plus, it would have been very easy for you to manipulate this situation and as far as I can tell…”

  He glanced towards the bathroom. “… You’ve been honest all the way with us. Agent Roper, consider a marker placed in your file in regards of this incident. In the future, try to excise a little bit more forethought with your actions. If it were in a combat situation you’d executed him, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. That you weren’t makes it tricky.”

  His voice took on a harder tone. “Should this happen again, this meeting will not be so amicable. You have an excellent record of service and the details of the exact story are murky at best so I’m choosing to give you the benefit of the doubt this time. Do not make me regret that. Take a few days to think about what you’ve done and how lucky you are. This sort of luck doesn’t stretch to a third chance.”

  Nick stood up and saluted, his heart beating hard against his chest. “I won’t, sir. Thank you, sir.” Arnholt nodded at him.

  Brendan looked a little put out but stood up as well. “Terminating interview,” he said. “You’re a lucky man, Agent Roper.”

  Nick grinned. “Yes, I am,” he said. “Thanks again, Director. Chief.”

  “You’re dismissed, Agent,” Arnholt said, pointing to the door. “Congratulations on your win by the way.” Nick bowed his head, muttered out a third set of gratitude and made for the door. As he left, Brendan and Arnholt looked at each other for a moment before Arnholt exhaled sharply and spoke up. One hand came out from behind his back and fell to his side, he let the X7 he’d been gripping fall limply to the carpet.

  “You can come out now, Agent Sullivan.”

  It was with some reluctance that Anne Sullivan stepped out of the bathroom, hands in pockets and more than a little uneasy as she shifted on the spot. Her gift could be used both ways, it seemed. It was the first time she’d ever been called to assess whether another agent was telling the truth or not. Why did that not sit right with her?

  She couldn’t say. Maybe because one day she might be in that seat where Roper had just sat and then who’d be there to speak up for her. She’d been given a signal, if he perpetrated in any deceit at any point, Arnholt would have been buzzed and steps would have been taken to neutralise him. Hence the weapon the director was re-holstering even as they spoke. The key thing was to avoid a scene. It would have happened in private.

  “He was telling the truth then?” Brendan said, she could sense the emotion pouring off him. It was a hard to describe feeling, not quite condescension, not quite disbelief but an amused mix of the two.

  “All I will say is that he wasn’t giving off any of the emotions associated with untruths,” Anne said. “He feels guilt about what happened. I got that when he spoke about Blut. Just because someone’s a murdering scumbag doesn’t change what happened. I must say, I think you were remarkably lenient with him.”

  “Agent Sullivan,” Arnholt said, his voice wary. “I advise you not to continue down this discussion.” She could sense the warning in his voice, could feel the danger exuding off him like musk as he spoke. Yet there was something else deep down below. Something he was trying to hide. She narrowed her eyes and studied her boss, trying not to focus on what a stupid idea it was.

  “You’re hiding something.” It was a calculated gamble, a means of bringing it to the forefront of his mind. It’d be handy if she could read minds. But instead,
she got a twinge of guilt from him, hidden by the bluster that emerged when he next spoke.

  “I am the director of Unisco, Agent Sullivan, I hide many things. I’m ordering you to stand down.”

  “You trust her, don’t you Terrence?” Brendan said slowly. “You trust she can do what she says she can. Maybe you should tell her. Save her running off with the wrong idea. Our little secret.”

  Arnholt sighed. “You do realise that if you repeat this, I will make it my personal mission to see you destroyed.” It sounded deadpan but she knew immediately he was deadly serious. “Agent Sullivan… Anne… Neither of us want to see Roper take a blast for this. Like he said, he decided in the field. Last thing we want is our agents to be tied up in red tape, unable to make a call for fear of getting bureaucratically castrated afterwards. Sometimes I think the Senate would like that to happen. Every now and then they get the idea that we need to be muzzled.”

  She felt the stab of disgust in him as he mentioned the Senate. “Unfortunately, the incident is just serious enough to make it impossible to ignore. I believe Blut was complicit in the sacrifice and murder of all those people and quite frankly the world is a better place without him in it. The man was a violent abusive drunk as well, we saw his file. But there’s a way to do things and Roper broke it. He admitted it as well in his report. Therefore, we had to act and swiftly. Like I said, none of us like it. It’s about the best we can do for him, we warn him about the future and put a note in his file.”

  “Seems like you should be taking this a little more seriously,” she said. “I mean if it was somebody else…”

  “You think this is the first time? Like he said, each case should be judged on its merits. Besides I don’t want to see Roper kicked out because of this. He does it again, I will bring everything down on him. But everything worked out. He might have killed Blut but at the same time it stopped the monsoon apparently. How many lives did that potentially save from harm? Did the end justify the means? I can’t say. But I have done everything in my power to see that this unusual incident is dealt with as quickly and quietly as possible. A good agent keeps his job and his freedom, Blut had no family, I can live with that.”