Before I could formulate a reply, Liyana al-Qadiri appeared and placed a hand gently on her husband’s shoulder.
“You forgot your glasses,” she said softly, glancing at the board before smiling benignly at me. “Good morning, Locke. How did you sleep?”
Saleem was right. Shewaspatient and kind. Soothing, even. “Fine, thank you. I hope you’re enjoying your time here.”
She nodded and patted me on the shoulder before handing him his reading glasses and stepping back toward the wall when the remainder of the council appeared. “I will wait until they bring in the food so I can help.”
It was time to begin. I caught Esteban flicking a concerned glance at Selene, but otherwise, everyone seemed to be acting normal.
Vukasin Drakovic made the opening move, using his inquiring pawn.
Who caused the explosion?
We all looked at each other before Esteban leaned forward and reached for his offering pawn and then his “influential connection” bishop, indicating he already had feelers out.
Falko Brandt was calmer than I expected. For someone whose rail company probably served the petrochemical plant that had exploded, the man seemed perfectly at ease.
He took the board next.
Accident. Coincidence.
Ted Harlan was the next up. The quick movements of his requesting and positive pawns demanded confirmation of Brandt’s information.
Emil Sorensen reached for his own bishop and set it beside Falko’s. Then he met Ted’s eye and moved his knight to the same square.
Confirmed, by influential connections and a government source.
Vraj Nanda reached for his queen and tapped it in two specific spots on the arm of his chair before setting it next to Falco’s resource rook.Relief. Gratitude.
Selene let out a little huff of laughter. Small smiles of relief on other faces.
I reached forward to take another turn, surprising a few players. As I made the elaborate combination of moves to explain the additional plan to credit Helvig with foiling the Russian plot, thereby keeping attention off Paxis Council resources, I couldn’t see any dissent.
Next, it was al-Qadiri’s turn. He quickly played his positive pawn, supporting the suggestion. Everyone else took turns playing their positive pawns, with the exception of Esteban, who played his caution pawn and spelled outNATO inspection agencyas an alternative idea.
Ted lifted his eyebrows and sat back, considering the idea. Esteban’s disagreement made sense. We usually didn’t make moves that would deliberately enrich other companies unless there was good reason.
But in my opinion, there was good reason in this case, with or without potential insider trading.
A few played moves to discuss it, and they were well considered by the others. If I hadn’t been trying to trap a traitor, maybe I would have voted a different way.
The game play took longer than any of us wished. The need to make it look like an actual game of Paxis in the meantime was just as critical today as it had always been. As always, there were attendants, assistants, and family members in and out of the room, which made it a critical cover.
My plan was finally approved, and we agreed to a brief break so that Esteban could inform his people of the new plan. Someone on one of his crews would tip off the captain of theMV Helvig Starto search certain specific cargo containers, and we would let them play the heroes.
Before I left the table, Jett came into the room and caught my eye. I gestured him forward.
He placed a hand on my shoulder to lean down and whisper in my ear, and I… I made a critical error.
As soon as I felt his hand on my shoulder, I reached up to cover it with my own hand. I didn’t even notice the automatic gesture until I felt him whip his hand out from under mine as quickly as possible.
Fuck.
My palm fell to my lap, where it lay open and guilty.Empty. No one but al-Qadiri, who was sitting directly next to me, seemed to notice. As it was, he turned to speak to Liyana and hand her a small piece of paper from his notebook.
Fuck.
Jett cleared his throat. “Sorry, sir. Uh, Minnie says Maris involvement in the blockade should be cleared in the next two hours.” He paused. “They are aware it was a software security test gone wrong, and all apologies are going out.”
