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“I worked at a small-town farm supply store. That’s hardly high finance.”
“But it means you’ve actually worked with money in a real, tangible way, not just moving numbers around on a computer. You know what should be in contracts. You know how people should behave. I’ve heard a lot about how you apply common sense to your work, as well. You managed to work effectively as a verifier while your immunity wasn’t working, from what I hear.”
If Sylvia hadn’t warned us about the Collegium, if this woman had just approached me like this, I might have been tempted. Yes, I owed MSI a lot, and I liked working with Owen. But we were going to be married soon, so we’d be living together. Did we have to also work together? Most couples had separate jobs. It might even take some strain off our relationship if we didn’t have to be together so much.
But that wasn’t what was really going on here, I was sure. If they were recruiting me into a Collegium front, they’d test my loyalty before I got access to any good information, so I wouldn’t be able to do much as a spy, and I didn’t want to actually work for them.
“I’m sorry, but I’m still not interested in changing jobs,” I said. “I like where I am.”
“That’s not what I hear. You like the company. You hate your job.”
“How could you possibly know that?”
“I’m very well connected,” she said with a smile. She slid a business card across the bar to me. “Here, take another card. The offer stays open. Call me anytime.”
She slid gracefully off the barstool and disappeared—well, not literally, in a puff of magical smoke, but I lost sight of her in the crowded bar. I finished my wine and went to retrieve my coat from the coat check. There was nothing in the pockets but my gloves.
After making myself visible in other places Sylvia had approached me, like the park and the subway, I became fairly certain that she hadn’t vanished of her own accord. That meant she was right that they might get rid of her, and if she was right about that, then she was probably right about them making a move on MSI and targeting Merlin. We had to do something about it.
The problem was, I had no idea what we could do, short of firing everyone we suspected of being linked to the Collegium, and even then, I was sure there were others we didn’t know about. Plus, they’d probably consider that to be the first shot in open warfare.
There was that one other option, the one we’d rejected time after time as too dangerous and not very effective. But any information had to be better than no information at all. Even if I just went for an interview and saw who some of the players were and where they were located, we might be ahead of where we were now. I could always turn down the job.
But there was also the chance that I could get a lot more information than that. If I was so valuable to them that they were recruiting me—and Sylvia had said it wasn’t because they thought I had inside information—then I might have a shot at getting the scoop.
I went straight to Merlin’s office the next morning. “I don’t think we have any other choice but for me to take this job with them,” I said.
He gestured for me to take a seat. “I thought we agreed that it wouldn’t do any good.”
“Maybe it won’t, but it’s likely to do more good than doing nothing, and that’s where we are now. We’ve lost Sylvia, apparently, which means she was right, and can we afford not to take action? Besides, I have a plan that might fast-track me into their trust.”
“What would that be?”
“I’d have to make it look good, make it clear that I’m deserting you, that I might be mad enough at MSI to turn against you. When Rod first recruited me here, I ignored all his e-mails until I had a really bad day and a run-in with my old boss, Mimi. That was what spurred me to jump at any chance to get out of there. So I need something like that here—a chain of events that would make me abandon ship and run straight into their arms. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t try to arrange something like that, themselves. They have people on the inside who are apparently reporting on what’s happening, so they’ll know what I’m going through.”
“I’m sure we can find some ways to frustrate you,” he said, smiling slightly.
“And you’re going to have to do it, too. I’ve had clashes with people in the company, but you’ve always had my back. For them to believe this, you’ll have to give me a reason to be angry at you, personally.”
“I suppose it would have to be unfair rather than warranted, but I believe it would look suspicious if I suddenly started being mean to you, with no warning or reason.”
“We should probably do this gradually. Ramp up to it instead of changing abruptly.”
“And what of Mr. Palmer? Have you discussed this with him?”
I shifted in my seat, not wanting to meet his eyes. “Not yet. I mean, we’ve talked about it in general, but I wanted to bring this up with you before I talked about it with him. It’s not really under his jurisdiction, and I’ve been trying to keep him out of this whole thing.”
“I would think he has a personal stake in the matter. Wouldn’t it be odd for you to reject this company so strongly that you turn to an organization opposed to it while you continue planning a wedding to someone within the company?”
I bit my lip and tried not to groan. I’d thought about it, but then I’d tried not to think about it. That was the one hitch in the whole plan. I wasn’t sure how I could pull off an attitude of “I hate MSI so much I want to bring them down, please tell me all your evil plans for doing so, in detail” while I was engaged to MSI’s poster boy. “I may have to fake that, as well,” I said, reluctantly admitting out loud what I’d been avoiding considering. “And what would sell my desertion better than breaking off my engagement?”
Merlin studied me with a stern gaze. “If you’re going to take it that far, you absolutely must talk to Mr. Palmer about it before proceeding.”
“Of course! I wouldn’t just dump him and not let him know why.”
“I meant that he needs to agree to it. It may be your choice to go undercover, but he will be making sacrifices, as well.”
I nodded. “Okay. I’ll talk to him. I’m sure he’ll see my reasoning.” Either that, or we’d end up having a fight that would make my departure from MSI very convincing.
