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There is a black car idling next to the driveway when I return.
I pull past it, park, and get out. As I start toward the house, the passenger-side door opens and Yulikova steps onto the grass. She’s got on a tan suit with her signature chunky necklaces. I wonder how many of the stones are charms.
I walk a little ways toward her but stop, so that she has to close the distance on her own.
“Hello, Cassel,” she says. “We’ve got some things to talk about. Why don’t you get into the car?”
I hold up the milk. “Sorry,” I say. “But I’m a little busy right now.”
“What you did—you can’t think there are no consequences.” I’m not sure if she means the speech or something worse, but I don’t much care.
“You set me up,” I say. “One big con. You can’t blame me because I turned out not to be gullible enough. You can’t blame the mark. That’s not how it works. Have some respect for the nature of the game.”
She’s quiet for a long moment. “How did you find out?”
“Does it really matter?”
“I never meant to betray your trust. It was for your safety as much as anything else that I agreed we should implement—”
I hold up one gloved hand. “Just spare me the justifications. I thought you were the good guys, but there are no good guys.”
“That’s not true.” She looks honestly upset, but then, I’ve learned that I can’t read her. The problem with a really excellent liar is that you have to just assume they’re always lying. “You would never have spent a single night in jail. We weren’t going to lock you up, Cassel. My superiors felt that we needed a little leverage over you, that’s all. You haven’t exactly been trustworthy yourself.”
“You were supposed to be better than me,” I say. “Anyway, that’s done.”
“You think you know the truth, but there are more factors in play than you’re aware of. You don’t understand the larger picture. You can’t. You don’t know what chaos you’ve created.”
“Because you wanted to get rid of Patton, but you also wanted Proposition 2 to pass. So you decided to make a martyr out of him. Two birds, one stone.”
“It’s not about what I want,” she says. “It’s bigger than that.”
“I think we’re done here.”
“You know that’s not possible. More people are aware of you now, people high up in the government. And everyone is very eager to meet you. Especially my boss.”
“That and a dollar will almost buy me a cup of coffee.”
“You signed a contract, Cassel. That’s binding.”
“Did I?” I say, smirking. “I think you should check again. I’m pretty sure you’re going to find out that I never signed anything. My name is nowhere. My name is gone.” Thank you, Sam, I think. I would have never thought a disappearing-ink pen could come in so handy.
Her irritation shows on her face for once. I feel oddly triumphant. She clears her throat. “Where’s Agent Jones?”
She says it like that’s her trump card.
I shrug. “Beats me. Did you lose him? I hope you find him, even though— Let’s face it, he and I were never close.”
“You’re not this person,” she says, waving her hand in the air to indicate me. I don’t know what she was expecting. Clearly she’s frustrated by my reaction. “You’re not this—this cold. You care about making the world a better place. Snap out of it, Cassel, before it’s too late.”
“I’ve got to go,” I say, jerking my head toward the house.
“Your mother could be brought up on charges,” she says.
Fury makes my mouth curl. I don’t care if she sees it. “So could you. I hear you used a worker kid to frame a governor. You can ruin my life, but you’ll have to destroy your own to do it. I promise you that.”
“Cassel,” she says, her voice rising several decibels. “I am the least of your worries. Do you think that if you were in China you would be free?”
“Oh, give me a break,” I say.
