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“Okay, put him through.”
I force my face to remain impassive — inquiring and interested, but not excited or eager.
Anton taps his phone, then balances it on his knee.
“I’m listening,” he says. “So is Kate Atwood.”
“If I had known you’d do such a good job getting billionaires to kill themselves,” says an electronically scrambled voice, “I would have called in to your show years ago.”
“Are you calling to gloat?” asks Anton.
“No,” says Death. “I wanted Karthik to turn himself in and tell the NSA exactly what he did. He belonged in jail after years of very public trials. Instead, he enjoyed a quick and easy exit.”
“I promise you, it was neither quick nor easy,” Anton snarls. “And I thought you didn’t care about justice. Only chaos.”
“I think we both know how chaotic a public trial would have been,” Death counters. “The names he would have revealed to cut himself a deal… you couldn’t have allowed that though, could you?”
“What do you want?” says Anton. “Out with it already.”
“An interview with Kate.”
“What?” Anton laughs. “Why?”
“As you’ve demonstrated, people are confused about Anarchy, Inc.’s goals. Some call us vigilantes, others call us terrorists. It’s time we clarified our intentions. Breaking the shackles of control is about more than just killing a few billionaires. If the world focuses on our methods, they won’t hear our message. But they listen to Kate Atwood.”
This has to be a trick — a way to get me out of Anton’s clutches.
“Why are you asking me?” Anton says. “You could have called the press line at LPN. They’ll arrange it for you.”
Death laughs.
“Please. We’re well aware of her implanted tracking devices. They would lead you straight to us. They’ll have to be removed.”
“Fuck off. Do you think I’m stupid? Delivering Kate on a platter so you could hold her hostage or execute her? She’s a shackle of control to you, isn’t she?”
“I have no interest in hurting her. I want the world to listen. That means having Kate do her job.”
Anton sighs.
“You’ve been avoiding the obvious question,” he says. “What’s in this for me? Why would I let her out of my sight?”
Death chuckles.
“You’ve seen what I can do. You’ve seen where this is headed. I could give you a chance to be part of our fight, rather than one of its targets. Innovative AF’s telecommunication technology can be used to disseminate information to billions of people. We’ll get what we want and you’ll get to live.”
There’s no way Ingram would actually do that — it’s a bluff. And Anton wouldn’t fall for it, if he knew who Death really was… but he doesn’t, does he?
“You really think you’re going to win this fight?” Anton asks.
“Have you checked the score lately, Mr. Ford?”
Anton works his jaw, glaring out the limo’s window.
“We can disable Kate’s trackers temporarily,” he says.
I hold my breath, waiting on Ingram’s response. Is this what he’d hoped for? I wish I knew what he’s thinking.
“That’s acceptable,” Death says. “But we will have her actively scanned at all times. If we detect a signal, we’ll terminate her immediately. So, do we have a deal?”
