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“Why?” Walt asked Juliette.
“Because you’re brilliant. Our society members are artists and scientists, inventors and leaders. The whole reason for the creation of the Trinity Masters was to shelter and nurture the best among us. It’s how the U.S. has stayed at the forefront of technological and scientific development. Why we have a thriving, diverse culture of artists, when history tells us a country as young as ours should still be focused on merely surviving. We search for the best and the brightest the nation has to offer. Membership is offered to only a select few.”
“And what do we get out of it?” Langston asked.
“Access,” Juliette said simply. “Access to people and resources that would otherwise be closed to you. The owner of Nexus Six is one of our members.”
“Carly Kenan?” Oscar asked, whistling appreciatively. “Her work with AI is out of this world.”
Juliette smiled, pleased to have impressed Oscar. “Caden Anderson is a successful venture capitalist, who could help you get the funding needed to develop your PDRS, to create and build your own company.”
“Seriously,” Sebastian muttered. “Caden is one of your carrots?”
Juliette shot her associate a dirty look, but ignored his comment. “We have multiple members who are high-ranking military officers. You would get access to them. You could put your portable X-ray machine into the hands of the soldiers who need it. You could change battlefield medicine forever.”
The shocked silence that followed Juliette’s statement had several levels. First of all, this woman knew about the PDRS. Though it was Walt’s baby, all three of her brothers had worked on the project.
Secondly, what she was talking about—helping them build a company, getting the machine into the hands of the military, was their dream. Her brothers wanted to change the world, though Sylvia doubted they’d put it in such lofty terms. Juliette was offering to make that dream a reality.
“And you,” Juliette said to Sylvia, “are already a wonderful poet. Already successful. But tell me, given access to nearly unlimited power, what else would you do? How would you use your words to change the world?”
“Poetry as self-expression and therapy for at-risk youth,” Sylvia said immediately. “I’ve submitted proposals to get grants to run a program, but I haven’t gotten one yet.”
“You don’t just need money. Money isn’t the problem.” Juliette waved that away. “You need access to education systems. As a member, you would have that.”
This was a dream coming true. Sylvia couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face. She glanced at Hugo, wanting to share the moment with him.
He looked grim.
“This is what I have to offer you,” Juliette continued quietly. “I’m making an exception to every one of our rules, telling you all of this now, before a membership invitation has been officially extended, but the situation forced events to unfold this way.”
The situation. Hugo. Lancelot.
“Wait,” Oscar said, “you’re missing a connection. What does this have to do with them?” He jabbed a thumb at Lancelot.
Juliette’s eyes were like ice. “As I said, one condition of their being here was that they didn’t approach anyone associated with the Trinity Masters.”
“And they’re not associated,” Lancelot said.
“But they are,” Sebastian said. “And you knew it. Somehow, you knew Sylvia was on our recruitment list. If you hadn’t known that, you would have put her name on the list of people you planned to question.”
“He didn’t know,” Hugo said. “I didn’t tell him about her. I never wanted to involve her.” Hugo turned to her. “Sylvia, I didn’t. I never wanted to hurt you.”
Something inside her had gone cold. “You knew they wanted to recruit me?”
“Don’t answer that,” Lancelot barked.
“And you knew about them, about the Trinity Masters?” She didn’t give him time to respond. “Last night, you said you’d told me everything. But you didn’t tell me about them?”
“We told you about the Masters’ Admiralty,” Hugo said quickly, his accent thicker than it had been. “We told you about us.”
“But you said you told me everything.”
“They couldn’t,” Juliette said. “The Trinity Masters wasn’t their secret to tell. Doing so would have cost them their lives.”
“I’m sorry,” Hugo said.
The woman’s explanation was reasonable, and yet she still felt betrayed by her lovers, still felt on the outside of this circle.
