Page 25 of Viral Justice

Max lifted one side of his mouth. “They’re arrogant. Whether it’s because they believe in what they’re doing totally or because they’re drunk on their own power, it doesn’t matter. It won’t be easy to convince them of anything.”

Nothing easy was ever worth having. “Even if there’s only a small chance of convincing them, I think it would be valuable to try.”

“How could this message be circulated among the right people? We don’t want to spark massive panic or worse, anarchy. That could kill more people than whatever pathogen he’s planning to unleash.”

She smiled, putting as much violence into it as she could. “We use our covert community to spread the word at the grassroots level.”

Max shook his head. “As soon as you do that, you lose control of the information. Terrorists will spin it any way they want to, blaming the United States and its allies for the problem. We’re back to panic and anarchy.”

Couldn’t he at least try to see her point of view?

“I still want to try it.” It had the potential to change public perception, and that played a huge part in influencing who’d show up to the battle.

“Even if we had time to try to leak the kind of information we want, we don’t have the contacts to leak the information to.”

He might not have the right kind of people to pass the information to, but she knew people who did. “But if we did?”

“We’re back to the bad guy thing again. They’re not going to accept anything we say, even if it’s intercepted and supposedly secret.”

“But—”

“Ali,” he interrupted. “The decision isn’t up for debate. The work we do here is classified. The rest of the military machine knows as much as they need to and no more.” He smiled at her to soften his words, but that just made her mad. “The number of people whose opinion I care about is very small.” He sat back in his chair and waved at the world at large. “The rest can fuck off.”

Oh, they could, could they? “May I speak plainly, sir?”

He frowned, but nodded.

“I think you’re making a mistake.”

He stared at her, his expression unchanging. “I’m sorry you feel that way, but the subject is closed.”

It was like last night had never happened.

“How am I supposed to help you if you won’t even entertain my suggestions?” she demanded. The time for tact was done. “Your security is my number-one concern.”

“What’s that got to do with starting rumors?”

“It’s one way to make you safe.” She leaned forward. “People have no idea what a dangerous man you are. They think you’re this...this uncoordinated moron who couldn’t find his asshole with a map and a flashlight.”

“Seeing as how it’s behind me,” he drawled with a half smile, “they’d be right.”

She smacked her face with one hand as disappointment burned a hole in her gut. He wasn’t taking this seriously at all. An insidious thought occurred to her.

“Is this because the general is my father?”

He snorted. “Your father could be the president of the United States and it wouldn’t change my opinion, or my decision.”

“Thank God for small favors,” she muttered under her breath. Just the thought of him treating her differently because of her family connections made her want to spit fire. “Tying my hands behind my back with a gag order so I can’t fight effectively for you is stupid. Your safety is determined by a lot of factors, and you’re only making my job harder.”

“I thought your job was keeping me safe?”

“I’m also supposed to advise you on ways to do that.”

He just shook his head.

She watched his face for any sign that he was willing to compromise, but his expression was closed.

“Permission to leave, sir?” she asked, getting to her feet.

---