Page 74 of Exit Strategy

“Exactly,” Kyle said. “So, all you gotta do is relax and enjoy the meal.”

His words were punctuated by the arrival of our plates. I took a deep and cleansing breath and with an eye on Kurt, who seemed to trust Roan and by default these two implicitly, I decided to make a leap of faith. I spread my neatly pressed cloth napkin in my lap and tried to enjoy my food.

Still, I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t shake the dread that this was serving as some sort oflastmeal after the appearance of Hiram Emerson. I already knew he had tattled to his brother, if he hadn’t yet then it was beyond likely he was doing so right now and that was scary. Hiram may be the older of the two, but Elijah? August Elijah Emerson was by far the smarter.

22

Kurt…

There was only one word for this – insanity.

We were supposed to be hiding from attention, so that New Eden wouldn’t find us, and instead, we were sitting in the middle of a large restaurant, surrounded by dozens of people that I recognized. I recognized them because they were on the news regularly – senators, heads of committees, celebrities. This was probably one of the worst places we could have come, and maybe the captain and his compatriots didn’t understand what was going on.

Their lives weren’t on the line.

There was also a chance that there was a plan in the works and the captain hadn’t seen fit to tell me, but I wasn’t so sure.

Seeing Senator Emerson was sobering. He was part of the reason that New Eden was strong and only getting more powerful. I knew enough about American politics that the fact that he was in Texas and supporting this, and not getting run out of the state, spoke to his popularity and influence.

“I mentioned this was a bad idea,” I half-growled, half-whispered to Kyle.

“Relax, Kurt, relax,” Kyle said. “This is all in hand.”

“I fail to see how you’ve got thisall in hand.”

“Have some imagination, and faith,” he said, offering me a toast from his absurd gin and whatever cocktail he was having.

“That is the older brother of the leader of the New Eden Centre, and he knew her on sight, you might have noticed.”

“I am fully aware of that, and as we’re somewhat regular guests here, we have an idea of the people who come here. This place is among the most elite regular restaurants. Elite enough that you and Calanthe alone wouldn’t be able to get in here,” he said, his voice low. “And I’m sure that you didn’t even know about this place.”

“Make your point quicker,” I said.

“Calanthe’s general location was going to become general knowledge as soon as the Fallout stuff goes live, but now, the people who might be willing to try something will know that she has powerful friends,” Kyle said. “The sort of powerful friends who have the ability to have a table at a restaurant that hosts the president of the United States, foreign heads of state, and the guys who run banks and military industrial companies. This restaurant hosts those ten-thousand-dollar-a-plate dinners that the Washington elite enjoy so well.”

“So, this was deliberate?”

“It was a calculated gambit, according to Roan,” Kyle said.

“A calculated gambit?” I asked, and my voice started to rise. I felt my fists clenching and the urge to action starting to boil up inside my chest.

“Staff Sergeant Worthington,” Kyle said, and it was with the tone of a superior officer. “I’m going to need you to stand down.”

“But—”

“But Calanthe is safe. New Eden isn’t going to send commandos, or ninjas, or assassins after you. When they respond, it’s going to be through press releases and conferences, and legal missives. This battle is going to be played out in courtrooms and news briefings. There isn’t going to be a running multi-state gun battle with car chases and a helicopter with a guy shooting a rocket launcher out the side door,” he said.

“Pardon?” a woman, sitting at the next table over, looked over at our conversation.

“He’s a big Bruce Willis fan,” Sadie said. “He was telling us about one of those movies he did, the action one.” The woman gave a polite smile, and nodded, and Kyle looked back at me. His charisma was palpable, and I couldn’t unclench my fists.

“It’s okay,” Callie said, her voice wavering softly. She said the words, but the look in her eyes shared my fears and concerns. Seeing that, I felt my jaw clench. I wouldnotlet anything happen to her, and this entire thing felt like a bad idea. A series of bad ideas, and if there was anyone who knew anything about bad ideas, it was me.

I was the king of bad ideas. Why wouldn’t I know one when I saw it?

I stared Callie in the eyes and guilt gnawed at me.

I had told her that it was safe…

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