Page 2 of Vice

Officially, I’ve never met Vicious, and I don’t know who she is. Unofficially, I’m going to have to talk to Dele about this.

Also, it’s about time I give my input into this. To not give my input would be too suspicious.

“A former Sole, then?” I suggest.

Revnor shrugs. “Don’t have enough information to confirm or deny that.”

Something else I like about him. He’s no bullshit. He makes no assumptions. Just comes with the facts.

“If you had to guess?” I ask.

He shrugs. “Strong possibility.”

“Then that puts whoever this woman is in Viper’s arena,” I say and turn to look at Pray. “He’s the Sole killer.”

Which means that I can do everything possible to keep Pray’s attention off Dele in the least suspicious way possible.

“That’s true,” Pray agrees. “But we’re not certain about that. Best not to waste my chief enforcer’s time with something that may end up being trivial.”

Pray’s face brightens up suddenly as he turns all the way towards me.

“Perhaps you could take the lead on this, Adrian,” he says. “You’re a former Sole. A former Sole would know another. You’d be as adequate as Viper for this task. At least in figuring out what we’re dealing with.”

That’s an unusual request. And typically, an unusual request from Pray means that he’s angling for something. But usually, I can figure out the angle. I can figure out the politics that he’s trying to play. I’m at a loss here, though.

“With all due respect,” Travis says before I can say anything, “it’s been a while since Mr. Blake has been out in the field.”

“Exactly. I think it’s about time to put him to better use. His talents are wasted as a mere consultant,” Pray replies.

My actual talents are far from wasted, but no one at the table knows that. People would act differently around me if they knew I was actually Viper.

Pray turns back to me. “But Travis is right. It has been a while. That’s why I’m going to partner Travis with you on this task.”

Pray’s definitely got an angle here.

“That’s overkill even for a Sole. Let alone a girl not even confirmed to have been one,” I point out. “I’m notthatout of practice.”

“This isn’t a condemnation of your ability, son,” Pray says with a reassuring pat on my arm that I resist the urge to pull away from. “But between Travis’s mind for people and politics and your skill and willful determination in the field, surely you’ll be able to uncover this much faster than either of you would be able to alone. Undoubtedly, you’ll make a great team so long as you continue to cooperate.”

Pray’s last two sentences clue me in to what the deal is. The first is that this is some kind of test. To see which of his chief men will come out on top. To see if it’s time to reconsider my position of favor. To see if his favor is better suited for a man much more patient and people oriented like Travis. To see if I can be more than just Viper. If, unlike Viper, I as Adrian Blake can exist within the hierarchy of his empire.

The second thing that I’m clued into is that Pray is explicitly telling me not to kill the man. Asking me to “cooperate” with someone is typically the code word for that.

“You honor me, sir,” Travis says to Pray. Then to me he says, “Looks like we’ll be spending a lot more time together, Mr. Blake. Your former prowess is almost as legendary as Viper’s. I look forward to our partnership.”

I resist the urge to roll my eyes at the overly cordial tone. Looks forward to undermining me, certainly. Looks forward to seeing what dirt he can dig up on me during our partnership just as sure as I’m going to be doing the same for him. I was going to do that anyway, but now it’s at the top of my to-do list.

Finally, I say in response, “Looks like it.”

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