Room 318, Saturday Afternoon
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To: Locke%erasmus@polnet.gov
From: Borommakot@chakri.thai.gov/scom
Re: Now, or I will
I'm in a battlefield situation and I need two things from you, now.
First, I need permission from the Sri Lankan government to land at the base at Kilinochchi to refuel, ETA less than an hour. This is a nonmilitary rescue mission to retrieve Battle School graduates in imminent danger of capture, torture, enslavement, or at the very least imprisonment.
Second, to justify this and all other actions I'm about to take; to persuade those Battle Schoolers to come with me; and to create confusion in Hyderabad, I need you to publish now. Repeat, NOW. Or I will publish my own article, here attached, which specifically names you as a co-conspirator with the Chinese, as proven by your failure to publish what you know in a timely manner. Even though I don't have Locke's worldwide reach, I have a nice little email list of my own, and my article will get attention. Yours, however, would have far faster results, and I would prefer it to come from you.
Pardon my threat. I can't afford to play any more of your "wait for the right time" games. I'm getting Petra out.
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TO: Borommakot@chakri.thai.gov/scom
From: Locke%erasmus@polnet.gov
Re: Done
Confirmed: Sri Lanka grants landing permission/refueling privileges at Kilinochchi for aircraft on humanitarian mission. Thai markings?
Confirmed: my essay released as of now, worldwide push distribution. This includes urgent fyi push into the systems at Hyderabad and Bangkok.
Your threat was sweetly loyal to your friend, but not necessary. This was the time I was waiting for. Apparently you didn't realize that the moment I published, Achilles would have to move his operations, and would probably take Petra with him. How would you have found her, if I had published a month ago?
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To: Locke%erasmus@polnet.gov
From: Borommakot@chakri.thai.gov/scom
Re: Done
Confirm: Thai markings
As to your excuse: Kuso. If that had been your reason for delay, you would have told me a month ago. I know the real reason, even if you don't, and it makes me sick.
(One essay. Just one essay. But it revealed everything about China's - and Achilles's - involvement in the current war between India and its surrounding nations. Pakistan would send Peter a grateful email a day later, thanking him for making sure they didn't get involved and do something stupid.)
Peter's fingers hovered above the keyboard. He thought about sending a snotty email back, but he couldn't think of the words, and it was obvious Bean didn't want to listen anyway.
There was also the small fact that his fingers were trembling too hard to touch any of the keys.
He knotted them together and used them to cup the back of his head, staring intently at the automatically-updating comments section of his blog. One. Then two. Then three. They flooded in in rapid succession, and he could see it already, how the news would go around the world and reroute the flow of events. That was how he'd planned it. That's how it was supposed to go.
With any luck, anyway. If his luck ran out, there would be men kicking down his door, and no amount of high-pitched embarrassing screeching for Natalie to come save him would get him out of it.
He rubbed at his face - his chin was getting stubbly, he should have shaved that morning - then slid that hand over his eyes. Took a deep breath. Reached for the controls again. Watched the world light on fire.
There wasn't any feeling quite like this.
[[ door closed, post open, emails taken from Shadow of the Hegemon ]]