31 - Chapter 29
“Well I can’t help you with any of that.” replied Tasha, she knew he was fishing, but she needed to push him away from her secrets. The more she could lead him down the wrong path the better. “I have not met my backer personally either, nor spoken to them.”
“Then how did you get them to trust you with managing their investments?” replied Malim genuinely interested.
“Honestly, I have no actual idea.” replied Tasha. “The only thing I can think of, is that they are a client I worked for in the past that liked my way of working and trusted me to build their legacy. The only directive that I have been given is to help the planet and help push innovation forward. As long as I adhere to their stipulations, I am trusted to make my own decisions.”
Malim is shocked by the revelation that even Tasha has no idea who her backers are. Also she has not lied about their aims either. She has not been charged with hunting down or exposing the syndicate. Given that he seemed to have done more to expose the secrets of the syndicate at this point, he was not sure how the Ancestor would respond. It also left him at a loss for where to take this conversation from here. He still could not think of an appropriate payment to the enigmatic woman in front of him.
“That is a surprising amount of freedom.” replied Malim. “I am not sure I would trust anyone to control that kind of resources without my oversight. Still that leaves me at a loss of what to offer you. Money is obviously out. Most resources, you could get for yourself. That only leave political influence and the promise of future favours.”
“Then you should know that we have already signed agreements with the relevant ministries here.” replied Tasha, removing another one of his options. “They have agreed to fully support my current ventures and provide support for any future actions that I might take.”
“You do move fast, and silently.” replied Malim, frustrated at watching his options disappear. “I have not had even an inkling of this agreement and my sources are usually excellent.”
“I would not be very good at my job if my agreements were known to all and sundry.” replied Tasha. “That still leaves you to make an offer.”
“Well, and this is a very unusual situation,” replied Malim. “I am left with very little that I can offer that would be of value to you. I will of course sign over the part of the business that you wanted to buy. I will also push the families that rejected your offer to accept your generous terms. Apart from that all I can offer is future favours.”
“How many favours? What would be the scope of these favours?” asked Tasha. “Your daughter took my entire family from me. You also not only tried to hide this from me, but actually came here to accuse me of targeting your daughter, knowing that the opposite was actually true. Besides, if I understand your weregild customs, then the onus is on you to make an appropriate offer.”
Malim realised that she wanted him to fail in providing adequate recompense. She would be free to claim that she had provided him with an opportunity to end a blood feud before it had even begun. That he had not been willing to pay for the crimes of his family. That would provide further ammunition to their enemies in the syndicate. Just how had he landed himself in this situation? He needed to speak to the ancestor, maybe he would offer a palatable solution.
“I think I will need to discuss it with the family elders.” replied Malim. “Anything further I can offer would have an impact on them as well.”
“Feel free to use the room to complete your discussions.” replied Tasha. “Here is the contract for the purchase that we were originally here to discuss.” Tasha handed him the contract and then left the room.
Malim had to hand it to Tasha, she knew just how to manoeuvre him into difficult situations. She had basically implied that if he left the room then their negotiations were at an end. He sighed, took out his phone and called the Ancestor.
“Ancestor, I have good news,” he started once his call was answered. “However, we also have a massive problem.”
“Tell me everything that has happened.” replied the Ancestor curtly.
“This woman and her company have no contact with their backers, and have no idea who they are.” said Malim. “They are just a useful front. They have been given some vague agenda to help the world and speed up innovation. I was also wrong about her or her company targeting my daughter or us in general, she was not even aware of our existence.”
“Are you very sure about that?” asked the Ancestor.
“Yes Ancestor,” replied Malim. “She is not able to lie to me. Not on any issue. That is also why I know we have a problem.”
“What is the problem?” asked the Ancestor.
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“There is more than one.” replied Malim. “Whatever the syndicate did to get her records, it has backfired. She has learned the name of the syndicate and the fact that they looked into her highly confidential records.”
“How is that even possible?” replied the Ancestor. “The syndicate should be invisible to the humans!”
“That is not even the biggest problem.” replied Malim. “From my being here to meet her, and my anger when I came in, she has deduced that my daughter was the cause of her family’s death. The only part I have managed to hide is that it was intentional. I have managed to make it sound like it was an accident caused whilst in the throws on addiction. I have offered to pay her a blood price.”
“But what blood price can compensate for the loss of her entire clan,” replied the Ancestor, “especially when money means nothing to her. If she uses her wealth to target us, we would not survive. Yes I can see the problem you have created for us.”
“Her threat is not to target our life, but to find and reveal all our secrets.” replied Malim.
“That can not be allowed to happen.” replied the Ancestor. “What is left that we can offer her?”
“Only favours.” replied Malim. “When I offered, she asked me how many. This could end with us becoming a vassal clan to hers. I can see no good options.”
“We can offer her power and knowledge.” replied the Ancestor. “Yes, that will set us up against the others, but our survival is at stake. Nothing else will work. Even then it may not be enough to quench her rage. See if she is willing to accept that as a peace offering. When we find your daughter, I am going to kill her myself for the mess she has created.” With that the Ancestor disconnected the call.
Malim sighed, he had come here to try and save his daughter, instead his actions had become the catalyst that had just guaranteed her death. He could lay the blame at her feet. Had she not enjoyed going on rampages, then she would not have targeted the wrong family and ended up here. Going forward he was going to have to ensure the rest of his family learned this lesson well.
He got up and opened the door to invite Tasha back into the meeting room.
Tasha was fuming, her enhanced perception had allowed her to overhear the whole conversation. She had already suspected the truth, but knowing was both better and worse. Still she could not lose control. The time for her vengeance would come. Now was the time for survival.
As Malim opened the door, he saw Tasha going over some paperwork with her staff. “We can continue if you are free,” he said.
Tasha rejoined him in the office and took her seat. “What advice did your elders give you?” asked Tasha.
“They agreed that there was only one thing that we could offer you that would make up for the sins against your family,” said Malim. “In addition to what we have already offered, we are going to let you into the secrets of the syndicate. That is if you accept the offer and agree that this would bring the matter to a close. Please understand, this will put us directly at odds with the syndicate.”
“And what assurance do I have that you will keep to your end of the deal and tell me everything?” asked Tasha. “You have not been very forthcoming up until now.”
“If we go back on our agreement, you could leverage the fact that I agreed to tell you anything to get the syndicate to take punitive actions against us.” replied Malim. “Of course, they will kill you and everyone else who knows about them. So it would be a lose-lose scenario for both of us.”
“And what is to stop you telling the syndicate that I know and sending them after me?” asked Tasha.
“I am sure you can work out a contingency to create a lose-lose scenario if we were to do that.” replied Malim. “Do we have an agreement?”
“In addition to that.” replied Tasha. “You are going to offer me that open ended favour. If you agree then we have a deal, if not, then I am happy to see where the lose-lose scenario leads us.”
“Agreed,” sighed Malim. “I will be back tomorrow to take you to a more secure location, where I can reveal the secrets. Ensure you have made any arrangements by then.” He tossed the signed contract over to Tasha and left.
Tasha waited until he had left the building before letting down her guard. Once her team confirmed that he was definitely gone, did she let out a deep breath. That had been an intense meeting, with her emotions all over the place. She decided that she wanted to take a long hot bath to soak and consider the events of the day.
Tasha left her staff to finish up the paperwork and made her way back to her room. She locked the door behind her, not that it would last even a second against the enemies at the level of strength.
As she lay in the bath, a part of her felt relief, she had, with the aid of the system, gotten revenge and closure for the death of her family. She wondered why the system had not told her directly. Though if it has, would she have believed it? In the end she had delivered justice for the murder committed in front of her, not revenge, as she had not even known then.
She brought up the emergency quest to see how well the system thought she had done. At least she had survived, for now. Meeting Malim again meant more chances to be caught out. She would ensure that did not happen.
Emergency Quest: Survive
You are about to face a powerful and dangerous vampire who has reason to believe that you are involved in the disappearance of his daughter. He also has knowledge about your family’s accident. He has been informed that you may be a risk to his entire clan.
This foe is a threat significantly beyond your current level. Do not engage physically. There is a way that guarantees your immediate survival, but will in all likelihood lead to catastrophe for everyone you know. If you are forced to use this method, then you will be deemed to have failed this quest.
Survival method: tell the vampire “I serve the myriad dragons.”
Reward: Survival - (5000 Quest points, Map upgraded to tactical map)
Status: Complete
The reward worried Tasha. As great as they looked on the surface, they were another tool designed to let her survive. It looked like the system was telling her in no uncertain terms, that things were about to become even more dangerous.