The room cleared out. President Stafford and his chief of staff Ioannis Miklos led Cinza and Makoto off into one of the smaller, more comfortable rooms in the west wing, while the rest of the group dispersed. Jeremy grabbed his sister's arm as she headed out, pulling her into a quiet corner.

  "The fuck, Maddie?" he hissed.

  "What?"

  Jeremy shook his head. Nobody was nearby, so he didn't feel reluctant to really let her have it. "You tried to use Hailey as a fucking pawn in this shit, when she was right at at the edge of the damn' cliff."

  "I was trying to fix this shit," Maddie shot back. "Hailey's going down either way at this rate. Least I could do was make somethin' out of it. Get Cinza into the negotiating room."

  "I thought you were different," Jeremy said, and there was real pain thick in his voice. Maddie looked taken aback. Yeah, Maddie, get it yet? You fucked up here. You became one of them.

  "I've gotta play the game too, Jere-bear," she said quietly. "I'm tryin' to fix shit, but you can't really exist in this line of work without being a little bit of a monster."

  "Cinza got here anyway. You knew she would either way. Hailey was just cheap fuckin' points, even in your damn line of work." Jeremy shook his head in disgust. "You shoulda been next to me there, not grouped in with those shits."

  "Just be fuckin' grateful we're still under Stafford's administration and a friendly Congress," Maddie snapped. "Try to do this in two years when the other team's got the damn majority and see how far you fuckin' get." She looked genuinely upset, and Jeremy forced himself to calm down. This argument wasn't really helping anything; they were just getting pissed at each other. "I didn't see you jumpin' in the way when Hailey got arrested this morning."

  "That was her choice," Jeremy sighed, the heat slowly draining out of his face. He leaned back against the nearest wall. "Didn't fuckin' matter in the end. At least it was her, though, not us throwin' her to the damn mob."

  Maddie shrugged. "Does it really make a huge difference?"

  "Does a fuckin' trial make a difference?" Jeremy sighed again. "It's just gonna be a huge goddamn spectacle either way. Piss off the rich and powerful one way, piss off the masses the other. You know she's becomin' a folk hero or somethin', right?"

  "Going after the ultra-capitalist pigs above the law, yeah," said Maddie. "Pretty sure it was your friend in there who started that whole narrative." She sighed too. "I don't know if it's gonna calm everybody down or just kick up more flames." She looked toward the nearest wall, where a TV was still playing a split-screen loop of Cinza's arrival at the White House next to Hailey stepping into a police cruiser handcuffed.

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  "Throwin' a fuckin' boulder into a river without knowin' where it's gonna splash," said Jeremy.

  Maddie snorted. "You're still on that?"

  "How the fuck did you even get it to the side of the cliff?"

  "You're an FBI agent," smirked Maddie, "you tell me. You've had thirty years to figure it out."

  Their levity faded again as the loop replayed on the screen, thankfully muted so Jeremy didn't have to hear the talking heads spew their own uneducated opinions about what to do with Hailey. "I'm really worried about her, Maddie." His sister pulled him into a one-armed hug. "And I'm still fuckin' mad at you."

  "I—"

  "I had three goddamn people in the world I could trust," said Jeremy, breaking away. "Just three. One of them stabbed me in the back in London, the other's been missin' for months, and then you—" Jeremy choked up, looking away.

  Maddie looked like she might cry. "I'm sorry, Jeremy. I know. I…"

  "I know why you did it," said Jeremy. "I get it. You made a call, and even if it was a shitty fuckin' call, at least it was for the greater good. I don't know what the fuck Lani was doing. He's the one who's supposed to be here, not me. The new awakened rep of the FBI and workin' with Cinza to save the world or some shit. But he ain't anywhere. I don't know where he is. I…"

  "...Have you heard from him?" Maddie asked finally, after Jeremy didn't continue.

  "Nothin'," Jeremy sighed. "He called Hailey, offered to testify against Malton whenever that trial happens—"

  "Could be never," said Maddie dejectedly. "He's connected and he's rich enough, and there ain't much evidence."

  "So yeah, I'm fuckin' mad."

  "...I'm mad at me too," she said softly. "You're right. I was over the damn line. And Hailey needs somebody in her corner. I'm glad you've got her back." She grinned. "Never thought you'd be such good friends with a rich blonde white girl. You switchin' sides too?"

  "Fuck you," Jeremy snorted. "She and I fought together. I got her back, she's got mine." Jeremy stood up straight again, glancing at the door the President and Cinza had disappeared through. "What do you think they're talkin' about in there?"

  "Probably your special goddess friend."

  Jeremy shivered. "Seriously, Maddie, I wish you'd met her. Never seen anythin' like it. Still scares the shit out of me and it's been weeks."

  "That's the fuckin' story of the year, Jere-bear. Everything scares me now." Maddie shuddered. "Hendricks is pickin' up a real following back home. There's hundreds at those rallies, and they keep getting bigger. And there was an assassination attempt. Cinza's set a whole goddamn war in motion now. He's a fuckin' martyr and he ain't even dead."

  It was Jeremy's turn to give his sister a side-arm hug. "We'll get the motherfucker, Maddie. Count on it."