Bliss shrugged. “I couldn’t stop him from being found out. Just from being found. Too many people on each side were talking, suddenly. But, Finch, he wouldn’t let me help him. Wouldn’t let me take him out of Ambergris. Because of you. And because he was dying.”

“But you made sure nobody got to him so he wouldn’t talk.”

“I did what I could.”

Something clicked. Even on the run, when his father was dying, he hadn’t wanted Finch to contact anyone. No help from anyone. Because he didn’t trust anyone.

“He didn’t want you getting near me,” Finch said.

“I could’ve found you at any time, James Crossley,” Bliss said, leaning back.

“I wouldn’t have worked for you. You couldn’t have recruited me.”

“Haven’t I already?” Then shrugged. “But this is all beside the point. Where’s the piece of metal, Finch?”

A gun had appeared in Bliss’s hand. His regretful look said, Just in case.

“Maybe I left it in the apartment. Maybe you should look there.”

“Maybe you should just give it to me,” Bliss said. “It’s not the kind of thing you want to leave lying around.” Acid in his voice. A hard glitter to the eyes that chilled Finch. But it didn’t stop him.

“Mostly, though, Bliss, I keep thinking about how good you are at finding things. You never told me that you were the one who found Shriek. Gave him to the rebels. Do you want to explain that?”

Bliss sat back, tapping his foot against the floor. “You want the truth? Shriek was dumb luck. A wild card. Something to hold in reserve. He was like a spigot once I found a way to pry him out of his protective shell. Like a man left on a desert island for a hundred years. He would’ve talked to anyone.”

“And you found him next to Samuel Tonsure’s bones, of all people. And then you ‘found’ that magical strip of metal. The one that wasn’t made by us or by gray caps. You even found the doors before the rebels did. Did you also tell them the soldiers in the HFZ weren’t all dead, just lost?”

A sly smile. “It’s a skill, Finch. Finding things. Leveraging them. My goals and the goals of the rebels are the same. For the moment. Although it’s a very long game we’re playing here.” The eyes not smiling at all.

“Where did you find the metal?”

A hiss of impatience from Bliss. “I understand, Finch. I really do. You won’t be working for me. You don’t care who your mother is. Your father is a hero, not a traitor. Now just give me that fucking piece of metal, or we’ll do it the hard way. We’ll do it the hardest possible way.”