“So he’s a perv,” Jason said. “That’s why the thief was hitting such insanely dangerous targets. Ventress was pushing her into it, under threat of withdrawing her protection. If she refuses, Ventress can throw her to the wolves, and if she’s caught, Lamprey can throw his weight around with the inevitably corrupt civic justice system.”

“Yes,” Dorgan said. “That’s my understanding.”

“But Ventress never expected it to take this long to catch her,” Jason reasoned. “Meanwhile, Lamprey is climbing the walls while your daughter waits for him to do something stupid she can hang him out to dry with.”

“Yes,” Dorgan said. “I don’t suppose I can convince you to let the thief go?”

“And hand you a great big lever on me? No thanks. Besides, if I let her go, then my ability to control how this ends goes with her.”

“You think that’s something you can control?”

“Enough for an outcome that satisfies me, yes.”

“You may be overestimating your limits, Mr Asano.”

“I have a friend who says pushing our limits is how we grow beyond them.”

“Then what now?” Dorgan asked.

“Now I complete the contract. I’m sorry it will interfere with your daughter’s plans, but she should really be thanking me. It had far too many potential failure points.”

“You aren’t going to ask why the daughter of a crime lord is trying to excise corruption from the Adventure Society?”

“That’s obvious,” Jason said. “She gets rid of Lamprey and the Magic Society becomes less corrupt because almost anything would be. She moves on to smoothly cleaning up her branch of the Adventure Society. She culminates that time by capping it off with the renegotiation of the city’s service agreement in a couple of years. Cleaning up one of the Adventure Society’s rotten provincial branches gets her promoted up and out of Greenstone, putting her secrets behind her. That promotion lets her climb the ladder instead of just moving on. Is that more or less it?”

“Yes,” Dorgan said darkly. “Mr Asano, let me make something clear. If you do anything to derail my daughter's ambitions, I will see you dead, consequences be damned.”

Jason held out his hand for Dorgan to shake.

“I think we understand each other, Mr Dorgan. Sharing your daughter’s secret is worthless to me. Only keeping it has value.”

Dorgan shook Jason’s hand.

“Do let me show you to the door, Mr Asano.”

105. You Aren’t in Control of What Happens Next

105

You Aren’t in Control of What Happens Next