The town itself was invaded by outsiders, journalists for the most part, but also teams from the BRI, and busloads of civil servants sent there to sort out what had happened, and to write up white papers of lessons to be learned. The media frenzy lasted a couple of weeks before it died down. Once it was pretty much over, the president of the republic held a press conference. Grave and stern statements were made, about how terrible and unprecedented the whole thing was, and how such things could never, ever, be allowed to happen again. A couple of laws were proposed, then ran into difficulties in parliament, and eventually got watered down and adjusted over the course of endless negotiations. Of course, that all took time. Politicians will be politicians, and the motto is, crisis equals opportunity.

Luckily there was no one left to punish, no living body to remind the country of the affair. The perpetrators were all dead. Mayor Marbot got his fifteen minutes of fame as a posthumous villain.

Nazari came out of it the heroine. She was the young policewoman who had gone against the grain. When she’d realized the extent of corruption on the force, she had stood firm. She had exhibited astounding bravery when faced with a clear and present danger to her life. While she wasn’t the kind of person to bask in acclaim, she recognized the opportunity for change and reform. There were institutions to reconstruct and trust to rebuild. She took ownership of the situation and rose to the challenge, allowing herself to become a kind of poster girl for a new generation of law enforcement and civic service. She was definitely going places.

But I wasn’t there to see any of that.

Back in the mayor’s bedroom, the three girls needed to be taken out. I looked at Nazari and she looked at me. Nothing really needed saying, we were both on the same page, looking at each other in relief. I said it anyway, to avoid any misunderstandings that might turn into misgivings.

“That’s it then.”

Nazari said, “Looks like it, yeah.”

“You okay?”

She smiled. “Never been better.”

I nodded. “Euphoria after action, normal. Come here.” We embraced once, hard. I said, “You did real good.”

“Thanks.”

“It was great knowing you. No regrets right?”

“Zero.”

“I won’t forget you.”

She said, “I know you won’t.”

I said, “I guess I could still catch a train today.”

“Still pretty early. Spain?”

“Whatever, I’ll decide at the train station.”

She stayed back in the mayor’s house. Someone had to call in the external authorities and begin dealing with the aftermath. I took the girls back through the caverns to the Vaugeois house. Once they were safe and being cared for, I had a long, hot shower, alone. I still had the brown shirt from Fanny’s place, relatively clean.