“I have no idea.”

I sighed. “Can we quit the bullshit?”

“I didn’t have anything to do with that.”

“Fine,” I said. “You weren’t the one sending those golems out. But you sure as hell had something to do with why Caldera didn’t get that backup until it was too late for it to matter. I’m guessing it was Levistus, or someone from his crew. He didn’t want the Council moving against White Rose, so he tried to cut things off at the source. Only he didn’t get there fast enough.” I studied Haken. “I’m guessing they gave Leo the interrogation treatment. What happened to him afterwards?”

Haken sighed, rubbing his forehead. “You have no idea how this works, do you? You think this stuff gets decided with a boardroom meeting?”

“So you had no idea what was going on? That’s your story?”

“Leo was in the way,” Haken said. “He hadn’t shown up, this whole confrontation between the Council and White Rose wouldn’t have happened. We could have headed things off.”

“Yeah, I imagine that would have suited Levistus just fine.”

“This isn’t about Levistus,” Haken said. “No one wants to start a war with White Rose, not with Morden running around. You think Levistus would have taken this big a risk if most of the Council weren’t on his side? Two-thirds of them just want this whole mess to go away. It’s only the nuts who want to pick a fight.”

“Interesting that you see it as picking a fight,” I said. “Some people might think that picking a fight is kind of your job. You know, that whole enforcing-the-laws thing?”

“You don’t try to enforce the laws against a group like White Rose,” Haken said, his voice hard. “That’s not how it works.”

“So what did we just do?”

“Oh, for—” Haken made a frustrated gesture. “You think this operation was meant to be a success? Capture Vihaela with that bunch of fuckups? All we were doing was sending a message. We clear out one of their buildings, take a few of their low-ranking people. They get a slap on the wrist; we go back to the negotiating table. That’s how the game works.”

I tilted my head. “I doubt it’s much of a game for the slaves.”

“Yeah, well.” Haken’s voice was harsh. “Shit happens.”

“Except this time it didn’t,” I said. “Looks to me like Vihaela’s changing the rules.”

“Well, if you’ve got any theories as to why, I’d love to hear them,” Haken said. “Because right now I have no fucking idea what White Rose is doing.”

“And that’s a problem, isn’t it? Because you’re not here to do an arrest, you’re here to negotiate with them.”

“More or less.” Haken looked at me. “I could still use your help.”

“Yeah . . .” I said. “We might have a problem with that. You see, I don’t really feel like helping White Rose or Levistus.”

“You’re working for the Council—”

“Oh, please.”

“Fine,” Haken said. “How much do you want? You help clean this up, a lot of people are going to be grateful.”