Read Shadow Knight's Mate for Free Online

best friend, bully, torturer, wheedling promiser. He hadn’t given any of them anything. It was morning, but he was already tired, when he looked up to see a woman walking into the room holding a large black notebook. It matched her large black-rimmed glasses. The glasses either hid or emphasized her slightly crooked nose, and obscured rather than enlarging her mud-colored eyes. In spite of her thinness above the waist she had rather lumpy hips, lookingas if she spent most of her life sitting. She also had the no-nonsense air of a woman who had spent most of her life in the company of men who resented her, so she had managed to turn off her personality as well as any sexual subtleties.
    Jack thought at least she’d be a nice change of pace from the wrestler who had punched him on every third question, no matter what his answer, but after a few minutes he wasn’t so sure.
    We know all about your Circle. You may fill in a few gaps, but you probably have no primary information we don’t already know. We know this “secret society” has operated for many years, coming to have some influence on some administrations. Currently out of favor, we believe. You were recruited by your—sixth grade teacher?
    Jack didn’t speak for a long minute, while the interviewer waited. Then he looked up at her and said,
Fifth.
His voice was hoarse from lack of use.
    She nodded and made a note in her notebook.
An exceptionally early recruit, I understand. Congratulations. And I’m sure this organization gave you a sense of importance, the thought that—
    Jack laughed.
I never felt less important than when I was with the other members. That’s what was so lovely about it.
His eyes were moist, and his voice had grown nostalgic.
    The interviewer seemed to take no notice. Her voice remained clipped.
Sort of like Mensa, I suppose. Get together once a month and bolster each other’s sense of superiority.
    No one ever mentioned what they were doing, unless someone else needed to know. We found out, of course. That was the one skill everyone in the group shared, gathering information.
    Still sounding bored, the interviewer said,
And they were extraordinary people, certainly. What was the highest rank in government any of them had achieved?
    She sat poised with pen, mud-colored eyes focused on him. Silence reigned for a minute. Then Jack suddenly leaned across, grabbed her notebook, and tore a blank page from it. He held out his hand and after a long moment the interviewer passed hima pen. Jack wrote three figures near the top of the blank sheet:
“PQ3.”
    The interviewer barely appeared to glance at what he’d written. But as the silence continued she began doodling on the paper that lay between them. Her doodles formed the characters “PB4.”
    Jack kept his eyes down as if contemplating. Then he looked up and said,
The highest political rank any of us had achieved? None.
    None?
    No appointed positions and certainly no elected ones. None of our members has held elected office in more than two hundred years. Not even a local school board. Actually, two of our members were First Ladies of the United States, but not the two you would think. Very few of us were CEOs, either. More commonly we were the assistant to the Human Resources Director. These were the people to whom presidents and CEOs turn in times of crisis. Mycroft Holmes, not Sherlock.
    And once in a while you got together to share information, such as at the meeting shortly before this crisis began.
    Yes.
Now a tear trickled down Jack’s cheek. God, he would miss the gatherings.
    So these amazing people would get together—
    And you didn’t have to keep up an appearance. You didn’t have to dumb down or smarten up. It was such a relief. You could be yourself, even if you’d forgotten who your self was. You didn’t have to put up any kind of front. It would have been useless. Everyone there had been the