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long ago to see past
them. “We have worked together for years. You have never expressed disaffection
for our relationship before.”
    “I
know.” A small frown tightened her brows over the bridge of her nose. “I’ve
never felt this way before — not until I got your summons. I’ve been asking
myself why. I think it’s because until today my nominal boss was Godsen Frik.
Just between us, I always considered him ‘slime,’ to use one of his words. He
symbolised everything that’s wrong with this organisation — by which I mean
Holt Fasner. Working for you seemed — well, more honourable than working for
him. Even though I was stuck in Protocol, I was able to help the real job of
the UMCP go ahead with as little interference from him as possible.
    “But I
began to have my doubts after I saw the tapes of the director’s video
conference with the GCES — was it just yesterday? You did most of the talking,
Godsen wasn’t on camera at all, but I thought I heard his voice every time you
opened your mouth.” A timbre of anger which Koina made no effort to conceal
roughened her tone. “Hearing you explain how you sold that ensign, Morn Hyland,
so your Nick Succorso could use her any way he wanted to, I felt like I was
witnessing the collapse of everything we’re supposed to stand for.
    “When
the director offered me this job, I wanted to turn it down.
    “But
that was before he talked to me,” she went on quickly. “I’d never had a private
conversation with him before. Until then, I hadn’t felt how much” — she groped
for the right word — “how much conviction he conveys. And he gave me the
cleanest mandate I’ve ever had. Cleaner than anything Godsen Frik ever touched,
cleaner than working for you. If you can believe him, he wants me to do my job right .”
    She
made a small, vexed gesture, as if she were frustrated by the inadequacies of
her account. “I can’t explain it any better than that. All of a sudden,” she
concluded straight into Hashi’s gaze, “reporting to you behind his back seems —
disloyal.”
    “That
is his great gift,” the DA director responded equably, “his ability to inspire
loyalty. If you fear that you alone are vulnerable to such suasion, only look
at Min Donner.” He was engaged in a test of suasion himself; a challenge he
relished. “But permit me to offer another consideration which you may have
missed, and to tell you a fact which you could not have known.
    “The
consideration is this. I, too, have felt the force of Warden Dios’ charisma. I,
too, find myself drawn to loyalty.” This was not a notably honest assertion.
Nevertheless it contained an adequate level of factual accuracy. “I ask you to
serve me in Protocol, not to undermine my director in any way, but to help me
ensure that my own service is as apt as possible.
    “As for
the fact,” he continued so that she wouldn’t question what he’d just said, “it
is simply that our disloyal Godsen was present when the director and I
addressed the GCES. If you had seen his face, you would, I believe, have found
his consternation delicious. I hardly need inform you that he had no scruples
concerning the use made of Ensign Hyland. In his master’s name, however, he had
every conceivable scruple concerning the revelation of that use. In no other
way could the director have so plainly declared his independence of the great
worm.”
    There
Hashi stopped. He didn’t need to add, And I with him. Koina had already
demonstrated her grasp on the importance of Hashi Lebwohl’s role in the
director’s video conference.
    “I see.”
Her frown seemed to turn inward as she scrutinised this information. “Thanks
for pointing that out. I should have caught the distinction myself. But I was
so horrified by what I was hearing, I didn’t explore all the implications.”
    Still
smiling, Hashi let his glasses slide down to their more familiar position on
his nose. If he’d been a man who kept score, he would have