Drew Karpyshyn - Retribution

“I was told you wanted to speak to me,” she finally said, opening the negotiations.

“Grayson betrayed our organization,” the Illusive Man told her, putting his offer on the table. “We’ve been hunting him for over two years. Now I’m willing to pay you to kill him.”

“Somebody went after Grayson while he was working for me,” Aria said. “They killed one of my people. I think it was Cerberus.”

“Nobody came after Grayson,” the man corrected her. “He fled because his cover was blown, then staged the scene to make it look like he was abducted in order to buy time for his escape.”

“His cover? Are you claiming he was spying on me?”

“Grayson infiltrated your organization. Climbed the ranks. Made himself invaluable. But the whole time he was working for you, he was gathering intel for his new employers.”

Aria focused all her attention on the man as he spoke, carefully noting the inflection of his voice, his posture as he sat in his chair, his facial expressions and the involuntary movements of his eyes. But she was still unable to get any kind of read on him.

Only a handful of individuals in the galaxy could successfully lie to Arai T’Loak; with some dismay she realized the Illusive Man was one of them. But the fact that he could lie to her didn’t necessarily mean he was lying to her.

She considered what he had told her so far. Grayson had worked for Cerberus, then betrayed them.

Now they wanted revenge. That much she could believe; why else would the Illusive Man have sent his representative to Omega to bargain with her?

Given that he’d betrayed his previous employer, it wasn’t hard to believe he had done the same thing to her. However, there were still too many pieces missing for her to accept the story without further investigation.

“Who was Grayson working for?” she wanted to know.

“A turian loyalist group. They’re bitter over humanity’s growing influence on the Council. The want to expand turian interests. They’re planning to make inroads into the Terminus Systems.”

The scenario was plausible enough. Though they were technically allies, everyone knew there was still lingering resentment between turians and humanity. If a group of nationalists did want to spread turian interests, the Terminus Systems would be the logical place to begin. And anyone who wanted to make inroads in the Terminus Systems would have to deal with Aria sooner or later.

Maybe Liselle had discovered Grayson’s secret. He could have killed her to keep her quiet. But Grayson was smart enough to know he couldn’t get away with her murder. Everyone knew they were sleeping together; if she turned up dead — or even disappeared — he would have been the prime suspect.

So he fled Omega, leaving behind a staged abduction scene to throw Aria and her people off his track.

The more she thought about it, the more plausible it all seemed.

“One thing I don’t get,” Sanak said, stepping forward as he barged his way into the conversation in his typical heavy-handed style. “Why would Grayson work for a pro-human group like Cerberus, then suddenly switch his alliance to a bunch of turian nationalists?”

The holographic image in the Illusive Man’s chamber showed Aria T’Loak seated in what appeared to be a well-furnished suite. The projected image was centered on her, but at the edges it was possible to make out several aliens who were also in the room. Kai Leng wasn’t visible, but the Illusive Man assumed he was there as well.

When the batarian stepped forward and interposed himself into the picture to ask his question, the Illusive Man didn’t offer an explanation right away. He was building an elaborate lie, and if he wanted

Aria to fall for it he had to let her do some of the work herself.

“Don’t be dull,” the asari said to her lieutenant, as if on cue. “Grayson’s a mercenary. He has no loyalty to any cause. He works for the highest bidder.”

The Illusive Man was well aware of an interesting phenomenon. The smarter someone was, the easier it was to make them believe a complex lie. The simple-minded focused on the holes in the story; they needed an explanation for every loose end. The intelligent filled in the holes themselves, using logic, reason, and creative thinking to weave the threads together into a perfect tapestry of deception.

However, it was also important to weave in bits of the truth to reinforce and support the layers of the story that were false. He knew Aria would have investigated Grayson’s disappearance. If she had managed to track any of his communications, it was inevitable she would have come across one name popping up time and time again.

“Grayson doesn’t work alone,” the Illusive Man declared. “He has a partner. A woman named Kahlee Sanders.”

He was hoping the name would elicit some type of reaction from Aria, but her expression remained unchanged. Grudgingly, he had to admit she was almost as good at concealing her true emotions as he was.

“Sanders is the key to finding Grayson,” he continued. “She doesn’t know the truth about him; she thinks he left Cerberus because he realized the error of his ways. She also thinks the turians they’re working with serve the Council.

“She’s nothing but a pawn in his games. He’s using her. But we can use her, too.

“Sanders is the only person Grayson cares about other than himself,” the Illusive Man explained, weaving in more bits of truth into his extravagant lie. “He will try to contact her sooner or later. Force her to send a reply asking for his help, and he’ll come.”

The Illusive Man paused, knowing a monologue was the least effective way to sell a fabrication. It was always more effective if there was some kind of give-and-take. He needed Aria or her people to engage in order to be truly persuasive.

Fortunately the batarian at her side was happy to oblige.

“Sanders is untouchable,” he objected, confirming the Illusive Man’s suspicions that Aria already knew about her. “She’s hiding out at one of the embassies on the Citadel.”

Kai Leng had filed extensive reports on Aria and her people during his preparations to grab Grayson.

Based on the batarian’s appearance and demeanor, the Illusive Man concluded he had to be Sanak, one of the Pirate Queen’s longest-serving lieutenants.

“Sanders isn’t at the embassy anymore,” the Illusive Man explained. “The turians took her to a secret research station. Heavily protected, but a well-armed force with the element of surprise would be able to overwhelm the defenders and take Sanders hostage.”

“Your information on this is solid?” Aria asked.

“My sources are always reliable,” the Illusive Man assured her.

“So just go get her yourself,” Sanak objected.

“The turian nationalists know we’re their enemy. They try to keep tabs on all Cerberus movements.

We’d never be able to pull off an operation like this without them knowing about it beforehand.

“But,” he added, nodding in Aria’s direction, “they will never see you coming.”

“How much is this worth to you?” Aria wanted to know.

“Four million credits,” the Illusive Man stated. “One million up front. The other three when Grayson’s death is confirmed.”

“Grayson’s worth four million?” the batarian exclaimed in disbelief.

“What he knows about Cerberus is,” Aria replied. “He has secrets they want to keep buried. Maybe I should try to take him alive.”

The Illusive Man was impressed. Even though his offer was ridiculously high, he’d expected the Pirate Queen to haggle over the amount simply on principle. But she was smart enough to realize the key to the deal wasn’t the amount of credits on the table, but rather Grayson himself.