Zachary Rawlins - The Academy

Which meant that, however unlikely, only the second scenario could be true. Operators in league with Witches.

“This might interest you.”

Gaul handed a folder over to Alistair, who opened it and scanned the contents, looked up briefly in surprise, and then gave them a second, more thorough reading.

“This means…”

Gaul nodded.

“Multiple parties pursuing different agendas. It has to be.”

“So our reality hackers didn’t intervene in today’s incident,” Alistair mused. “I was almost certain that they would. The circumstances even seem similar — I’ve been thinking about it, Gaul. Mitzi said that the silver Weir she bumped into hid its Etheric signature until it was close. I didn’t put too much stock in it when she first told me, but the same thing happened here today. Doesn’t it seem like someone is changing the rules?”

“That’s been bothering me, too. If the Witches have learned to hide their Etheric signatures, every Operator is put at risk. But if they have learned something this critical, why reveal it to us in such a minor skirmish? Why not wait until they could use it to do some real damage?” Gaul looked moodily at Alistair. “There was no tampering in today’s incident, and the meddling in the earlier incident was apparently to our benefit. So someone tried to help us that night, but not today.”

“Who? And why?” Alistair demanded.

“I don’t know,” Gaul admitted. “And it bothers me very much to say that, but I can’t even guess as to who would benefit from all this. But I will tell you this much.”

Gaul stood abruptly and walked to the window. He spoke softly, watching the reflection of the trees waving in the wind.

“There’s no way we’re dealing with only one party. Too much of this conflicts to have a single motivation behind it. So it’s not that someone has decided to start attacking my Operators,” he said venomously, surprising Alistair, “but that someone is using Central itself as a pawn in their game. More than anything, I hate,” Gaul snarled, turning his furious red eyes on Alistair, “being a pawn for anyone. There is one game, Alistair, and we are the players, not the pieces. And someone needs to be reminded of that.”

“What are you going to do?” Alistair asked quietly, a bit taken aback by Gaul’s sudden display of emotion.

“We will find out exactly who is responsible, and exactly how they have done these things — and yes, it may take some time, but that will only give them more time to think that they’ve made an impact, that they’ve rattled us. We’ll let them think they have a greater advantage than they actually do, until we can mitigate the real one. If we play our cards right,” Gaul grinned evilly, a ghastly expression that Alistair had not, in the decades he had known him, ever seen, “they may even decide to make a move here in Central, where we are strong.”

Gaul folded up the smile and his face reverted to its normal dour expression, much to Alistair’s relief.

“We will draw them out, Alistair. We will draw them out and then we will destroy them utterly. We will make an example of them, whoever they are, and any cartel or faction that objects, well, they will also become part of the example. There is no other way forward,” Gaul said, calmly.

“What are your orders, Director?”

Gaul raised an eyebrow at the formality, but made no immediate reply. He pushed another file folder forward on his desk with a pencil. Alistair took it without looking at it.

“You will conduct an Audit into this matter,” Gaul said crisply. “You will settle all outstanding accounts, in full. You will act in this matter under my authority, and will use whatever personnel or resources you deem fit in order to bring a close to this matter, within certain constraints.”

“Those being?” Alistair asked, flipping through the file.

“You will continue to use Mitsuru. At the end of this matter, she will be evaluated as a candidate for Audits, or she will be officially declined and reassigned.” Gaul’s voice was light, dismissive. “And you can’t use the rest of the Auditors.”

Alistair snapped his head up.

“What’s that?” he snarled, his lip quivering. “You’ve got to be kidding me, Gaul. All that big talk and then you’re going to send me out with Mitzi to take care of it? Be reasonable, Gaul.”

“I am being reasonable.” Gaul took his glasses off and began polishing the lenses with a rag. “I need Rebecca here, and the other two will be off making enough trouble to keep everyone from noticing that you’re not out there, Alistair. Get your head on right, Chief Auditor. You know full well what would happen if the cartels found out that all the Auditors were occupied.”

“You ask the impossible,” Alistair complained. “And then you say you need Rebecca to babysit the new kid? This is bullshit, Gaul.”

“I will explain myself once more, Alistair,” Gaul said, putting his glasses down on the desk and rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I am not repeating the mistakes we made with Mitsuru. If Rebecca has to hold this kid’s hand and wipe his nose in order for this to work, then that’s what she’ll do. She understands that. For the life of me, given that you pretend to be Mitsuru’s best friend, I can’t see how you don’t understand.”

“Enough,” Alistair snapped.

“Listen to me,” Gaul said patiently. “You are right, I am asking the impossible. And I’m going to make it more impossible. Because I need this done properly, Alistair. It has to be perfect. Everything needs to be airtight on this Audit, to justify the outcome. If it takes time, then it takes time, Alistair. But you cannot be wrong.”

Alistair nodded slowly.

“And the consequences?” Alistair asked softly.

Gaul slid a red folder across his desk.

“That’s a signed sanction on the entirety of the Terrie Cartel and any allies that they might have, Alistair. They are transferred to your jurisdiction, effective immediately. Invoke it at your discretion.”

Alistair’s eyes widened. Gaul felt a small pleasure in having surprised his normally unflappable Chief Auditor so many times in one conversation. He handed him one final red folder.

“This is signed documentation from me, absolving you of all responsibility for any action you may take in the course of pursuing this matter.” Gaul straightened the remaining papers on his desk compulsively. “I take full responsibility. Do whatever you see fit, Alistair. Just make it perfect.”

“You’re putting a lot on the line, here,” Alistair said, touched. “I didn’t know you had this kind of faith in me.”

“If you mistake reasonable oversight for lack of faith, then that’s your problem,” Gaul objected. “I can’t have my Operators looking over their shoulders all the time, not if they’re going to do the kind of job I need them to. They need to know that they are protected. They need to see it.”

Gaul looked moodily out the window for a moment, and then continued in a quieter voice.

“And despite all expectations,” he continued, “it appears that there are still people out there who need to be reminded there is no profit in taking us on. So use Mitsuru, and whoever else you need from Operations. Go camp out at Analytics, run the forensic boys into the ground, requisition labs and materials, shake down informants, call in favors. And in the meantime, I will have the remaining Auditors try and cause enough trouble to keep anyone from realizing that you aren’t minding the shop.”

“And that Rebecca is busy babysitting,” Alistair reminded him, standing up to leave.

“She’s not babysitting, you fool,” Gaul said tiredly, motioning toward the door. “She’s making Alexander Warner into a weapon. Do a good job on this Audit and I might let you pull the trigger when the time comes.”