Page 80 of Devil's Due

She held the proof of her weakness in her hands, and the proof of her strength in her heart.

“We will,” she said.

They were all staring when she and McCarthy returned. Jazz opened her mouth to ask, but Lucia stopped her with a look. “Our business,” she said. “It’s nothing to do with anybody else. Right, Simms?”

He cocked his head to one side. “As you wish.”

“I want thisover.I want us out of your business, the Cross Society’s business, Eidolon’s business.”

“That’s never going to happen,” Simms said, “as long as the Cross Society and Eidolon are in operation. Especially now.” He gave her midsection a fast but significant glance. She sat down at the table and put the envelope in front of her. A silent reminder of just how high the stakes were now.

“Then we shut them down. All of them.”

“You can’t,” Borden argued. “The Cross Society does do good, you know that! Look how many people you’ve saved because of the leads they gave you. You can’t just—”

McCarthy, who hadn’t spoken, turned toward him, fists clenched.

“What, now you want to beat on me?” Borden cried. “Fine. Let’s go. I’m sick of your macho cop bullshit—”

“James, don’t,” Jazz said. For her, the response was mild.

“Yeah, James, don’t,” McCarthy echoed. “Be a good little lawyer and shut the hell up about what doesn’t concern you.”

“Back off, Ben.” Jazz was up, suddenly, standing between them. “You want to take whatever this is out on somebody, hell, bring it on, I’dloveto kick somebody’s ass today. Might as well be yours. I’m pissed as hell at you, anyway.”

“I don’t need you to fight for me, Jazz!” Borden spat.

“Against Ben? You’re kidding, right?” She held up her hands and backed out of the way. “Fine. You guys arm wrestle for biggest jerk in the room. Let us know who comes out on top.We’ve got bigger problems than this!”

She was deadly serious,. The tension in the room cranked steadily higher.

“Now.” She turned back to Lucia. “You were saying…?”

Simms, significantly, perhaps, hadn’t said a word. He wasn’t watching the brewing confrontation. His eyes hadn’t left Lucia, but she had a sudden eerie feeling that he was seeing through her, beyond her, into some limitless and terrifying distance.

What did I just change?

“You’re a constant,” Simms said slowly. “Eidolon would like to kill you, but there’s no time line I can see in which you don’t survive and—” he caught himself and glanced at the others “—and carry out the task that the Cross Society intended. In other words, unlike the rest of us, your fate is assured, Ms. Garza.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning that you are a fulcrum upon which we can move the world.” He looked grim suddenly. Tired, and every moment of his age. “You can do anything you want to do. And I hope you understand how grave a responsibility that is. I created Eidolon to help me understand what I was seeing, to right some of the wrongs in this world. And I learned that when you act with knowledge, fate reacts against you. The more good we did, the more evil there was, as if it was being bred specifically to counter us, like antibodies. I wanted to stop. I established the Cross Society to work at cross-purposes to Eidolon, to try to undo some of the terrible consequences.” He sagged further in his seat. “The world works on balance. I understand that now. There can be no greater good, because once it is greater, it is no longer good.”

They were all silent, watching him.

“There is something you can do,” Simms said. “Destroy it. Bring it down. You are the only one who can do that.”

Borden shot up again, eyes wide. “You can’t.”

“She can. She will. More than that, Mr. Borden, sheshould.”

“I can’t be part of destroying the Cross Society!”

“Don’t have to,” Jazz said. “Eidolon’s the one who’s got the upper hand. We go after them, right, Simms?”

He nodded. “Right.”

“Problem solved.” Jazz stood up. “L. Ben. Let’s get busy.”

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