“It makes the real world seem pointless doesn’t it?” Ilium said, knowing the answer already.
“That’s why you think you’re above everyone,” Baronaire realised at last. “You don’t care about the law because you know in this ... reality of yours you’re practically God.”
“I’m not God, Baronaire. I’m just a man. But I own people. So I got carried away with that intern, so what? It was a slip up, do I care?”
“Was it real?”
Ilium smiled deeply. “You tell me.”
“It felt real.”
“Then it was real.”
That was not an answer, but Baronaire doubted Ilium would be especially forthcoming. “I should leave.”
“You’re not going to kill me for that intern thing?”
Baronaire was halfway to the door when he was stopped by the words. He should kill Ilium. It was his job to kill people like Ilium, to make the world a safer place for decent human beings. But Charles Baronaire was not a decent human being. He wasn’t even certain he was a human being at all. He carried on walking without saying a word. He could not bring himself to kill Ilium, but nor could he bring himself to thank him.
EPILOGUE
It was a complete disaster. Jeremiah had lost everything. It would be impossible to work alongside Detective Lin now, and Baronaire was all but treating him like a criminal because of it. He had pressured Baronaire into continuing with their real mission and now it seemed he had pushed the man too far. Why Jeremiah had waited so long to deal with this he did not know, but standing at the edge of the roof, staring down at the city of London, Jeremiah wondered whether it was too late to do anything about it. But then what could he do? He had been the one to suggest they infiltrate WetFish, it was what Baronaire was there for in the first place. Now it seemed as though he had lost everything.
“Jeremiah.”
He turned, had been so lost in his own thoughts that he had not heard anyone approach. Baronaire stood there without emotion, without any indication that he wanted to explain just why he had released Ilium. Jeremiah half considered threatening to report him to the DCI for what he had done, but Baronaire would have known he was bluffing. It was all over, Jeremiah knew, and Baronaire was here to tell him he was going to devote his life to WetFish, to bringing London back under control. Jeremiah had no argument prepared, but he knew it would have done no good anyway. Once Baronaire made up his mind there was nothing anyone could do to change it.
“I’ve reached a decision,” Baronaire said.
“Great,” Jeremiah said without meaning it. “I know you have a good job, Charles, and a woman you love and everything, but you’re not like these people. You can’t lie to yourself, pretend you’re one of them. You’re like me, and I’m all you have. Actually no, there’s Dalton as well. What say we find her, eh?” He grinned. “The three of us, fighting together. We could actually accomplish what we set out to do. We can bring Sanders to his knees.”
It was a feeble argument, for he could see Baronaire had already made up his mind. There was nothing that could sway his decision now. “Ilium showed me something,” he said. “Something ... I don’t know what. I understand his power, just as I now understand ours. We’re not like them, Jeremiah. We never were, and pretending we are isn’t going to do us any good.”
Jeremiah frowned. He was certain Baronaire had not even heard him just say those very things.
“I’m ready, Jeremiah. I’m ready to go against Sanders now. You think there’s a connexion with prostitutes. There is. And we’ll need Rachael’s help if we’re going to use that to our advantage. In the meantime I need you to find Dalton. The three of us should have power enough to take him down.”
Jeremiah could not quite accept what he was hearing. “You’re sure about this, Charles?”
“You changed your mind now, Jeremiah?” His tone suggested he’d better not have.
Jeremiah’s grin was as wide as Sanders’s reach. “It’s good to have you back, Charles.”
Baronaire’s expression didn’t waver. “Let’s just get on with this. And bring WetFish crashing down upon the corpse of Edward Sanders.”
The balance of power, Jeremiah realised, was shifting at last.
Also available by the same author in e-book and paperback:
Dinosaur World books:
Excavating a Dinosaur World
Dinosaur Fall-Girl
Dinosaur Plague Doctor
Ike Scarman & the Dinosaur Slavers of Ceres
Dinosaur Prison World
The Dinosaur That Wasn’t
Awfully Wedded Strife
Tales of a Dinosaur Prison World
Deities of a Dinosaur World
Return to the Dinosaur Prison World
Nikolina Finch & the Dinosaur Utopia
Of Stags, Hens & Dinosaurs
Dinosaur World Gladiator
Dinosaur World Massacre
Dino-Racers
Christmas on a Dinosaur World
Utara the Savage
Book 1: Sheriff Grizzly
Book 2: The Horse Thief Honey
Book 3: The Coyote Colt Kid
Book 4: Joins the Circus
Book 5: The Haunting of Athelstan Swift
Game books (300 paragraphs):
Lost Treasures of a Dinosaur World
The Underworld Horror
Knights of Torbalia game books:
The Return of the Stolen Jewel
Into the Massacre
March of the Demon Trees
The Thief of Tarley Manor
The Class War
Hero Cast trilogy:
Book 1: The Villainous Heroes
Book 2: The Heroic Villains
Book 3: The Forge of Heroes
Jupiter’s Glory:
Book 1: The Dinosaur World
Detective books:
Detective’s Ex
One-Way Ticket to Murder
Who Slew Santa?
The Curse of the Genie’s Detective
The Woman Who Cried Diamonds
The Murder of Snowman Joe
The Murder of Loyalty
The Prostitute Butcher
Operation WetFish, Vampire Detective:
Book 14: Trust and Betrayal
Book 15: A Gathering of Minds
Miscellaneous:
Holding the Nuts
One Week to Love: Speed Dating of the Gods
The Trojan Ant
Gauntlet of Daedalus
Visit: https://www.facebook.com/OperationWetFish for news, illustrations, previews and short stories.