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"Admiral Corcoran?"
Nolan Corcoran, unmistakable from the many photographs and film clips Caine had seen-first as a teen and then over the past five weeks-turned and smiled. "Hel...
"True enough."
"I do wonder if you might call me Nolan, however-and if I might call you Caine."
Riordan shrugged.
Nolan looked back out to sea. "I don't blame you for being angry-not one damned bit. If I was in your shoes, I wouldn't trust anyone right now. I'd hate a few...
Well, at least Corcoran wasn't a bullshitter-and he seemed far more direct than Downing. Of course, maybe that was just a polished act. "Hate might be too str...
Nolan's response was a wry bend at the right side of his mouth. "A sense of humor-bitter or otherwise-is the hallmark of a survivor." He turned, looked at Cai...
"How could I be? Not much was going to happen to me once you stuck me down at the bottom of the sea. And without so much as briefing: straight from the vertib...
Nolan nodded, made a motion to start walking; Caine angled to trail alongside. "Sorry about that, but after the attack in Alexandria-well, we were in a bind. ...
"Well, you could have at least provided me with more entertaining company. The SEAL team that brought me on board and babysat me-they were a pretty taciturn b...
"They had to be. Orders. Not all of them are always so quiet."
"Oh? Their dossiers indicate if they're sparkling conversationalists?"
"No: their CO was my son. And he's never been shy or retiring."
"Oh. Sorry."
"Why? Because you were a little snide? We've earned your spite-and more-and it's bound to bubble up now and again." They walked on a few steps. "You didn't se...
"Well, Admiral-"
"Nolan."
"Okay-Nolan. I simply built a timeline of who Downing was associated with when he showed up in the news. The pivotal clue was Senator Tarasenko's Near Earth-a...
"And how was that so pivotal?"
Caine looked at Nolan out of the corner of his eye. "Sir, don't be coy: it's incongruous in an eighty-five-year-old man."
Nolan exhaled a small laugh. "Touchi."
"The NEAR subcommittee was where all three of IRIS's major players-and my prime suspects-overlapped. Tarasenko was an old crony from your midshipman days at A...
"Correct."
"You and Downing were often 'coincidentally' on the same blue-ribbon committees and think tanks until you began cutting back in 2101. Rumors of fragile corona...
"For a couple of supposed spymasters, Richard and I sound a bit far from the center of things."
"Well, sure. That's what you'd want: perfect misdirection and plausible deniability, all in one. Nosy journalists or counterintelligence analysts would presum...
"But you've got the perfect credentials and cover-story for the job. Having retired from all official posts, you're now just a private citizen. You also happe...
Nolan raised one eyebrow. "To run the kind of operation you're envisioning, you need plenty of contacts in the military, government, industry. Downing doesn't...
"Oh, I don't know about that," Caine objected. "When you consider it with a properly jaded eye, your public life is not so public after all. You've always bee...
"'Covert overseers'?"
"Of course. Practically speaking, IRIS is an invisible organization because it exists-in small, completely firewalled packages-within other organizations."
"A very impressive hypothesis, but why all the charades, the false fronts, and-quite frankly-the subversion of public institutions?"
"Downing gave me that answer when he reanimated me last year. The raison d'ktre for IRIS is exosapient threats. Right after you intercepted the Doomsday Rock,...
Nolan reversed direction, chin raising into the direction of their stroll. "You don't miss much."
"I had two unfair advantages: knowing about IRIS and Downing, and then five weeks in which I had nothing to do but gather the facts and think. But I couldn't ...
"Which questions are those?"
"Nolan, if you had no memory of the most pivotal four days of your life, wouldn't it be your top priority to ask questions about them, to get them back? Hell,...
Nolan nodded. "Those are important questions, I agree. I just hope I'll be able to provide the information you need. Our conversation a day and a half before ...
"Then you shouldn't have any problem sharing the records of that conversation. Or a list of my financial transactions while on the Moon. Or any of the several...
Nolan stopped walking, faced him with a small smile that was unlike any of those Caine had seen in the media: it was gentle, maybe a bit sad. "I'm sorry, Cain...
"C'mon, Admiral: if I wait another day, am I really going to be that much safer?"
"Yes, absolutely."
"What? Why?"
"Because Parthenon has already started: we met in Athens for Day One this morning." Corcoran started strolling back to where they had begun. "Tomorrow-Day Two...
Caine looked sideways. "I expected that I'd be at the first day's proceedings, since the main item on the agenda was what I found on Delta Pavonis."
"Most of which has already been presented. But the details you'll share tomorrow are the capstones of the Dialogs. And will change everyone's perspective yet ...
"You know, that's something I've never understood: after you had thoroughly debriefed me, what the hell did anyone have to gain by killing me? Would it have r...
Corcoran shrugged. "You know how it is: it's not just what is said; there's the matter of how it's said, and by whom. You are not just an eyewitness; you are ...
"So if I'm still at risk, why the hell did you bring me out here? Like the real Odysseus, I'm not a risk-taker if I don't have to be."