10-30-2019, 08:29 PM
Give Something to Get Something
Alvarez’s Office, Lauchenoiria/Hale Residence, Kerlile
30th October 2019 - morning
Normally, these days, when Josephine Alvarez had to call her still-legal-wife, she would contact her secretary and get the call forwarded or scheduled. She did not want Jennifer to think there was any hope of reconciliation, because there wasn’t (or, at least, that’s what Josephine told herself). This time, however, she called her directly, as she had done only once before – ironically, exactly a year ago, to the day.
As she dialled, listening to the phone ring, she thought about that other call, the one where she had asked Jennifer for the location of Carmen Robinson. She did not believe then, though she did now, that Hale had been speaking the truth when she had not known her location. But given what had since happened to poor Robinson, Alvarez could understand her past reluctance to divulge her location to even her allies. And regardless, Robinson had not actually been willing to speak with anyone in Lauchenoiria, even after she had resurfaced.
“Yes?” came Hale’s voice after she had picked up the phone. She sounded nervous.
“Jennifer? We need to talk about something. Don’t get your hopes up, this isn’t a personal call, but I didn’t want it on the record,” Alvarez said.
“Oh, Josephine…” Hale sighed in relief. “It’s only you. I was somewhat concerned, the last time I got an unscheduled phone call it was a… well, you don’t need to know about that. It was a false alarm, is all I’ll say.”
“I apologise if I distressed you. Are you somewhere you can speak freely?”
“I’m in Kerlile, Josephine. So, no, but…” there was the sound of clattering and movement, and Hale giving an order to someone, the tone unmistakable but still gentler than other Kerlian Councillors, Alvarez was relieved to hear. “Okay, this is as good as we’re going to get.”
“Okay,” Alvarez said, pausing, then deciding to leap right into it. “Did your government order the assassination of Tacito Fierro and Jessica Cassidy?”
A beat.
“Jessica? I knew her during the war, she was part of the Usera operation. She’s dead? No! She was so full of life!” Hale sounded genuinely distraught, Alvarez noted. She could be faking, of course… but Alvarez didn’t think so.
“Jessica Cassidy is alive, she survived the attempt, but Mr. Fierro is dead. He was killed in what appeared to be a car accident, while Cassidy was poisoned with radioactive material which seemed to originate from Kerlile. Was it your government?”
“Oh, thank goodness…” Hale breathed a sigh of relief. “I have no idea who Tacito Fierro is, or why my government would want him dead, or why you would think that. If they did try to kill Cassidy, however, I have heard nothing. And I don’t honestly think they did, there’s been no talk of covert missions along those lines, and in fact… Goddess, why am I telling you this? It’s like I want to end up like Robinson!”
“It’s hardly treason to talk to your wife, Jen.”
“Ohhh you’re good, Josie. Manipulating me like that, shame on you!” Hale said, though she laughed at the same time. “It absolutely is treason and you know fine well. I promise, though, that as far as I know, we didn’t do it. Who was Fierro anyway, why do you think the deaths are connected?”
“Well, you get nothing if you give nothing... I assume this call will stay between us?”
“Of course. My line is secure if yours is.”
“The two were working together on an operation for the Lauchenoirian government. Shortly after the operation commenced it was taken out of commission by this assassin or assassins. While it did not target your government, you may have had an interest.”
“Something about gender? No, your government wouldn’t do anything especially patriarchal.”
“Gee, thanks,” muttered Alvarez.
“All countries but Kerlile are patriarchal countries,” teased Hale. “If it wasn’t that, and you say we had an interest… either something targeting our enemies, or something targeting our friends… oh. Xiomera. It was you!”
“I can neither confirm nor deny that.”
“You don’t need to, now I’ve had the idea, I can see Jessica’s footprint all over it. Oh… congratulations! I didn’t think you had the guts! Really, Josephine, I’m impressed! It was completely foolish, of course, and you’ve gotten yourselves in a real mess, but Josie… oh, this is fantastic!”
“… you needn’t sound so enthusiastic, Jennifer. One person is dead, Jessica is in hospital and will likely die of cancer within 5 years, and it didn’t even work.”
“Sorry, sorry. I can’t say I’m disappointed it didn’t work, Cozamalotl was a better candidate but the breaking of that alliance would have made things here very awkward, and a revolution here would have put me and my daughter in danger.”
“Oh… I didn’t even think of that. Jennifer…” Alvarez hesitated, uncertain what to say.
“You can’t make policy decisions based on me, I do understand, you know. I can promise you though, if someone knows what you’ve done, and the assassinations suggest they do, you have made an enemy of Xiomera.”
“We were already halfway there.”
“Not like this. I can see why you’d suspect us though, especially if Jessica was involved. Since my government, and the hacking community, discovered she had managed to access the Kerlian ID database, she’s been watched. But we never wanted to kill her, if anything they wanted to recruit her!”
“I believe you,” Alvarez said. “But I don’t believe you necessarily know everything. I believe you speak the truth as best as you know it, but we both know Kerlian Councillors do things without asking the permission of the others. Ask around. Find out if anyone in Kerlile was behind the attack. If not… then someone is trying to frame you.”
“Yeah…” Hale said, swallowing. “An unpleasant thought, especially given that Xiomera is our ally. I will find out, and I will contact you. Thank you for, well, the warning. I liked Jessica Cassidy, if it was someone here, I promise I won’t let them off easy.”
“Good,” Alvarez said, then added: “Jennifer… we spoke a year ago, and I wasn’t entirely fair to you then.”
“About Robinson? I remember.”
“You really didn’t know where she was, did you?”
“No, I didn’t. But I understand why you would have thought that. She still won’t speak with your Jae Chung, incidentally. But, should you ever visit Kerlile, I’d be happy to try and arrange a meeting.”
“Visit…?” Alvarez choked on air. “They would have me arrested!”
“No, they wouldn’t. The warrant against you was quietly withdrawn when you became Prime Minister. We are no longer in the business of creating international incidents where we don’t have to. You are free to visit Kerlile if you so choose.”
“That is… well, I can’t tell if I’m relieved or more worried, to be honest. I suppose it would be a way to try and improve our relations…”
“But you’re not sure you want to?”
“I’m not sure it is the right look. Although, given your reforms, perhaps it would look like encouragement…”
“You’re drifting off into politician mode, Josephine. I will let you get on with it.”
“This has been an actually pleasant conversation, Jennifer. I was surprised. Perhaps… perhaps if I do visit – and this cannot happen for at least a year, barring miracles or emergencies – we can sit down and talk. Properly.”
“I… thank you, Josephine. I will ask around, if it was us, I’ll let you know. President Arnott needs my vote, she can’t do to me what she did to Robinson.”
“I hope not. My last visit to your country was unpleasant, I would not wish that on anyone. Goodbye, Jennifer.”
“Goodbye, Josephine.”
Alvarez’s Office, Lauchenoiria/Hale Residence, Kerlile
30th October 2019 - morning
Normally, these days, when Josephine Alvarez had to call her still-legal-wife, she would contact her secretary and get the call forwarded or scheduled. She did not want Jennifer to think there was any hope of reconciliation, because there wasn’t (or, at least, that’s what Josephine told herself). This time, however, she called her directly, as she had done only once before – ironically, exactly a year ago, to the day.
As she dialled, listening to the phone ring, she thought about that other call, the one where she had asked Jennifer for the location of Carmen Robinson. She did not believe then, though she did now, that Hale had been speaking the truth when she had not known her location. But given what had since happened to poor Robinson, Alvarez could understand her past reluctance to divulge her location to even her allies. And regardless, Robinson had not actually been willing to speak with anyone in Lauchenoiria, even after she had resurfaced.
“Yes?” came Hale’s voice after she had picked up the phone. She sounded nervous.
“Jennifer? We need to talk about something. Don’t get your hopes up, this isn’t a personal call, but I didn’t want it on the record,” Alvarez said.
“Oh, Josephine…” Hale sighed in relief. “It’s only you. I was somewhat concerned, the last time I got an unscheduled phone call it was a… well, you don’t need to know about that. It was a false alarm, is all I’ll say.”
“I apologise if I distressed you. Are you somewhere you can speak freely?”
“I’m in Kerlile, Josephine. So, no, but…” there was the sound of clattering and movement, and Hale giving an order to someone, the tone unmistakable but still gentler than other Kerlian Councillors, Alvarez was relieved to hear. “Okay, this is as good as we’re going to get.”
“Okay,” Alvarez said, pausing, then deciding to leap right into it. “Did your government order the assassination of Tacito Fierro and Jessica Cassidy?”
A beat.
“Jessica? I knew her during the war, she was part of the Usera operation. She’s dead? No! She was so full of life!” Hale sounded genuinely distraught, Alvarez noted. She could be faking, of course… but Alvarez didn’t think so.
“Jessica Cassidy is alive, she survived the attempt, but Mr. Fierro is dead. He was killed in what appeared to be a car accident, while Cassidy was poisoned with radioactive material which seemed to originate from Kerlile. Was it your government?”
“Oh, thank goodness…” Hale breathed a sigh of relief. “I have no idea who Tacito Fierro is, or why my government would want him dead, or why you would think that. If they did try to kill Cassidy, however, I have heard nothing. And I don’t honestly think they did, there’s been no talk of covert missions along those lines, and in fact… Goddess, why am I telling you this? It’s like I want to end up like Robinson!”
“It’s hardly treason to talk to your wife, Jen.”
“Ohhh you’re good, Josie. Manipulating me like that, shame on you!” Hale said, though she laughed at the same time. “It absolutely is treason and you know fine well. I promise, though, that as far as I know, we didn’t do it. Who was Fierro anyway, why do you think the deaths are connected?”
“Well, you get nothing if you give nothing... I assume this call will stay between us?”
“Of course. My line is secure if yours is.”
“The two were working together on an operation for the Lauchenoirian government. Shortly after the operation commenced it was taken out of commission by this assassin or assassins. While it did not target your government, you may have had an interest.”
“Something about gender? No, your government wouldn’t do anything especially patriarchal.”
“Gee, thanks,” muttered Alvarez.
“All countries but Kerlile are patriarchal countries,” teased Hale. “If it wasn’t that, and you say we had an interest… either something targeting our enemies, or something targeting our friends… oh. Xiomera. It was you!”
“I can neither confirm nor deny that.”
“You don’t need to, now I’ve had the idea, I can see Jessica’s footprint all over it. Oh… congratulations! I didn’t think you had the guts! Really, Josephine, I’m impressed! It was completely foolish, of course, and you’ve gotten yourselves in a real mess, but Josie… oh, this is fantastic!”
“… you needn’t sound so enthusiastic, Jennifer. One person is dead, Jessica is in hospital and will likely die of cancer within 5 years, and it didn’t even work.”
“Sorry, sorry. I can’t say I’m disappointed it didn’t work, Cozamalotl was a better candidate but the breaking of that alliance would have made things here very awkward, and a revolution here would have put me and my daughter in danger.”
“Oh… I didn’t even think of that. Jennifer…” Alvarez hesitated, uncertain what to say.
“You can’t make policy decisions based on me, I do understand, you know. I can promise you though, if someone knows what you’ve done, and the assassinations suggest they do, you have made an enemy of Xiomera.”
“We were already halfway there.”
“Not like this. I can see why you’d suspect us though, especially if Jessica was involved. Since my government, and the hacking community, discovered she had managed to access the Kerlian ID database, she’s been watched. But we never wanted to kill her, if anything they wanted to recruit her!”
“I believe you,” Alvarez said. “But I don’t believe you necessarily know everything. I believe you speak the truth as best as you know it, but we both know Kerlian Councillors do things without asking the permission of the others. Ask around. Find out if anyone in Kerlile was behind the attack. If not… then someone is trying to frame you.”
“Yeah…” Hale said, swallowing. “An unpleasant thought, especially given that Xiomera is our ally. I will find out, and I will contact you. Thank you for, well, the warning. I liked Jessica Cassidy, if it was someone here, I promise I won’t let them off easy.”
“Good,” Alvarez said, then added: “Jennifer… we spoke a year ago, and I wasn’t entirely fair to you then.”
“About Robinson? I remember.”
“You really didn’t know where she was, did you?”
“No, I didn’t. But I understand why you would have thought that. She still won’t speak with your Jae Chung, incidentally. But, should you ever visit Kerlile, I’d be happy to try and arrange a meeting.”
“Visit…?” Alvarez choked on air. “They would have me arrested!”
“No, they wouldn’t. The warrant against you was quietly withdrawn when you became Prime Minister. We are no longer in the business of creating international incidents where we don’t have to. You are free to visit Kerlile if you so choose.”
“That is… well, I can’t tell if I’m relieved or more worried, to be honest. I suppose it would be a way to try and improve our relations…”
“But you’re not sure you want to?”
“I’m not sure it is the right look. Although, given your reforms, perhaps it would look like encouragement…”
“You’re drifting off into politician mode, Josephine. I will let you get on with it.”
“This has been an actually pleasant conversation, Jennifer. I was surprised. Perhaps… perhaps if I do visit – and this cannot happen for at least a year, barring miracles or emergencies – we can sit down and talk. Properly.”
“I… thank you, Josephine. I will ask around, if it was us, I’ll let you know. President Arnott needs my vote, she can’t do to me what she did to Robinson.”
“I hope not. My last visit to your country was unpleasant, I would not wish that on anyone. Goodbye, Jennifer.”
“Goodbye, Josephine.”
LIDUN President 2024 | she/her | Puppets: Kerlile, Glanainn, Yesteria, Zongongia, Zargothrax