Page 50 of Reformation
“That wouldn’t get you anywhere, darlin’.”
“It would make me feel better,” he snapped at his hallucination of Jonah. “I could do it with what I’ve collected already. I could burn the entire Alliance establishment to theground, ruin every leading political figure in the eyes of their own constituents, and cut off the head of the snake.”
“Too many people rely on Alliance programs for their lives. A disruption like that would mean an awful lot of people are going to die.”
“Maybetheydeserve to as well, for being so fucking gullible.”
“Garrett.” He didn’t look over as the hallucination leaned in, warm breath feathering across his cheek. “You’re tired, and you’re stressed, and you’re sick. I know you don’t mean that.”
“I suppose not.” Although the more he thought about it, the less sure he was.
“Besides, that would make you into just another dictator. You want that burden on your shoulders?”
Garrett closed his eyes. “No. I want to go home and lie down on my bed with you and forget about everything else.”
“And you will, darlin’. Soon. I promise. We’ve just gotta get this situation in hand first.” Jonah leaned back. “What’s next on your list?”
“I’ve got the shipyard numbers from Liang.Loootsof interesting and completely illegal activity going on there. I’ve got the latest figures from Berengaria on her family holdings, and the computer is working on the relationships between those and other members of the Senate.” He glanced at the glowing red icon in the far-right corner of his implant’s visual screen. “The battle is still being fought above Pandora. The last I checked”—two minutes ago—“our forces were holding steady.”
“Good. And now?”
“Now?” Garrett tilted his head back and stretched his arms above his head. He hadn’t been enjoying much of life lately, but he was pretty fucking sure he was going to enjoy this next part. “Now I give my grandmother the opportunity to recuse herself from the shitstorm that’s about to occur. Because she might be adried-up, embittered, single-focus excuse for a human being, but she and I both care about family.”
“Very gracious of you, darlin’.”
“I agree.” Garrett relaxed and stared pensively at the ceiling for a moment. “She doesn’t really deserve the consideration, but Miles would be disappointed if I didn’t make the attempt.”
“Why do you dislike her so much?”
“Because Dame Mildred Caractacus is a flimsy paper mask of a person, who would rather pretend that everything is perfect than put the work into fixing what’s wrong. She adored my mother because she raised my father’s ‘profile,’ but that changed after my mom’s suicide. I’ve been tainted by association ever since, and so have you and Cody.” He snorted. “Not that she’s ever even bothered totalkto Cody because of his ‘obvious flaws.’”
“A lot like his other grandma,” Jonah said pensively. Garrett glanced at him.
“You’re pretty insightful for a hallucination.”
“Now you’re just complimenting yourself.”
Garrett shrugged. “Maybe. Doesn’t matter. I’ll give it a try, and we’ll go from there.” He sent out the signal that should end with a direct call to his grandmother’s personal line and waited for her to pick up.
And waited.
And waited … he was just about done with waiting by the time she finally responded.
“Garrett.” Her perfect, twenty-five-year-old face appeared on the screen. Mildred Caractacus was not the sort of person to enter her old age without a fight to the death: in this case, the death of her dignity. She had the appearance of a young woman but the mannerisms and movements of someone well beyond her second century. Frankly, the dichotomy was nauseating. “What do you want?”
He smiled brightly. “I can’t just call to check in?”
“You never have before, so I don’t see why you’d begin bothering with basic courtesies now.”
“Good point,” he agreed. “You’re right, I don’t really care how you’re doing.”
Mildred arched an eyebrow. Garrett imagined being able to hear her muscles creak. “The feeling is decidedly mutual. Why are you calling, then?”
“Because I want to offer you the opportunity of a lifetime.”
She chuckled. “You sound like a bad investment scheme. I can’t imagine there’s any sort of financial advice you could give me that’s worth listening to, and if what you want is my money, well. Perhaps this will teach you to regret cutting ties with your family so completely.” She reached out to end the connection.
“I’m going to ruin the economy.”
