The Detachment

“Secrets,” Dox said again. “Because, if he had any, and he had reason to believe that we might know or even suspect those secrets, I’m a little concerned about what conclusions he might draw.”
    Treven didn’t answer. He thought Dox was right, but wasn’t sure about the implications of acknowledging it.
    “I think you know what I’m talking about,” Dox said. “And that’s why you’re not answering. You think I’m wrong?”
    Treven shook his head. “No.”
    “Well, we can handle Larison. One way or the other. But one thing I cannot abide is what he might do to this girl here. If those diamonds are legit, we don’t need her anymore. And we’ve put her through enough. I say we let her go. What do you say to that?”
    “Just let her go?”
    Dox nodded. “Right now. Before the angel of death gets back here and starts trying to implement whatever conclusions he might have arrived at during this morning’s absence.”
    Treven thought. He didn’t want to be a party to the girl’s death anymore than Dox did. But it was also dangerous to do this kind of thing without even an attempt at consensus.
    “Look,” he said, “even if I agreed with you, and I’m not saying I don’t, we can’t just let her walk out of here right now. Rain and Larison aren’t back yet, and we have to assume she’d go straight to the police.”
    “She doesn’t even know where she is,” Dox said. “I could take her out blindfolded, drop her off wherever, and drive away, and that would be that.”
    “Are you that sure she couldn’t find her way back here? There are sounds, smells…some identifying thing we missed in this room. Or a sense of the turns you make and the distances you go. She’s smart. I can see that, and so can you.”
    “All right then, what would you say if I drove her someplace and waited for you all to call me? I could let her go then, with plenty of time for all of us to vamoose.”
    “What if the diamonds aren’t real? We don’t know yet.”
    “What if they’re not? Look at her. You going to put a bullet in her head? Or watch while Larison does?”
    Treven didn’t answer.
    “Of course you’re not,” Dox said. “And you should be proud and relieved that you couldn’t—that your parents didn’t raise someone who could. Now, this has gone on long enough. If Horton has called our bluff, I say so be it. We’ve got other things to do, like stopping a group of ruthless zealots from massacring a bunch of schoolchildren in the name of the greater good.”
    The reference to his parents, both long gone, hit home. For a moment, Treven wondered whether Dox had deliberately seemed to suggest the impractical idea that they let Kei go immediately because he knew it would get Treven to object on practical, and therefore persuadable, grounds. He realized Dox must have been waiting for the right moment to initiate this whole conversation. He’d probably been hoping Treven would give him an opening, and, when he sensed they were likely running out of time, he’d found one himself. Treven felt like an idiot for having thought the man was dull. If there was a dull one in the room, it was himself.
    “Christ,” he said. “Larison’s going to get back here and go postal. And Rain might, too.”
    “Rain’ll be just fine. I know him. As for Larison, well, he’s unarmed for the moment. I recommend we keep him that way, until we’re sure he’s had time to properly adjust to our new circumstances.”
    Treven thought for a moment. “If the diamonds are real,” he said, “I think Larison will get over this. I think.”
    Dox nodded as though already knowing where Treven was going. And approving of it.
    “But if they’re not real,” Treven said, “and he feels like Hort fucked him again, and we were complicit, we’re going to have to kill him. Because if we don’t, he’ll kill us.”
    Dox nodded again, and again Treven had the uncomfortable sense that he’d been guided along to his conclusions by exceptionally deft hands.
    But that didn’t change the essential accuracy of the conclusions themselves. “All right,” he said. “Get her out of here. You better hurry. They could be back soon.”
    Dox looked at him, then held out his hand. “Ben Treven, I’m glad to know you’re one of the good guys.”
    Treven shook his hand. “I wouldn’t go that far. Now go.”

    Rain and Larison got back about an hour after Dox had left with Kei. Treven unlocked the door and let them in with his left