“Then let me make it official,” she says. “Mr. James Stark, I’m happy to introduce you to our new Augur, Mr. Thomas Abbot.”
“Ta-da,” he says, holding up his hands.
They both laugh lightly. I don’t.
“Please sit down, Stark.”
He points to another leather chair that’s probably worth more than most of the boats in the harbor.
“Would you like a drink?”
I debate getting out my flask and asking for a glass or being polite. I’m in unknown territory, so polite wins.
“I’ll have what you’re having,” I say.
“We’re having margaritas,” he says.
“In that case, I’ll have a whiskey, if you have it.”
He gets up.
“Jack Daniel’s, right? I got in some Gentleman Jack just yesterday.”
I’m not surprised when he pours me the drink himself. It’s the perfect move in whatever man-of-the-people charm offensive he has planned. Only one question bothers me. What if the fucker is on the level? Tuatha seems to trust him and she’s far from stupid. That’s something I hadn’t considered until now. Charles Foster Kane I can fight. I’m not so sure about Mr. Rogers.
“Ice?” he says.
“No thanks. I’ll have it neat.”
“Of course.”
He brings me the glass, then settles back down in his seat.
“I understand you knew Saragossa Blackburn pretty well,” he says.
I look at Tuatha.
“I don’t know. Did I?”
“In your own way,” she says. “You helped him in ways others couldn’t or wouldn’t. He liked that you were so straightforward. He trusted you and it upset him that he could never get you to trust him.”
“I always respected the fact he didn’t have me bumped off. On that account, he was my favorite king ever.”
“Is that how you see the Augur? As a king?” says Abbot.
“How else should I see him? I don’t know any other Sub Rosa who could, say, hex the governor out of office, take over, and no one would bat an eye.”
“That’s the kind of misperception I want to clear up. You see this relationship as one side holding all the cards and the other—”
“Holding shit and high hopes he lives another day.”
Abbot sets down his glass and leans forward with his hands on his knees, going for deep sincerity.
“That’s exactly what I want to change. This antagonistic attitude. We shouldn’t be adversaries. I know what you’ve done for the city. Hell, the world. When others ran, you stayed behind and fought the Angra Om Ya on your own. If you ask me, those are the actions of a hero.”
“You admire me for that? Let me ask you a question . . .”
“Call me Tommy. That’s what my friends call me.”