"Don't you see? This means he really understands Peter. He knew that Peter couldn't resist rescuing him. Maybe he even knew that Bean and Petra would leave. Think about it--we all knew how dangerous Achilles could be, so maybe he was counting on that."
"Everybody closest to Peter left, except us--"
"And Peter tried to get us to go."
"And Suriyawong."
"And Achilles has coopted him."
"Or Suri has Achilles convinced he has."
They'd been back and forth on that one before. "Whatever," said Theresa. "Simply by arriving here, Achilles has succeeded in isolating Peter. Then he's spent his whole time being Mr. Nice Guy, doing everything right--and making friends with everybody while he's at it. Everything's going smoothly. Except--"
"Except that he's in a position to kill Peter."
"If he can do it in a way that doesn't implicate him."
"Ready to step in, as Peter's assistant, and say, 'Everything's going smoothly at the Hegemony, we'll just keep things going till a new Hegemon is chosen,' and long before they can choose one, he's compromised all the codes, he's neutralized the army, and China is completely rid of the Hegemony once and for all. They'll get advance word of one of
Suri's missions and they wipe out our brave little army and--"
"Why wipe it out, if it already obeys you?" said Theresa.
"We don't know that Suri--"
"What do you think would happen if Peter tried to leave?" she asked.
John Paul thought about that. "Achilles would take over while he was gone. There's a long tradition of that maneuver."
"And just as long a tradition of declaring him sick and keeping anyone from having access to him."
"Well, he can't restrict access to Peter as long as we're here," said John Paul.
They looked at each other for a long moment.
"Get your passport," said Theresa.
"We can't pack anything."
"Wipe the computers."
"What do you think he'll use? Poison? Some bio-agent?"
"Bio-agent is likeliest. He could have smuggled that in."
"Does it matter?"
"Peter's not going to believe us."
"He's stubborn and self-willed and he thinks we're idiots," said John Paul. "But that doesn't mean he's stupid."
"But he might think he can handle it."
John Paul nodded. "You're right. He is exactly that stupid."
"Wipe all your files on the system and--"
"It doesn't matter," said John Paul. "There are backups."