"Not of these letters, at least."
John Paul printed them out and then destroyed them in the computer's memory, while Theresa wiped them from her desk.
Carrying the paper copies of the letters, they headed for Peter's room.
Peter was sleepy, surly, and impatient with them. He kept dismissing their concerns and insisting they wait till morning until finally John Paul lost his temper and dragged Peter out of bed like a teenager. He was so shocked at being treated in such a way that he actually fell silent.
"Stop thinking this is between you and your parents," John Paul said. "These letters are from Bean and Petra, and they're relaying a message from Han-Tzu in China. These are three of the smartest military minds alive, and all three of them have been proven to be smarter than you."
Peter's face reddened with anger.
"Have I got your attention now?" said John Paul. "Will you actually listen?"
"What does it matter if I listen?" said Peter. "Let one of them be Hegemon, they're so much smarter than me."
Theresa bent down and got right in his face. "You're acting like a rebellious teenager while we're trying to tell you the house is on fire."
"Process this information," said John Paul, "as if we were a couple of your informants. Pretend that you think we actually know something. And while you're at it, take a quick poll and see how effectively Achilles has driven away everybody around you who was completely trustworthy--except us."
"I know you mean well," said Peter, but his voice betrayed his anger.
"Shut up," said Theresa. "Just shut up with your patronizing tone. You saw the letters. We didn't make that up. Hot Soup found a way to tell Bean and Petra that the whole rescue was a setup. You were had, smart boy. Achilles has this whole place sussed by now. Every move you make, somebody tells him."
"For all we know," said John Paul, "the Chinese have an operation ready to roll."
"Or you're going to be arrested by Suri's soldiers," said Theresa.
"In other words, you have no idea what I'm even supposed to be afraid of."
"That's right," said Theresa. "That's exactly right. Because you played into his hands as if he handed you a script and you read your lines like a robot."
"You're the puppet right now, Peter," said John Paul. "You thought you held the strings, but you're the puppet."
"And you have to leave now," said Theresa.
"What's the emergency?" said Peter impatiently. "You don't know what he's going to do or when."
"Sooner or later you're going to have to go," said Theresa. "Or do you plan to wait until he kills you? Or us? And when you do go, it has to be sudden, unexpected, unplanned. There's no better opportunity than now. While the three of us are still alive. Can you guarantee that will still be true tomorrow? This afternoon? I didn't think so."
"Before dawn," said John Paul. "Out of the compound, into the city, onto a plane, out of Brazil."
Peter just sat there, looking from one to the other.
But the irritated look was gone from his face. Was it possible? Could he have actually heard something that they said?
"If I leave," said Peter, "they'll say I abdicated."
"You can say that you didn't."
"I'll look like a fool. I'll be completely discredited."
"You were a fool," said Theresa. "If you say it first, nobody else gets any points for saying it. Cover up nothing. Get a press release out while you're in the air. You're Locke. You're Demosthenes. You can spin anything."
Peter stood up, started pulling clothes out of his dresser drawers. "I think you're right," he said. "I think your analysis is absolutely right."
Theresa looked at John Paul.
John Paul looked at Theresa.