Maik didn’t answer, merely taking another pull on the cigarette, eyes still closed.
“You’ll probably get fifteen to twenty years in a maximum-security prison,” Cory explained to him, annoyed but remaining professional. “Because of how cooperative you’ve been with the police, we can get that taken down, maybe to ten years. When you get out, you’ll be given a new identity and placed in a witness protection program in another city, where no one can find you and you can start life over again.”
“I’ve done that already before.” Tar opened his eyes halfway, supremely unimpressed by the idea. “I’d be nearly sixty by the time I got out. Too old.”
Cory looked at Maik for a long moment. “They’re trying to get you out, you know. No Peak.” The two men were speaking in Kekonese and none of the guards standing nearby could understand them. “Your old boss Kaul Hilo is asking about all the ways to tie up the court process, bribing cops and judges. He wants details about prison security. If you end up behind bars, they’ll do whatever they possibly can to free you.”
Tar smiled, with satisfaction but also sadness. “They shouldn’t do that.”
“No,” Cory agreed. “It would involve breaking a lot of laws, and it would throw the spotlight onto your past ties with the clan. I’ve been trying to tell them that, but I’m not sure your Pillar will listen. If you could convince your family that they shouldn’t interfere in the legal process, it would be better for everyone in the long run, yourself included.”
“Thanks for the advice,” Tar said. “I’ll try to convince them.”
Cory studied Maik with unease. “Why did you do it?”
Tar smirked. “Are you asking as my lawyer?”
Cory shook his head slowly. “Anden came to see you, didn’t he? He asked you to deal with Jon Remi.”
Tar was amused by the flat tone of the lawyer’s voice that suggested the man was quelling a sense of horror. He finished his cigarette and ground it out against the surface of the metal table that separated them. “Remi made the wrong enemy,” he said simply. “You don’t stand in the way of the No Peak clan.”
“You’re not a Green Bone of No Peak anymore. You can’t ever return to Kekon. So, why? What’s in it for you?”
Tar shrugged. “A death of consequence.” He could tell that the term was not one Cory Dauk was familiar with. “Never mind. It’s a Green Bone thing back in the old country, not something they do over here.”
CHAPTER
42
Death of Consequence
Eighteen months earlier, Anden had made a trip to Orslow, a southern suburb of Port Massy with a growing Kekonese population. When he arrived at the brown bungalow on the corner, Anden saw a man mowing the front lawn but didn’t recognize him at first. The idea of Maik Tar sweating and pushing a lawn mower in the sun outside his modest home, like an ordinary neighbor on a Seventhday afternoon, was beyond what Anden could’ve ever imagined. As he got out of the car and crossed the street, Tar squinted in his direction. He turned off the lawn mower and watched, eyes widening in astonishment as Anden approached. Then he broke into a wide grin and came to meet the younger man.
“Hello, Tar,” Anden said.
“Godsdamn. It’s good to see you, kid.” The two men embraced and Tar led the way up the short walk to the house. Inside, Tar turned and put his hands on Anden’s shoulders, squeezing, as if to make sure that it was really him, that he was really there. “Godsdamn,” he said again. “I wish I’d known you were coming.” He spun in sudden agitation, opening his fridge. “You want something to drink? All I’ve got is soda, but I could run out to get something else.” He glanced around the kitchen and a look of embarrassment came into his face as he realized how small and meager his place must appear, for a man who had been one of the most powerful and feared Green Bones in Janloon, the right hand of the Pillar.
“A soda’s fine,” Anden said. Tar brought back a couple of bottles and they sat down together at the table. “How’re you doing here?” Anden asked cautiously. The last time he’d seen Tar had been on that tragic night when he’d treated the Pillarman’s injuries and helped to wash the blood off his hands and face. Looking at him now, Anden didn’t know how to feel. He’d thought of Maik Tar as a brother-in-law, but he hadn’t been close to the man and had never been entirely at ease around him. Tar had always seemed so sharp and dangerous, a wolf that only Hilo and Kehn could control. Still, Anden had known Tar for so long, had eaten dinner with him at the Kaul house so often, it was hard to think of him as the man who’d murdered Iyn Ro. It didn’t occur to Anden to consider the other lives Tar had taken. Those had been on the Pillar’s orders and done for the good of the clan.