"What I know about Petra," said Peter, "is that when Achilles disappeared, so did she. My sources inside Russia tell me that the only liberation team that was interfered with was the one rescuing her. The driver, a bodyguard, and the team leader were shot dead. There was no evidence that Petra was injured, though they know she was present for one of the killings."
"How do they know?" asked Bean.
"The spatter pattern from a head shot had been blocked in a silhouette about her size on the inside wall of the van. She was covered with the man's blood. But there was no blood from her body."
"They know more than that."
"A small private jet, which once belonged to a crimelord but was confiscated and used by the intelligence service that sponsored Achilles, took off from a nearby airfield and flew, after a refueling stop, to India. One of the airport maintenance personnel said that it looked to him like a honeymoon trip. Just the pilot and the young couple. But no luggage."
"So he has her with him," said Bean.
"In India," said Sister Carlotta.
"And my sources in India have gone silent," said Peter.
"Dead?" asked Bean.
"No, just careful," said Peter. "The most populous country on Earth. Ancient enmities. A chip on the national shoulder from being treated like a second-class country by everyone."
"The Polemarch is an Indian," said Bean.
"And there's reason to believe he's been passing I.F. data to the Indian military," said Peter. "Nothing that can be proved, but Chamrajnagar is not as disinterested as he pretends to be."
"So you think Achilles may be just what India wants to help them launch a war."
"No," said Peter. "I think India may be just what Achilles wants to help him launch an empire. Petra is what they want to help them launch a war."
"So Petra is the passport Achilles used to get into a position of power in India."
"That would be my guess," said Peter. "That's all I know, and all I guess. But I can also tell you that your chance of getting in and rescuing her is nil."
"Pardon me," said Bean, "but you don't know what I'm capable of doing."
"When it comes to intelligence-gathering," said Peter, "the Indians aren't in the same league as the Russians. I don't think your paranoia is needed anymore. Achilles isn't in a position to do anything to you right now."
"Just because Achilles is in India," said Bean, "doesn't mean that he's limited to knowing only what the Indian intelligence service can find out for him."
"The agency that's been helping him in Russia is being taken over and probably will be shut down," said Peter.
"I know Achilles," said Bean, "and I can promise you--if he really is in India, working for them, then it is absolutely certain that he has already betrayed them and has connections and fallback positions in at least three other places. And at least one of them will have an intelligence service with excellent worldwide reach. If you make the mistake of thinking Achilles is limited by borders and loyalties, he'll destroy you."
Peter looked down at Bean. He wanted to say, I already knew all that. But it would be a lie if he said that. He hadn't known that about Achilles, except in the abstract sense that he tried never to underestimate an opponent. Bean's knowledge of Achilles was better than his. "Thank you," said Peter. "I wasn't taking that into account."
"I know," said Bean ungraciously. "It's one of the reasons I think you're headed for failure. You think you know more than you actually know."
"But I listen," said Peter. "And I learn. Do you?"
Sister Carlotta laughed. "I do believe that the two most arrogant boys in the world have finally met, and they don't much like what they see."
Peter did not even glance at her, and neither did Bean. "Actually," said Peter, "I do like what I see."
"I wish I could say the same," said Bean.
"Let's keep walking," said Peter. "We've been standing in one place too long."
"At least he's picking up on our paranoia," said Sister Carlotta.
"Where will India make its move?" asked Peter. "The obvious thing would be war with Pakistan."
"Again?" said Bean. "Pakistan would be an indigestible lump. It would block India from further expansion, just trying to get the Muslims under control. A terrorist war that would make the old struggle with the Sikhs look like a child's birthday party."
"But they can't move anywhere else as long as they have Pakistan poised to plunge a dagger in their back," said Peter.
Bean grinned. "Burma? But is it worth taking?"
"It's on the way to more valuable prizes, if China doesn't object," said Peter. "But are you just ignoring the Pakistan problem?"
"Molotov and Ribbentrop," said Bean.
The men who negotiated the nonaggression pact between Russia and Germany in the 1930s that divided Poland between them and freed Germany to launch World War II. "I think it will have to be deeper than that," said Peter. "I think, at some level, an alliance."
"What if India offers Pakistan a free hand against Iran? It can go for the oil. India is free to move east. To scoop up the countries that have long been under her cultural influence. Burma. Thailand. Not Muslim countries, so Pakistan's conscience is clear."
"Is China going to sit and watch?" asked Peter.
"They might if India tosses them Vietnam," said Bean. "The world is ripe to be divided up among the great powers. India wants to be one. With Achilles directing their strategy, with Chamrajnagar feeding them information, with Petra to command their armies, they can play on the big stage. And then, when Pakistan has exhausted itself fighting Iran . . ."
The inevitable betrayal. If Pakistan didn't strike first. "That's too far down the line to predict now," said Peter.
"But it's the way Achilles thinks," said Bean. "Two betrayals ahead. He was using Russia, but maybe he already had this deal with India in place. Why not? In the long run, the whole world is the tail, and India is the dog."
More important than Bean's particular conclusions was the fact that Bean had a good eye. He lacked detailed intelligence, of course--how would he get that?--but he saw the big picture. He thought the way a global strategist had to think.
He was worth talking to.
"Well, Bean," said Peter, "here's my problem. I think I can get you in position to help block Achilles. But I can't trust you not to do something stupid."
"I won't mount a rescue operation for Petra until I know it will succeed."
"That's a foolish thing to say. You never know a military operation will succeed. And that's not what worries me. I'm sure if you mounted a rescue, it would be a well-planned and well-executed one."
"So what worries you about me?" asked Bean.
"That you're making the assumption that Petra wants to be rescued."
"She does," said Bean.
"Achilles seduces people," said Peter. "I've read his files, his history. This kid has a golden voice, apparently. He makes people trust him--even people who know he's a snake. They think, He won't betray me, because we have such a special closeness."
"And then he kills them. I know that," said Bean.
"But does Petra? She hasn't read his file. She didn't know him on the streets of Rotterdam. She didn't even know him in the brief time he was in Battle School."
"She knows him now," said Bean.
"You're sure of that?" asked Peter.
"But I'll promise you--I won't try to rescue her until I've been in communication with her."
Peter mulled this over for a moment. "She might betray you."
"No," said Bean.
"Trusting people will get you killed," said Peter. "I don't want you to bring me down with you."
"You have it backward," said Bean. "I don't trust anybody, except to do what they think is necessary. What they think they have to do. But I know Petra, and I know the kind of thing she'll think she has to do. It's me I'm trusting, not her."
"And he can't bring you down," said Sister Carlotta, "because you're not up."
Peter looked at her, making little effort to conceal his contempt. "I am where I am," he said. "And it's not down."
"Locke is where Locke is," said Carlotta. "And Demosthenes. But Peter Wiggin is nowhere. Peter Wiggin is nothing."
"What's your problem?" Peter demanded. "Is it bothering you that your little puppet here might actually be cutting a few of the strings you pull?"
"There are no strings," said Carlotta. "And you're too stupid, apparently, to realize that I'm the one who believes in what you're doing, not Bean. He couldn't care less who rules the world. But I do. Arrogant and condescending as you are, I've already made up my mind that if anybody's going to stop Achilles, it's you. But you're fatally weakened by the fact that you are ripe to be blackmailed by the threat of exposure. Chamrajnagar knows who you are. He's feeding information to India. Do you really think for one moment that Achilles won't find out--and soon, if not already--exactly who is behind Locke? The one who got him booted out of Russia? Do you really think he isn't already working on plans to kill you?"
Peter blushed with shame. To have this nun tell him what he should have realized by himself was humiliating. But she was right--he wasn't used to thinking of physical danger.
"That's why we wanted you to come with us," said Bean.
"Your cover is already blown," said Sister Carlotta.
"The moment I go public as a kid," said Peter Wiggin, "most of my sources will dry up."
"No," said Sister Carlotta. "It all depends on how you come out."
"Do you think I haven't thought this through a thousand times?" said Peter. "Until I'm old enough . . ."
"No," said Sister Carlotta. "Think for a minute, Peter. National governments have just gone through a nasty little scuffle over ten children that they want to have command their armies. You're the older brother of the greatest of them all. Your youth is an asset. And if you control the way the information comes out, instead of having somebody else expose you . . ."
"It will be a momentary scandal," said Peter. "No matter how my identity comes out, there'll be a flurry of commentary on it, and then I'll be old news--only I'll have been fired from most of my writing gigs. People won't return my calls or answer my mail. I really will be a college student then."
"That sounds like something you decided years ago," said Sister Carlotta, "and haven't looked at with fresh eyes since then."
"Since this seems to be tell-Peter-he's-stupid day, let's hear your plan."
Sister Carlotta grinned at Bean. "Well, I was wrong. He actually can listen to other people."
"I told you," said Bean.
Peter suspected that this little exchange was designed merely to make him think Bean was on his side. "Just tell me your plan and skip the sucking-up phase."
"The term of the current Hegemon will end in about eight months," said Sister Carlotta. "Let's get several influential people to start floating the name of Locke as the replacement."
"That's your plan? The office of Hegemon is worthless."
"Wrong," said Sister Carlotta, "and wrong. The office is not worthless--eventually you'll have to have it in order to make you the legitimate leader of the world against the threat posed by Achilles. But that's later. Right now, we float the name of Locke, not so you'll get the office, but so that you can have an excuse to publically announce, as Locke, that you can't be considered for such an office because you are, after all, merely a teenager. You tell people that you're Ender Wiggin's older brother, that you and Valentine worked for years to try to hold the League together and to prepare for the League War so that your little brother's victory didn't lead to the self-destruction of humanity. But you are still too young to take an actual office of public trust. See how it works? Now your announcement won't be a confession or a scandal. It will be one more example of how nobly you place the interest of world peace and good order ahead of your own personal ambition."
"I'll still lose some of my contacts," said Peter.
"But not many. The news will be positive. It will have the right spin. All these years, Locke has been the brother of the genius Ender Wiggin. A prodigy."
"And there's no time to waste," said Bean. "You have to do it before Achilles can strike. Because you will be exposed within a few months."
"Weeks," said Sister Carlotta.
Peter was furious with himself. "Why didn't I see this? It's obvious."
"You've been doing this for years," said Bean. "You had a pattern that worked. But Achilles has changed everything. You've never had anybody gunning for you before. What matters to me is not that you failed to see it on your own. What matters is that when we pointed it out to you, you were willing to hear it."
"So I've passed your little test?" said Peter nastily.
"Just as I hope I'll pass yours," said Bean. "If we're going to work together, we have to be able to tell each other the truth. Now I know you'll listen to me. You just have to take my word for it that I'll listen to you. But I listen to her, don't I?"
Peter was churning with dread. They were right, the time had come, the old pattern was over. And it was frightening. Because now he had to put everything on the line, and he might fail.
But if he didn't act now, if he didn't risk everything, he would certainly fail. Achilles' presence in the equation made it inevitable.
"So how," said Peter, "will we get this groundswell started so I can decline the honor of being a candidate for the Hegemony?"
"Oh, that's easy," said Carlotta. "If you give the OK, then by tomorrow there can be news stories about how a highly placed source at the Vatican confirms that Locke's name is being floated as a possible successor when the current Hegemon's term expires."
"And then," said Bean, "a highly placed officer in the Hegemony--the Minister of Colonization, to be exact, though no one will say that--will be quoted as saying that Locke is not just a good candidate, he's the best candidate, and may be the only candidate, and with the support of the Vatican he thinks Locke is the frontrunner."
"You've planned this all out," said Peter.
"No," said Sister Carlotta. "It's just that the only two people we know are my highly placed friend in the Vatican and our good friend ex-Colonel Graff."
"We're committing all our assets," said Bean, "but they'll be enough. The moment those stories run--tomorrow--you be ready to reply for the next morning's nets. At the same time that everybody's giving their first reactions to your brand-new frontrunner status, the world will be reading your announcement that you refuse to be considered for such an office because your youth would make it too difficult for you to wield the authority that the office of Hegemon requires."
"And that," said Sister Carlotta, "is the very thing that gives you the moral authority to be accepted as Hegemon when the time comes."
"By declining the office," said Peter, "I make it more likely that I'll get it."
"Not in peacetime," said Carlotta. "Declining an office in peacetime takes you out of the running. But there's going to be war. And then the fellow who sacrificed his own ambition for the good of the world will look better and better. Especially when his last name is Wiggin."
Do they have to keep bringing up the fact that my relationship to Ender is more important than my years of work?
"You aren't against using that family connection, are you?" asked Bean.
"I'll do what it takes," said Peter, "and I'll use whatever works. But . . . tomorrow?"
"Achilles got to India yesterday, right?" said Bean. "Every day we delay this is a day that he has a chance to expose you. Do you think he'll wait? You exposed him--he'll crave the turnabout, and Chamrajnagar won't be shy about telling him, will he?"
"No," said Peter. "Chamrajnagar has already shown me how he feels about me. He'll do nothing to protect me."
"So here we are once again," said Bean. "We're giving you something, and you're going to use it. Are you going to help me? How can I get into a position where I have troops to train and command? Besides going back to Greece, I mean."
"No, not Greece," said Peter. "They're useless to you, and they'll end up doing only what Russia permits. No freedom of action."
"Where, then?" said Sister Carlotta. "Where do you have influence?"
"In all modesty," said Peter, "at this moment, I have influence everywhere. Day after tomorrow, I may have influence nowhere."
"So let's act now," said Bean. "Where?"
"Thailand," said Peter. "Burma has no hope of resisting an Indian attack, or of putting together an alliance that might have a chance. But Thailand is historically the leader of southeast Asia. The one nation that was never colonized. The natural leader of the Tai-speaking peoples in the surrounding nations. And they have a strong military."
"But I don't speak the language," said Bean.
"Not a problem," said Peter. "The Thai have been multilingual for centuries, and they have a long history of allowing foreigners to take positions of power and influence in their government, as long as they're loyal to Thailand's interests. You have to throw in your lot with them. They have to trust you. But it seems plain enough that you know how to be loyal."
"Not at all," said Bean. "I'm completely selfish. I survive. That's all I do."
"But you survive," said Peter, "by being absolutely loyal to the few people you depend on. I read just as much about you as I did about Achilles."
"What was written about me reflects the fantasies of the newspeople," said Bean.
"I'm not talking about the news," said Peter. "I read Carlotta's memos to the I.F. about your childhood in Rotterdam."
They both stopped walking. Ah, have I surprised you? Peter couldn't help but take pleasure in knowing that he had shown that he, too, knew some things about them.
"Those memos were eyes only," said Carlotta. "There should have been no copies."
"Ah, but whose eyes?" said Peter. "There are no secrets to people with the right friends."
"I haven't read those memos," said Bean.
Carlotta looked searchingly at Peter. "Some information is worthless except to destroy," she said.
And now Peter wondered what secrets she had about Bean. Because when he spoke of "memos," he in fact was thinking of a report that had been in Achilles' file, which had drawn on a couple of those memos as a source about life on the streets of Rotterdam. The comments about Bean had been merely ancillary matters. He really hadn't read the actual memos. But now he wanted to, because there was clearly something that she didn't want Bean to know.