Ivar held up the glass in a salute. “To illegal pleasures, then.”
The whiskey was smooth and rich, and it made everything feel a little more familiar. He remembered the day he and Dominic had gotten drunk in this room, and spent an hour talking about the best way to dismember Harmony Station and sell it for parts. With that much whiskey in their veins it had seemed a reasonable plan. “I evacked just in time. Shenshido picked me up when the battle was over. After that came imprisonment, and then a lengthy fight for survival, whose details I’d rather not talk about. At least while I’m sober.”
“That bad, eh?” Dominic lowered himself into a thickly cushioned chair and motioned for Ivar to do the same. “I imagine you’ll be asked for that story incessantly, once people realize you’re home.”
Ivar raised his glass. “Then I guess I’ll have to drink a lot more.”
Dominic took a drink, rolled the taste of it around his tongue, then swallowed. “So tell me about the two who brought you back here. Friends? Allies? Anyone we should worry about?”
Ivar sighed. “Honestly, I don’t know much about their backgrounds or their motives. But they saved my life.” Which wouldn’t have been necessary if I hadn’t chosen to join that fucking raid, but that’s another story. “Thus far they seem to have played straight with me, but who knows? They may simply be skilled liars.”
He chuckled. “Hardly a rare commodity here. Do you know if they have any further interest in Hydra? Or are they just here to drop you off and pick up the reward?”
Ivar hesitated. “I imagine they’ll want to look around. I certainly would.”
“Well, since you’re vouching for them—to a certain degree—tell them they can leave their ship docked here while they play tourist. That’s assuming they don’t do anything that would make me want to rescind that invitation.”
“I’ll let them know.”
Dominic took another drink; the iridescent scales on the back of his hand shimmered as he tipped the glass, gazing at Ivar through the amber liquid. “We go way back, you and I, don’t we?”
Ivar nodded. “Quite a ways.”
“You regard me as a friend?”
He shrugged. “As much as I do anyone here.”
“Then you won’t take it amiss if I give you some advice?”
“As long as you don’t take it amiss if I choose to ignore it.”
Dominic sighed heavily. For a moment he just stared down into his glass. “You’ve been dead for two years, Ivar. Not missing; dead. Gone forever. That’s what your crew thought, so it’s what they told everyone else.” He paused. “Two years is a long time in this place.”
He raised an eyebrow. “My crew still exists?”
“The three who returned from Shenshido recruited new members. Greenies, mostly. Spike is in charge now, so the crew’s his.”
He snorted. “Ambitious bastard.”
“You’re a stranger to the new ones. Hell, you’re a stranger to much of Hydra. It might be harder than you think, reestablishing yourself here.”
“I’ll manage.” He took another drink of whiskey. “So is that your counsel? That I should worry about the obstacles ahead of me? If so, advice noted.”
He said it quietly: “I think you should reconsider joining Saito.”
Ivar was silent for a moment. “We’ve had that conversation. What, a dozen times now? Two dozen? My answer’s never changed.”
“But Hydra has changed. It’s not the same as when you left. The raid on Shenshido cost us dearly. We haven’t got the number of skilled operatives we used to, but we’ve got the same number of patroni needing to hire them. Which has proven . . . disruptive.”
“Fewer whores, but not fewer whoremongers.”
“Exactly.”
Ivar shrugged. “So it’s a seller’s market. Clans will compete for our services . . . can’t get better than that, as far as I’m concerned.” He paused. “Are you worried I might do business with another clan? I’ve always been a Saito man at heart, if not by formal ties.”
“We appreciate that. And when the clans were merely rivals to one another, it was sufficient. But now . . . the competition for human resources has pushed us beyond that. In order for one clan to hire the best operatives, the others must fail to hire them. It’s no longer possible for all of us to prosper equally.”
“So you want to bind me to your service, is that it? Not just have me working for you, but make sure I can’t work for anyone else?”
“For your own safety.”
He snorted. “Yeah. Right. I’m sure that’s the only reason.”
Putting down his glass, Dominic leaned forward intensely. “You’re missing the big picture, Ivar. It’s never been a secret that you do work for us. Others will try to bribe you away, into their service. And if that fails . . .” He let the words trail off suggestively.
“They won’t want me working for you anymore.”
“Now you’re getting it.”
“So, are you suggesting . . . that they’d try to remove me?”
“If you belonged to one of the clans, no. The price would be too high. But as an independent? No patronus will muster all his resources to avenge you. Everyone knows that. It makes you fair game.”
He managed to keep his face impassive, but it took effort. The dynamic Dominic was describing was indeed a far cry from the world he had left two years ago, and the light this conversation shed on his relationship with Saito was not reassuring. We’ve been useful to each other, Ivar thought. Nothing more. The clans look after their own. But was the situation really as bad as Dominic was suggesting? The man had been trying to get Ivar to swear allegiance to Saito for as long as they’d known each other. One would expect him to exaggerate any danger, if he thought that fear might drive Ivar into his camp.
I need to see what’s going on here, with my own eyes. It would be foolish to make any life-altering decisions before doing that. “I need to think about all this,” he said.
“Of course.” Dominic leaned back and picked up his drink again. “I would expect no less.” Just don’t take too long, his expression warned.
Shutting his eyes for a moment, Ivar emptied his glass. The whiskey went down smoothly, but his nerves were jangled now, and mere liquor wasn’t enough to soothe them. “Thanks for the advice. And for the loan. As soon as I recover my emergency stash I’ll pay you back.”
Dominic waved off the thought. “Not necessary. Consider it a gift. For old time’s sake.”