He briefly looked surprised. "The intersection is really that powerful?"
"Yes."
"Well, then, I guess finding the third man is something of a priority." He leaned forward a little. "But why are you involved? And why come to me? Why not just leave it all to the Directorate? It seems to be more their line of business than yours or mine."
"I'd leave it to the Directorate if I could, but that's not an option."
"Leading me to the next obvious question—why not?"
"Because I'm being blackmailed into the hunt." Which was the truth—it just didn't actually apply to the intersection.
Amusement flirted briefly with his mouth and something deep inside me twisted. It was a stupid and illogical response, and it made me want to scream at my inability to just forget what might have been.
"Did someone dig up some more dirty laundry on you or your family?" he said.
His article had been more than dirty laundry—he'd accused her of lying about her past. Which she had, but not for the reasons he'd suggested. There were no nefarious crimes or shady dealings, just her creation in a madman's laboratory—a fact that she kept well guarded, and for good reason. Her extraordinary abilities had caused many to treat her as a freak—it would have been far worse if they'd learned the true nature of her birth. "No, they didn't. They're threatening my friends."
That the man behind the threats was both an Aedh—who were creatures of light and shadows, an energy so fierce that their mere presence burned the very air around them—and my father was something I wasn't about to explain.
Jak frowned. "If that's the case, involving the Directorate seems even more logical."
"They are involved, but their investigation is going nowhere and they can't protect my friends forever." They weren't even trying, in fact, simply because they didn't know about the threats. There was no point in telling them when they could never, ever protect us from the force that was my father.
"So why do you think I'll succeed where the Directorate are failing?" Jak asked.
"Because you not only have a knack for getting people to talk to you, but you seem able to uncover those who would rather remain hidden."
The half smile appeared again. "That was almost a compliment."