And Keep Your Enemies Closer

And Keep Your Enemies Closer 3

PART III AND THEN...

1

For a long moment, Miles and Tristan just stared at each other, and Winston stared at each of them in turn. Seeing as neither was going to be the first one to break the silence, Winston finally spoke up.

"Overthrowers? I've heard that name somewhere before."

"They were the protestors who crashed Father's fundraiser. I guess you were there as well, weren't you?"

Tristan just nodded.

"So you were also posing as a waiter?"

"You... you knew?"

Tristan was surprised. He had thought no one had had an idea of what had really happened.

"I wasn't drunk enough or high enough to be completely blind."

"But the police didn't know the rest of us were involved."

"I didn't tell them anything. Why would I? You guys spiced up the party."

Of course, this jerk would find it amusing, people staking their lives for a cause they were passionate about would be nothing but a joke to him. Tristan remembered how he had hated him and his amused smile at the party. He flashed Miles an ironic smile.

"Well, in that case, I should thank you."

"I'm more interested in what you're doing here. Why the hell were you pretending to be a freaking demon doll?"

"And what happened to your horns? I mean, you obviously don't have horns, so how did you get them in the first place?"

Tristan looked first at Miles and then at Winston, trying to judge which questions he should answer, or if he should answer at all. They hadn't called the police yet, but he couldn't tell if it was a good thing or not. Better keep the story as simple as possible. If he was going down, he wasn't going to drag everyone else down with him, too.

"We heard that Miles Hollingsworth II had put in an order for a doll, and we wanted someone on the inside, so, I got my horns, I can't tell you how, and I came."

"Why would you need someone on the inside?"

"Because your father has something we want. We have been trying to get it for a while, but..."

"That's why you staged the protest! I knew something was weird. That protest was just plain stupid. It didn't accomplish anything at all, except get the protestors arrested. But if you were going for a distraction, that makes more sense. So I guess there were people searching through the house while the protestors were creating a ruckus?"

Tristan was taken aback. He had never thought Miles could string two thoughts together. He had realized something was different about him, and now he understood what it was. Miles was neither drunk nor high tonight. That's why he had not slept the night through. And the Miles that was neither drunk or high was actually going to be more of a threat than he could have imagined.

Tristan, scared of giving too much away, just nodded. Winston looked surprised.

"What could Mr. Hollingsworth have that a protest group would want?"

"Knowing my father, it could be anything."

Miles stood thinking for a moment, then turned his eyes back to Tristan.

"So, did you find it?"

Tristan shook his head. Miles didn't look surprised.

"Can you tell me what it is?"