Mr Hook's Big Black Box

«Honesty»

"What about the guys who broke in?" Destinee asked, "With guns, searching the house and everything. If they were still there you'd be in a lot of danger."

"I asked that," Dwayne nodded, "But Ferrari said she had a friend of a friend in the local police who owed her a favour. She could get him to drive past first, and make sure the place was clear."

"I guess that's code for using your CIA contacts?" Marco ventured, "Or this Tightrope you mentioned, whoever they are?"

"No," Ferrari cut him off right away, "The Tightrope was a secret group within the intelligence communities, agents seconded from several parallel agencies around the world. Their purpose was to step over all the departmental politics if something came up that was a problem for everyone; like the possibility of an actual nuclear war, or terrorists getting their hands on something that one country's secret service couldn't effectively deal with. And if you'd been paying attention, you'd know by now that my authority with them had been officially cut off when Trevor Halett checked into hospital."

"So who's this friend in the police, then?"

"A friend, in the police," she shrugged, "Sometimes things are just what they seem. It was kind of an automatic thing, finding a social situation where I could cultivate a few friends on the force when I started at university. I'd never intended to be activated by the CIA while I was there, but it would be useful to have the informal contacts just in case, to be in a position where a mid-rank officer or two would owe me favours. And sometimes my contacts could help me to meet the right people, to make sure certain people knew that I should be trusted in an emergency. Those contacts might not have got the news about Century's coup."

"It's kind of weird," Destinee smiled, finding a trace of humour even in the seriousness of the tale they were spinning, "Is that like the first time so far we've had something that's exactly what it seems to be, without any secrets hiding inside?"

"I guess it is," Ferrari grinned too, "That's why they taught us not to tell lies. Because lies multiply, and once you've started they just keep on getting more and more complex until they cover everything in sight."

"I never really got the hang of lying," Destinee mused, "When I was young, I think everybody acted like everything I said was true, and nobody told a lie. It was a long time before I even realised it was possible for words and reality to be different."

"Yeah, but your childhood wasn't exactly in a normal environment," Marco pointed out, and everyone nodded. That wasn't something Destinee could take offence to, because it was so clearly true.

"So were you having the same conversation?" Kris nodded to Marco, "With Monty trying to persuade you to come and get the key off me?"

"Not quite. I mean, I'd had the key already, so if she told me that I could have just taken her to get it."

"Did you buy the thing about there being a person in the Box?" Ferrari asked, "I mean, I'd just told you the most part of the demon theory. I guess you must have been smart enough to realise those stories were compatible, because you didn't go straight back to that room and get the key from your hiding place in plain sight."

"Well, I kind of did," he admitted, "It's just that Monty had something else to tell me first."