Cooperation

"You mean... Her Highness let Ian go on purpose? She knew every Intis intelligence operative would turn out to pursue him?

"Right. Her Highness said the people who came after Ian last night were delivering themselves to their deaths... They wanted the pursuit to lull us into thinking they'd lost track of Ian too, putting both sides back on equal footing..."

Xio was clever. Unlike Abner, though, she had no knowledge of all the parties involved from the original story, so the possibility had never occurred to her.

Now that Abner had pointed it out, she understood, but another question arose. "Ian really has disappeared again... Why are both Intis and Her Highness so sure they can find him?"

"Because of a spy... MI9 must have planted someone inside Intis intelligence. And from what you said, Ian sent a telegram earlier. Whoever received it must have an Intis mole close to them. That's why they're so certain," Abner explained with a smile, drawing on his knowledge of the story.

"So that's it..." Xio murmured thoughtfully. It was just like planting an informant in a gang, as she had once done.

Seeing that she understood, Abner added pointedly, "Later, you could report what happened last night and my guess to Mr. Fool. Since his blessed commissioned Beckland's death, he's bound to be interested in something like this."

Xio froze for a moment, then nodded in firm agreement. Lately, with Fors's matter on her mind, she had been trying to think of ways to "please" that mysterious existence. Even if only Mr. Fool's blessed was interested, it was worth a try.

After Xio left to catch up on sleep, Abner picked up the stack of documents she had brought. He turned the pages one by one and read carefully:

"Besides Ambassador