"No way," says Lynch flatly. "You can't. It's too dangerous."
"Listen," I insist. "Hear me out at least."
"No." Lynch shakes her head. "You listen. I'm grateful for everything you've done, but you have to understand that this . . . this isn't a game. This is real. If you came with me you'd be putting yourself in the worst danger you could possibly put yourself in. I mean, there are men out there who want to kill me, maybe torture me first. Do you understand that? Really?" She's talking quickly, and from the breaking note in her voice I can tell she's close to tears. I reach out and take her hands.
"I know there's danger. But . . ." I try and marshal my thoughts, try to pull some sense from the mess of feelings in my heart. "But I have to. I'm involved now. For you. And for Darren. I . . . I have to see this through."
"I'm on the run, Laura," says Lynch despairingly. "Wherever I'm going it's not going to be pleasant. Why would you do that to yourself? You have a life here. You're safe. You have family. Why . . . I don't . . ."
And then she is crying, the sounds of her sobs small and muffled in the large space of the empty library.
"Listen," I say. "That's not all. I have an idea, something I think we should do. Something I think we have to do. If we want to help Darren and all the others. If we want to stop Ingleman."
At Ingleman's name Lynch twitches tightly. She wipes quickly at her face and makes a visible effort to stop her tears. "What?" she asks.
"We have to tell people," I say. "We have to write it down. All of it. Everything you know. And we have to make sure it gets out. Ingleman's powerful, right? But he's not above the law. Nobody is. All we have to do is draw attention to him. This Academy of his, it's such a big operation. He won't be able to keep it hidden if people are looking for it. But nobody's looking. Nobody suspects him. Nobody questions his cover story, his version of events. Not yet, anyway. We have to make it public. We have to."
Once I've finished talking Lynch just sits there for a minute looking at me in astonishment. "Well," I say. "What do you think?"
She frowns for a minute, looking uncertain, then nods. "All right," she says grudgingly.
"All right," I say, and my heart does a flip and I swallow dry. "Let's get to work."
