“I see you recognize him. When you turned down our offer the
first time, we couldn’t understand why. So we looked into your past. You’ve
done an amazing job burying it. It took over a billion dollars and a dozen
experts to find just a few scraps about you, but one of them did uncover an
incident that happened several decades ago and was able to use those few
details to connect you to the Wandering Koala as he’s known by in urban
legends. It took another half billion to acquire this picture.”
“This is the
Wandering Koala?”
“We triple checked. There is no doubt.”
“Where did you get this picture?”
“One of our agents took it four days ago in Califia.”
“Took it? From a museum or an archive?”
They look at me confused. “No … took is as in with a
camera.”
“Four days ago? Impossible. This can’t be Kyle. He must have
a grandson who looks just like him. Your researchers got it wrong.”
“As far as we can tell, it is the very same man who shamed
you at the Tournament of Fire.”
My hand is across the table and around his throat before I
realize I’ve even moved. Although the restaurant is crowded and noisy, a few
diners do look over. It’s been a while since I’ve lost control like that. I
pull my hand back.
