18. The therapist might need therapy by the time they’re done with you.

EIGHTEEN

The therapist might need therapy by the time they’re done with you.

Saturday, May 12, 2057

North Necropolis, Precinct 153

Cauldron City, Nebraska.

From popping balloons to party games, Miranda’s mother went out of her way to force us to act more our shoe size than our age. By the time she finished with us, we’d crossed half the damned city, emerging from the underground in a public parking garage not far from our station. Before I could make my escape, the woman slipped an envelope into my pocket, patted my cheek, and said, “You’re a good sport.”

I was? I’d tried to find a quiet spot to pass out several times, earning the wrath of both women. Miranda had, in the span of the session, become rather assertive, a development we’d want to cultivate down the road. I’d joined the various activities, swearing some form of vengeance at a future date, after I’d gotten some sleep. “Thanks, I think. ”

She laughed, waved, and returned back into the city’s underground.

Captain Farthan shook his head, laughed, and said, “She’s a wily one, that’s for sure. Miranda, just tell HR you need therapy, it’s our fault, and that you’re to get however many sessions you need. And warn them the therapist might need therapy by the time they’re done with you.”

The cadet sighed, staring at the section of wall her mother had used to access the city’s underground. “I think I’ll do that. Thanks, sir.”

“You’re welcome. I’m going to get someone to drive you two and Pumpkin home. If I’m too tired to drive, there’s no way you’re able to drive. Lovell, I want you back on Tuesday morning ready to work. We’ll get all our various prizes inventoried and see what we can figure out about it. In the meantime, rest, relax, and get your checkups as needed.”

“Any word from Mrs. Dr. Erik?”

“Her patient survived the transplant, the organ seems to be working well, and there haven’t been any complications yet.” Captain Farthan showed me his cell. “Smithson is home with his dragoness, where he’ll be staying for the next few days. I have been given photographic evidence that he is curled up in front of his fireplace with his wolf-dogs, book in hand, tucked in, and sound asleep. I don’t think he even managed to open it before he conked out. The Black Dragon of New York has decided he’s staying over just to make certain nobody tries anything stupid while his little princess guards her unicorn.”

Jace would worry us for the next while. It would take the black unicorns being ready to kick him into next week for being a spunky pony ready to shed out into a stallion for us to believe he had recovered from Mercy’s attack. I expected similar treatment, and I would do my best to tolerate it with grace. “That’s good. What do you think about Zenna?”

“Her name isn’t Zenna,” Miranda muttered.

I chuckled at the woman’s disgruntled tone. “It’s Julia, but according to her, there’s nothing menacing about Julia, and she needs to keep her boys and girls in line. Anyway, anyone who works for the city like she has gets to pick whatever name for herself she wants.”

While she heaved a sigh, Miranda nodded. “I can’t argue with that.”

Captain Farthan rested his hand on Miranda’s back and gave her a push in the direction of our station. “The personal involvement angle here is weird, but as long as she keeps her activities close to the line, we’ll prioritize other crimes. I will make sure she knows what sort of things we can’t ignore, that way there’s relative peace between us. We’ll work to catch her, she’ll work to stay off our radar, and the game of cops and robbers will continue on as always. We can work with cordial—especially when cordial means she’ll help us ferret out the nastier elements in Cauldron City.”

“Like Mercy.”

The opal dragon nodded. “Exactly. And I don’t know what she put in your pocket, Lovell, but I expect you in my office to have a look over it before you leave.”

Busted, and I hadn’t even gotten a chance to look at the note yet. “It’s probably a taunt or a clearly worded threat regarding what will happen to me if anything happens to her little girl.”

Miranda raised a brow. Captain Farthan snickered.

“What? A woman who lures us all down there for the equivalent of a kids’ party for adults is not to be trifled with. Maybe you don’t get along with your mother, but she doesn’t seem like the type to give up on you, her daughter, because you are stubborn, bold, and inclined to do what you want when you want.”

Miranda glared at me. The captain snickered some more before he said, “Perhaps you shouldn’t have said that in front of the daughter of this scenario, Lovell. She is stubborn, she is bold, and she is inclined to do what she wants when she wants, which means she’s going to make you suffer for that one. It’s one of the first rules of women you should learn. When you say things like that to a woman, she will make you pay. And we do it anyway, because that’s half the fun. But you definitely are going to pay for having been bold enough to make that statement.”

“As long as I get to sleep in my own bed tonight, I think I can handle being made to pay.”

“I do hope you survive,” he quipped before herding us in the direction of the station. “I don’t expect this will take more than five minutes to go over the latest tidbit your mother decided to feed us for playing her games, Miranda. Fetch the puppy and meet us in your office.”

“You got it.” Miranda hurried off to do the captain’s bidding, and I questioned where she got the energy to move along at anything faster than a plod.

If I made it to my bed rather than detouring to my couch again, I would consider it to be my win.

“How is she that energetic?” I sighed. She, along with half the group that had gone with us, beat us to the elevator, leaving us to wait for the next one. Taking the note out of my pocket, I opened it to discover an invitation to a second kidnapping, to be conducted tomorrow at the sensible hour of noon. I was to present myself at the convenience store around the corner from my house to be cordially picked up.

Miranda would be expected to rescue me from a gauntlet of traps and other activities she would surely hate to showcase her skills and prove she could be an excellent member of law enforcement. My puppy was likewise invited to attend the kidnapping, and Pumpkin would be provided with a treat of a new cow leg just for her along with a selection of toys.

In exchange, we would discuss more of Mercy’s operations underground, and I would be compensated with a map of their known haunts, a list of potential targets, and the names of outsiders to Mercy who were aware of the group’s existence and counted as their allies.

Shaking my head and laughing over the insanity, I handed over the note.

Captain Farthan’s eyes narrowed. “Are you okay with this?”

“Sure. At any point today, Zenna could have turned those fun and games into a darker situation, but she didn’t. She wanted to give us intel, but she wanted to play with us first. She didn’t even try to make it hard for us to get our hands on those organs, either. She’s shown us plenty of good will, and I suspect this is personal. She wants Miranda to do something , but what, I’m not sure.”

“She is likely pushing Miranda to invoke our station’s fraternization rules. Every mother I know tends to try to play matchmaker with their kids at least once.” Captain Farthan gave the note back. “A map of their operations would be ideal for us getting to the bottom of this. If you’re willing to be the bait to get that intel, I’m willing to deal with the gray hairs.”

“I’m willing. Maybe she wants reconciliation with her daughter? I mean, Miranda is one hell of a woman.”

“And she’s one hell of a woman you haven’t had a chance to see truly shine. She’s been walking around like she’s on glass, expecting the floor to shatter under her feet at any moment. I’ll admit, I want to see what she can do. I’ll send Grimstone with you along with Dowdren. Neither woman is immune to his powers, and he was monitoring them the entire time.”

“Anything interesting I should know about?”

“Let’s just say Miranda will be good for your self-esteem. Her mother has determined you’re suitably heroic for her eldest child. Miranda is, in her mother’s eyes, an irredeemable goody-goody only useful for law enforcement. Miranda needs work on the self-esteem front, but we’ve got time to work with her. Dowdren is more than a little uncomfortable, as Miranda’s mother amused herself with rating the male law enforcement offerings by general sexiness. Her father is going to enjoy the consequences of this, and he had the misfortune of getting a good idea of how he’ll be enjoying it. I offered therapy, but he said that any of his problems would be generally resolved if he got around to finding a girlfriend.”

I’d talked with Dowdren in the past about his woes; his telepathic abilities came bundled with other skills, and some of them could override free will in the wrong situations. As I had sufficient defenses against his abilities, he could talk with me—both telepathically and verbally .

When able to read minds, relationships tended to fall apart before they could begin.

My fellow detective wanted someone who could love him. He was even willing to accept some lust leading to love. Most women, however, wanted the power behind the badge or something else he wasn’t willing to give them.

“And what’s his opinion on Miranda?”

“She’ll be good for you if she can accept our fraternization rules are real things. He thinks she’d like to give a relationship a try, but she’s worried about what will happen if something goes wrong. I’ll pull her aside and tell her if something does go wrong, we’ll send her over to our rival station until you two sort it out or don’t. There are actually a few couples in our station, but they follow the rules and they’re quiet about it.”

I raised a brow at that, as I was aware of one pair. “They’re damned quiet about it, then.”

“That’s how it works best. It keeps the drama to a minimum, and does it really matter if one of the patrol officers is sleeping with one of our staffers? Or if there’s a detective taking a cadet home with him?”

“I mean, her apartment building was not secure, and my home is now quite secure, sir.”

He laughed at me. The elevator opened, and we piled in, keeping quiet through the ride to the third floor.

When in the lobby, everyone viewed conversations as generally confidential, but elevator chatter was fair game to be spread at will.

In the safety of his office, Captain Farthan rummaged through his desk, pulled out a box containing a tracker, another one containing a body cam, and handed them over. “ I don’t care if you tell her you’re wired, but I want you taking those with you. If she does run Miranda through an obstacle course, I want the footage to see where she can improve her skills.”

“Sure. I’ll put the tracker on before I meet them, and I’ll use the body cam when the time is right.”

“Good. Stay on your guard. Hopefully, Mercy will drop into the background for a while, especially as one of their primary labs has been busted. If Dr. Lerrans wants to wipe out our medical staff, then he’s going to have to work a lot harder at it since we have the recipe for the antidote.”

The poisoning situation would drive me to the end of my rope. “But can we make the antidote?”

“The ingredients are common enough, and any mid-range magicker can handle the magic component. Unicorns and dragons seem able to handle the magic, too. Dr. Erik is working on that issue while the hospital is barring him from doing the heavy lifting. Mrs. Dr. Erik is being a bit of a tyrant right now.”

“How is Dr. Erik doing?”

“Judging from the texts I’ve been receiving, he’s recovering nicely and should be back to full shifts the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow is his day off. Mrs. Dr. Erik has the day off as well. They’ll be taking Gloria home for some rest and relaxation, and if she doesn’t have a setback, she might stay home to finish recovering.”

“Good. How do you want me to proceed with Miranda?”

The opal dragon chuckled. “Do what you want, Lovell. You’re one of the most professional cops I have, and I trust your general judgment. What do you want? ”

That was a very good question. “My puppy, my couch, and good company comes to mind.”

“Start there and see where it goes. Go to your office, wait for your cadet and puppy, and get one of the cops downstairs to drive you home. Once you’re gone, I’ll warn dispatch that Miranda is probably going to be in a panic should she give us a call about your disappearance, and that they shouldn’t worry. The last thing I need is Wynonna leading the charge to rescue you. She wanted to the first time you went missing on us.”

“I’ll make sure to bring them all some good coffee.”

The captain chuckled. “That’s a start. Also, there are more than a few who are concerned Miranda shares certain traits with Jace’s black dragoness.”

My eyes widened at the thought of Miranda being incapable of cooking. “I’ll make sure she knows her way around a kitchen.”

“Please do.”

Saturday, May 12, 2057

North Lake Education District, Precinct 153

Cauldron City, Nebraska.

All of Marrinni’s eggs had hatched while we’d been dancing to Zenna’s tune, and the proud little father introduced us to each and every one of them. He’d gone with fruits, berries, and nuts for the naming scheme of his little ones, something that would vex the aviary trainers down the road. Raspberry was his first born of the batch, a tiny little female who may as well have hung the stars in the sky as far as her father was concerned.

Raspberry had been within the egg at highest risk of death, and the hummingbirds had known it, hovering over her egg and hoping for the best.

I foresaw everyone spoiling Raspberry.

Once Marrinni finished with his lengthy discourse on how each baby had hatched, the state of his ladies, and commentary on how he worried we’d need another feeder, I promised to hang two new ones to account for the extra mouths to feed in the near future. Then I called Yuri, informed her of the newest arrivals, and made an appointment for noon, making certain Miranda would be thoroughly distracted while I was busy meeting with her mother.

I texted Captain Farthan with my plan and grinned at his approval of my cunning. I warned him about Raspberry and the high probability of the entire flock having a meltdown if anything happened to her.

He promised to find a unicorn who could attend to the nests and make certain all the babies survived.

With that settled, I herded Miranda into my kitchen, heaved sighs over the state of my fridge, and regretted everything.

Near death hadn’t done me any favors, and I would need to purge everything near its expiration and start again.

“I already took care of making certain nothing went bad in your fridge,” Miranda informed me. “I took some stuff over to your parents’ place, and what they didn’t take, I asked the neighbors if they needed, so everything was either used or sent elsewhere.”

I regarded her with wide eyes. “Thank you.”

“Captain Farthan said you’re pretty meticulous, so I figured coming back to a nasty fridge after being hospitalized would not be a good time for you.” She went to the freezer, opened it, and pulled out two plastic containers. “It’s not fancy, but I made beef stew and froze the leftovers, and it won’t take long to warm it up so you can get to bed. You’ve got to be exhausted.”

“I really am. Yuri is going to be coming over at noon. If you’re all right with it, I’ll have you monitor the appointment while I run a few errands down the street? I’ll be walking to get some exercise and fresh air.”

“Sure. I can do that. You’ll be all right by yourself?”

“I have Paul’s number, and I’ll give him a ring if I feel I can’t handle walking down the street alone.” If I wanted to be awake long enough to eat the stew, I would need coffee, and I went to work making us some in the French press. “How are you handling things?”

“You mean with my mother?”

I nodded.

“She has changed, although she hasn’t changed nearly as much as I thought she would by now. I could see her doing everything she’s done, including attack the airport to get at you. But if you vanish on me again, I know exactly who to blame, and I even know where to find her.”

I could make a guess. “Slipped you a note, did she?”

“She did. She doesn’t think I’m adequately trained for law enforcement, so she wants to get her filthy hands on me so I don’t bring shame to anyone partnered with me. ”

My mouth dropped open. “Does she not realize that most detectives show up after the crime has been committed and hunt for, register, and prepare evidence for use in court? We can handle any training you require, and we’re going to be covering your education.”

“I think she may have confused patrolling and standard officers with detectives. Or she’s assuming I’ll be spending all of my career patrolling. I still have no idea why I’m being pushed towards doing detective work, though.”

“The judge started it. We’ve just had a chance to evaluate your intellect and decided the judge made a good call.” I shrugged. “It doesn’t take much to become a police officer. You just need a high school diploma—or a piece of paper saying you have the equivalent education. The academy even has a practical knowledge test for those who don’t have a diploma. The captain will push for you to get as much education as you want, as he’s a stickler for that sort of thing. Take Paul, for example. Paul showed an interest in additional education, so he’s going to be getting the education, and we’ll shuffle our shifts around as needed. Most of the detectives in our station are happy to work an extra hour a week to make sure Paul can attend his classes. They’ll do the same for you or any other cop who wants to. The captain has to be careful to rotate people through schooling, though. We do need a certain number of officers working at a time, especially in our precinct.”

“Precinct 153 is a hotbed for criminal activity, isn’t it?”

“It can be, especially in Warehouse Row. Thefts are common. Disputes without violence are also common. Violence can be common, especially when the various races engage in an argument. Give it a few weeks. You’ll get a call to help calm a fight between various shifter types. Eagle-griffons are notorious for getting into spats with people because they can’t stand when someone lies to them. The claws come out, somebody gets hurt, and everyone starts whining and complaining. The eagle-griffon usually gets smacked with community service, their victim gets a painful reminder why it’s a bad idea to lie to an eagle-griffon, and life goes on. Unicorns are secretive and will cause us plenty of problems. The blacks are pretty open about being unicorns, but the rest of them won’t expose themselves unless it’s a dire situation. Jace got exposed helping poisoning victims. We gave him a bit of a hard time about it, but we didn’t mean it. Now we just give him a hard time if he doesn’t visit us while a unicorn.”

“Everyone adores Jace.”

I chuckled and nodded. “He’s our resident peacekeeper, even more than I am. I’m the person people go to when they need a cool head. Jace is the person they go to when they need reassurance or emotional support. I mean, I’ve done plenty of emotional support, especially for Paul, but Jace radiates peace wherever he goes. I’ve come to the conclusion that’s a white unicorn thing. He’s gotten even better at it now that we all know he’s a unicorn, too.”

While Miranda handled warming the stew, I checked on the hummingbirds, who had settled in for the night. Marrinni rested in his nest, which overlooked his females and babies. I turned the porch light off, satisfied the street lamps would provide any illumination they needed. I returned to the kitchen, retrieved a pair of bowls, and sighed over the general mess life would be for the next while. “I hope that your mother’s operations send Mercy into hiding for a while. We need time to reevaluate our evidence, learn more about their group, and get those organs to where they can do the most good.”

“It seems likely to me, especially if Mercy has lost one of their major labs.” Miranda poked at the stew, which had a long way to go before it thawed. In a way, I marveled she’d gotten both containers to release their prizes.

It normally took me ten minutes at the sink, running water over the plastic, before my meal surrendered and came out so I could heat it on the stove.

“We also thought they’d go into hiding after the incident in New Hampshire, but no. If anything, finding his trail made him accelerate his plans.”

“Ah, but it’ll be harder for him to implement his plans if he loses his stockpile of poison, antidotes, corpses, and organs.” Miranda pointed the wooden spoon at me. “Resources are vital if they want to continue their operations. That’s why they had the hit out on me. I could put an end to their easy resource gathering.”

When they couldn’t continue their thefts due to better protections going up all across Cauldron City, the nature of crime in the area would change. How? That would be anyone’s guess, and I would prove a problem for members of law enforcement moving forward. “Then there’s the issue of your live bounty.”

“My mother and father are behind the one. That was in the letter. And they said they would be taking steps to make certain the other groups decided it would be a bad idea to continue coming after me.”

“They’ll still come after you,” I warned her. “Until those bounties are revoked, you’re still in danger. ”

“I know. I think my mother’s egotistical enough she believes her displeasure will be enough to keep me safe. I think she’s wrong.”

I considered Zenna and her operations, wondering how she fit into the overall underground. “I think the problem is we just don’t know. Law enforcement wasn’t aware there was such huge operations underneath our feet until now. It just wasn’t on our radar, not really. We were aware there was the possibility of criminal activity down there, but we hadn’t thought people would be bold enough to defile dragon burial grounds.”

“My mother is careful to stay out of the actual burial grounds. That, too, was in her letter.”

“Did she send you an entire novel?” I asked, shaking my head at how much Zenna had crammed into Miranda’s note.

“It was only one sheet, but she wrote with stupidly tiny letters. I had to squint to read it all. At least her handwriting is easy enough to decipher.”

“Are you all right with everything?”

“Well, seeing my mother was certainly a shock. And she said my father is around, scheming on how to best make me pay for running off and missing Christmas and Thanksgiving. And then, apparently, since I wasn’t trouble enough, I have brothers and sisters!”

“You’re going to get kidnapped by your own mother, and she’s going to introduce you to the rest of your family, and you’re going to be mad because you won’t press charges,” I predicted, well aware Miranda had enjoyed visiting my chaotic and large family. “If my mother and father kidnapped me under similar circumstances, I would be quite content to be missing. I recommend you send word to her for when to schedule your kidnapping.”

“I’m pretty sure she has my work schedule at this point,” she grumbled.

Considering I’d caught the woman talking with Captain Farthan more than a few times, I agreed with her. “Reality is rarely what we think it is, especially when we’re young and stupid. I was particularly stupid a time or two, but my temperament is that of a helper. I had to be trained out of helping too much when I first became a cop. I would allow myself to be steamrolled by the stronger personalities. Captain Farthan helped moderate that.”

“Now you’re the sanest sentient in the entire station, or so says him.”

It was what it was. “I’ll admit, part of that is due to the bigger paycheck I got for limiting how much property damage Paul can do when upset. I managed Paul, and I got paid for managing him.”

“And Paul is aware of this?”

“Paul tries to get me a raise every other month because he knows he is an elephant shifter, and elephant shifters are not rationale beings in the face of emotional turmoil. I basically serve as his emotional regulation.”

“He limited to pacing and trumpeting while you were in serious condition.”

“That’s good for him,” I admitted. “After that, he starts weaving, and when he starts weaving, that’s a lot of elephant crashing into walls or anything else that happens to be in his way. And he tends to stomp a lot while weaving, which isn’t good for the floors. He isn’t even trying to cause property damage. It just happens. ”

“Captain Farthan kept having to get up and pet him. Petting seemed to tame the beast for a while.”

“It took a while, but we trained Paul to stand still when someone is petting him. It gives him a chance to restore his calm. It only lasts for a few minutes, though, especially during a stressful situation. Paul’s a great detective, but he definitely has his weaknesses as a cop. However, if we need a heavy lifter, Paul’s the one you go to. Everyone tends to hesitate when there’s an elephant shifter around. You can trust dragons to posture. Elephants? You can’t trust them, period, especially once they’re at the stage they’re weaving. Paul’s just heavily conditioned at this stage.”

“And you’re the one who conditioned him, or so says Captain Farthan.”

“And you’re partnered with me so I can condition you,” I informed her. “My first job is to make you a little less self-conscious about how you look in your uniform. There are plenty of women in the force who could change jobs and become a model. Yes, you’re one of them. Everyone appreciates that you’re humble, but you need not be embarrassed over being pretty. However, once we get this issue of the bounties sorted out, don’t be surprised if you’re approached about speaking to the media. We’ve found putting the pretty people in front of the media makes our job a lot easier. And, for some reason, people pay a little more attention than they otherwise would.”

“I can try.” Miranda resumed poking at the beef stew, and she succeeded at breaking it apart to allow it to warm faster. “I really thought any crimes would bar me from becoming a cop.”

“Misdemeanors are considered, and a judge basically ordered you to reform with us, so you’re fine. And honestly, with the eagle-griffons, it’s pretty easy to verify if someone has actually reformed. If you like working in the station, we’ll make sure you have a place with us. You’re plenty smart enough for the job, and I’m betting you have a heart of gold. The good cops do—and I’m betting you don’t get along with your parents because you have a heart of gold and couldn’t handle their naughty ways.”

“Naughty ways? Valor, they’re running a crime organization here! And law enforcement seems willing to ignore that?”

“Well, yeah. With Mercy around, we need all the help we can get, and your mother is saving lives. That’s what we care about right now. How many people can we save from Mercy and their plans? Right now, we’re running in the dark hoping we’ll get lucky and pick up their trail. Your mother’s crime ring has cut off one of the trails. Sure, we might not progress farther than the labs she’s found and isolated from their plans, but at this stage, any lab they can’t use is a huge boon for us.”

Miranda considered me with interest, tilting her head to the side much like an inquisitive cat. “And you’re all right with this?”

“She gave me a bike, a helmet, and the tools needed to save lives. As far as I’m concerned, she’s an angel right now. I would rather ally myself with people like your mother than allow Mercy to run around unchecked. I expect we’ll establish a friendly rivalry in the future, but right now? There are too many lives on the line to chase after any convictions. Once the dust settles? I’m sure we’ll be playing cops and robbers with her. It’ll be more entertaining for us because you’re batting for our team rather than hers. And having met your mother, she’s going to be kidnapping cops again in the future. She’ll just do it in cordial fashions, I’m sure. It wouldn’t surprise me if she went after Captain Farthan a time or two, using a finger gun as her weapon of choice. And because he’s an opal dragon with an ego, he’ll play the game.”

Miranda frowned, but after a few minutes of thought, she nodded. “Is it really okay?”

“It’s really okay. You won’t be assigned to any cases believed to involve them, and that’s the start and finish of that problem. And if we’re invited to have another party date, you’ll be among the first to be invited to participate. We have unspoken rules of conduct for this sort of thing, and for right now, as long as they help us with Mercy, we’ll ignore their business dealings. It’s a case of which fish do we wish to fry? Right now, Mercy is our top priority, and anyone who can help us bring them down is a friend.”

“Even serial killers,” she murmured, and her expression turned thoughtful.

“Especially serial killers. And you know what? I never thought I would say this, but I truly hope Roger becomes the perfect father for that little girl. And may she never learn of the man who is likely her father.”

“And her grandfather.” Miranda clenched her free hand into a fist, and it took her a while to be able to relax. “When I found out about that, I wanted to tear him apart.”

“Me, too. But you know what? I do trust Roger with her.”

“Why?”

“Dr. Lerrans has taught me what a real monster is, and while Roger is also a monster, there is no better vengeance than giving that child a happily ever after, where she is cherished by the one man Dr. Lerrans hates above all others.”

Miranda sucked in a breath. “There is some poetic justice to that, isn’t there?”

“There really is. And for now, there is no one better motivated to preserve that girl’s happiness than Roger. Every moment of joy he gives her is one blow against Dr. Lerrans and everything he wishes to build.”

“But what about his son?”

“The crimes of the father are not the crimes of the son, and I will make sure to repeat that until we both believe it. The son needs love and medical care. The father can rot in some hell, and I hope he gets there sooner than later. But I will say this much: I do think we will find the father through finding the son. But we won’t be finding the son just to catch the father. We’ll be trying to save one and stop the other.”

“Do you think we’ll succeed?”

I heaved a pained sigh, shrugging. “Only time can tell.”