Long Feng's voice carried the same measured cadence it always had, calm enough to be mistaken for civility by anyone who had never seen what lay beneath it. There was no anger in it, no triumph, not even satisfaction. There was only cold calculation. Every word reduced a human life to a matter of utility, as though they were all pieces to be arranged on a pai sho board until they produced the desired result, and it unsettled Jet more than he cared to admit. But his expression betrayed none of it. Years of surviving had taught him how to wear indifference as armor, and he forced himself to meet Long Feng's eyes without so much as a flicker of uncertainty. Inside, however, his thoughts churned.
Insurance. The word lingered between them for several minutes after Long Feng had spoken it. Jet did not know what he meant, but he knew better than to dismiss it. Long Feng wasn’t a man who made idle threats, and he didn’t waste words on bluffs. Whatever leverage he believed he possessed was real enough that he expected it to matter.
Jet's thoughts drifted unwillingly to Smellerbee and Longshot, to the chaos in the crystal catacombs before everything had dissolved into pain and darkness. He remembered seeing them. He remembered hearing their voices. After that, there was only the crushing weight in his chest and the certainty that he would never wake again.
He had no idea whether they had escaped. He had no idea whether anyone had.
The uncertainty settled heavily in his stomach, but he refused to let it surface. If Long Feng knew something he didn’t, then the last thing he was going to do was reveal where his fears lay. The Dai Li had always excelled at finding cracks in people. Jet had learned that lesson beneath Lake Laogai, where every hesitation had been examined, every weakness exploited until it became another chain wrapped around his mind, and he wouldn’t hand over another one.
A slow breath expanded against the bandages wrapped tightly around his ribs, drawing a sharp ache through his chest he ignored. “You still think owning people makes you powerful,” he said at last, his voice still hoarse as a faint, humorless smile touched the corner of his mouth. “But we both know nobody stood beside you when someone more powerful gave them a choice.” The moment of defiance cost him more than he wanted to let show as speaking pulled at the injuries beneath the bandages, and he could feel exhaustion pressing at the edges of his awareness.
“If those are my choices...” A bitter smile crossed his face, thin as a knife's edge. “Then I'd rather finish what you started than spend another day as something you think belongs to you.” Jet knew he couldn’t overpower Long Feng. He could barely sit upright without pain threatening to drive him back into the mattress, and he had no illusions about who held the advantage in that room. But there was one truth that had survived Lake Laogai intact, however scarred it had become. Long Feng could command his obedience, but he could never command his loyalty.
