“I heard a rumour when I got back last night. Something about you firing my most recent recruit...?”
“Hm, that useless boy? He couldn’t tell the right end of a lockpick if it poked him in the eye. I did you a favour: firing him before he got himself arrested.”
“I could have trained him. He was highly malleable.”
“You were off in Sim City. And malleable or not, he was all thumbs. You need to stop taking pity on these poor little orphan types. Good criminals they do not make.”
“Oh sure. Tell me again about your little pet Hart. I’m getting tired of you stealing all of my new recruits, Armand.”
“I will remind you that it was your idea to introduce Hart to me, and that he freely chose to quit working for you and come to me instead.”
“Yeah, after you bribed him.”
“It helped that I wasn’t taking 90 percent of his spoils too. You wanted to go small scale, Jessica, darling. Hart has bigger ambitions than that. He knows he can go much further with my mentorship.”
“Which is why you have him living in a hole now? Had he stuck with me, he could have kept his luxury apartment.”
“He never would have stayed with you. It was a challenge keeping him even under me. He’s good and he knows it, and the last thing I need in this city is competition. I have the disciplinary tactics that you lack and that are required to keep Hart in line.”
“What, tying up his wife on the railroad tracks or something? You’re such a cartoon villain.”
“Dear me, nothing quite so crude as that. I do enjoy the odd moustache twirl now and then, but it takes a subtler hand than that to maintain control. And, whether you believe it or not, Hart is entirely under control. Why do you think I allowed him back on the bank jobs? In fact, I’m considering giving him another promotion. Especially seeing as my top cat burglar refuses to work for me again.”
“I’m not interested in your town anymore. You can keep your monopoly and I’ll keep skimming off the top in Sim City. Much more fun--much less dangerous.”
“I have always respected your methods, even if they are different from my own. I am honoured simply that you grace me with your presence now and again. Though I assume you didn’t come tonight to talk about a former protégé. There are many other things I know I would rather discuss...”
