Chapter 29: The Unexpected Visitor

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"Jarvis?" Arthur was taken aback.

The man in questioned blinked for a second, before recognition dawned on him. His face relaxed. "Arthur, glad I managed to find you."

"You're alive?" the point man struggled to reign in his shock.

"Yeah," the red-haired man said tiredly. "Needless to say, we need to talk."

"Sure just give me one second." Arthur retreated from the door, disappearing inside the house. In a hurried rush he threw on something closer to his more usual attire, grabbing his watch and fixing his hair in the mirror. After a moment of hesitation, he also grabbed the handgun he kept hidden under the mattress, in the off chance that this conversation wasn't going to end pleasantly. Grabbing a post-it, he scribbled a quick message to Ariadne, then returned to the front door. Jarvis was waiting there patiently, not having moved since Arthur left him.

Upon the point man's return, he nodded slightly, and the two men proceeded out of the complex. During this time they were mostly silent, Arthur unsure whether or not to strike up a conversation, Jarvis not really seeming interested in small talk at all.

Indeed, the man didn't seem his usual self. There were dark circles underneath his previously bright eyes, and he looked overall tired. He smelled of cigars, surprising given that Arthur had previously never pegged Jarvis down as the smoking type. Though what did he know, the last time he saw this man he had been working with Ariadne's kidnapper.

Frowning at the memory, Arthur barely noticed when they arrived outside the building, only noting such when exposed to direct sunlight. He winced, as he had spent all day inside.

Not seeing, or at least not remarking upon Arthur's discomfort, Jarvis proceeded ahead. The point man expected a long walk, but was surprised when the man settled on a bench not more than 100 yards away from the building.

"Sorry to drag you all the way out here," he apologized lamely, "I figured it would be better not to have this conversation in front of your girlfriend."

"How did you-

He held up his hand. "It's how I found you. From what Nathanial told us, I knew there was no way I was gonna be able to track you down directly. She on the other hand, wasn't that hard. You're her emergency contact, after all."

The point man frowned. He would have to bury that trail when he had more time. "Alright. But that still doesn't explain why you're here. Or why you're alive."

Jarvis raised an eyebrow, "You were hoping Nathanial took me out?"

"Of course not. It was just implied that… you were taken out for getting to close to us."

Surprisingly, Jarvis laughed at that. "You think Nathanial would have somebody pull the trigger over something as minor as that? Ha, as if. No, Nathanial was an ass, but he wasn't the killing type. Not excessively at least. When it was determined I was getting too close to you, or too cocky or whatever, I was pulled out. Given 24 hours to disappear, under threat of death. I honestly doubt they would have done it but…" he shrugged, "you never know."

"So they just let you walk out?"

"Stopped paying me of course, but essentially yeah. Though I'll admit it crossed my mind to rebel and try to shut the son of a bitch up, I had enough common sense to walk away."

"Then why come back now?"

"Well the game's over for one. I heard about Arianna-

"Ariadne." Arthur corrected.

Jarvis waved him off. "I heard about Ariadne's return on the news, so I knew you guys had won. Speaking of which, I assume Nathanial's dead?"

"High security prison in Africa. 60 years no bail."

"Deserves it." Jarvis huffed, leaning back farther on the bench. "Honestly not even surprised you let him live, you're too nice like that."

Arthur frowned. "You still never explained why you were looking for me."

"Right." The red-haired man sat up straight, looking the point man directly in the eyes. "Here's where it gets interesting. Arthur, Nathanial wasn't working alone."

"We know," the point man supplied, equal parts relieved and annoyed that it wasn't something more. "We managed to retrieve his pay list off of-

"No I don't mean anyone working for him. I mean, Nathanial himself was working under someone."

"What? No that doesn't make sense."

"Doesn't it?"

"Cobb double-checked all of the paperwork, there's no evidence of anyone above him. He's not on the payroll, all orders came from him, hell, even all mentions of 'the boss' line up with him."

"That's because his boss wasn't the same as all of ours. He was the only one in contact with them. Then he passed down orders to us."

"No, no that doesn't make sense. Why would-" Arthur cut himself off. "Besides, how could you know this if we didn't find anything on file about it?"

"Well…" Jarvis rubbed the back of his neck. "Because, technically even I don't have solid information about it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, I was just the escort. Maybe some of those closer to Nathanial knew something more about it. After all, for the longest time the idea of someone above Nathanial was just a rumor. Then I heard him on a phone call."

"So?"

"So, he was reporting on the progress of the game to someone. Giving the positions of all of your team, how he was handling the situation, etc. Though I suppose that's not all that unusual, he sounded submissive, apologetic almost."

"Maybe it was just someone else on the payroll, someone operating from a different part of the world." Arthur supplied, though even he knew his argument was weak.

Jarvis, meanwhile, shook his head. "It's true a lot of us were split up at different locations, but everyone was on a need-to-know basis. Nathanial was reporting on in depth stuff, even the condition of your girlfriend."

"Any chance it was the travel manager?" The point man offered. If anyone, it would make sense someone like that would need to know where everyone was at any given point in time.

"You mean Katie? No, she traveled with us – and close to Nathanial – at all times."

Arthur's frown deepened, his mind racing to form a conclusion other than what Jarvis was suggesting.

"But logically it doesn't make sense! Nathanial has motive, he knows me and my past, and he had the resources. Why would he follow someone else's lead in this? And who would that someone else even be?"

"I don't know." Jarvis admitted sheepishly. "I thought, or I hoped, you would know."

For a moment, silence overtook the men. Jarvis looked apologetically towards Arthur, Arthur, frustrated, focused on the ground.

"You sure there's no one else it could be? Did you hear anything to suggest who it might be on the other end?"

"No sorry. But…actually…" the red-haired man hesitated.

"What is it?" Arthur piped in, hoping for insight.

"I suppose it doesn't really give that much more insight behind who was on the other end, but I'm pretty sure the person on the other end was a woman."

The point man's excitement dwindled. "How could you tell?"

"He talked to himself, sometimes. Mumbled things. At first I didn't pay much attention to it, but when I did I noticed he said stuff like 'she said' this or 'she promised' that. Like he was expecting something from this woman. Respected her."

Arthur tightened his lips. He was about to remark on the insignificance of these mumblings, especially given Nathanial's less than rational state of mind, when he remembered something. During the last conversation he had with Nathanial, just before he was pulled out of the dreamscape, the man had said something.

In a moment of weakness, shocked and faced with the reality of his loss, Nathanial had said something strange. "It was unwinnable!" He said "She told me it was unwinnable!". Even at the time the point man had questioned his use of the word she. However, he had forgotten all about the moment in the confusion after the end of the game. Until now.

Suddenly Arthur found himself faced with the possibility of this. What if Jarvis was right? What if there was a woman behind it all, who had manipulated Nathanial into working for her, and had given him the funds to support this operation. This woman, then, could hide her identity behind the lavishness of the operation. After all, Nathanial had played the part of the showman exceptionally well.

But of course, all that begged the question, who was this woman? Again, presuming Nathanial was right, weren't they all just back to square one in knowing the offender's identity?

Out loud, Arthur cursed violently, standing up from the bench rather abruptly.

Who who who? Who could it be? Nathanial's story had made sense, all the pieces lined up so perfectly. But then again, maybe that's where something had gone wrong. Maybe the pieces had lined up a little too perfectly. After all, there were still a few questions with unsatisfying answers. Why did he have them travel to so many different game locations? Why not just kill Arthur? Why all the dreamscapes? Additionally, why would Nathanial have waited this long for revenge?

Too many prevailing questions, not enough satisfying answers. Though in the end, it still all came down to one. Who was the woman on the phone?

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A/N: The last chapter is ahead! Soon all questions will be answered! Though are they the answers Arthur was hoping for? Read to find out!