DOUBLE UPDATE! – MAKE SURE TO READ PREVIOUS CHAPTER!

Chapter One-Hundred-and-Twenty-Three; The Odds

Something daring and bold was hissing through Wirin's veins then as he calmly took the seat facing Sharpe.

He knew that in effect Sharpe was blackmailing him into revealing secret plans that he had discussed with Snow yet Wirin felt a new-found camaraderie with the small man before him.

Sharpe his entire life had never been enough; not tall enough to become a prestigious soldier, not smart enough to become someone to call the shots, never enough for his wife.

Wirin once felt smugly contemptuous of Sharpe for those facts yet now faced with his own inadequacy that he had buried away for years he empathised with Sharpe. Wirin had never been enough for his father either.

"Snow has Seneca under constant surveillance."

"Why?"

"He worries Seneca may be slipping out of his control…again."

Sharpe's brow creased, "how?"

"Stephanie Trindlesworth."

"The girl I was supposed to assassinate but Snow called it off?"

"It was decided a professional hit would be too obvious."

"Tell me how a district girl could possibly be controlling Seneca?" Sharpe drawled sceptically.

"He loves her."

Sharpe gave a sudden loud bark of laughter, before his eyes widened in incredulity when he realised that Wirin was serious.

"Seneca Crane! – in love! – with a district girl!" Sharpe scoffed, "impossible."

"Fact is stranger than fiction."

"Apparently," Sharpe breathed, his eyes still wide as he clutched his gun tighter, "and you're sure of this?

"Snow thought it only a silly infatuation at first. That was why he first started the surveillance to ensure that after Seneca had his fun with the district girl that would be it."

"Only it wasn't it," Sharpe surmised.

Wirin smirked grimly. "Every new report of Seneca's happenings have shown him becoming more careless."

"How so?"

"Have you ever heard of a Head Gamemaker meddling with the tribute's interviews?"

Sharpe's eyes widened and Wirin continued, "or a Head Gamemaker say…delaying training to give a tribute more time to get prepared?"

"Seneca delayed the training because of her!" Sharpe exclaimed.

Wirin chuckled indulgently, "how about Seneca followed her to a secret training facility – one you yourself frequent – and was overheard by said sleaze reporter one Fas Clearwater telling her he loved her."

Sharpe's mouth was practically hanging open, "now I know why Snow wanted her dead."

Wirin hummed in agreement, a smirk still on his lips before his expression sobered slightly, "but then of course the President has to be careful because of his rivals."

Sharpe scoffed silently, "what rivals? – None of them could ever replace Snow; they have no idea what it is to be President."

Wirin smirked ruefully, "it doesn't stop them thinking they do though. They would exploit any opportunity to see Snow fall."

"Seneca has made Snow vulnerable," Sharpe deduced shrewdly.

Wirin's face paled in anger. "Seneca has given Snow's opponents exactly what they need to bring him down."

"Then why am I not out there putting a bullet between this tribute girl's eyes?"

"It's too risky now."

"Why? – Because of Snow's opponents."

"No; because of Seneca," Wirin hissed and Sharpe arched a brow in silent question.

"Because of Seneca," Wirin reiterated, "Seneca protects her; I've told you all he has done for her and I'm sure that is only half of it. If Stephanie Trindlesworth dies there will be an inquest to discover why – you know this. People who invested money in these Games will want to know why and how a tribute could die before she even got to the arena."

Comprehension flickered across Sharpe's face, "and if they started poking around into Stephanie's death, they would discover…"

"Seneca." Wirin finished bluntly."

"But what does it matter if they do?" Sharpe said shrugging, "so a Gamemaker had a quick fling with a tribute; it wouldn't be the first."

Wirin rolled his eyes, "Snow's opponents would use it against him. They would say that Seneca had pre-determined the Games. They would undermine Seneca's credibility for all his past Games then and subsequently all Games under his father President Snow's rule."

"Let them talk," Sharpe muttered dismissively.

Wirin barked a harsh laugh that held no humour, "it would only take one rumour to topple everything Snow has worked to build. And besides…" Wirin added contemptuously, "we have Seneca's own words that it's not just a 'quick fling'"

Sharpe's lips twisted, "love," he spat hatefully, though in his eyes there burned a fierce longing.

"Love," Wirin agreed. He had heard President Snow once proclaim it to be the most destructive thing to one's sanity.

For even though Sharpe had spoken the word as though it were a vile taste on his tongue, Sharpe still longed for his wife to love him which led him to hunting down and executing any of her unfortunate lovers that he caught. Wirin had longed for his father to love him like the good son he had always striven to be and when he hadn't Wirin had set him up to be executed. And then there was even Seneca; throwing away his future pining for the impossible love of a district girl.

Snow was right Wirin thought bitterly, love really could send a person mad.

"Then what's to be done about it all?" Sharpe asked, "if you ask me Snow should just do away with Seneca. He is too much of a liability."

"Seneca's his son," Wirin snapped immediately.

Sharpe scoffed, "the bonds between fathers and sons are not unbreakable; you proved that."

"You're right," Wirin agreed. "But Snow doesn't want to be bested by a district girl tribute. He doesn't want to have to kill his own son just to escape being dragged down by Stephanie Trindlesworth's scandal."

Sharpe snorted in grim amusement, "yes I imagine that would be rather hard for the President to swallow…So what does he plan to do about her then?"

"She must die of course," Wirin replied immediately.

"Of course," Sharpe agreed, "but how? – How can you get near her without exposing Seneca?"

"That was why we were considering the 'personal hit' – someone killing Stephanie Trindlesworth for personal reasons. That way when the very public inquest into her death happened none would even think to mention Seneca's name."

"That attack today by the District 4 girl – that was Fas Clearwater's cousin wasn't it?" Sharpe asked.

Wirin nodded, "but it wasn't by us. It was a purely happy accident started by the actions of a jealous woman; the only pity was the girl didn't get to finish the job," Wirin noted sourly.

"Jealous woman?" Sharpe echoed.

"Ficen Sains; District 3 stylist," Wirin clarified.

Recognition dawned on Sharpe's face, "the woman who follows Seneca around like a lapdog?" he noted smirking.

"The very same," Wirin confirmed, "she had hatched another botched plan before that to try and protect Seneca. That was the whole idiotic incident that dragged Fas Clearwater into the mix in the first place."

"Perhaps it would be an idea to get rid of Ficen Sains if she is proving so troublesome then as well. Who else was involved?"

"Dess Landa but the man is an idiot; he knows nothing particularly damaging and while killing guards and Avoxes may go unnoticed, assassinating high society members like Dess Landa and Ficen Sains would not."

"And why have I been dropping guards like flies?"

"Seneca has become so reckless it's like he doesn't even care who sees him anymore when he rushes to that stupid district girl. Snow has been clearing up the mess his son is making."

"It's all very well to clean up the mess but wouldn't it be less hassle just to kill the girl and stop the mess to begin with? – You still haven't told me how you mean to achieve that."

"The Games."

Sharpe's brow furrowed, "you mean Seneca's Games."

Wirin's face darkened, "I can rig any Games. Seneca uses all my father's old tricks that he learnt from him. I learnt them too only my father thought me too dim to ever use them."

"What are you saying?" Sharpe inquired cautiously.

Wirin smirked callously, "how do you think Seneca will react when his own Games kill the woman he loves?"

Sharpe' looked impressed, his brows rising marginally.

"What, wasn't killing your father enough torture for Seneca?" Sharpe teased grimly.

Wirin scoffed, a smug smirk crossing his lips, "Seneca took something of mine. And now I'm going to make sure I take something of his…or, rather," Wirin paused, chuckling darkly, ""Seneca is going to kill her himself and he doesn't even know it."

The impressed look on Sharpe's face grew, "I think I am beginning to appreciate this 'suffering over killing' stuff you preach."

"I hope so because Seneca is in for a lifetime of suffering," Wirin promised darkly.

"What are my orders from Snow then?" Sharpe asked.

"Kill anyone that comes too close to finding out about Seneca and his district fling."

Sharpe tilted his head curiously, "we are protecting Seneca now?"

"We are protecting President Snow's reputation," Wirin corrected, "I've already told you how damaging, how potentially fatal it would be if word about Seneca and this Stephanie Trindlesworth got out. It is our job to ensure that it stays secret until the Games and then afterwards it won't matter; Stephanie Trindlesworth will be dead."

"How many people know about this 'relationship' then?"

"There's a list made from looking at the reports with surveillance on Seneca; anyone that Seneca has come in contact with when he was places he shouldn't be. You've already taken care of most of the miscellaneous people; guards, drivers, Avoxes."

"Any others?"

"Ficen and Dess are to be left alone unless absolutely necessary. Dan Flickerman could become a problem later, but its best to let him carry out his charade first."

"Is Dan Flickerman working for Snow?"

"Seneca," Wirin corrected, "with what little sense Seneca had left that hadn't been eroded away with his 'love' made him realise that he was being too indiscreet. He blackmailed Dan into posing as the girl's Capitol lover to draw attention away from himself."

"Smart move," Sharpe muttered.

"The smarter move would have been to avoid indiscreetness to begin with," Wirin shot back.

Sharpe sighed, "fine, is that it?"

"There is one other person," Wirin mused.

Sharpe's attention was immediately gripped by the calculating expression on Wirin's face, "who?"

"Haymitch Abernathy."

Sharpe's brows rose, "and who am I killing Haymitch Abernathy for? Seneca or you?"

Wirin chuckled, "as cruel as it may seem the girl is actually involved with her mentor – one Haymitch Abernathy."

Sharpe laughed loudly as he shook his head in disbelief, "the odds really aren't in Stephanie Trindlesworth's favour are they?"

"No, not any more they're not," Wirin agreed.