" I can help you!" he kept yelling into the priest’s face. " Tell
me and I can do what I need to show you’re innocent!" The priest was calm, eyes
closed. " Bastard!" he yelled furiously. He pushed the priest away and fell on
his knees. He cried into his hands, forehead on the floor, body shaking with emotion.

Carey dropped slowly next to him but didn’t touch him. " Job," he said
softly, with emotion in his broken voice. " Come on, get up. They’re going to be
here and you need to be calm. They can’t see you like this or you’ll get jailed.
I’ll be forced to do something I really wouldn’t be able to do. If you’re
done before your part comes, there’s no hope at all. Not now, not ever. We need you.
I need you to get up and be strong. Come on. Have faith."

At this, Job looked up. His face was rosy and his eyes were red with tears. His nose
was runny and his lips were trembling. " I-I can’t," he sobbed. " I
can’t do this to him." His voice came in a forced whisper. Tears ran down his
lips and into his mouth, down his neck and shirt. His hands were shaking and he was still
doubled over a little. His hazel eyes, glossy with tears, moved to look at the priest, who
had not moved. " I’m going to kill an innocent man for something he didn’t
do. I should be killing the woman and the kid for being liars," he spat. " They
only lie to get them killed and all I used to do before was urge them on, coax them to lie
so I could send the men to jail for nothing. And look," he said, motioning to
himself. " Look what that got me."

" I know," Carey said, standing up and glancing nervously at the door. "
But now, you’re going to do this so we can beat them at their own game. We have to do
this for our own good."

" Ours? And what about his?"

This time, the priest opened his eyes and said, " Your good is my good. I have
nothing to fear. I’ve been a man of God all my life. I don’t fear Death. The
only ones who have to fear death are the ones who forced people to fear them in
life." He turned to face Job. " Let me bless you."

Job stood up quickly and unstrapped one of the man’s arms. He was more calm now.
His fingers automatically undid the strap and the man raised his arm. " In the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen."

" Amen," Job whispered, kissing the man’s hand. He looked into his face
and looked hard, trying to memorize every detail of his face. " What’s your
name?" he asked, suddenly.

The man smiled, as if reading his mind. " Joseph Palmer Jones," he said
softly.

Carey was seated next to the priest, leaning back in his chair and chewing on a strip
of jerky. Job was seated in his designed seat, at the head of the table, with a folder and
a laptop in front of him. He tapped his pen on the wood tabletop and stared into the wall,
eyes glazed over. The priest in the chair was silent, looking at the rosary he still
gripped in his hand. It was pinned beneath the strap, but the cross was out and lay gently
against his robe.

The door opened and Christian walked in, holding the door open for a woman and a boy.
Job looked at the woman. She had black hair and dark eyes, with a beautiful face and
prominent lips. Her son was blond, with dark black eyes and a fierce feel to him. His
eyebrows were curved as if he were mad, but Job felt that’s how he always looked.

" Please," Christian said, " Sit wherever you want."

The woman glanced at Job and immediately broke into a smile not expected when accusing
someone of rape. She walked over and extended her hand. " Hello. My name’s
Marissa. You’re Job, right?"

Job stared at her hand and felt like vomiting. But he faked a smile and stood up.

" Yes. How are you?"

She giggled like a schoolgirl when he shook her hand. " Fine." She suddenly
seemed to remember what she was there for and said somberly, " Well, as fine as can
be, considering what’s going on." She shot an angry look at the silent priest
who prayed for her with his eyes.

" Please, sit down." Job watched the boy, who sat down as if they were going
to have dinner. There was something about this boy that showed that he was more mature
than he was supposed to be. It was in his eyes and in the way he walked. He sat down and
looked at Job’s nodachi.

Christian sat down beside Job and said, " Should we start?"

They all murmured in assent. Job sat and looked down at the paper in front of him. He
picked up his pen and clicked it open. " Okay. Name of victim?"

" Andrew Holst," Marissa said.

" Guardians’ name?" he asked, writing the information on the form.

" Marissa and Christopher Holst."

" Do you know the person sitting on the strapped chair?"

" Not personally. But I do know he’s a priest and they call him Joseph."

Job stiffened his shoulders. Joseph Palmer Jones. " Have you had any
relations with this man of any shape or form?"

" Not good ones."

" What do you mean?"

" This man seduced and raped my son Andrew."

" Are you sure it’s the man sitting on the chair?"

" Yes."

" And you, Andrew?" he asked, turning to the boy.

Andrew was sitting with his knees up on the chair and was picking at a scab on his
knee. He didn’t look up. " Yeah."

Job gritted his teeth. " I need you to look at him, to make sure."

The boy didn’t bat an eye. " It’s him, I tell you." He peeled a
strip of skin off.

Job stared at him. Christian glanced at Andrew, and Carey glared at the mother. "
Andrew," Job said, trying to calm down his anger. " I need you to look up and at
least look at the man’s eyes."

Andrew did look up, but to glare at Job. " It’s him. Are you deaf?" He
then turned to look down at his knee.

Job burrowed his eyebrows. He felt like getting up and throwing the papers into the
boy’s face and pulling the woman’s hair. But he restrained himself. He turned to
Marissa, who looked almost bored. " Tell your son this case will be dismissed if he
does not cooperate."

She now looked alarmed. " Dismissed? When a man rapes a young boy, you cannot dismiss
it. That’s inhuman."

Before Job said his part, Christian said in a smooth tone, " No, he doesn’t
mean it. He just wants the boy to say it. He knows it’s hard for you both, but we
need to hear it from his lips that this man raped him." He shot Job a look.

Job rubbed his face. " Yes," he forced himself to say. " I need him to
cooperate."

Carey made a noise, but no one paid attention.

" Come on, Andrew," Marissa said, stroking the boy’s hair. " Tell
the men what you told me."

Andrew raised his eyebrows and picked off the rest of his skin from the scab and then
looked up, as if he had finished what was more important first.

" Okay." He turned to the priest and opened his eyes wide, exaggerating the
close look. Then he turned to Job and gave him a look. " There. Happy? I saw him and
it’s the same guy that was sitting there two seconds ago when I told you it was
him."

Job let his eyes linger on the boy and then wrote it down on the paper with stiff
fingers. " Can you tell me how long ago you met this man?"

" About... three months ago."

" Three? And when did he start to communicate with you?"

" About what?"

Job looked up sharply to see the mother give the boy a look. She saw Job watching and
smiled. " You know, Andy," she said to him, watching Job out of the corner of
her eye. " When the man touched you and stuff?"

The boy looked confused. Job leaned his elbows on the table and leaned toward him.
" Does this mean you weren’t raped?"

" Of course it does," Marissa said quickly, taking her son’s shoulders
defensively.

Job gave her a look. " I spoke to Andrew."

" He’s confused."

" I see." He sat back.

" He can’t cope with this. He’s had mental and emotional distress and
his-"

" Look," Job interrupted, collecting all the papers. " I am very busy
and I have no time for-"

" Job?"

He turned to see Christian lean toward him. He had almost forgotten he was there.
Christian had been listening tentatively the whole time and now raised his eyebrows at
Job. " You just got back," he said. " I don’t think they would give
you a whole bunch of work to do. Well, not any that would take time away from this
important case." He kept his gaze on Job.

Job slowly put down the papers and stared at the table. He glanced quickly at Carey to
see him leaning forward anxiously. His eyes shot Job a message that clearly said, Do
it.

Job turned to Andrew. " They’re right. I can’t let rapists walk off into
the streets, right?"

Christian’s eyebrows raised in surprise. He hadn’t expected this from Job.
From all he suspected, this wasn’t Job. The man’s stronger than steel. He
glanced at Carey, who had his eyes locked on Job. There was something in the man’s
eyes that Christian didn’t trust. He turned back to see Job open his folder again

" Okay," Job was saying. He glanced down at his form to see where he had left
off. " So, this man-" he motioned to the chair " - raped Andrew Holst.
Andrew, how old are you?"

" Ten."

" Do you go to The Monastery?"

" Yes."

" What degree?"

" Second."

" And when did you meet this man?"

Andrew hesitated. Then he rolled his eyes to the ceiling, the way Job used to when he
recited memorized lessons in school, and thought. " I was walking home from school
one day and some of my friends were playing in the outskirts of the Old and New Part. We
played until about eight, and they started to leave. I was the last one to leave and as I
was walking away, this man came out from an abandoned chapel."

Job glanced at Christian, who raised an eyebrow at him, as if to say, See? Job
turned back to the boy and looked him in the eye with a cold look. " Are you sure it
was this man?"

" Job," Christian protested, bewildered, " he just answered the
question."

" Shut up!" Job snapped, whirling on him. He pounded his fist on the table
and then said, " This is my trial, and I can ask him as many times as I damn
well want." He let his gaze linger on Christian and could almost see the suspicion
come out from Christian’s eyes and scream accusations at him. He turned back to
Andrew. " Answer."

Andrew glanced at his mother now, intimidated by Job’s outburst. His mother nudged
him and he said, " Yes, that’s him."

" The man who came to you from the chapel on the outskirts of the Old Part is the
same man who is sitting on the chair?" Job stressed every word in the sentence.

Andrew nodded. " Yes."

Job sighed and wrote it down.

Christian leaned back in his seat, rubbing his chin. He watched Job carefully. There
were sudden jerks in his shoulders that weren’t noticeable to anyone but him. He
glanced at Carey, who caught his eye and they stared each other down for a while. Then
Christian turned back to watch Job.

Job looked up again at Andrew. " And when this man came to you, what did he
say?"

Andrew glanced at his mother and Job could see he was getting silent permission to lie.
" He came to me and asked me what my name was."

" And did you tell him?"

" Yes."

" Was he dressed like he is now when you met him?"

Andrew paused, obviously not having gone over that part of the lie with his mother. So
Marissa spoke up and said, " He told me he was."

Job shot her a look. " Please," he warned.

She offered him a smile and then sat back to watch her son closely. Andrew took up the
cue and said, " Yeah, he was."

" Then why did you go up to him?"

Everyone felt the snag in the plan. There was a silence and the tension rose. Job
leaned back in his chair and watched the boy, biting the butt of his pen. Carey relaxed
and smiled to himself. Christian tensed his body and the woman looked defensive; the boy
looked bored to death.

" Well?" Job finally said. " If the man was dressed as a priest and you
know he’s an outlaw, why did you go near him, or even speak to him?"

" Job, please," Christian put in. " He’s ten. What does he know? He
won’t think this man will rape him. That doesn’t go on in a ten year- old’s
head."

Job whirled on him. " Think about what I just asked. This kid here," he said
with malice, " is in the Second Degree at The Monastery. What else does he have to
know? He’s had classified training as a future cleric, and the first thing I remember
when I went to The Monastery, was don’t contact with outlaws."

Christian was speechless. He knew Job was right. There was nothing he could say to make
it seem right. The kids who went to The Monastery were some of the most privileged kids in
the world. They were taught by veteran generals and tacticians. They read some of the most
guarded secrets of kendo and martial arts. There was nothing these kids weren’t
prepared for by age thirteen, when they entered The Academy. Hearing of a kid who went to
The Monastery being seduced by a priest seemed stupid.

Andrew was numbed for a second. Then he spat out, " I thought it’d be cool if
I caught him."

Job raised an eyebrow. " Cool?"

" Yeah. I could test out some of my judo moves."

For a kid who had been raped, he was getting pretty excited. " Okay." Job bit
into the trap. " Then what happened?"

" Um, well, he asked me if I had a girlfriend and I said no."

Job glanced at Joseph. The man was sitting back in the strapped chair, staring at the
ceiling with wide eyes. Faint trickles of tears concentrated in his eyes, but he
didn’t blink. Job looked away, feeling his throat clam up. " And then
what?"

" Before I knew it, he grabbed my arm and started dragging me off into the
chapel."

" Was the chapel close?"

Andrew smiled suddenly. " Yeah."