Page 159 of The Session

“Nothing.”

“What do you mean, ‘nothing’?” Marnie asked.

“You either accept it because it’s the right thing to do, or you turn it down—and know you had the choice but made the wrong one.”

Lightman looked confused. “That’s not how blackmail works, son.”

“If you are who I hope you are, deep down, then I’m using the strongest form of blackmail,” Mark told him.

“What’s that?” Tru asked.

“Your conscience.”

Marnie gave him a crooked smile. “That is asking a lot of us.”

“I think it’s why Kevin reached out to Mark,” Lightman told her.

“What are you asking for?” said Tru.

“Well, no matter what, Morris is going to pay for what he did to Kevin. So understand everything else is voluntary,” Mark began.

“What is it?” his father pressed.

Mark told them.

“No,” Lightman said flatly. “Use whatever Kevin said in there.”

“He’s not going to. I don’t think you understand,” Marnie told him.

“She’s right,” said Mark. “It’s the way to make things right. There is no hidden threat.”

“I agree,” Tru said.

“So do I,” Marnie added.

Lightman stared intently into Mark’s eyes. “It’s not a threat?”

“The only consequence is to your conscience.”

Lightman started to pace across the deck, bracing himself against the side as they rode over waves.

“Fine,” he said at last. “You win.”

Mercy

The office manager escorted Mark down the hallway of the French consulate’s Miami office and said in polite accented French, “They’re in this room.”

In a small conference room overlooking Brickell Avenue sat Commandant Diane Valclerc next to a man Mark hadn’t met yet.

“Hello, Mark, please have a seat,” Diane invited.

Mark took the closest seat across the table from them facing the window.

“This is Commandant Laurent Seneschel,” Diane introduced.

Mark nodded at the man.

“I was surprised to hear you wanted to speak without a lawyer, let alone here,” she began.