The Immortal Crown (Age of X #2)(39)
Author: Richelle Mead

“I suppose . . . well, I suppose she’d approve,” said Mrs. Lin.

“But—”

But Daphne had what she needed. Through that and a number of other tricky questions, even Tessa could tell that Daphne could edit together a segment where the family inadvertently implicated themselves. It made Tessa feel slightly queasy, but to Daphne, it was a triumph she couldn’t stop crowing about on the train ride back to Vancouver.

“I just wish I could get an interview with the boy too,” she said.

“Get his reactions to being a pawn in a zealot family’s plans to breed children for their goddess. His family wouldn’t let him talk to me, though.”

Smart, thought Tessa. Out loud, she said, “Isn’t that a leap—breeding children for their goddess? They never said anything like that.

You kind of just put it together from circumstantial evidence.”

“Of course they’re not going to say it,” said Daphne. “And if they’re truly innocent, I’m sure this’ll all settle out legally.”

“But your story gets attention in the meantime.”

Daphne grinned. “That’s how this business works. If it soothes your moral sensibilities, though, it is incredibly rare for contraceptive implants to fail.”

“Yeah, but is it easy for the average person to disable one?” asked Tessa.

“I don’t know. I’m no engineer.”

Tessa thought about that for several moments. “Why don’t you ask one? Get more facts for the story?”

“Because I need to edit and file this with North Prime while it’s still hot,” said Daphne. “I couldn’t get an expert to talk to me on such short notice.”

“What if I could?” asked Tessa. “I know someone—I mean, he’s more like Justin’s friend. He helps Justin out with cases. But his main job is at a contraceptive company. I bet he’d talk to us.”

Daphne’s earlier expression of smug triumph had transformed to razor sharp focus. “Justin’s friend? Is he local?”

“No . . . but recently, he’s been spending time up here. Normally he’s in Portland. But his company has offices in Vancouver, and he’s been doing other government contract work.”

“Fine,” declared Daphne magnanimously. “See if he’s around. If we can get in today, we can talk to him.”

Leo Chang was surprised when Tessa called but not unfriendly.

He’d always been kind to Tessa, and so had his husband, Dominic. She hadn’t seen Dominic in a very long time, though. The few times they’d visited him in Portland in recent months, Dominic had always been away. It was around that same time that Leo, who’d sworn he was firmly entrenched in the countryside outside Portland, had begun venturing back up to his favorite city. Luck and chance found him in Vancouver today, at Estocorp’s downtown offices, and he agreed to talk to Tessa when she told him she needed help for a school project.

“You didn’t mention you were bringing a reporter,” Rufus remarked quietly to Tessa as they waited in the lobby to meet Leo.

“One day with her, and you’re already getting selective about what information you give.”

Tessa blushed. “Leo’s not as paranoid as he used to be, but he sometimes reacts badly to strangers. Though it kind of depends on the type of stranger. He was always nice to me. Not so much to Mae. I don’t think he likes praetorians.”

“Praetorians are intimidating,” agreed Rufus. “But she’s pretty enough to put a lot of people at ease—especially men.”

“Leo has a husband,” Tessa pointed out.

Rufus chuckled at that. “Ah. Well, then, yes, I suppose she wouldn’t be so effective on him in that case. You’ve probably seen her turn on that charm with other men, though.”

“Not really.” Tessa reflected on her experience with Mae. “But I’ve never seen her around that many men, I guess. Just her friends.

And Justin—but they always seem to be mad at each other. I’ve never heard her talk about a boyfriend or anything.”

“Praetorians are rarely lonely,” said Rufus, but he seemed pleased at Tessa’s response.

Leo, however, was not so pleased when he met them and found out what he’d gotten into. He led Tessa’s group into the elevator and took them up to a corporate lounge, saying bluntly, “I’ll answer whatever factual questions you have about birth control, but I’m not going to be filmed as part of your efforts to smear some poor family.”

Daphne, standing half a foot over slim and immaculately dressed Leo, beamed down. “Why would you think we’d want anything other than facts?”

And to Tessa’s pleasant surprise, Daphne did simply ask for facts once they were all seated. She verified the functioning stats of contraceptive implants and asked for Leo’s opinion on the brand of Helene’s, which turned out to be one of Estocorp’s competitors. Leo answered truthfully.

“It’s a decent product. We’ve all got to meet government standards, especially that ten year mark. Defects happen, though. Could’ve happened to them.”

“Is it possible the Lin family could have tampered with it?” asked Daphne.

“It’d be difficult,” he said. “They’d have to physically harm it, dig into the arm with a knife, maybe. That’d show up on the implant if they examine it, not to mention the girl.”

Daphne looked unhappy at not having clear-cut evidence to support her theory. “I’ve heard of people remotely programming implants.”

Leo smiled and shook his head. “Not a contraceptive one used by the average consumer. Military implants can be programmed remotely.

Praetorians, for example, can have their implants’ instructions modified. Female praetorians have contraceptive functions rolled into their military ones, so yes, you could theoretically tamper with one remotely in that case, but I’m guessing your victim—I mean, interviewee—wasn’t in some secret junior praetorian program.”

Daphne nodded in acceptance. “Thank you, Mr. Chang. I’ll take this into consideration.” Tessa, however, doubted anything that didn’t back up Daphne’s sensational angle would ever see airtime.

“Happy to help my little friend here, even if she is keeping surprising company,” said Leo, giving Tessa a wry look. “Glad you’ve got a school you like, though.”