"Just so." And like that, he could see Mark. The focus, the intellect, the painful hunger that defined him. His Mark. He could laugh if it wouldn't endanger the whole damn, delicate dance this was.

All he needed was to keep him long enough. Just long enough. Not that he didn't have full and absolute plans to set Bharaputra on fire as literally and figuratively as possible.

"I need information. Jackson's Whole is opaque to the outside and dangerous to blunder into. I could spend the national budget and not get a hair closer to where I need to be." It was unsaid, but clear: He needed an operative.