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((TZKS 5th Anniversary -- Page 11 of 24))
Well, it was at least a step in the right direction that the man was showing signs of remorse, Roman thought. And there was also the possibility that Leo hadn’t been himself when he’d killed those two. Assuming that what the man had said about someone messing with his head wasn’t complete horseshit, then an argument could certainly be made that, deep down, Leo was a nice guy.

And of course, Roman wasn’t wholly averse to working with murderers, either. He’d done it many times before while honing his craft as a procurer of things that didn’t belong to him.

Still, Roman preferred to know what he was getting himself into, whenever possible. And all things considered, this guy was quite the confused mess, right now. To Roman’s mind, a conflicted and unstable killer was probably an even worse companion to have than a killer who was truly cold and calculating.

Roman wasn’t quite sure what to say to him now, though. Leo looked like he could use some words of comfort or encouragement, but providing either of those seemed like a very bad idea. That was basically how he’d gotten himself into this mess in the first place.

‘Oh shit!’ came Voreese’s private words from wherever she was. ‘I sense Hector! Oh, and Garovel, too! Those wonderful pricks are finally here!’

Roman stopped himself from reacting in front of Leo, who was picking up his cards again to resume the game.

It was good news, of course, and Roman had certainly been wondering where the hell they were, but after witnessing how Leo handled the Rainlords, Roman had also felt a bit of relief that Hector wasn’t around to get caught up in this mess. So now he was conflicted. It might’ve been better if Hector had just never showed up at all.

‘How close are they to my position?’ said Roman.

‘Not very. They’re pretty far from you. I’ma go talk to ‘em.’

‘Tell them to keep their distance for now.’

‘Oh, I’m gonna tell them all sorts of stuff. Like how you screwed us all by making friends with a fucking deluded psychopath.’

‘It’s not my fault! And he’s not a psychopath!’

‘Sure he isn’t.’

“Got any eights, big cat?” said Leo.

Roman handed the eight of clubs to him. For the time being, he supposed he should just focus on keeping Leo busy while the others came up with a plan. Roman did have a plan of his own, sort of, but he’d been very reluctant to take it any further.

According to Leo, getting in contact with Sai-hee was going to take several more days still, so Roman had been procrastinating while he tried to come up with an alternative plan. Not that he had much confidence in this one. He just didn’t want to offer Leo a job unless he absolutely had to. It was bad enough that the man already seemed determined to do him a “favor” as a friend. Roman wasn’t looking to make this situation permanent.