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Xander gave him a mild laugh at that. 'The war is a difficult subject, as I'm sure you know. To speak details of it with you would be... an entirely different level of risk, I think.'

"Operational security," said Hector. "I get it. But I also think we're on the same side here. And... well. There might be a thing or two that I could tell you about, if you're willing to do the same for me."

'An exchange of intel, hmm? What is it that you think I do not already know about?'

A number of things, probably. Considering all the information that he'd been gathering from the deployed teams of Rainlords around the world, there was a decent chance that Hector had a fair few bargaining chips at his disposal, right now. The trick was figuring out which ones they were.

"Well, I can't just reveal my cards straight away. Is there anything in particular that you'd like to know about?"

'No, no. That is not how this works. I'm afraid I must insist that you go first. I will provide no hints.'

Dang.

There were certain things that Hector was determined not to talk about, no matter what. Sparrows, the Rainlords, the Candle, the Shards, Rasalased, and probably also the Sandlords.

The only reason he was at all considering that last one was because they were still technically allied with the Vanguard. But he very much doubted that Abbas would want him revealing anything of his kin to Xander here, considering everything Hector had heard Abbas say about them.

He supposed he'd already given the barest hint that he knew about the existence of Sparrows, but he also hadn't actually confirmed anything yet, either. And they didn't seem relevant to the war, anyway. And hell, Xander almost certainly knew more about them than he did, so there was no bargaining power there to begin with.

He could, however, think of one thing that might be worthy. There was a good chance that Xander already knew about it, though. "I assume you've heard about Morgunov's robotic nightmares by now, yeah?"

'Indeed. That is far from a secret.'

"I've heard that Jackson was severely wounded at Uego."

'I can make no comment on that.'

"Didn't think you would," said Hector. "But has the cause of his wounds been determined yet?"

'That is a leading question, and I still cannot comment.'

Oh shit. "Ah, sorry. What I mean to say is, if he is wounded and having trouble regenerating, then I know the cause."

Xander made no response. Perhaps he was waiting for more.