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Either that, or he'd been playing up his poor condition so that Jercash would leave him alone--or just for shits and giggles.

Which seemed increasingly likely, the more Jercash thought about it.

All fun aside, however, he had to remember not to be pleased with himself. Things might've been looking up for him personally, but these truly were dangerous times for Abolish. The upper echelons of power were now firmly in the kind of flux that had not been seen in centuries.

Gunther and Dunhouse getting fried was one thing. Ivan and Vanderberk getting neutralized added to that. But the Old Man disappearing, too? Now that was something.

Sure, it wasn't the first time, but if nothing else, it was at least proof that the great stalemate was again in real jeopardy. Perhaps it might be genuinely broken, this time.

How absolutely thrilling.

The possibilities were vast, these days. A younger Jercash would have almost certainly been paralyzed by choice, right now.

There were so many eager warriors coming to him for guidance and glory. And so many who noticeably weren't. Doubtless, they had their own agendas that they were pursuing in the fog of this war, but that just made it all the more enticing for Jercash to find out what those wily folks were up to, right now.

The Dozer clan came most prominently to mind. They'd yet to reach out to him, which could only mean one of two things, really. Either they knew where the Old Man was and therefore didn't feel unprotected by his absence, or they'd already reached out to someone else.

And since they'd probably kill themselves before reaching out to Morgunov, it could only be Gohvis.

Heh. Or perhaps they thought to stand against him all on their own. Now that would be amusing.

Regardless, it was worth sending out feelers. A few little eyes and ears. He already knew that they were fighting among themselves, but that didn't mean anything when it came to those people. They were always at each others' throats whenever the Old Man's back was turned.

It would be good to get Vasiliy on his side, though. That fellow would be quite the boon to his forces, if properly motivated. And fear would only go so far. Better to have something ready that would genuinely pique the man's interest.

Lozaro might make that difficult, though. He and Vasiliy had never gotten along.