Payback

25

“Do you miss your wife?”

“I don’t believe that would have much relevance to my work, do you?” said Jackson.

“Please answer the question.”

“Of course.”

Jackson watched the technician flip the pages of the yellow pad on his clipboard. The interviews were supposed to uncover “vulnerabilities” that would make a person a security risk, but to Jackson they were an odd mix of prurience—“Have you ever practiced deviant sex?”—and shallow pop psychology. This was the third go-around for the questions about his wife. He’d already explained that they had led somewhat separate lives when she was alive but that yes, he hated the fact that she was gone.

“Can we get back to your son?” asked Montblanc. He’d sat in on this session, hardly saying anything, but it occurred to Jackson that Montblanc had formulated most of the questions that weren’t routine. He clearly was in charge; everyone else silently deferred to him.

“Yes, my son,” said Jackson. “He died five months ago. He had been in a coma for eighteen months before that.”

“Actually, yes, I was more interested in the doctor bills,” said Montblanc. “If you—”

“The doctors are actually a small portion of the total. Most of what is still owed is to the hospital. It’s a bit over two hundred thousand,” said Jackson.

“Do you mind if I ask a personal question?”

Jackson laughed. The sensor band slid on his forehead.

“Don’t touch that, please,” said the technician, rising to adjust it before Jackson could.

“All of your questions are personal,” said Jackson. “Ask whatever you want.”

“Why did you take on your son’s debts?”

“I thought it only right. He didn’t have insurance. Someone has to pay. If not me, every patient who’s treated there.”

“It’s put you in financial straits.”

“Not really. I don’t need to live ostentatiously.” Jackson saw that the technician was frowning. “I’m not taking the job for the money. I’m doing it to be useful. I’d like to think that I’m still of some use to someone, especially my country.”

And that, thought Jackson, was as candid as anyone could ask him to be.