~4.29~

Ivan left no stone unturned in his search for the force behind the attacks, but unfortunately, whoever or whatever had been responsible was apparently not lurking under any stone.

He sent out every agent he had, including irregular ones such as Marley and John and John, and had them investigate every person and power on the streets he could think of. He even looked at the most mundane street gangs to see if they had suddenly acquired the connections needed to strike through the unseen world.

In the end, it was fruitless. He acquired much in the way of interesting intelligence, but in terms of the manpower he allocated and the time he spent, it was a very inefficient operation. It galled him, though, to know that tribe had been hit with an all-out assault and he hadn’t seen it coming, hadn’t prevented it, and couldn’t do anything to stop it from happening again.

It ate at him… and what ate at him almost as badly was the knowledge that more than his own pride was at stake. He couldn’t protect tribe.

Down beneath the streets of Jericho, John’s sojourn into the kingdom of the blind was similarly fruitless, but the proud man didn’t feel that his inability to turn up any signs of conspiracy or discern any preparations for war, even in the “town proper”, was a reflection on his abilities… rather, he took it as a sign that there was nothing there to be found.

He had penetrated the underground realm… the best guarded domain of Jericho street life… undetected. Ivan’s challenge to his ego had been met.

As for the other John, who had followed his feet until they led him to a bus, he spent hours riding on it as zig-zagged its way through the town. No signs presented themselves to him. No stop called out to him. It all seemed so routine. He stayed on the path he’d found until it came to its end: the Mile Mall.