I could hear how much he didn't want to go sorting through who was good and who was bad. I could probably insist that Jake was one of the good ones until I was blue in the face, but how much did that matter when you had to question everyone else you were working with? It had been tiring enough when I had thought The Third was against me, and that had been the opposite situation: all good people, one bad egg.

I didn't blame him for not being enthusiastic about his career choices right now.

I grinned at him. "Hey, I mean, I have no problem with that, on a personal, selfish level," I said. "Though I'm trying to do better about not making a habit of getting into trouble."