Of course it was a bribe. Fortunately that was one of those times when Richard's bull-headed stubbornness worked in everyone's favor. Warren hadn't even been subtle, surely he knew Richard wouldn't comply. Or, maybe he thought he would on the basis of Howard Strand.

Simon's still functioning on Borne Identity and Meet Cute rules, to be fair. They might not be in the genre they expect.

"What about any of this hasn't been dangerous, Alex?" Simon asked, completely sliding right on past having to openly admit to the bilocating they both know he can do. Finally feeling a little less dead he moved to push himself up, grabbing one of his pillows to wrap himself around so he could sit up to give her an incredulous look. She has noticed that she's not researching geocaching right?

Of course, he also neatly sidestepped admitting that it was directly dangerous to him because it absolutely was. Yes the mythology they were dealing with was more Sumerian than Christian, but all of the Abrahamic religions borrowed heavily from Sumerian did they not? It was dangerous and a terrible idea. He's still doing it.

"He doesn't want to face his part in all this." And therein lies the root of all that conflict. Strand doesn't want to believe.