A heavy silence settled over the room as both sides sized each other up, neither willing to be the first to break the tension.
William tried to read the principal's expression, but the man's inscrutable gaze offered no hints. If he knew anything about William's involvement, he certainly wasn't showing it.
"Spies?" William said, "What do you mean?"
William had expected a direct confrontation, but instead, the principal shifted the conversation in an unexpected direction, bringing up a name that William recognised all too well.
"We caught a guard recently," the principal said, his finger tapping on the table, "Zen, his name."
Zen. That was the reason William had come to the principal's office in the first place—to ask about his whereabouts and see what had happened to him. Apparently, the principal had his own reasons for bringing Zen up, which made things both easier and more complicated.
"Zen? I think I drank with him the other night," William said.
