Jason turned the corner and stepped off the landing, taking the last few stairs to the main hall. Sharon, wearing a leotard that left very little of her figure to the imagination, came out of the kitchen. “Sharon,” Jason said quietly. She turned towards him. Jason tried to smile at her, fully aware that she couldn't see his expression. “I looked for you last night.”
“Our planning session went late. Dan Thomas has a relatively narrow window of operation.” She pulled her hair back and put it up in loose ponytail. “What did you want to see me about?”
“I wanted to apologize for what I said yesterday about you being crippled. I'm sorry.”
“Jason, you know that Dan Thomas was not responsible for what happened to me. Someone else was. With your abilities, I don't see it ever being an issue for you.” Sharon turned in the direction she had been headed when Jason called to her. “Dan is not a bad man. He's in a difficult position, doing a thankless job. Sometimes he needs help.”
“And the first time I agree to do his dirty work it opens the door for the next time. You say he's not a bad man. That doesn't necessarily entail that he's a good man, either.”
Sharon canted her head as if looking at Jason from the corner of her eye. “Sometimes there is a thing as necessary evil. 'When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.'1”
“'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.' Also attributed to Burke. I don't know, Sharon. It just... it rubs me the wrong way, I guess.”
“Tell you what. I was going to do some katas, but how about we spar a few rounds? Say best two out of three. If I win, you sit in on our planning meeting today and listen to what Dan has to say.”
“And if I win?”
Sharon smiled. “You come up with something and let me know what it is. If you win.”
Jason stared at her for a long moment. “I'll need to change.”
1Edmund Burke