"Well, you know me. I don't like to be out in the open until it's time," he mentioned lightly. It wasn't true, of course. He was hardly that way, exactly the opposite.

He was ostentatious. He was loud. Out there. He'd always been the face people needed.

But he hadn't been in public in years. Since his last interview, before he tried to escape. He'd been looking more and more worn, in those days. He sounded alive, now.