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Coda
Smoke saw the death of Joseph Shepherd at the hands of
Dizzy Cordova. Dizzy was another of Graves' sleeper agents,
accidentally activated by Wylie Times as he spoke to Shepherd.
The 'croatoa' codeword caused Dizzy to shoot Shepherd as soon as
she heard it, but Shepherd was still astute enough to take off
on his own, before he bled to death, putting some final stages
of his personal schemes into action. Unseen, Shepherd called
Augustus Medici, suggesting the use of Lono as the warlord
Medici was apparently seeking. He then called Lono to pass on
the information, and the codeword, before succumbing to his
wounds. Shepherd's plans for Lono appear to stretch back a long
way, as he manipulated Lono's original training to suit his own
purposes, nurturing Lono's barbarity rather than crushing it.
Lono was a poor Minuteman because of Shepherd's training, rather
than in spite of it.
Shepherd
also played off different truths about who had been trained as a
replacement, and whom they were due to replace. In Chill in the
Oven, he told Lono that Loop was to replace Milo, but later told
Wylie that Dizzy was to fill the role. This leaves Lono unaware
of Dizzy's existence and purpose, and Wylie in a similar
position with regard to Loop. This double play, smoke and
mirrors was typical of Shepherd. He also deceived Graves over
Loop's training and the involvement of Lono. His doubts about
Graves' plan, whilst still outwardly assisting his former master
contrasted with his continued actions to reinforce Medici's
power within the Trust.
Ultimately,
Graves shows the strange relationship between the two men. He sent
Wylie after Shepherd, orchestrating events in New Orleans from a
discreet distance. If Wylie failed to kill Shepherd, then Dizzy
might well do the deed. He told her she'd be sorry to hear something
soon, and as soon as the word was said, Graves' post-hypnotic
plan was carried out. Why Graves had this fail-safe word for
Dizzy's activation is speculative. His plans for Dizzy are
secretive, but Graves later reveals that both Wylie and Shepherd
died, not as it originally seemed, to protect her, but to
protect Graves from her. Although Graves sets two killers
against Shepherd, it appears that he doesn't truly want to bring
about his death, but sees it as something which Shepherd brought
on himself. |