Achilles de Flandres - Shadow Puppets

Shadow Puppets

Achilles successfully manipulates Peter into giving him a job in the Hegemony despite pleas from Bean to not allow Achilles in. Achilles uses the vast network he has built to attempt to kill Peter Wiggin; he forcefully coerces Uphanad (once a Battle School officer, now an official at the Ministry of Colonization) to do the work. However, Uphanad is caught, and the attempt fails.

Peter and his two parents are up in space at this time. Despite the misgivings of Peter and Bean, Graff states flatly that Achilles is not unbeatable; though he is smart, his major talent has been to put himself in the middle of turmoil and seize opportunities without hesitation. By doing the unpredictable, he has managed to keep the considerable brainpower of the Battle School geniuses and Peter at bay. However, Achilles has never been tested by a true opponent who was both prepared and determined to take him down. Graff suspects that Achilles may try to take out the shuttle as both Peter and his parents pilot down. Graff instead sends a dummy shuttle down; Achilles attempts to blow that up. Not only does he fail to kill Peter, he loses much of his support around the world, since his attack constitutes an attack on the I.F. and a violation of international law.

Achilles later pretends to have Bean's and Petra's embryos. Bean goes into a compound where Achilles pretends to hand over the embryos. Bean doesn't buy it, and Bean kills him. Bean has the assistance of Suriyawong who, giving Achilles a taste of his own medicine, worked his way into Achilles' trust, for the purpose of eventually betraying him.