"Oh." Yeah, if Gene's friends/acquaintances/allies, as few as any of the former and latter he could count, were in some sort of ridiculous blow-up like this, he'd be aching to get to the bottom of it, too.

"Do me a favor? Don't spread it around. I'm not worried about the Foreigners so much, but Yunxu and the rest..." He trailed off. Even in his sickbed he was considering his political options.