He realized that Lilly Quinlan's phone book and the mail were spread in front of him. He nonchalantly picked up the daily planner he kept on the desk, looked at it like he was checking a date and then put it down on top of the envelopes with her name on them.

"I called your new number and got Monica. She said you were supposed to be here while she waited for furniture to be delivered. But nobody answered in the lab or in your office, so I came by."

He leaned against the door frame. Charlie was a handsome man with what seemed like a perpetual tan. He had worked as a model in New York for a few years before getting bored and going back to school for a master's in finance. They had been introduced by an investment banker who knew Condon was skilled at taking underfinanced emergingtechnology firms and matching them with investors. Pierce had joined with him because he'd promised to do it with Amedeo Technologies without Pierce having to sacrifice his controlling interest to investors. In return, Charlie would hold 10 percent of the company, a stake that could ultimately be worth hundreds of millions -if they won the race and went public with a stock offering.

"I missed your calls," Pierce said. "I just got here, actually. Stopped to get something to eat first."

Charlie nodded.

"I thought you'd be in the lab."

Meaning, why aren't you in the lab? There is work to be done. We're in a race. We've got a presentation to a whale to make. You can't chase the dime from your office.

"Yeah, don't worry, I'll get there. I just have some mail to go through. You came all the way in to check on me?"

"Not really. But we only have until Thursday to get our shit together for Maurice. I wanted to make sure everything was all right."

Pierce knew they were placing too much importance on Maurice Goddard. Even Charlie's e-mail reference to the investor as God was a subliminal indication of this. It was true that Thursday's dog and pony show would be the dog and pony show of all time, but Pierce had growing concern about Condon's reliance on this deal. They were seeking an investor willing to commit at least $6 million a year over three or four years, minimum. Goddard, according to the due diligence conducted by Nicole James and Cody Zeller, was worth $250 million, thanks to his getting in early on a few investments like Microsoft. It was clear that Goddard had the money. But if he didn't come across with a significant funding plan after Thursday's presentation, then there had to be another investor out there. It would be Condon's job to go out and find him.

"Don't worry," Pierce said. "We'll be ready. Is Jacob coming in for it?"

"He'll be here."

Jacob Kaz was the company's patent attorney. They had fifty-eight patents already granted or applied for and Kaz was going to file nine more the Monday after the presentation to Goddard. Patents were the key to the race. Control the patents and you are in on the ground floor and will eventually control the market. The nine new patent applications were the first to come out of the Proteus project. They would send a shock wave through the nanoworld. Pierce almost smiled at the thought of it. And Condon seemed to read his thoughts.

"Did you look at the patents yet?" he asked.

Pierce reached down into the kneehole beneath his desk and knocked his fist on the top of the steel safe bolted there to the floor. The patent drafts were in there. Pierce had to sign off on them before they were filed but it was very dry reading, and he'd been distracted by other things even before Lilly Quinlan came up.

"Right here. I'm planning to get to them today or come back in tomorrow."

It would be against company policy for Pierce to take the applications home to review.

Condon nodded his approval.

"Great. So, everything else okay? You doin' all right?"

"You mean with Nicki and everything?"

Charlie nodded.

"Yeah, I'm cool. I'm trying to keep my mind on other things."

"Like the lab, I hope."

Pierce leaned back in his chair, spread his hands and smiled. He wondered how much Monica had told him when he had called the apartment.

"I'm here."

"Well, good."

"By the way, Nicole left a new clip in the Bronson file on the Tagawa deal. It's hit the media."

"Anything?"

"Nothing we didn't know already. Elliot said something about biologicals. Very general, but you never know. Maybe he's gotten wind of Proteus."

As he said it Pierce looked past Condon at the framed one-sheet poster on his office wall next to the door. It was the poster from the 1966 movie Fantastic Voyage. It showed the white submarine Proteus descending through a multicolor sea of bodily fluids. It was an original poster. He had gotten it from Cody Zeller, who had obtained it through an online Hollywood memorabilia auction.

"Elliot just likes to talk," Condon said. "I don't know how he could know anything about Proteus. But after the patent is granted he'll know about it. And he'll be shitting bricks.

And Tagawa will know they backed the wrong horse."

"Yeah, I hope so."

They had flirted with Tagawa earlier in the year. But the Japanese company wanted too large a piece of the company for the money, and negotiations broke down early. Though Proteus was mentioned in the early meetings, the Tagawa representatives were never fully briefed and never got near the lab. Now Pierce had concern himself with exactly how much about the project was mentioned, because it stood to reason that the information was passed on to Tagawa's new partner, Elliot Bronson.

"Let me know if you need anything and I'll get it done," Condon said.

It brought Pierce out of his thoughts.

"Thanks, Charlie. You going back home now?"

"Probably. Melissa and I are going to Jar tonight for dinner. You want to go? I could call and make it for three."

"Nah, that's okay. But thanks. I've got the furniture coming in today and I'll probably work on getting my place set up."

Charlie nodded and then hesitated for a moment before asking the next question.

"You going to change your phone number?"

"Yeah, I think I have to. First thing Monday. Monica told you, huh?"

"A little bit. She said you got some prostitute's old number and guys are calling all the time."

"She's an escort, not a prostitute."

"Oh, I didn't know there was a big difference."

Pierce couldn't believe he had jumped to defend a woman he didn't even know. He felt his face getting red.

"There probably isn't. Anyway, when I see you Monday I'll probably give you a new number, okay? I want to get done here so I can get in the lab and do something today."

"Okay, man, I'll see you Monday."

Condon left then, and after Pierce was sure he was down the hall he got up and closed his door. He wondered how much more Monica had told him, whether she was spreading alarm about his activities. He thought about calling her but decided to wait until later, to talk about it with her in person.

He went back to Lilly's phone book, leafing through it once again. Almost to the end he came across a listing he hadn't noticed before. It simply said USC and had a number.

Pierce thought about the envelope he had seen in her house. He picked up the phone and called the number. He got a recording for the admissions office of the University of Southern California. The office was closed on weekends.

Pierce hung up. He wondered if Lilly had been in the process of applying to USC when she disappeared. Maybe she had been trying to get out of the escort business. Maybe it was the reason she had disappeared.

He put the phone book aside and opened the Visa statement. It showed zero purchases on the card for the month of August and notice for an overdue payment on a $354.26 balance. The payment had been due by August 10.