Robin turned to Creek. "You bastard," she said. "You never said anything about killing me when we made the date."

Agent Dwight grimaced. "This is serious, Miss Baker. You need to come with me right now."

"Robin, I wouldn't go anywhere with that guy," Creek said.

"I'm not going anywhere with anyone," Robin said.

"You're making a mistake, Miss Baker," Agent Dwight said. "This man is a danger to you."

"Yeah, fine," Robin said. "I'm in a public place with surveillance cameras all around, and you're here to protect me, right? It's doubtful he's going to murder me right here and now. So before I do anything else, I want to know what this is about"

Creek and Dwight started speaking at the same time; Robin held her hand up. "Jesus Christ," she said. "One at a time." She pointed at Dwight. "You. Go."

"You're in danger," Dwight said. "From him."

"I got that already," Robin said. "Why?"

"He's going to try to kill you," Dwight said.

"Any reason?" Robin asked.

"What?" said Dwight.

"Is there any reason he's going to kill me?" Robin asked. "You know, like I killed his father or stole his land? Or is he just your garden-variety axe murderer? What?"

"Well, he's done it before," Dwight said.

"Killed people," Robin said.

"Yeah," said Dwight. "And he's planning to do it to you. That"'s why—"

"I need to come with you. Right Okay, you stop now." She turned to Creek. "You go now."

"It's complicated," Creek said.

"Complicated would be good after this guy's story," Robin said.

"You have a particular sort of DNA in your genetic makeup," Creek said. "Someone with this DNA is needed for a diplomatic mission. Others with this DNA have been turning up dead; as far as I know you're the only one on the planet with this DNA who is still alive. I'm supposed to talk to you about the situation and try to get you to agree to come in to the State Department. We want to discuss options with you and see if you can help us."

"Options that don't include killing me," Robin said.

"Right," Creek said.

"But you didn't get around to telling me any of this," Robin said.

"I tried," Creek said. "I don't know if you know this about yourself, but you're not the easiest person in the world to have a linear conversation with."

"What happens if I don't go to the State Department with you?" Robin said.

There might be a war," Creek said.

"I meant to me," Robin said.

"Nothing," Creek said. "You're an American and a UNE citizen. We can't make you do anything you don't want to do. Although given the presence of the so-called Agent Dwight here, I would suggest you let the State Department give you protection until this thing gets sorted out."

Robin turned to Agent Dwight. "It's just me," she said, pointing at Creek, "but he seems more believable."

"He's lying," Agent Dwight said. "He's a dangerous man."

"Robin, I have my communicator with me. Use it and get the number of the State Department from information," Creek said. "Ask for Ben Javna. He's the Special Assistant to the Secretary of state. He should still be in his office. Tell him who you are and he'll confirm everything I've just told you. He can even arrange to have someone else come and get you. You don't have to go anywhere with me."

Robin looked back at Agent Dwight. "So, what happens if I call the FBI?" she asked.

Agent Dwight didn't answer; he was holding his hand to his ear as if listening to something. Creek saw him glance upwards as he did so; Creek turned around and looked up in the direction Dwight had glanced. He saw someone on the second floor of the mall, standing at the rail of the atrium.

"Robin," Creek said, and pointed. "Look up there."

Robin looked up and squinted.

"Hey," she said. "Isn't that the gecko dude?"

Creek turned and saw Agent Dwight reaching for something inside his coat.

Rod Acuna knew taking the girl at the mall was going to be trouble. "Just let me take her at home," he'd said to Phipps, over the communicator. "It'll be quicker and safer for my men."

"But then we'd still have this Creek character to worry about," Phipps said. "The girl goes missing while he's still free and you know he's going to go looking for her. That's eventually going to lead back to us."

"We can take him, too," Acuna said.

"There's not enough time to grab her and him separately," Phipps said.

"Then let me just grab him," Acuna said. "Without him, the girl's not a problem."

"See, this is why you're not paid to think," Phipps said. "He goes missing, and Ben Javna's going to notice, quick. Since Creek's undoubtedly already briefed Javna, any random disappearance will bring down most of the State Department to hustle the girl to safety before you can get to her."

"I can get them both before that happened," Acuna said.

"Or you can get them both at the same time, which solves a lot of practical issues," Phipps said.

"There's a lot to go wrong grabbing two people in a mall," Acuna said. "For one, there are a lot of people around."

"Which will work to your advantage when you're dealing with them both," Phipps said. "You'll be able to get her to go with you willingly because you're in a public place. And when he puts up a fight, it looks like resisting arrest."

"It still has problems," Acuna said.

"Then minimize the problems," Phipps said. "That's what you get paid to do. Now let me speak to the computer geek I sent you. I have something I need him to do." Acuna swore under his breath and shoved the communicator at Archie.

After the geek was done with the communicator, Acuna contacted Jean Schroeder, who was not sympathetic. "What do you want me to do?" Schroeder said. "Phipps is paying you."

"You're paying me too," Acuna reminded Schroeder.

"So I am," Schroeder said. "But in my case I'm paying you to tell me the things Phipps doesn't, not to contravene his orders.

Which reminds me. Are you going to do what I suspect you're going to do once you get the two of them?"

"We can't really let them go," Acuna said, dryly.

"I'm going to need the girl," Schroeder said.

"So you are paying me to disobey orders," Acuna said.

"I suppose I am. Just not the ones you want to disobey," Schroeder said.

"Takk can take care of Creek, but Phipps is going to want proof about the girl," Acuna said.

"I don't need the whole girl," Schroeder said. "I just need the part I get to be alive."

Shortly thereafter Acuna had the geek pull up the plans for the Arlington Mall and hack the security to find where they'd positioned cameras. The plan was simple enough; they'd wait for Creek and the girl to park themselves somewhere, after which Ed would come up with his FBI gear and escort the girl out. As he was doing that, a second team would converge on Creek and hustle him out of the mall. Creek would meet Takk, who would dispose of him in his own special way, and Acuna would deal with the girl. Mall security was understaffed and unarmed, so they wouldn't represent much of an issue. Acuna had the geek go down to his storage unit in the apartment complex basement to bring up a few keyfob-sized signal disrupters, which would be powerful enough to knock out the security cameras and whatever personal cameras were present. This wasn't the first time Acuna had had to snatch someone in public.

Acuna had to admit Phipps was right—this would leave fewer holes than a typical snatch from home. But he never liked public grabs, and this one, with two targets, one of them former military and cop, he liked even less.

Normally Acuna would take the lead in grabbing the girl, but he'd already blown his identity wad posing as a customer in the woman's pet store. Acuna was getting some old friends to handle the secondary jobs of grabbing Creek and acting as goalie in case one or both of the targets decided to run, but they wouldn't be much good for talking. It'd have to be someone in his current crew: Ed, Takk, or the geek.