“I know that. But at one time Manassas leased them directly. Somehow she made the connection. And I’m beginning to wonder if she might have been tipped.”

“But that doesn’t make sense. If someone’s leaking her information about Manassas Ventures, wouldn’t they tell her everything?”

“You’d think so, wouldn’t you. But whatever her source, somehow this woman has identified Manassas as the tie between SimGen and our Idaho facility.”

“So then, why not just abandon Manassas? It served its purpose.”

“It’s not like some dinghy you can cut loose at sea and forget. It’s part of a chain of subsidiary corporate entities that this Sullivan fuck has already traced back four or five levels. This haseveryone upset.”

The way Lister emphasized “everyone” made it clear to Luca that this went far up the SIRG ladder.

“They want the woman and the lawyer stopped,” Lister added, staring at him. “And since you were in charge of the Cadman woman when she saw the truck with the Idaho plates, that puts this square in your lap. They want you to take care of it.”

“What? Take her out? If anything happens to her, anythingfinal , Manassas Ventures will be a prime suspect.”

“I’m talking aboutinformation , not termination. She’s obviously not alone in this. They want to know who’s behind her. They want her source. And if there’s a leak in SimGen, they want to know who it is. Word has come down: This has equal priority with the missing sim. Understand me, Luca? This isn’t me talking to you.” Lister suddenly looked uncomfortable. “This comes from the Old Man himself.”

The Old Man? Luca swallowed. That meant this wentall the way up the ladder, and all eyes would be on him. Damn Romy Cadman for mentioning that truck. It almost seemed like she was doing everything in her power to screw him.

“Word is he’s raising hell how if you’d done the job right the first time, when you rolled Sullivan’s car off the Saw Mill, we wouldn’t be facing this now.”

Luca felt sick. “Jesus…”

“I went to bat for you, sent the Old Man your record in Operation Anaconda and the Baghdad sorties, and apparently that carried some weight. You know, soldier to soldier. He’s giving you a chance to redeem yourself. That doesn’t happen too often.”

“I’m grateful,” he said, forcing the words past stiff lips.

Luca felt a growing pressure in his head. Was someone out to get him…dump more on him than any one man could handle, then wait for him to buckle under the weight?

“I’ll help you with the logistics and anything else I can,” Lister told him. He looked fidgety now. Maybe Luca wasn’t the only one being given a second chance. “We’vegot to know who she’s fronting for.” He glanced at his watch. “Got to run.”

Luca followed him outside to the cars. He waved to Maria and jerked his thumb over his shoulder toward the open front door. She jumped out of the Jeep and ran back into the house.

Again, Lister’s eyes followed her. “Remember what I said about putting down roots.”

“Roger that,” Luca said.

But not till he saw how all this settled out. Until then he wanted that Bermuda account as fat as possible.

“And ditch the kid. Put her back where you found her.”

“Will do.”

Lister smiled. “Or marry her.”

“I don’t think so.”

He’d miss Maria, miss her a lot. She loved sex, cooked up a storm, and was crazy about him, would doanything for him. Maybe he’d keep her around till he found a replacement. Someone who could—

Luca’s PCA chirped. He flipped it open and turned away from Lister as he spoke. “Yes.”

“This is Grimes. We found her. She’s been hiding out in a sim crib.”

Relief flooded through him. “You have her?”

“Not yet. But we’ve got an address and we’re on our way.”

“Where’s the crib?” Luca listened as Grimes read off a Newark address. “I’ll meet you there.”

He ended the call and turned back to Lister. “One of my men. We’ve located the missing sim. We’re on our way to pick her up.” He grinned at Lister. “One problem down, one more to go.”

“Let’s hope so,” Lister said.

Luca jumped into the Jeep. Newark. Not a long drive. And the timing could not be better. Tying this up would free him up to devote all his energies to Romy Cadman, and settling with her once and for all.

20

NEWARK, NJ

Meerm lonely. Not hungry. Nibble food save from last night. Watch out window. See peoples walk sidewalk. Not far down. One floor. Meerm listen. Sometime hear what passing peoples say. Sometime happy. Sometime mad. Meerm like happy better.

Meerm watch street. Many car but no sim bus. Wait sim bus. Hope come soon. Then friend Beece come. Belly pain hurt less when Beece near. Beece talk Meerm, help Meerm.

Meerm see car come fast. Stop outside. Four sunglass mans come. Look round, look sim building. Meerm quick step back. Who mans? Why here? Why look at sim building?

Meerm fraid mans come in. Peek so mans not see. No mans come in. All stand by car. One talk little phone. Why here?

Then Meerm see new car. Also fast. Stop next first car. One man come. New man talk loud. Point this way and that way. Other mans go. New man voice…Meerm hear before. But where?

Now Meerm see new man and other man come sim building. Meerm fraid. Mans come take Meerm away? Back to new needle place?

Meerm hide. Go closet. Push self into dark corner. Make ver small.

Hear yell downstair. Benny mad. Shout loud. New man yell back.

Meerm shake. Know new man voice! Same voice in old home night loud noise and fire. Hear on roof too. New man come get Meerm!

Hear loud feets on stairs. Must not find! Must not find! Meerm climb up in closet. Get on shelf. Curl up. Make small-small. Tiny-tiny-tiny. Push back into high corner and—

Corner move. Meerm turn, feel loose board. Meerm push board, move more. Black space open. Cold in hole. Meerm not care. Too fraid be cold.

Hear new man voice yell, “Damn it, where is she?” Voice close now. In sim sleep room.

Meerm squeeze into black hole. Ooh-ooh-ooh. Too tight. Meerm so fat now. Meerm fraid get stuck, but more fraid new man. Push-push-push, get fat self into hole.

“I tell you,” Benny say, “we ain’t got no sims here inna day!” Benny sound fraid. “Not till tonight when they all bussed back from the city.”

“She’s here!” new man say. “And we’re going to find her! Look under every bunk! Check every closet!”

Meerm in cold place inside wall. Ver tight. Ver dark. Meerm push on board, push back where belong. More dark now. All dark.

Meerm hear closet door squeak. Some man open. Meerm can’t see man but hear thing move. Meerm stay ver, ver still. Not breathe.

“Nothing in here.” New man voice ver close. Meerm so fraid. Want go pee. Bite lip stop cry. “Where the fuckis she?”

“Maybe she goes out,” say other man voice. “You know, walks around.”

“Since when did you become a sim expert?”

Other man say, “Hey, I’m just thinking out loud, okay? That sim at the sweatshop described her to a T: she’s lost, she’s sick, she’s blown up. So we know she’s staying here. She’s just not here now. Probably going stir crazy here alone all day.”

“All right. Here’s what we’ll do. Bring in the others and we’ll do a sweep of the building. If we don’t find her we’ll back off and put the place under twenty-four-hour watch. When she returns, we nab her.”

Meerm hear mans go way but still not move. Still fraid. Meerm must stay in sim building. Mans will get Meerm. Hurt Meerm if try leave. Meerm so sad she cry.

21

SUSSEX COUNTY, NJ

Luca wanted to skip this—he had far more pressing things to do than listen to Sinclair-1 yammer. But the man had said he was calling this late meeting specifically to address a security issue. In addition to everything else going on, SimGen security was still his responsibility.