“Not yet. Not till I find the sim. I’ve got people combing the city, visiting any place that uses sim labor. This reward will flush out anyone who’s seen her. Once I have her, the Sinclairs can take over.”
Lister frowned. “You might have had this sewn up by now if they’d been on board from the start.”
“They’d have added nothing but panic.” Bad enough to have Lister calling twice a day, he didn’t need the Sinclairs yammering in his ear every free minute too. “And don’t forget, it took days for the fire department to sift through all the rubble. Until they reported no sim remains, we didn’t know for sure she was missing.”
“Still, if this million-dollar reward had been announced days ago…”
“You know my problem with telling SimGen too much.”
“This ‘leak’ you suspect?”
Luca nodded.
Lister shoved his hands in his pockets and looked around. “I thought you were way off base with that at first. Now I’m not so sure.”
“Why? What’s happened?”
“The Manassas attorneys met with the Cadman woman and Sullivan. What a farce. She could have walked away with millions but she’s asking forbillions in damages.”
Luca wanted to laugh. He’d known they couldn’t buy off Romy Cadman.
Just hearing her name set off reactions within him, part anger, part lust. Sometimes when he was with Maria, moving inside her, he thought of Romy Cadman. Young stuff like Maria pushed his buttons,all his buttons, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have anything left over for a prime piece of mature tail like Cadman.
“Did you agree to pay it?”
Lister stared at him. “You’re not serious.”
“You should have called their bluff, just to see what they’d do. Because we all know they’re not after money. But what does this have to do with a leak?”
“The Cadman woman said she’d come to the Manassas office because she wanted to know why a truck leased in Idaho by Manassas was driving around the SimGen campus.”
“But…” Luca’s heart stalled, then picked up again. “But there’s no connection. Those leases are paid through Golden’s credit card.”
Hal Golden was dead, but no one knew that. His body lay six feet deep in a field in Thailand, but his credit record, active and pristine, lived on in the computers of the finance world. Golden had never even heard of Manassas Ventures while he lived, so how had Cadman and Sullivan linked him to the company?
“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?