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From the way she says it, that’s a good thing. But I feel uncomfortable as I get to my feet. How do you greet a woman who delivered you a putdown that lived with you for years?
I reach out my hand for a shake, but she pulls me into a hug. I pat her back before pulling away, awkward and very desirous of leaving. Tipsy.
Moment of truth.
We sit down, and I say, “Funny coincidence, you asking me to meet here. This happens to be my girlfriend’s bar.”
“Oh?” Daphne says, and her clipped tone tells me she isn’t pleased. “Doesn’t seem like your kind of place.”
“Then why’d you ask to meet me here?”
She lifts her eyebrows. “I figured it would be best to discuss this somewhere loud, where we couldn’t be overheard easily. I remembered this place as being aggressively loud.” She tilts her head. “Although the music is a lot quieter than the last time I was here.”
This is all news to me. I figured we were meeting to discuss the game and the possibility of the two of us working together—in which case silence would be a boon.
“Why?” I ask, going for the direct route again.
She stares at me across the table, her gaze intense. I used to like it when she looked at me that way. I used to think it meant she saw something that other people didn’t see. That she thought I was special. But maybe all along, she was trying to see down to my soul and only saw the color brown. “You’re Bo Peep.”
Jesus, so much for being subtle. I’ve gotten ID’ed twice in one afternoon, this time for my more recent efforts.
I see no point in lying. “Yes.”
“And before that you were The Reaper.” She lifts her chin slightly. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I’d already been caught,” I say. “I made an agreement to stop. That’s why I was working for Jarrod.”
“But you didn’t stop,” she insists flatly.
I feel an itch behind my ears, and suddenly the music feels like it’s pounding into my head. The lights, drilling into my eyes. The glitter…
I could be drowning in glitter.
“What’s this all about? I thought you worked for Big Bear Games? You’re supposed to my contact for them.”
“I do work for Big Bear,” she says primly, pushing forward in her chair. She’s now sitting at the very end of it, back straight, and it can’t possibly be comfortable. “And theyareinterested in buying your game. But I also work for RetCon, and they’re interested in you for far more than a game, Danny. My colleague, Lina, was supposed to make contact with you, but she’s had trouble finding you alone.” Her lips purse, and I think of the woman in the apartment across the way, with her folding table and chair. Her knitting.
Lina showed up for the first time a few weeks ago, right around when Mira moved in. Right around when Daphne contacted me asking about this meeting.
Mira immediately found Lina suspicious, and I feel a pulse of being proud of her, even though the world as I know it has been upended.
Black Hats mostly work alone. Mostly. RetCon is the biggest international group of Black Hat hackers. They’re the ones who end up in the headlines constantly for breaking into banks. Government files. For lifting people up and tearing them down.
“That’s why you moved to Paris,” I say flatly.
She nods. “You should have come with me.”
“I didn’t tell you at the time…” Because Ruthie was right, I realize—I’d never fully trusted her. “But I couldn’t have. I had an agreement.”
“With Jarrod Travis,” she finishes, probably to show me that she knows more than I do now. Daphne always wanted to be the person in the room who knew the most—and I guess she’s achieved that goal. I don’t particularly feel like congratulating her. “We can handle that situation for you.”
I don’t know how they intend on ‘handling’ it, but I’m sure it would rip my life into shreds so small they could never be sewn back together. It would rip me from Mira. From Ruthie and Izzy. From the friends who are family to me.
“I don’t want any part of that,” I say flatly. I take another swig of the drink. “Besides, I think the cops are on to me. There’s an undercover cop living in the apartment beneath me.”
“I know,” she says, practically glowing because once again she has proven herself. “And we can take care of that problem for you too. You’ll find there’sa lotwe can for you, Daniel.” There’s an insinuation running beneath the words, sinuous as a snake.
Darkness laps at me, trying to pull me under, even as the lights beat into me. “At what cost?”
