Barnes nodded. “You’re right. I don’t trust him, or her, or it. I can’t without knowing more about who we’re dealing with. But so far, our interests have aligned. And so far, cooperation has been hugely beneficial. So we stay careful, but we keep cooperating, so long as those interests stay aligned.”

“It?” The Nigerian raised an eyebrow.

Breece pursed his lips. “Given the capabilities we’ve seen, we have to face the possibility that what we’re dealing with here is someone who’s already transhuman. Or post.”

“Well then,” Kate said. “That just makes everything better then, doesn’t it?”

29
Evidence

Friday 2040.11.09

Pryce listened as the dead man spoke to the widow.

Martin Holtzman’s voice first. “Claire, I’m looking for any files Warren may have left behind. Anything from the early days of the ERD, or even further back, from his time at the FBI.”

Metadata appeared on the wallscreen, annotating the conversation pulled from the NSA’s archives.

Speaker: Holtzman, Martin

Date: Thursday, 2040.11.01, 12:07pm EST

A woman answered him. “Martin… I think they killed him. To keep him quiet.”

Speaker: Becker, Claire.

Warren Becker’s widow.

“I know, Claire,” Holtzman replied.

“You believe me?” Becker’s widow answered.

On the recording, Holtzman sounded uncertain. “I don’t know… I don’t think it’s impossible.”

Becker’s widow gushed with relief. Then Holtzman spoke again.

“Claire,” the dead man said. “What I’m looking for in Warren’s files… If I found it, it would be the opposite of keeping him quiet. You understand?”

Pryce looked up at Kaori when it was over.

“An hour later, Holtzman is at the Becker home, per his car and the Becker’s security system,” Kaori said.

“And two days later, if you believe the video,” Pryce went on, “He hands a briefcase with files that he says Warren Becker left behind over to Barnes…”

“The briefcase is missing,” Kaori said.

“Missing?” Pryce raised an eyebrow.

“Not at the crime scene,” Kaori said. “Not in Barnes’s car or home or office, before you ask. FBI swears that Barnes never left his home, by the way. Video does show that Holtzman had the briefcase when he walked into ERD headquarters that day. He also had it when he visited the Becker home. And he took it with him inside the ERD building to the electronics workshop, where he seems to have built himself a custom reader for an old physical data format.”

Pryce narrowed her eyes. “So you think he really got something from Becker. And that someone has disappeared it.”

“Maybe,” Kaori said. “Or maybe Holtzman found a way to get it out.”

Pryce looked at her sharply. “You don’t mean?”