Mirsky left the Volga and closed the door. "Oh, one more thing," the man said, leaning out the window. "Did you have any plans to harm either Belozersky, Vielgorsky or Yazykov—particularly Vielgorsky?"

"No," Mirsky said. "They irritated me, and I would have rather done without all of them—except maybe Vielgorsky—but no, I didn't plan to harm them."

"Thank you," the man said and rolled up the window.

"You're welcome again," Mirsky turned away from the road and it was night. He lay down in the grass and stared up at the blackness.

Chapter Forty-Seven

Chapter Forty-Seven

"I'd like it dark, please," Lanier said. The rooms darkened. He sat upright on the illusory couch and mentally repeated what Patricia had said after the meeting. Alarms set off. Did she mean that the Axis City had known they were in the Stone since their arrival? How long had self-contained, self-powered Olmy been watching them?

As he mulled, he felt the ineffable tension in the lower part of his abdomen and realized that mentally he was as uninterested in sex as he could be, but his body was disregarding his brain.

The door voice announced, "Karen Farley is in the hallway and requests entrance."

"Why?" he asked abruptly, angry at the convenience, the coincidence. "Wait—is she alone?"

"Yes."

"Send. . . let her in." He stood and smoothed down the jumpsuit he had worn on the V/STOL, now cleaned and pressed. He had ignored the robe laid out for him on the elliptical bed in the single bedroom.

Karen had not. As the door irised open, the lights came up and she entered in a very similar robe, this one a golden beige rather than midnight blue. "Pardon my comeuppance," she said, smiling and lifting her hands as if to fend off a rebuff.

"What?"

"Is that the right phrase?"

"I don't think so," Lanier said. "What can I do for you?"

"I've been talking with Patricia," she said, "or rather, she came to me, and I thought you'd like to know a few things."

He indicated a chair opposite the couch. "She and I had a conversation before the meeting, but it was more confusing than informative."

"Heineman and Carrolson are together tonight," Farley said, sitting. "Patricia didn't tell me that—Lenore did. And before we left the Stone, I noticed Wu and Chang were sneaking away together." She smiled at him, a brisk, armored smile with a touch of puzzlement and irritation.

Lanier lifted his shoulders and clapped his hands together softly, then rubbed them. "That's normal," he said.

"Yes. But I caught you when your guard was down, didn't I? I mean—"

"I appreciate what you did."

"I don't know what to say." She looked around the apartment curiously. "I've never really had a leech for you—"

"Letch," he said, grinning.

"Oh, yes, my God. Letch. I haven't. But you looked so lost. And I was feeling lost, too. Honest, you're still the boss."