“There! Do you hear that? Someone is in there, I tell you! Call Mr. Haffner. Tell him to call security. Someone has been spying on us!”

Jack paused to turn on his headlamp and replace the lens, then he resumed his crawl. He followed Milkdud’s red return arrows and didn’t stop until he reached the big vertical shaft.

Sweating and panting, he clung to the ladder to catch his breath and cool off. He unzipped the front of his overall to let in some air—damn thing must be insulated.

This was not good. Depending on the size of the building’s security force and whether or not they called in the city cops, this little jaunt might well end with Jack’s arrest. The charge would be piddly—what could they hold him for besides trespassing?

But the charge would be irrelevant. The arrest itself would do all the damage. Arrest meant photos and fingerprints and giving an address. Suddenly he’d be Citizen Jack. Officialdom would have a record of his existence. They’d want to fill in all the blanks on their forms, and so they’d start prying at his doors and chipping away at his walls, bringing down all the barriers he’d spent his whole adult life erecting between his world and. theirs.

He needed out of here. Now.

Jack pulled out the cell phone and speed-dialed Milkdud.

“Yeah,” Dud’s voice said after the second ring.

“It’s me,” Jack said in a low voice. “They know I’m in here. What’s the quickest way out?”

“The quickest? Jump out a window.”

“That’s not a big help right now, Dud.”

“Sorry. The quickest way out is to go through the door from the HVAC area into the building proper, then take the stairs down. But the door’s alarmed, and that’ll let them know where you are and give them a chance to cut you off. Best way out is exactly the way you came in. Climb up to the HVAC area ASAP, get back into that business suit, and wait by the door to the elevator shaft. I’m on my way now, moving as we speak. When I have the left elevator all to myself on the top floor, I’ll call you. Got it?”

“Got it.”

Jack hit end and left the cell phone’s power on, but he switched off the ringer and activated the vibration option. When Milkdud called back, Jack would feel it rather than hear it.

He climbed up the ladder and exited the duct system into the HVAC area. At last—someplace cool. He stripped off the sneakers and dusty coverall, stuffed them back into the briefcase, then wriggled back into his suit and wing tips.

At least he didn’t have to retie the tie.