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Chapters (48)
  1. COVER PAGE
  2. TITLE PAGE
  3. EPIGRAPH
  4. PRAISE
  5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  6. MAP
  7. PROLOGUE
  8. CHAPTER ONE
  9. CHAPTER TWO
  10. CHAPTER THREE
  11. CHAPTER FOUR
  12. CHAPTER FIVE
  13. CHAPTER SIX
  14. CHAPTER SEVEN
  15. CHAPTER EIGHT
  16. CHAPTER NINE
  17. CHAPTER TEN
  18. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  19. CHAPTER TWELVE
  20. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  22. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  23. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  24. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  25. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  26. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  46. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  47. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  48. What’s next onyour reading list?

“Possibly,” mused Muir. “But logic tells me that he wasn’t. Why switch places with someone just as bad off as you are?”

“You’re right.” Condley looked at the man’s remains with a renewed sobriety. “If we knew where they met, or what they were doing, maybe there’s an intersection that can help us backtrack to Deville. He did steal the guy’s identity.”

“For a while, possibly. But if he were smart enough to steal this man’s identity, you can assume that Deville was also smart enough to take on a new one as soon as he escaped.”

Condley marveled at the scientist’s demeanor as they walked back toward his office. “Why are you so calm about all this, Professor?”

“Because it’s all come down to science, Brandon. We have our variables. We have computers. We have good people working on the problem. It gives the whole issue the kind of certainty that I enjoy.”

“It may be science to you—”

“I know,” interrupted the huge, garrulous Muir. He patted Condley on the shoulder as they walked. “For you it’s personal. So may I remind you as your friend? Don’t let your emotions get the better of you, Brandon. If you do find this man, you can’t afford to make a mistake.”

“Them,” corrected Condley.

“Them? I don’t understand what you mean.”

“There’s two of them.”

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER NINE

Sai Gon

The noonday sun faded quickly, disappearing behind a bank of ugly gray clouds. An eerie darkness covered the city, as sudden as an eclipse. And then the sky opened up with a windless torrent of rain.

In front of the Rex Hotel the sidewalks emptied in a matter of seconds as hustlers, hawkers, and beggars scurried into covered alleyways or huddled under tarps, while tourists headed into street cafés or back to their hotels. Along the streets the cyclo drivers pulled poncholike rain jackets over their heads and buttoned up their passengers inside windowless canvas flaps. The covered cyclos looked like dark, oversize baby buggies as they navigated through puddles and avoided the splashing traffic of cars and motorbikes.

A few blocks away, across the street from the shabby little Vien Dong Hotel, Dzung sat in his own cyclo cab underneath a large shade tree. He had pulled the canopy around the cab and snapped himself inside as soon as it had started raining. His knees were up to his chin to avoid the torrent. His eyes were faraway. The rain pattered all around him, cold on the canvas of the canopy.