“The only real problem is the woman.” She nodded her head toward the back of the cabin. “What exactly do you have in mind?”

“So you have a problem with me bringing her like this?”

“Of course I have a problem. She’s the weak link in all of this. She’s caused this brouhaha, and she’s still with us. She can ruin everything. If it had been up to me, she should have been left in the hands of the head of security. Ultimately he’s the one to blame for all this by not keeping her out of Nano.”

“Of course you know what would have happened to her if we had left her in his hands. You don’t find that a problem?”

Whitney was quiet for a moment. She knew what would have happened, but she didn’t want to think about it, like she had never wanted to think about the people in the Nano aquariums. She had been brought into Berman’s vision, and her future was tied to his, she knew that. If he went down, she went down with him. But she did have her limits.

“Actually, no, I don’t. I don’t think about it. But the fact that she is here with us, that’s a problem.”

Whitney turned around and looked over her shoulder. Berman followed her line of sight, and there, as he was well aware, was Pia, unconscious and slumped back across two wide seats, her mouth open, her chest rising and falling in quiet, rhythmical breathing. She was handcuffed to the table in front of her, restrained like one of the many Chinese athletic prisoners who had traveled west on this plane.

“You bought her with us. She could ruin everything we’ve worked for. What are you going to do with her?”

“Well, that’s what I’ve been thinking about,” said Berman, and he smiled. “Her fate will depend on her willingness to become a team player. Maybe she could be your assistant.”

“My assistant?” Whitney howled. “No, no, no! You’re not going to saddle me with that willful bitch. I don’t want to babysit your latest plaything, especially knowing you, you’ll tire of her. She’ll be hanging around my neck, and I don’t have the time or the energy. Keeping you on track is enough of a job for me.”

“Oh, come on! Whitney. Your job’s gotten bigger and you need an assistant. She’s intelligent and tenacious: a hard worker. You could use her.”

“I don’t know,” Whitney said. She knew how much she owed Berman, and it was hard for her not to do his bidding. The trouble was she was reasonably certain the Pia business was going to end badly, and she didn’t want to get to know the woman and then have to be involved with getting rid of her, really getting rid of her.

Chapter 47

47.