The door opened and a man entered. Pia noticed the guard stiffen and hold himself taller. It was obvious to her that whoever this person was, he was important. He was Chinese, about Berman’s age, Pia thought, maybe younger, but she couldn’t be certain. She knew she had trouble gauging Asian age with both men and women. The man had a pleasant, relaxed expression. He was wearing an expensive-appearing T-shirt, possibly made of silk, and stylish jeans. He sported a fashionable, Western-style haircut.

“Hello,” Jimmy said to Pia casually. He merely nodded to Berman. He didn’t introduce himself to Pia. Earlier he had told Berman not to use any names if he showed up at dinner.

Berman slammed the door to the refrigerator and then busied himself opening the wine.

From Pia’s perspective it seemed that Berman was demonstrably unhappy to see the man there, apparently wanting to be alone with Pia for the so-called dialogue he had in mind. She was glad to see the man whoever he was.

“Who are you?” asked Pia. What did this mean? Berman continued to be abrupt, with his throwing away the cork and slamming the cabinet door. He came over to the table and thumped the wine down on the table. Pia looked from Berman back to the sudden visitor. There was a tenseness in the air. If Berman was this man’s superior, he would have ordered him out, or so Pia surmised. One thing was for sure: she had to play this carefully.

“Ah, I see you are about to have dinner,” the man said. “I don’t want to interrupt.”

“You’re not interrupting,” said Pia. “Mr. Berman here is playing happy family, and I haven’t talked to anyone else for weeks. We have an extra place, so sit down. So who are you, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Of course I don’t mind your asking. And you won’t mind if I don’t tell you.” Jimmy smiled. He looked at Berman, who was exceedingly uncomfortable.

“Of course this is a very unusual situation,” said Jimmy, looking at Berman. “And one that we have to resolve.”

“Who is ‘we’?” said Pia. “And by the way, I’m sitting right here. If you want to talk about me, that is. You could include me in the conversation. What I’d say to you is that I’m being held here against my will and I demand to be released. I’m losing interest in this nanotechnology stuff by the day, so I’ll be happy to go back to working on salmonella someplace else. What do you two say?”

Jimmy was impressed; she showed no fear at all. He sensed her tenacity.

Pia looked at him. Her head was pounding again, but she was trying to look resolute.

“Well, all that notwithstanding, Mr. Berman and I have to resolve the situation.”