He had it. Carmody paid, and they found a vacant bench. A glorious spring morning. The previous night’s storm had done its damage, scattering twigs and branches all across the walk, but the air was clean and vibrant in its aftermath.

They sat looking across the Hudson at New Jersey.

“I grew up there,” Morse said, nodding vaguely toward the opposite shore.

“You and your surly ex?”

“Me and Leo Harris, your superior, yes,” she said and turned to him. “Where in Hawaii are you from? I forget.”

“Lanai City.”

“Really? Once the pineapple capital of the world. Now where Leland Sinclair, king of Olympia, hangs his hammock.”

Carmody nodded. “He owns eighty percent of the island. The other twenty’s a public trust.”

“His tax write-off in other words.”

He nodded again and drank his espresso. She took a sip of her strawberry fizz. Pigeons perched on the guardrail in front of them, seagulls wheeled overhead, and bicyclists blurred by in sporty riding gear that showed off their toned physiques.

“I’m thinking six degrees of separation,” Morse said.

He grunted. “Sinclair’s behind the CloudCable project. The project is why the missing ship was wherever it was. And the missing ship is why Kali flew to New Hampshire today.”

“And she’s the reason we’re sitting here right now.”

Carmody was silent a moment. “All right,” he said. “Talk to me.”

Morse stared out at the opposite shore again. Hoboken, Newark, MetLife Stadium, Atlantic City. Carmody had never been to any of them. Unless he counted Newark airport.

“I’m getting pushed about her,” she said. “Hard.”

“By?”

“Does it matter?”

“Might to me.”

She shrugged. “Our closest international allies consider her a wanted criminal. Interpol wants her extradited. And some within the Force want the same thing. They don’t like her working with us. They suspect she’s complicit in the attack on Janus Base. Specifically, they think she subverted our robot sentries’ defensive protocols.”

“They meaning John Howard.”

“The pressure’s coming from all directions.”

“Including Howard, then. He’s the commanding officer at Janus.”

“You’re a stubborn ass.”

“Thanks,” Carmody said. “How about Alex Michaels?”

She expelled a breath. “The director’s been silent about her. So far.”

Carmody drank his coffee.

“Kali got us into the Wolf’s castle,” he said. “She saved my life twice.”

“There are layers of cover. Save your life, gain your trust. All the better to fool you.”

“I don’t fool easy.”

“I know. But it doesn’t mean you know her intentions. Or can be objective,” Morse said. “You’ve been living with her for three months.”

“I sleep on her couch.”

“But you know what people think.”

“I don’t care what they think,” he said. “She’s here because she wants to be. If she wanted to give us the slip, we couldn’t stop her. Not me, not anyone. She’d be gone in the blink of an eye.”