“That’s only useful information if you can tell me where to find Die Katze,” I said.

“At the Hotel Timișoara,” blurted Casanova. Now that he was talking, he seemed to want to please me. Smart move, since his life depended on it. There is no actual honor among thieves. There’s only fear, and he was more afraid of me at that moment than of anyone else. “You need to promise me that you’ll kill Santoro. If he ever suspects I told you…”

“Oh, bet your whole allowance on that,” I promised.

The big man studied me for a moment, then nodded. “Okay, go to the Hotel Timișoara. Die Katze will be there in four days. He’s overseeing a sale on behalf of Mr. Sunday.”

“Who’s that?”

Casanova licked his lips. “He’s the head of sales for Kuga. I never met him and only ever saw him on ShowRoom.”

He explained what ShowRoom was, and I wondered if Bug already knew about this. If not, I was going to have to break the silence and tell him. The further I moved away from dominance by the Darkness, the more I realized that I needed the RTI infrastructure.

“What is Die Katze selling?”

“I don’t know exactly. Some kind of drug. Not for street use. It supposedly has military applications. You’ll have to ask him. But whatever they’re selling, it’s important enough for Santoro to have sent the Cat.”

“Three quick questions and then I’ll leave you to get a Band-Aid on your ass.”

His eyes were wary and jumpy.

“First, I keep hearing about the American Operation. Tell me what you know.”

Casanova went a shade paler. “You … you can’t know about that.”

“Clearly, I can.” I made a small hand signal, and Ghost, right on cue, gave a nice hungry growl.

Fat beads of sweat were running down Casanova’s cheeks. “I don’t know the details. All I know is that it’s going to bring America to its knees. It’s going to make 9/11 look like a fucking birthday party.”

“When and where?”

“I don’t know. Truly. All I ever heard about is that the staging area is in Texas. Near a place called LaBorde.”

I grunted. I knew a couple of guys who lived there, out in East Texas.

“What about G-55?”

He shook his head. “I’ve heard that code, but I don’t know what it means. Not my department.”

Crap.

“Okay, let’s go back to the meeting with Die Katze. Tell me everything I need to know. If you trick me, you’d better hope I don’t live through it because I’ll let everyone know who put me onto that buy.”

From the stark terror in his eyes, I knew he believed me. He gave me some details and then said, “But, listen to me, Ledger, you’ll need to use a code phrase.”

“What phrase?”