As always, Kuga took the call in his room—though it seemed that Sunday had some creepy way of knowing when he was alone. That had bothered Kuga for months, so he had his people do regular sweeps of his bedroom, walk-in closet, bathroom, sitting room, and even the hallway outside his personal suite. No bugs.

And yet Sunday never called except when Kuga was alone.

He pressed the button. “Hello.”

“You sound grumpy.”

“It’s late. The hell do you want?”

“Oh, it’s something I’ve been meaning to discuss with you—not as an employee but as a friend and advisor.”

“‘Friend’?”

“Oh yes,” said Sunday, “we are friends. We are very close, even if you don’t invite me over very often. How many times has it been now? Oh, that’s right—once.”

“Sorry if your feelings are hurt.”

“I’m sorry to see you so stressed all the time.”

“Who says I am?”

“It’s in your voice,” said Sunday. “It’s in your attitude. And it’s obvious in that you never leave that fortress of yours. Time was when you’d have been bouncing from one place to another, living the high life, getting laid in only the very best places. Now … you’ve become a nervous hermit.”

“Well, it’s not like half the first world nations don’t want my head on a pike.”

“And whose fault is that?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means,” said Sunday, “that had a certain someone not bungled Oslo and allowed the authorities to make an educated guess as to who ‘Kuga’ really is, your life would be a lot more comfortable.”

“Hey, that was as much my fault as Rafael’s.”

“Was it? Tell me—and don’t lie because you know I always know—if Santoro had not gone totally against policy and physically been on-site in Oslo, would the world governments have actually connected the Rage attacks directly to you? To you personally? No, I don’t think they could have. Before he was videotaped engaging in pointless fisticuffs with Joe Ledger, your involvement was only a rumor. But since you and he were the only two people broken out of that prison two years ago, the connection became obvious.”

Kuga said nothing. He wished he’d brought a fresh bottle and some ice with him to bed.

“Moreover,” continued Sunday, “if Santoro hadn’t forgotten about the golden rule of ‘not taking things personally,’ he’d have never tried for revenge against Joe Ledger. Killing Ledger’s family was Santoro giving a consolation gift to Eve for losing her family. Adam. And what’s the result? Ledger has slaughtered his way up the food chain looking for him and for you.”

“I…,” began Kuga, but he had nowhere to go with it.