I thought Callum looked irked with his assistant for the jibe, but my impression of Eldlund was of a devout Utopial—more so than most omnia who never left the comfort of the Delta Pavonis system. Sie simply couldn’t resist the opportunity to establish cultural superiority. I’d guess that was why immigration to Akitha had leveled out in recent years. There’s an old saying in the Sol system: Utopial culture would be a great place to live in, but the problem is that it’s full of Utopials. And Eldlund was a perfect example of that unconscious patronizing privilege they all possessed.

“How can it be for money?” Yuri asked.

“Shields have protected cities from severe weather for decades,” Eldlund said in a tone that told us sie clearly felt sie was explaining the utterly obvious. “People are complacent; they take that protection for granted. So if a shield fails during a storm, there’ll be plenty of damage. That will have a big effect on spending patterns and insurance payments. If you knew in advance that was going to happen, you could make a killing in the markets.”

“Wow,” Loi said. “I hope you never become a criminal mastermind. You’d be terrifying.”

Eldlund gave him a knowing grin. “If whoever wanted the files could afford Cancer, you know it has to be a big deal, right? That’s got to be a Wall Street playa.”

Yuri pursed his lips as if in approval. “Good point.”

You had to be as familiar as I was with my boss to see just how much he was humoring the poor jerk. I’d seen those tactics played in a dozen meetings. It nearly always ended with someone getting fired, or worse.

“So what happened to Colleana’s brat?” Kandara asked. “You?” Her index finger lined up on Eldlund.

“No!”

Loi laughed out loud; everyone else was grinning.

“Who gives a crap what happened to the kid?” Alik grumbled.

“You haven’t been checking back on Colleana after you were so noble with her insurance?” Yuri joined in, parodying disappointment. “Shame on you.”

“Do I look like a fucking fairy godmother?”

“Stranger things,” Callum proclaimed.

“Fuck you all!”

“What about Cancer?” Loi asked. “Are you still looking for her?”

“Sure,” Alik said. “The Manila police lost her cabez, of course; she scrambled the city’s logs good and hard. Langley assigned a dark team, but even they couldn’t catch the scent. The bitch vanished like she always does. We’ll catch her one day. And when we do, I’ll be having a long conversation with her before we dump her naked ass on Zagreus.”

“No, you won’t,” Kandara said.

Alik bridled at what he took to be a challenge. “Yeah, how do you figure that?”

“Because she’s dead.”

“No fucking way. I’d have heard.”

“You didn’t hear.”

Alik gave her a suspicious look. “How do you know this?”