“Once mine is out, we’ll have to work fast, because our Guardian angels will know it immediately. But we can do it! I know we can!”

“Let’s walk.” Cliff stood and put his hand on Eric’s elbow. For several minutes they strolled quietly through the thinning crowds in the park while he challenged Eric with questions, and in turn he listened while Eric challenged his objections. Finally he fell silent, deep in thought.

“How soon?” he suddenly demanded.

“As soon as you can train me.”

“We’ll need three or four training sessions to be sure. Also, I’ve got to show you how to make the incision and stitch it up again.”

“That’s fine. I think it will take me about a week to get what I need to cut the wrist computers.”

“What?”

“A set of bolt cutters used by Navy frogmen in World War Two. There’s a set in the Museum of Remembrance that I can get to.”

There was another long silence. Then, “Are they still tracking your movements?”

“Yes. Twenty-four hours a day. But at least Clayne is no longer living with me. That gives me some breathing room.”

“How can you get the cutters without them knowing?”

“I can’t.”

Cliff’s head spun around, as Eric went on.

“Remember Sam Gillespie’s magic show that he always did for Halloween?”

“Yes.”

“Well, as a teenager I asked him one day how he did it. He would never tell me, but he finally said, ‘The art of the magician is to make the eye look where you want it to look.’ That’s what I plan to do. I’m carving a duplicate set of cutters to put back in the case. The tricky part will be getting the guards to look where I want them to while I make the change.”

“That’s no problem,” Cliff grumbled, “it’s the only tricky phase of the whole operation. Everything else is a piece of cake.”

“Agreed,” Eric said. “Can you get the necessary instruments and stuff?”

“Yes. No problem. Do you want some help?”

Eric looked up in surprise. “Help?”

Cliff nodded.

“Who?”

“Dr. Chester Abernathy. He is one of the surgeons on the implantation team with Dr. Gould. As a matter of fact, he assisted with your family.”

“And you want him?”

“I think he’ll come if we ask him. He absolutely loathes the whole system, and after doing this last batch of implantations from the village, he refused to do any more. Gould blackballed him out of surgery because of it, and he works in the emergency room now, stitching up minor cuts and dispensing aspirin.”

Eric’s face softened, but his expression was still dubious. “It would be taking a tremendous risk just to ask him.”