“Where is it?” she repeated.

“The ‘Clean Slate?’” he said, trying to make it sound derisive. His heart was still going a mile a minute, but he wasn’t going to let this crazy woman get the better of him. “Type in a name and date of birth, and within a couple of hours that person ceases to exist in any database.” He snickered at the tantalizing notion. “Little too good to be true.”

“You’re lying,” she hissed. “Rykin Data took it to beta-testing.”

“That’s why I bought them,” he admitted. “But they had nothing. It was just a gangland myth.”

She stepped back, mulling it over. He could tell she was troubled by the idea that she’d been chasing a mirage.

Chew on it, he thought acidly. You get what you deserve, you psycho bitch.

Just wait ’til I sic Bane on you.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Selina was taken aback by Daggett’s claim.

Was he telling the truth?

Before she could react, armed men joined them on the rooftop, coming from several directions. Sporting guns, military fatigues, and surly expressions, they dropped down on bungee cables and came scrambling up the fire escapes. She was impressed by the speed of their response. She couldn’t fault Daggett’s goons for their persistence.

Let’s hope they’re just as concerned for his safety, she thought, yanking the tycoon up onto his feet. She held onto his throat, her claws digging into his flesh.

“Stay back!” she warned the newcomers. But to her surprise, they kept on coming. A scowling gunman, who had the stone-cold eyes of a professional, screwed a silencer onto his Glock. She tightened her grip, eliciting a gasp of pain from the shaking tycoon.

Blood trickled onto his collar.

“I’m not bluffing,” she insisted.

“They know.” A gravelly voice came from the shadows. “They just don’t care.”

All eyes moved to the source. Selina spotted a cloaked figure crouching atop the roof of a luxury apartment complex, one building away. The unmistakable silhouette of bat-like ears rose from the newcomer’s ebony cowl. A winged emblem was embossed upon his chest.

It’s him, she realized. Batman.

The Dark Knight’s startling presence distracted her adversaries. The goon with the silencer spun in surprise. Seizing the moment, she tossed Daggett aside and pounced on the gunman, wresting the pistol from his grasp. None of the other men rushed to Daggett’s aid, proving that Batman was right. These weren’t his men at all.

So who?

But there was no time to worry about that now. Batman jumped effortlessly across the intervening space, landing immediately behind her even as the other men charged at them from all sides. Back to back, they took on her anonymous attackers, lashing out with boots and fists. Batman was a flurry of lightning-fast strikes and dodges, not a move wasted. A bat-shaped boomerang disarmed one attacker, while he caught a knife blade between the fins on his gauntlet and butted another man in the head with his cowl.