“Of course. But first things first,” said Salzman. He looked at Coop. “Well, what do you think? Would you like to join us here at Peculiar Science?”

Coop turned to Giselle, who raised her eyebrows in a please-don’t-be-stupid expression. He drank more of his coffee.

“Excuse me,” said Salzman. “I forgot something.” He got out his phone, hit a number, and said, “Roderick, would you bring me my silver pen? Yes, the one by the requisition forms? Thanks.”

“Sir, I have to protest here,” said Nelson. “This man is a professional criminal. All his friends are professional criminals. All of his interests revolve around crime, and he just about broke my nose last night.”

“As I understand it, most of the crew that pulled off last night’s box retrieval were, at one time or other, professional criminals. My goodness, half of the mook and Fractal DNA departments are under indictment somewhere in the world. Are you saying we should clear out some of our most valuable agents?”

“No. Just the ones who punch me.”

“Really? Are you going to make this big a deal out of a little scratch? It’s my understanding that most of your department has wanted to punch you at one time or other. Why do you think there’s so much spit and other nastiness in your coffee?” said Salzman.

“What?” said Nelson.

“Let me put it this way, I wouldn’t go leaving my beverages sitting around on my desk unattended if I were you. My guess is the only reason you’ve survived this long is that all that alcohol you swill has rendered most of your organs inert. And God knows what’s going into any food you leave in the break room refrigerator.”

Nelson sat quietly with his hands on the table. Coop was pretty sure he was trying to calculate how much vulnerable coffee he’d left out on his desk over the years he’d been with the agency. Judging by the color his face was turning, it was more than he was capable of dealing with at the moment.

“So, Coop, back to you,” Salzman said, turning back to him. “Would you like to join our little family?”

Coop and Giselle looked at each other again. He thought he saw the million-dollar smile he’d spotted the other day at Týden Divu. He liked seeing it pointed in his direction for once.

There was a brief knock on the door. It opened and something flew in. It was sort of like a large bat or a small flying manta ray with a slit mouth and fleshy wings. It flapped around the room a couple of times before hovering over Salzman and dropping a pen in his lap. “Thanks, Roderick. Tell Lillian to push back my noon meeting to one, will you? Thanks.”