"What happened, Jim?" Gabe asked softly, picturing the lovingly drawn portrait in the man's desk. "What happened with Lily Sexton?"

"When I contacted Lily about picking her brain regarding nanotechnology, she invited me out to her stables for a ride. In fact, I went out there several times. It was difficult, because I had to speak to Lily in generalities, and not mention the president in any way, even though I suspected she had quickly put two and two together. We both know that my only patients are the president and his family. There have been a growing number of rumors over recent months regarding the state of Drew's mental health, and Lily's a very perceptive person."

"You'll get no argument from me there," Gabe said.

"Well, she didn't have that much to add to what I already knew about the field of nanotechnology. It's advancing at an incredible pace, and the high rollers are beginning to speculate, throwing incredible sums of money at the possibilities. But the field is still much more theoretical and potential than actual. Lily arranged for me to visit a research and manufacturing site in New Jersey and to speak with several of the scientists and even two major investors."

"Manufacturing?"

"It's a company that manufactures nanotubes of various diameters and lengths, and several different sizes of fullerenes. There's a huge demand for them right now in industries and laboratories all over the world. The people in New Jersey sell them by weight, like bananas."

"You're doing great, Jim. Can you go on?"

Ferendelli stepped out of the shadow of the bridge and scanned furtively through the gloom.

"They can kill me, Dr. Singleton," he said, a note of shrillness returning to his voice. "With the push of a button, they can kill me almost anytime they want. And they can kill the president, too. Anytime they want to they can kill him, just like that."

Gabe reached out and gently guided Ferendelli back into the darkness.

"Who are they?" he asked.

"I have some theories, but they are no more than that. I . . . I continued to visit Lily at her place. We never saw one another in D.C., only at Lily Pad Stables."

Gabe knew what was coming next.

"You fell in love with her, didn't you?" he said.

"I feel so stupid."

"Nonsense. I don't know if I've ever met a woman more interesting and attractive."