Janson got out of the car and raced to the shore; he saw Jessie in the boat only ten yards away. It was the closest she could bring the speedboat without grounding it.

“Jessie!” he shouted.

“Tell me I did great!” Jessie said, triumphant.

“Two head shots—and from a speeding boat? That’s one for the goddamn record books!” Paul said. He felt suddenly, absurdly lighter. “Of course, I had everything under control.”

“Yeah, I could see that,” she replied drily.

Derek Collins approached. His gait was labored; he was winded, and his sweaty face was coated with a layer of sand and silt that gave him a mummified look.

Janson turned around slowly and faced his adversary. “Your idea of fun?”

“What?”

“Were those two your henchmen as well? Or is this another one of those I-had-nothing-to-do-with-it moments ?”

“Goddammit, I had nothing to do with it! How could you think otherwise! They almost killed me, for Christ’s sake! Are you too blind and full of yourself to see the truth when it’s in front of your face? They wanted both us of dead.”

His voice rose with the unabated terror that his whole body exuded. He was probably speaking the truth, Janson decided. But if so, who was behind this latest attempt?

Something about Collins’s manner bothered Janson: for all his candor, he was holding too much back. “Maybe so. But you seem to know who the attackers were.”

Collins looked away.

“Goddammit, Collins. If you’ve got something to say, say it now!” Revulsion once more coursed through Janson as he regarded the frightened yet stony bureaucrat, the man with a calculator for a soul. He couldn’t forget what he’d learned: that Collins was the one who stood by while the sanction order was processed, unconcerned about sacrificing a pawn for his great game. He wanted nothing to do with this man.

“You lose,” Janson said quietly. “Once more. If you want me dead, you’re going to have to try a little harder.”

“I told you, Janson. That was then. This is now. The game plan has changed. That’s why I told you about the program, goddammit—the biggest, most dangerous secret in the entire U.S. of A. And there’s a lot more I’m not authorized to tell you myself.”

“More of your bullshit,” Janson snarled.

“No, it’s true. I can’t tell you what, but there’s a lot you need to know. For Christ’s sake, you’ve got to come with me to Washington, to meet with the Mobius team. We need you to get with the program, OK?” He placed a hand on Janson’s arm. Janson knocked it off.

“You want me to ‘get with the program’? Let me ask you a question first—and you’d better give me a straight answer, because I’ll know if you’re lying.”

“I told you, I’m not authorized to reveal—”