Evan said nothing. René was talking, and there was no advantage in stopping him.

“I know that you hold assets worth twenty-seven million dollars in an account in Zurich.”

Privatbank AG didn’t house the lion’s share of Evan’s money. When Evan was operating as Orphan X, Jack had stocked accounts for him the world over and taught him how to hide behind financial veils, how to wire money invisibly from offshore account to offshore account. The cash was printed by the Treasury and shipped directly to areas of nonreporting. It was as untraceable as Evan himself—at least he’d thought it was. Both he and his bank account seemed to have suffered a sudden bout of visibility.

“We managed to persuade one of the managers there to turn over account information,” René said. “Your client profile—or lack of one—caught our interest. You seem like someone whom no one will miss.”

René’s eyes gleamed. Clearly he enjoyed this part of the dance. His nose was ruddy, spider veins clutching the edges of his nostrils. It looked as though he’d dabbed cover-up over them. A vain man.

“As you’d probably guess,” he continued, “there aren’t a lot of people you can steal twenty-seven million dollars from without anyone else caring. But you happen to be one of those people.”

“You assume you have a handle on who you’re dealing with,” Evan said.

“A drug or arms dealer,” René said. “Everything about you fits the profile. No footprint, digital or otherwise. Conversant in violence. Familiar with detention.”

He waited for Evan to confirm or deny.

When it became clear he would get no response, he continued, “So you worked your illicit trade and made a fortune, if a small one—fortunes not being what they used to be. And then what? You started atoning for your sins? Wiping out the likes of Hector Contrell. Is that what you’re interested in now, Evan? Atonement?”

“Actually, lately it’s been flower arranging.”

René pretended to smile. “I’m always curious about the ways people fool themselves. In fact I admire it. I wish everything weren’t so bare to me. I’m a straightforward man. I like money. More money than one can make honestly. So when my coffers needed replenishing, the question I asked myself was, why deal with drugs or weapons and all the danger that goes with them? Why not go right to the source? So that’s what I did. I looked for a bank account like yours, built up over years of sweat and toil but not linked to anything respectable.” His skin quivered, the smile finding its footing. “Ripe for the taking.”

He seemed to want Evan to compliment him on this ingenious ploy.

Instead Evan asked, “How did you find me?”