The Spaniard redirected his gaze to Smith. The wariness was apparent in his expression, but he was also clearly intrigued. “Do I know you? What name do you go by online? How did you access the system from the outside?”

“To take your questions in order: You don’t know me. I go by the name Jon. And I didn’t have to access the system from outside. I just called a friend and he told the NSA to load those screensavers.”

It didn’t take de Galdiano long to come to the most obvious conclusion: Zellerbach had sold him out. This was a sting and he was right at the center of it.

He tried to rise from his seat, but Randi grabbed his shoulder and shoved him back down. “Relax. We’re not here to expose you or arrest you. We’re here to ask for your help.”

“It’s true,” Zellerbach said, leaning conspiratorially across the table and scratching a little more at his beard. “They really are my friends. You can trust them.”

De Galdiano’s eyes flicked nervously back and forth—at them, at the square, at the sparsely populated tables. “What do you want?”

Smith nodded subtly toward Zellerbach. It would be better to let him talk.

“It’s a problem with the Merge, Javier.”

“What kind of problem?”

“You know all those weird upgrade paths?”

Smith watched him carefully, looking for any hint that would indicate he was in on Dresner’s plan. Nothing.

“Yes.”

“They’re not upgrade paths at all. They’re a hidden subsystem.”

“A hidden…” His voice faded for a moment. “To what purpose?”

“Killing people. I figured out how to trigger it and it stopped a man’s heart.”

“Impossible.”

The waitress approached and Randi spoke casually to her in Spanish. “Coffee for everyone. That’s all.”

“I wanted those chocolate churros,” Zellerbach whined as she walked away.

“Focus, Marty.”

De Galdiano tried to get up again and this time it was Smith who shoved him back into his seat.

“This is bullshit,” the trapped Spaniard said in a harsh whisper. “I don’t know who you people are but you look like you work for the American government. Two more paranoid spies who think everyone spends their days trying to think up ways to hurt you. Christian Dresner has given more to this world than anyone alive: His antibiotics are on their way to wiping out resistance worldwide, he’s massively advanced childhood education and nutrition, he’s all but cured deafness. And now he’s handed us the most transformational technology since the printing press. Is it possible that you’re just angry because you can’t control it? Or maybe you don’t like what LayerCake has to say about you and people like you.”

“What Marty’s telling you is true,” Smith said.