“Haverty discovered a threshold. Anything smaller than, say, a pill, and Cardale’s body could absorb it. Anything larger, and his body would physically reject the intrusion. However, if he was unable to reject the object, his body could not heal.”

Stell thought of Eli, awake on the operating table, his chest pinned open as Haverty worked.

“We’ve had R and D on this project for months. Go ahead, try it.”

Stell pressed the concave button, and the collar’s inner ring collapsed, folding at the seam so that the band of metal transformed into a vicious spike.

“It’s designed,” explained the man in black, “to sever a human spinal column between the fourth and fifth vertebrae. In an ordinary person, such an injury would result in permanent paralysis. Due to Cardale’s condition, the effects would obviously be temporary, but they should be just as effective.”

“This is, of course, only an suggestion.” The woman in navy shot him a thin smile.

“You are still EON’s director, after all.”

Stell returned the collar to the case, the board’s logic warring with the lead weight in his stomach.

“But we would strongly advise you to handle this EO, and handle her swiftly. Using any and every means necessary.”

XVI

BACK IN MERIT

STELL’S house key always stuck in the lock.

He knew he should get it fixed, but he didn’t spend much time at home. Slept in his own bed one night in three. Ate most of his meals in EON’s canteen. He wasn’t sure what made him drive from the airport into the city instead of back toward EON, didn’t even realize what he was doing until he was halfway there. But his head was still cluttered from the meeting with the board, and the two whiskeys on the plane had done nothing to clear it, and Stell realized he didn’t want to step through those doors until he knew exactly what he planned to do.

About Marcella.

About Eli.

Stell shrugged out of his coat. Lit a cigarette, even before he set the steel briefcase on the kitchen table. Slid the clasps.

The smooth metal collar sat nested in its velvet groove.

You are not using your assets.

Was the board right?

Send me.

Stell lowered himself into a chair.

You will never see the outside of this cell.

Was he letting his past color his judgment?

Or was he just listening to his gut?

He rubbed his eyes. Took a long drag of the cigarette, filling his lungs with smoke. The collar glinted in its case, EON’s solution—but

not Stell’s. Not yet.

His cell rang. Stell answered without looking at the screen.

“Hello?”

He’d expected Rios, or a member of the board, but the voice on the line was smooth, sultry.

“Joseph,” it said with all the warmth of an old friend.

He frowned, stubbing out the cigarette. “Who is this?”