It was. He felt almost like she knew so much about him, but he knew nothing of her. If he just had her name, it would make a huge difference. “Come on, you could tell me your name.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because if you don’t, Medusa, I’m gonna have to guess. You may not like my guesses.”

“Every single word can basically be used as a name in China. It would be virtually impossible for you to guess, so feel free.”

“Fine.” He holstered his gun. “Is your name ‘Rong’?”

She stopped short. “What?”

“‘Rong.’ Is it ‘Rong’?”

“Why ‘Rong’?”

“I met a ‘Rong’ once. It was the name that popped into my head. Obviously, I guessed wrong.”

She stood there a minute. “That was a terrible pun.”

Tom laughed. “Yeah, I know. This is what I mean by ‘you don’t want me guessing.’”

“I think we need a gun battle now.”

“Oh, yes,” Tom murmured.

They began circling each other in the swirling dust, and Tom found himself remembering Capitol Summit vividly. Remembered her face, her burned skin, and what he’d done—the way he’d thrown that at her to win. He was a scumbag. He knew it.

“So before I kill you,” Medusa said, “I’m going to give you a chance to explain why you were so persistent in trying to contact me. Then I’m going to explain to you why you are never going to do that again.”

Tom didn’t like the sound of that. “Do it, then. You go first, then I’ll go.”

She nodded. “After you faced treason charges for being in contact with me, someone on your side leaked back to my side that we’d been meeting. My military found out I was communicating with an American. I was questioned, too.”

Tom grew rigid. “How did they find out?”

She brushed off the question dismissively. “I’m sure someone on our side paid off a senator on your side.”

Tom felt a flash of irritation. He should’ve guessed. His dad was right—congressmen should just pledge their allegiance to their bank accounts and cut the lip service to country.

Suddenly, he grew cold. “What did they do to you?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said harshly. “It’s over. The military’s started monitoring me. Everything I do, everywhere I go, every time I hook in. So you see now why your repeated visits into our system are making my life difficult.”

“Yeah.” Tom felt numb. “I see.”