Victor studied the monitor showing an empty hallway outside our door, then turned on the wall screen with a control, revealing a life-size sim. She had long brown hair, pretty Asian features, and wore a sheer white tank top that revealed every inch of her perky breasts. Inexplicably, the lower half of her body was that of a golden-colored mare. Vic was going to play with her after zipping into his full sensory sim suit?

I didn’t ask.

“No. My sources messaged me.” He flipped his Palm from his trouser pocket in one smooth motion, showing me the screen. It was a rendered image of me, with shoulder-length blond hair like I had during the kidnapping. But it wasn’t quite right; my eyes were off, as was the shape of my nose and face. It was like looking at myself in a distorted mirror. I’d since cut my hair short and dyed it back to its original black.

“How’s this possible—”

“Maybe the bodyguard you punched gave a description,” Vic said, tucking the device away.

“No. The smoke I used on them memory-wipes.”

“The friend, then. The shorter girl you mentioned—”

I shook my head. “I was turned away from her when I attacked, then dropped the smoke bomb. If she saw me, it was only in profile, and not for more than a second.”

Victor let out a frustrated breath. “Well, somebody saw you. Maybe snapped a blurry photo.” I’d never seen him like this before—and suddenly realized he was really worried. That’s why he was so pissed. “They were on the twenty-second floor an hour ago, making their way up.” He punched his fist into an open palm. “Thank gods you didn’t run into them in the hallway.”

“Look, I’m sorry I was offline—”

He waved a hand, adopting his usual laid-back manner. “Forget it. You’ve been keeping a low profile, but you need to be even more alert now. These guys are killers—”

A loud knocking startled us, and we spun at the same time to look at the door monitor.

“We know this room’s occupied,” a man with a gruff voice said. “We’ve permission from Rockaroke to ask you a few questions.” Four men dressed in black suits stood outside our door. The man who had knocked was short and thin, but there was one behind him built like a tank, and the two others were tall and lean. Dangerous. They reminded me of sharp blades.

I flipped my own butterfly knife out within a second and snapped it open, exposing the five-inch blade. Victor cursed under his breath and pressed another button on the screen control. His sim girl-pony reached down and pulled off her sheer tank top, revealing breasts even better than I had imagined. She pawed the ground with one hoof and tossed her thick hair.