“Get your hands off me!” Berman yelled. His voice was thick from drink.
“Relax, Zachary. I realize I owe you an explanation,” said Jimmy.
“You sure do.” Berman was steamed, especially since he had been manhandled by Jimmy Yan’s security. Jimmy was his friend; they were business partners, and Berman didn’t appreciate being touched. The whole day had taken an ugly turn.
“Zachary, I assure you that nothing has changed in our relationship.”
“You could have fooled me. What was going on out there? If I didn’t know better, I would say that the winner was running with respirocytes in her system, and you say nothing has changed? The only place in the world where respirocytes are made is Nano.”
“I said nothing has changed. Well, maybe the timetable we’re on has been altered slightly.”
“What does that mean? And who was that woman? I swear I never saw her before in my life.”
“She is China’s new heroine and world champion. She deserves to be congratulated. And you should be congratulated, too, Zachary. And you, Miss Jones.”
“What does her victory have to do with me?” said Berman.
“Wei had been given a dose according to the newest protocol of respirocytes in a secret training location in China.”
“What!” Berman shot out of his seat, only to be thrust back down into it by the guards. “That is outrageous! That is not how it was to be. We have our agreement! The technology is hardly finished, and you’ve stolen it already.”
“I wouldn’t say we have stolen it. We borrowed some respirocytes, as a loan against the sum — the huge sum, I might add — we are about to pay for the ability to share proprietary information and manufacture the nanorobots in China. And we are sitting here to complete our end of the deal. So really no harm has been done.”
Jimmy turned and spoke to one of the associates at the table.
“What is he saying?” Berman asked Whitney. “Did you know anything about this?”
“No! Of course not. He is asking for the wire transfer to be prepared.”
“I don’t have the decryption key for the Web sites with the technological specs,” said Berman. “I didn’t imagine I’d need them today.”
“I took the liberty of bringing your machine with me,” said Jimmy, and handed Berman his laptop.
“Why are you doing this? Why are we not waiting for the marathon, as we agreed?”
“We decided we didn’t have to wait. My superiors added more conditions to the deal, and they insisted I not share them with you. We had to replicate your anticipated success at the championships with a winning runner of our own. As the men’s marathon is the last event, that presented us with a problem.”
“How did you get hold of the respirocytes? Do you have spies in my company? Who are they? I’ll find out if you don’t tell me, and there’ll be hell to pay.”
“Zachary, please do not get agitated about any of this. You are wasting your energy. We are fully committed to nanotechnology and our partnership, and this money is the sign of our commitment. Miss Jones, please look at these details on the screen. Tell me if they look good to you.”
Jimmy slid the two laptops over to Whitney, and she read the information. The amount of money, the huge amount, was correct. The bank was right; she had memorized the account number, and that was good, too.
“It looks fine to me,” she said. “Everything seems to be in order.”
“How can I ever trust you again?” Berman was staring at Jimmy. His voice wavered.
“That is not for me to answer, Zachary.” Jimmy said. “Understand that the situation was out of my control. You have to believe me. Now please, if you could pass me the codes, we will access the Web site.”
“And then what?”
“What do you mean?”
“What happens after I do that?”
“The money goes to Nano’s account,” said Jimmy. “As we agreed. And we have access to the company’s technical specifications. Officially. Then we can begin to make nanorobots and share with you in the future research.”
“And then we go back to the vicarage?”
“Unfortunately, that will not be possible.”
“But… Pia…” said Berman, stumbling over his words. And the worst part of what had just happened suddenly occurred to him.
The more time that passed without a call from Harry, the nearer Burim Graziani was to the end of his rope. He had gone to Piccadilly Circus, the station on the underground that seemed best situated for access to anywhere in London. Burim figured the Underground was the way to go if he was in a hurry, as the Friday-night traffic in the center part of the city was impossible. It was almost eleven o’clock, and he had heard nothing for hours. If there was a fate worse than death, Burim had read about it that afternoon. He knew about the sex traffickers, and what the girls these men took were subjected to. He could barely contain his fury. Someone was going down for this and that someone was going to be Zachary Berman.
“You bastard.”
“Zachary, I am saving you from yourself. You have been useless these past two weeks. Miss Jones has been running Nano single-handedly while you have been monomaniacally obsessed with this Pia woman. You have spent your days and nights mooning over her. And I saw last night that she will never give herself to you voluntarily. As we have discussed, it is okay to have a weakness, but this woman is a fatal flaw in you. You’re like a character in a Greek tragedy.”
“I will see to it that you—”
“You will see to nothing. Yell and scream all you want. You have your money; we have the proprietary information. We have made arrangements for you to leave. Your plane is scheduled to depart from Stansted in ninety minutes to take you back to Boulder. By the time you get home, you will have seen the reason for what we have done and understand it.”
“But where is Pia?”
“Obviously I am not going to tell you anything. In fact, I don’t know where she is. In order to retain our… standing… we used an intermediary to tidy up your mess. I couldn’t tell you where she was if I wanted to. Now you will leave. Voluntarily or otherwise, it is all the same to me. Go home, Zachary! Go back to that castle of yours, and find another diversion. You deserve a rest.”
“I know I have been distracted,” said Berman. “But I beg you to reconsider what you are doing. I know that Pia will come around by the time of the marathon. That was our agreement. She told me herself she was changing her mind. Damn you, you bastard.”
Jimmy shrugged and told his men to make sure Berman got in the car downstairs without incident. He would follow them as they drove out to Stansted Airport.
When Burim’s phone rang, he could hardly hear it over the noise of the crowd. There must have been a hundred kids with guitars, all sitting in the center of the square, all playing the same stupid song.
“Is this Burim?” said a voice Burim didn’t recognize.
“Who is this?” Burim jammed a finger in his other ear and walked as fast as he could away from the din.
“I know where your daughter is being held.”
“If you do anything to her, I will kill you,” said Burim.
“I’m not holding her; there are two men,” said the voice. Burim was trying to place the accent. Not Albanian for sure, not European at all.
“Just tell me where she is.”
“Wimbledon.”
“The tennis place? Give me the address.”
The man gave Burim the details, which he memorized. Then the man asked “Where are you?”
“Central London.”
“You’d better be fast.”
Burim memorized what the man told him and started thumbing through the London A — Z guide he had bought for just this eventuality. When he found it, he phoned Harry and told him about the call.