Chapter 2: The Assignment

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It was a big relief when Davis sat – at least it was for me.

I thought that I'd been tense before. Then Davis popped his Link from its Jack, breaking the hold that the Boss's box had over him, and I suddenly realized that I was the only obstacle between Davis and the door.

The situation resolved itself quickly – so quickly that I wondered if anyone else even noticed – but I certainly noticed, and wasn't too happy about it. What had I been expected to do if Davis had gone for the door? Step aside? Tackle him? Bash him on the head, this time for real? None were very good options, but being left to guess was what really bothered me. If the Boss had foreseen this, he should have said something. If he hadn't, then… well, that seemed like a pretty big oversight to me.

I unlatched the door and checked the hallway – thankfully empty – then headed back with the laptop to my end of the table. Halfway back, I caught Davis staring. I was puzzled me for a minute, then realized I was still carrying the Boss's cane in my hand.

It was too late to use it by then, of course, so I just kept going, but I did try to work in a limp the rest of the way.

Booting the laptop and reconnecting to the network was something I did all the time, but not while watched and waited on. I managed though, looking carefully through all the nearby cameras and router logs (twice!) before I shook my head. "Nope. Nobody in sight."

"Keep watch," ordered the Boss. "Don't get distracted." Again. He didn't actually say the word, but he might as well have.

"Now, " he said, turning back toward Davis, "why did you want to see me?"

"I’m here on behalf of a friend of mine - Dr. Benoni Doulos." Davis said the name slowly, lingering over each syllable. "You've heard of him?"

The Boss nodded agreement. "Your business partner."

That amused Davis. "I suppose - we did start GGC together." He dismissed that with a wave. "I'm just a businessman. Benny's much more than just a CEO - he's our Chief Scientist, and a genius of world renown. He's the reason we're one of the top corporations in the world. Whenever people talk about us - about our whole industry, in fact – it's Benny they think of."

"And yet," prompted the Boss, dryly, "he has a problem."

Davis deflated a bit. "Right, " he conceded. "That's right. Benny… Benny has a daughter, Althea – Thea, we call her." He hesitated uncertainly, then held his nose and jumped. "She's disappeared. It's been six months already. I want you to find her."

The Boss leaned back, and put his hand to his beard. His face was almost invisible beneath his disguise, but I knew he was frowning. Davis seemed to realized it too.

"This daughter… how old is she?"

"16," Davis promptly answered. What seemed like an odd question to me didn't appear to bother Davis at all. "16 and a half, actually. She disappeared about a week after her birthday."

The Boss stalled for a moment, patting his lips before he spoke again. "You do understand … I'm not a detective."

"I wouldn't be here if you were," reassured Davis. "I had my fill of detectives months ago. All they want to do ask questions that no one can answer. Well, I don't care any more how it happened or who's to blame. Just tell me where the girl is now. I can handle the rest."

The Boss nodded again to show he was listening. Otherwise, he didn't react.

Davis slid forward to the edge of his seat, eager to seal the deal. "I can get you pictures, video, biometric data – anything you need to identify her." He smiled, then gave a little shrug. "You said I paid you generously for this meeting. Well, I'll pay you 10 times that to find her: half now, half when you tell me where she is."

Still the Boss hesitated - and in that, he had my sympathy. On the one hand, here was this extremely powerful man, apparently convinced we could do what he wanted, who'd just gone through a lot so he could ask us to do it. On the other hand, he was completely crackers. That made it tough to know what to say.

The Boss and I weren't just "not detectives". We were computer hackers. I'd just spend the last eight years breaking into old abandoned systems, and collecting statistics from a variety of ancient, idle databases. But finding one girl on a planet of billions? I didn't even have the faintest idea where to start.

So we were left with too choices, it seemed to me: tell this powerful, potentially dangerous client just how crazy he was; or smile and take his money, knowing we could not help him. Neither seemed like a good idea, but, knowing the Boss the way that I did, his choice, when he made it, didn't surprise me at all.

His voice cool and even, he answered Davis with a question. "What makes you think that's even possible?"

Davis was taken aback. "Are you saying it isn't?"

The Boss shrugged. "I suppose I could do what the police must have done: check her financial accounts for activity, search hospital records…"

"No, no," interrupted Davis, clearly not happy.

"Well, I'm not a magician," cautioned the Boss. He reached up and adjusted the wig on his head (which didn’t improve his appearance any). "I can't just…”, swirled his free hand in front of him, ”…over a map and make her current location light up."

Davis’s face went slack. He squinted a bit at the Boss, then over at me. Even disguised, I must have been transparent as glass, because that's when his face began to tighten with anger.

"No," he said at last, completely transformed. His voice was tinged with distain. "No, you're no magician." A muscle under his smooth face rippled. "Those sons of bitches!"

His outburst wasn't directed at us, but even the splash-back was unpleasant. "I should have know better," he muttered, still fuming. "I don't know how I let them take me in."

"Who?" asked the Boss.

At first I thought that Davis didn't even hear the question, he was so distracted by his fury. Then his focus returned to the room with a snap. "Blackbone," he answered, almost spitting. "A group of hackers out of Russia. You know them?"

The Boss nodded reluctantly.

"Of course you do" said Davis, disgusted. "They certainly know you. They're the ones sent me here." The anger inside him flared up again. "Bastards! First they took my money and gave me nothing; now they've wasted my time.”

"What did they say about me?"

Davis hesitated, eyeing the Boss as he made up his mind. "I’ll tell you,” he decided. "They said that you once hunted them across all of Russia and half of Eastern Europe. They said you did it for weeks… months. That it didn’t matter what they did – replace their equipment, change their appearance, travel under false IDs – as soon as they set up shop, you were there with a warning message and then… nothing. That you cut them completely off the net."

Davis shook his head, still amazed at his own error. "I wouldn't have believed them, but they didn't seem be boasting about it. They really seemed to admire you, and fear you in equal measure. They said crossing you was like being cursed by God."

His expression and tone were filled with distaste, both for his own gullibility, and at us, for not being what he wanted.

"They claimed that, since you were able to find experienced hackers so easily, you certainly ought to be able to find one teenage girl." Davis rubbed his face, seeming suddenly weary. "I suppose that the idea of finding her directly was too appealing to me; like skipping to the back of a book. Of course, it was too good to be true." His voice hardened. "Still, they're going to pay for this."

Despite his contempt for us, I was almost tempted to say something; to at least offer some sympathy. But it wasn't my place to speak. For his part, the Boss dropped his head again, and said nothing either. Davis gathered himself in silence.

"I should thank you for not trying to cheat me yourself," he said at last. "Of course, you've been well paid for this meeting – I suppose that's sufficient." Rising to his feet, he lifted his hand. "If you'll return my Link…"

"What about Blackbone?" interrupted the Boss.

Davis started at the interruption, then laughed harshly. "Don’t worry about them. They won't be telling any more tales about you."

But the Boss persisted. "What are you going to do?"

Davis shrugged. "They're hackers," he said, mock-innocently. "What they do is criminal." His smile was cold. "GGC has plenty of friends inside the Kremlin. I expect the whole gang will be in custody by the time I get home." His smile broadened, shark-like. "They weren't quite as cautious about their identities as you are." Davis then extended his hand again. "Now, if you please - my Link?"

The plan was always to return Davis's Link… but not while he was still in the room like that. Still, the Boss distractedly raised one hand slowly toward his shirt pocket. But he didn't reach inside. Instead, he rested his hand over his heart, then patted himself slowly on the chest: one… two… three… He then turned his head slightly, just enough so I knew he was glancing my way, before bringing his hand back down, still empty.

"They didn't lie," he told Davis softly.

Davis stood very still, loaming over the seated Boss. Ever so slowly, he let his arm fall to his side. "I bet your pardon?"

"They told you the truth," admitted the Boss. "I did what they said."

Davis's voice was flat. "You were lying before?" He shot me a look. "Both of you?"

The Boss ran his hand over his fake beard. "The boy didn't know," he understated, "and I didn't lie. I simply… encouraged your doubts." That was the first time I ever saw the Boss look embarrassed – as well he should.

Davis sank back into his seat, eyes fixed on the Boss. "Prove it."

Now it was the Boss's on the burner. "What do you want me to say?" he asked, reluctant. "It was 2021, 2022 – the first winter after the Collapse. I noticed someone taking attacking the network. Serious, coordinated attacks, aimed at the infrastructure." He shrugged. "I traced back the source. Then I stopped them."

"They're vandals, then?" prodded Davis.

"They were children,” the Boss replied, correcting him. “They caused a little damage, yes, but randomly, like someone breaking windows in an abandoned building. What they did was irresponsible… but you remember what things were like back them."

The edge in his voice softened as he remembered, with a sadness almost like nostalgia. "I tried just fending them off for a while, hoping they'd get bored… but they proved too persistent, and kept getting better. I only stopped them the way I did because I had to – because, otherwise, they'd eventually have gotten past me and done some real damage."

Davis was skeptical. "And now you want to protect them?"

"I don't care what happens to them," the Boss protested crisply, "if they get caught for something they've done. That's their business, and their problem. But…", again his tone softened, "… we settled our differences. They agreed to grow up, and to stay away from this continent; I agreed to leave them alone."

With an effort, the Boss pulled himself back to the present, confronting Davis squarely. "They've kept their word to me, as far as I know. Telling you about our encounter doesn't matter - it wasn't part of the deal. They've done nothing wrong."

Davis mulled this over. "All right,” he conceded. “Let's say I accept that. Let's say they were telling the truth." A hint of amusement entered his voice. "And you're right, too - they’re very careful not to break your agreement. They refused to read the data that I wanted analyzed off any of our servers; I had to deliver it to them by hand. It was odd but acceptable to me, so I didn't challenge it. But now it makes sense."

"However," he purred, amusement fading as his eyes narrowed, "there's still one thing I don't understand." He leaned close to the table. "Why? Why deceive me?"

I have to admit, I’d been wondering that myself.

The Boss still seemed off-balance, struggling to find an explanation. "You put me in… a difficult position," he said at last.

Davis just scoffed. "What 'difficult position'? You can do the work. My offer is more than fair. You should have jumped at the opportunity!"

"If I could succeed for you, yes," agreed the Boss, still warming up. "I'd have earned your money, and maybe even your gratitude. But if I failed?"

Davis waved that away. "Why should you? Tracking down Blackstone was a much harder task."

"You think so?" It was the Boss’s turn to scoff. “I was already an old man then; I’m much older now. The world has changed. The network has changed." The Boss had his feet under him now. "But the biggest different of all is this: your young woman is already gone."

Davis's disdain was heartfelt. "That's your excuse?"

"How do you think I found those people?" countered the Boss. "The only information available to me are transactions over the net: purchases bought and sold, information accessed, services utilized. The theory is simple: every person's transactions form a characteristic pattern which is more-or-less unique. But in practice, isolating those transactions is like picking out the individual notes from just one player in a billion-piece orchestra.

"Before I flushed Blackstone, and put them on the run, I had the time to study each of the individual members in as much detail as I wanted. I learned all their vices, their comforts, and all their obsessions." The Boss smiled then – he almost sounded affectionate. "If you've met them, then you must know – those Blackbone boys are classic computer nerds, of a kind you don't find in this country anymore. They’re practically made of esoteric quirks.

"They may have told you they changed everything. They may even believe it themselves. But they couldn’t change themselves. That's what made it possible to find them no matter what else they hid. I could monitor for activities that fit their patterns, wait for a series of activities to converged on a single person, then check that person's history, confirming or rejecting their identity."

Davis rose from his seat and circled his chair, both weighing the Boss's argument and exorcising his growing frustration. He stopped halfway around, and leaned over the seatback.

“You can do all that,” snarled Davis, “yet somehow you’ve decided you can’t do the same thing for Thea? I have a complete inventory of her room. I have records of everything she's ever bought, going back almost to before she could walk. I have the reports from the local police, the FBI, and from a dozen other investigatory teams sent by nations friendly to GGC around the world. But you just assume that there is nothing for you to use in any of that?"

“You’re missing the point,” snapped the Boss, growing angry himself. “I didn't say it was impossible. I said it’s much harder, and failure is likely.” He leaned forward., pressing the point. “Then what? If I can’t find her after a month, or six, or a year? How long would you wait before deciding that I cheated you? You were going to sic the Kremlin onto Blackbone. Who are you planning to sic onto me?"

Davis had the good sense to just stand there in silence, letting the words flow over him without defending or objecting. Only after the Boss, satisfied that his point had been made, had eased back from the table did Davis dare to move, completing the circuit around his chair and carefully sitting.

“What I hear you saying,” offered Davis in a careful, neutral voice, “is that you’re afraid. That the probability of success is too low, and the risk to you too high.” He nodded slowly. “Let's assume that's true."

Steepling his fingers in front of his lips, he looked speculatively at the Boss. “What if I were to promise you, here and now, that I would unconditionally accept whatever you find after, say, six months of searching. No doubts, no threats, no risk.” He lowered his hands. “All I ask in return,” he said, “is your solemn word that you will search for her with all your skill during that time; and, that if you find her, you will tell me immediately tell me where she is.” He smiled then, open and friendly. “What do you say to that?"

If he’d have asked me, I’d have said yes just to get out of there. But to my dismay, the Boss sat still for only a moment, then slumped backwards into his chair. His silent rejection of the offer was louder than if he had shouted.

Davis eased back too. "So. Now we know."

It was safe to say we weren't friends any more.

"That's fine," continued Davis. "I'm a fair man. I don't want to force you to take my money." The Boss said nothing, but Davis nodded as if he understood. "You do see my problem though, don't you? I can't come this close to a solution, then simply walk away empty handed."

He folded his hands under his chin. "Let’s try this. Give me the name of somebody else – someone who can do the things you can do, as well or better than you can do them yourself. Give me that, and I'll walk right out that door."

Still the Boss said nothing.

Davis shook his head sadly. "You're not leaving me many options. I've run out of carrots. All I'm left with is…"

Without warning, the Boss twisted to look in my direction. “We're going,” he said simply. “Start packing up."

I got to my feet, a little uncertainly. Was this a bluff?

The Boss hauling himself out of his slumped position. "I won't be threatened," he told the astonished Davis. "We have nothing more to discuss.

“Go back the way you came, then straight out the front door and down the street for 15 minutes. Do exactly as you’re told, and you’ll find this,” patting the pocket containing the Link, “when you return. Do not loiter, do not deviate, and do not come back early, unless you want to be stranded here without it. We will be watching your movements through the campus security cameras."

While the Boss gave instructions, I walked slowly to the front of the table, still pretending to limp. Bluff or not, I had to play it out as best I could.

There wasn't really a lot to pack. We weren't about to take off our disguises. And, if we really were going to watch Davis's movements, the laptop neared to stay where it was. All that left was the stuff on the table in front of the Boss.

To reach his junk, I needed to squeeze in right beside Davis. As you might expect, there was a certain tension between the two men - even Beau was on his feet under the table – so I tried hard not to be noticed. Gingerly, I reached for the Boss’s rough wooden Box…

Davis said my name. “Seth, isn’t it?”

My head jerked around at the sound of my name, but Davis wasn’t even looking my way. His eyes were still locked on the Boss.

“What is he, your grandson?” he asked.

"What? No!"

I knew that was a mistake the minute I said it… but I just couldn’t help myself. The Boss's scowl made itself felt right through his fake beard.

Davis continued as though I hadn't spoken. "Is that a laptop he's using?" he asked, marveling. "I haven't seen one of those in years."

He dropped the phony innocence. "Did you think I wouldn't notice? Obviously, neither of you could have been a Link earlier. Otherwise, you'd have ended up on the carpet beside me. But neither of you have put one in since. Why not? Why would anybody choose to use a laptop instead?"

Stricken, I looked to the Boss for guidance. But he just sat there, more stone-faced than ever.

Davis continued, playfully: "You know what I think? I think you're both Refuseniks. Is that right? Is that what you are?" He chuckled to himself. "Here, I'd always thought of Refuseniks as backwards, anti-social sorts."

He heaved an exaggerated sigh. "I suppose I'll have to look into you people, and clear up my misconceptions. Who are these Refuseniks? Do some of them actually have technical backgrounds? Which ones? And what kinds of mischief might they be up to?"

Davis leaned back and grinned, convinced that he had our number. But he was mistaken.

"An ambitious project," sneered the Boss. "Finding those who wish to stay hidden can be enormously difficult – but then, you know that, don't you?"

There was no fear in the tone that Davis was hearing. For the first time, a worried look stole onto his face.

Now it was the Boss turn to be cold and mocking: "I'd offer advice, but I think I'll be occupied with a project of my own. I too will be uncovering secrets. My project, though, is much simpler than yours. The people I'll be examining are public figures, living in a world which tracks their every activity. Fortunately, I do have some experience with that sort of thing."

He rose to his feet. Now it was his turn to loom over Davis. "Be sure to let me know when you finish. I'd be fascinated to learn how far you get. I'd offer to return the favor, but that would be hollow. Everyone will know whatever I find – I'll see to that." The Boss pointed to the door. "Don't let me keep you."

Davis had a beautiful face. I mention that now because, for the first time since he arrived, it was ugly. The man was absolutely beside himself, and fighting hard not to lose control.

“You son of a bitch,” he said, meaning every syllable.

He sprang to his feet right beside me, breaking the spell which had frozen me in place. But even as I stumbled back a step, I found myself rolling my eyes and muttering “language” under my breath. Silly maybe - but I knew all too well how little those words would help him with the Boss.

“You stubborn jackass!” he continued… and I felt a twinge of sympathy. Also true. Also wouldn’t help.

Davis turned and stomped a few steps away… which was a good idea. If he had put his hands on the Boss instead, things would have really gotten out of hand. Sympathy can only go so far.

"You really think I care about you and your secrets?" asked Davis bitterly. "All I want is your help. Why won't you give it? Jealousy? Resentment? Is that why you live such a pathetic life, hidden away in the shadows?”

Completely the wrong approach. The Boss hadn’t cared when Davis thought we were ridiculous and incompetent; why would he care what he thought of us now?

Davis must have figured that out for himself, because he turned again and marched to the door. He stopped one final time in the threshold.

“So that's it then? I’m supposed to walk away, and trust you to leave my Link where I can find it? Or was that another lie? Should I even bother to come back here, or do you plan to strand me in this wilderness?”

“I said we’d leave it for you,” rumbled the Boss, “and we will.”

Even Davis's laughter was bitter. “Ah, yes. You do have your pretension of honor. What a joke. Where was your honor when you agreed to this meeting? You were never going to help me no matter what I said."

Davis turned to go… then jerked to a halt when the Boss called out, “You’re wrong.” The words seemed to burst from him, surprising all of us – including the Boss.

Davis's turned back slowly, like a cat toward the sound of rustling leaves, and eased one step back into the room. "Wrong?" he asked, his tone curiously gentle.

The Boss took a breath that was almost a sigh. His regret for having spoken was almost tangible. "I came in good faith," he answered, bitter at his own mistake.

Davis moved another step closer. "Then why?" he coaxed. "Why aren't you willing to help this girl?"

The Boss stiffened, and for a moment I thought that he'd panicked. Then I found out where Beau had learned to snort, as the Boss made the exact same sound, then started to laugh.

"You're right," he said. "I should just tell you. I didn't want to offend you, but it's too late for that now."

"Offend me?" asked Davis, taken aback. "How could you possibly offend me?"

"Come now," answered the Boss. "You ask me why I would help out 'this girl', when she's in fact a 16 year old young woman…"

“A minor child," Davis objected. "Her father has every legal right…”

“I’m not a policeman,” snapped the Boss, “and you aren’t her father.”

Davis drew himself up sharply. “What’s that supposed to imply?”

The Boss lifted his arms in an elaborate shrug. “A young woman might have any number of reasons to leave home…”

“That’s outrageous!” Davis shouted, marching in toward the Boss. “Are you suggesting there was abuse? On what basis?”

The Boss didn’t flinch. He did, however, sound a little appalled. “I didn’t say abuse," he defended – and, in all honesty, the thought probably hadn't occurred to him. "I don’t know her reasons. But sometimes… often… children reject their upbringing." Davis's skeptical look only made the Boss more insistent. "Perhaps she disapproves of her father’s lifestyle. Perhaps he disapproves of her friends. Perhaps she’s turned against his work. Perhaps she's discovered God…”

At that, Davis dropped back a half step. "Is that all?" he laughed. "Is that you're big objection?" He shook his head in disbelief. “I pegged you right after all – a high-tech Luddite. And here I thought the people like you had all gone to sleep.” Davis stepped back up, right into the Boss’s face. “What makes you so sure that she’s run away in the first place?”

“You did,” accused the Boss. “What did you tell me? That she 'disappeared'? What a conveniently ambiguous term to be using six months after the fact. But you couldn't afford to be specific, could you? You need to have it both ways. The only way I'd be willing to look for her is if she had been taken by force. The only way I could possibly succeed is if she ran away, and was free to interact with the network.

"So you tried to play on my sympathy and natural desire to rescue, while leaving open the possibility that she’s somewhere out on the streets. I don't know what you want. But you never interested in helping her. You only want me to help you.”

Their faces were only inches apart. It was starting to look like I might have to weald the cane after all.

Then, to my surprise, Davis backed away, shaking his head, and sprawled out onto his chair.

“Old man,” he laughed, “have you ever been wrong? If not, I’m afraid the shock might kill you.” He raised one hand, and waved it languidly. “Sit down, “ he commanded, then turned to me. “You too, gimpy.” Neither the Boss nor I moved, so Davis sharpened his tone. “Sit!”

I looked to the Boss for guidance. After a moment, he nodded me toward my seat. Davis let us both settle before sitting up with a sneer.

"You built quite a case out of a couple of sentences," he said. "Did it ever occurred to you that I call Thea 'girl' because that's what she is to me? I've known her since the day she was born. Of course she's become a young woman – but she'll always be a little girl to me.

"As for your preposterous notions about abuse – I'd laugh at them if I weren't so disgusted. You haven't the faintest idea how much Bennie loves that girl. He doted on her, gave her everything she could possibly want. He was utterly incapable of denying her anything - so much so, it's amazing she wasn't completely spoiled. But he must have done something right, because she grew up smart, strong, and completely self-possessed – hardly what you'd expect from a child of abuse.

"You point out that I'm not her father, as if that mattered. Well, it does matter, though not for the reasons you seem to think. This is killing Benny. Thea is all the family that Benny has, and he loves her more than anything else – more than his work, more than our company, maybe even more than his own life. He hasn't spent one night at home since she vanished. He stays in his personal lab day and night, for all the good that does him. He's so stricken with grief that he can't work, he can't sleep – he barely remembers to eat. He won't come out, and he won't see anybody except me. I've been forced to cover for him this whole time, just so our stockholders won't panic.

"But the biggest joke of all is your fixation on the word 'disappeared'. Did it ever occur to you that I might have said 'disappeared' because I meant 'disappeared'? I don't know if she was kidnapped. I don't know if she ran away." Davis smiled grimly. "All I know for sure is this: early afternoon on a fine spring day, Althea Doulos came home to an empty house, walked inside, and simply vanished from the face of the earth."

Nonplused, the Boss shook his head. "She couldn't just… vanish."

Davis let out a dry, humorless laugh. "Live with the idea for six months – you'll find it grows on you.

"She's on the estate's surveillance video, walking into the house. The system scanned her retina, and let her into the house. A few hours later, her father came home. When he became concerned, he called me, and I came over. I eventually called security, and they came over. The recording is unequivocal: nobody left in between, and nobody else arrived."

Despite himself, the Boss was being drawn in. "Did they search the house?"

Davis rolled his eyes. "Of course they searched the house! The walls and floors have all been X-rayed. Every room has been measured, and the whole house modeled, to confirm that there were no hidden spaces. Even the foundation has been excavated and checked for breaches."

"A foolish question," admitted the Boss. "My apologies."

Davis sighed and waved his hand. "No, go ahead and ask. I'd hoped not to waste time on this, but it's obviously hopeless trying to avoid it."

The Boss hesitated, then nodded. "What do the police say?" he asked.

"They have no idea," replied Davis. "Oh, they suggest that it must be kidnapping, but that just because they've nothing else to say. They have no proof. There's no sign of forced entry, and no sign of struggle. There's no forensic evidence of any kind – not even a smudge that hasn't been accounted for. And no one's taken credit – there've been no threats, no demands for ransom.

"But there's no sign she ran away either. Nothing is missing from the house except the clothes that she was wearing. Everything else – luggage, wardrobe, makeup, jewelry – all still there and untouched. And no one has so much as checked the balance of any of her financial accounts."

"There was no warning of any kind? No unusual behavior on her part?"

"No, no warnings. As for unusual behavior…" Davis sighed. "If you look hard enough, you find fairy dust everywhere. Was she a little withdrawn one night? Was she a little too talkative the next? Was she angry, or giddy, or sad?" He shrugged. "The last people to see her were at the tennis courts, where she has a regular lesson scheduled. From the surveillance video at the courts, everything seemed fine."

"What about her coach? What about the staff, and her friends? Did any of them notice anything? Did they all seem genuinely surprised that she's gone?"

Davis reacted with disbelief. "What, you think that we told them? If any of them were involved somehow, that would just put them on their guard. Better to watch them, and hope they'd lead us to Thea. They were all eventually questioned, of course, but under a cover story – an investigation into charges that someone had been spiking girls' drinks. They asked about the behavior of dozens of girls, Thea among them. Of course, nothing came of it."

"So, no one else knows? How do you explain her absence?"

Davis sighed and shook his head. "I don't know where you're going with this. Obviously, someone would have noticed. Obviously, we dealt with it. We let word get around that the foundation of Benny's house had suddenly developed a defect, making the whole house unsafe. That explained everything – why strangers were coming and going, why the foundation was excavated, and why Thea and Benny had to move out. We told Thea's coach that she had to cancel her lessons; that she has taken the disruption as an excuse to go overseas for a while, to live and study with the monks in a Buddhist temple in India.. Apparently, that's the hot new thing among the young and wealthy, and it explained both her sudden departure and why she was now out of touch. It's a small world we live in. Word got around quickly. Nobody's questioned it."

"The reason I asked," explained the Boss, "is because I don't understand why you bothered. If you took the money that you're offering me, and offered it as a reward instead, you'd have half the eyes on the planet looking for the girl for you. So why keep it a secret?"

"Because the other half of the planet would be either claiming to have seen her, or to have taken her themselves!" Davis rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "It's different when you're very rich. The whole world seems like a threat."

He took a deep breath then and tried again, clearly hoping to be understood. "When this first happened, we were sure it was a kidnapping. There was no ransom note, and we didn't know how it'd been done, but given the obvious effort required to make it happen, what else could it be? Secrecy made sense then. Alarming her captors would almost certainly endanger Thea.

"Eventually, when no ransom demand appeared, we had to accept that maybe this wasn't a simple kidnapping. Still, secrecy seemed our best chance of catching those involved. After all, some kind of organized effort had to be responsible for her disappearance. If we kept quite, maybe they'd grow over-confident, and make a mistake.

"By now, of course, those hopes are gone. Maybe going public is the best we can do. But risks remain. Even if, as you believe, she is out there by choice, going public could endanger her if it forced her further underground. And offering a reward would make her more vulnerable to injury or even kidnap by the over-zealous and greedy."

"And if she's under someone else's control…", mused the Boss, darkly.

"Don't even think about that," urged Davis. "Now you see why, before we put ourselves and her through all that, we need to exhausted every other possibility first."

He leaned forward, grimly intense. "At this point, that means you."

Now the Boss was really in a corner. Still, he wouldn't give in.

"You do realize," he said slowly, "given the way she vanished, the odds of finding are even lower than thought before. As you say, it would have taken much more skill and effort than a typical angry teenager could or would exert. In my opinion, solving that mystery is still your best chance of resolving this."

Davis shook his head. "That's pointless," he said. "All the possibilities has been exhausted."

But the Boss persisted, speaking with great care. "Perhaps so…, but I'd be willing to take a look at the security system and videos for you. Those are the obvious weak points. If someone broke into the system, they could have performed a conventional kidnapping, then simply erased themselves from the surveillance record."

I half expected Davis to blow up again, but this time the Boss's suggestion only seemed to make him sad. "They've already been checked," he sighed patiently. "Multiple times by multiple experts, with no sign of break-in, and no sign of tampering." He even smiled sadly. "In fact, that why I hired your Russian friends. They claimed they could prove tampering, if there was any, by modeling the 3-D world using footage from all the different camera angles, then checking for inconsistencies. But they found nothing either."

"Nevertheless…" began the Boss, but Davis cut him off.

"You still don't understand. None of that matters. Whatever you might find, unless it leads directly to Thea, it's worthless. Finding her is the only thing that's important. I don't want to waste another minute on anything else."

The Boss rocked back in his seat, but Davis wouldn't let up.

"If you're still concerned about our motives, do this: find her, and ask her what happened yourself. If she left on her own, and you agree with her reasons, then fine – just give me some proof that she's alive and well, and that will be the end of it."

"Would her father accept that?"

Davis was empathic. “Anything would be better than this uncertainty, this absence of hope. Of course he wants his daughter back, home and safe. Of course he’ll be disappointed with anything less. But whether you find her or not, whether she comes home or refuses, at least he’ll have reason to hope again… if only you’ll agree to look."

Clearly, that was the Boss's cue. He squirmed a bit, but he was already pressed back in his seat – there was nowhere for him to go.

"…I need more time," he said.

"You still don’t trust me," chided Davis.

The Boss raised his hands in protest. "It's not my intention to be difficult…"

.Davis finally let up with a sigh. "It’s all right," he said. "To tell you the truth, I admire your integrity. I’m not saying I’ve enjoyed this – I haven’t. But at least I know that, when you do finally say yes, you'll really mean it.

"Let me make this as simple as possible. I'll give you all the data I have. Every police report, every scrap of Thea's personal information – I'll even give you the 3-D model that Blackbone created.

"I'll also deposit your fee – the whole amount, up front, wherever you want me to put it - just the way I paid you for this meeting.

"All I ask is that you look the data over. If I’ve lied to you, then don’t do anything else. Just forget the whole thing."

Davis pressed forward again. "But if what I've told you is true, take the money. That's all I need for you to do. As soon I see that the money is gone, I'll take that as your promise to do everything you can to find Thea." Davis settled back again. "Can you at least agree to do that?"

The Boss didn't give in easily… but he finally did give in, slumping forward with a sigh. "I suppose… Very well. I'd consider it."

Davis brought his hands together with a clap and shook them. "Good," he said briskly, and got to his feet. He looked down at the Boss, but the Boss didn't join him, staying right where he was. "Great," said Davis, then stepped away.

Halfway to the door, he turned back. "But please don’t take too long to decide," he said. It wasn't quite an order, but was more than a request. "I hate to admit this to myself, but… I’m really afraid for Benny. It’s been so long now already, I'm not sure how much more he can take."

Once again, Davis looked awkward and hesitant - just as he had when first describing his crisis. "I don't want to overstate this, but… if I could just tell him that someone like you exists, that someone with your abilities is working to help him… well, let's just say, I think it might make all the difference. It might just save his life."