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.Blaming Mali was a wild flight of fancy, when the Singaporeans were clearly the aggressors.“How do you know it’s Singapore?” Laura asked.“Can you prove that Singapore killed Mr.Stubbs? Did Singapore attack the Rizome Lodge in Galveston? If you can prove that you dealt faithfully, while the Islamic Bank broke the terms, I promise that I’ll support your grievances in every way I can.”“We appreciate your position,” said Mr.Gould.“Legal proof in a murder committed by remote control is, of course, rather difficult … Have you ever been to Singapore?”“No.Rizome has an office there, but …”“You’ve had a chance to see what we do here, on our own island.I think you understand now that we’re not the monsters we’ve been painted.”General Creft’s lean face creased with a gleam of fangs.He was smiling at her, or trying to.Castleman stirred with a grunt and began hitting function keys.“A trip to Singapore might enlighten you,” Gould said.“Would you be interested in going there?”Laura paused.“In what capacity?”“As our negotiator.As an officer in the United Bank of Grenada.” Mr.Gould tapped at his deck.“Let me point out,” he said, watching the screen, “that Rizome operates under severe legal strictures.Very likely the Vienna Convention will soon shut down Rizome’s investigations entirely.” He glanced up at her.“Unless you join us, Mrs.Webster, you will never learn the truth about who attacked you.You will have to go back to that bullet-riddled Lodge of yours, never knowing who your enemy was, or when they will strike again.…”Mr.Rainey spoke up.He had the drawl of an old-time Florida cracker.“I reckon you know that we have a lot of data on you and your husband.This is no sudden decision on our part, Mrs.Webster.We know your abilities—we’ve even seen the work you did, on that safehouse where we’ve been protecting you.” He smiled.“We like your attitude.To put it short, we believe in you.We know how you had to fight within Rizome, to get a chance to build your Lodge and put your ideas into practice.With us, you’d have no such fight.We know how to leave creative people to their work.”Laura touched her earphone.There was dead silence on the line.“You’ve cut me off the Net,” she said.Rainey spread his hands, his gold wristlet catching the light.“It did seem wisest.”“You want me to defect from my company.”“Defect—my, that’s an ugly word! We want you to join us.Your husband, David, too.We can promise you both a level of support that might surprise you.” Rainey nodded at the deck screen before her.A financial spreadsheet was coming up.“Of course, we know about your personal financial worth.We were surprised to see that, without Rizome, you scarcely own anything! Sure, you’ve got shares, but the things you’ve built don’t belong to you—you just run them for your corporation.I’ve known plumbers with bigger salaries than you have! But things are different here.We know how to be generous.”“You seem to enjoy the plantation house,” Gould said.“It’s yours—we could sign over title today.You can hire your own staff, of course.Transportation’s no problem—we’ll put a chopper and pilot at your disposal.And I can assure you that you’ll be better protected under Bank security than you could ever be back in the States.”Laura glanced at the screen before her.A sudden shock—they were talking millions.Millions of Grenadian roubles, she realized.Funny money.“I don’t have anything to offer you that’s worth this amount,” she said.“We have an unfortunate public image,” Gould said sadly.“We’ve turned our back on the Net, and we’ve been vilified for it.Repairing that damage would be your job in the long run, Mrs.Webster—it should suit your skills.In the short run, we have this Singapore crisis.There’s no love lost between us and our rival bank.But escalating warfare doesn’t suit either of us.And you are a perfect candidate for conveying a peace proposal.”“Pure as the driven snow,” murmured Mr.Castleman.He was gazing at the shiny surface of his gold cigarillo case.He popped it open and fired up another.“You do have a credibility with Singapore that our own ambassadors lack,” Mr.Gould said.A little twitch of irritation had passed his face at Castleman’s indiscretion.“I can’t possibly give you an answer without checking with my company,” Laura said.“And my husband.”“Your husband seems to like the idea,” Gould said.“Of course we broached the idea to him already.Does that affect your thinking?”“My company is going to be very upset that you’ve cut me offline,” Laura said.“That wasn’t in our agreement.”“We haven’t exactly cut you off,” Castleman said.“The line’s still up, but we’re feeding it a simulation.…” His pudgy fingers flickered in midair.“An easy graphics job—no backgrounds, just light, darkness, a tabletop and talking heads.None of this exists, you see.We haven’t been existing for some time now.”Gelli laughed nervously.“Then I’m closing this meeting of our investigative panel,” said Mr.Gould.“You could have told me, Castleman.”“Sorry,” Castleman said lazily.“I mean that I would have officially closed the investigation, even before we went offline for the recruitment effort.”“I’m sorry, Gould, really,” Castleman said.“You know I don’t have your flair for this sort of thing.”“But now we can reason together,” Rainey said, with an air of relief.He bent and reached beneath the table
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