Chapter 5

I looked at Sugar's anxiously. "So what'd you find?"

She sat at the kitchen table, looking intently at the computer screen set up before her. "Looks like a bunch of grocery lists and phone numbers. Gimme a sec, will ya?"

She spent the next few moments in silence scrolling through the data entries, and then her jaw dropped. "Oh my God."

"What is it?"

"See for yourself." She swung the monitor around to face me.

It was a memo formatted with Ayanami Incorporated letterhead. That fact alone was enough to send chills up my spine, but as I read on, a cold lump began to form in the pit of my stomach. It read:

To: Corporate Management

Concerning: Disposition of Corporate Asset 732-02

Corporate Asset 732-02 is an apartment/condominium owned by Ayanami Incorporated as a publicly undisclosed asset. Located at 1258 Carlton street, the apartment is inhabited by an inactive shadow asset code named "Peaches." At this time, it is advantageous for the inactive asset to remain on corporate property, but the company's disposition may change in the future. Whatever the reason, approach the handling of both corporate and shadow assets with extreme caution.

It was dated February 14, 2056—three full years ago.

"I can't believe it," I muttered aloud.

"Well believe it," Sugar said somberly. "That file was transmitted via matrix drop box to Mantis's account from a corporate enclave. I haven't been able to verify everything given all the scrubbing the document went through, but it definitely came from Ayanami."

I knew whatever we found was going to be big, but I didn't think it was going to be this big. The Ayanami memo put things in a whole new light—a light I shied away from like a cockroach skittering under the refrigerator. I didn't want to think about the ramifications of it all, but Sugar's next comment made me.

"You think Rei had anything to do with it?"

I looked up at her. "Damn, I hope not. Goddamn it, I hope not."

"But she said—"

"I know what she said, ok? I was there too, remember?"

She scowled, "Hey, don't yell at me. I'm knee deep in this drek too you know."

I sighed. "Look, I'm sorry. It's just . . . she said she deleted it. She promised no one else would know."

"Yeah, well looks like she lied, doesn't it?" She stabbed her finger at the computer screen. "That right there is proof enough of it."

"I just didn't think she was like that. I thought she was different."

"She's a corporate executive and a Ms. Johnson to boot. She uses people like us for a living. What did you think she was like?"

I didn't know how to respond. I couldn't, because I still didn't know what to think. Rei Ayanami had been a good Johnson—and even more than that, a good friend. After working for her in the shadows for four years, we had developed a kind of bond—nothing that could be construed as love, but something less than that and more all at the same time. We understood each other. We trusted each other. So when she hooked me up with the apartment, I her trusted her that it would remain between the two of us. No one was supposed to know about it besides her, Sugar, and me. She told me she would delete all record of it from the company mainframe. She gave me her word. But now it was obvious that her word didn't mean drek.

"So what are we going to do?" Sugar asked quietly.

I looked at her evenly. "You already know that."

"No. Peaches, not this time. When it was against a bunch gutter trash out in Redmond, that may have been a viable option, but this is serious. This is a fragging corporation for God's sake." When I didn't respond immediately, she pressed on. "You know me. I want these fraggers more than anything, but it's not a battle we can win. Peaches, we can still walk away from this. I mean, we still have money. We have contacts. We could disappear and start a new life away from all this drek."

I shook my head. "No. It won't work that way. We may get away for a while—a couple years even—but what happens when they find us again? Can we keep running like this all our lives? If you want to beat feet with your tail between your legs, the go ahead. I won't stop you. But you know that's something I can't do. I have to face this thing head on."

"You know I won't do that."

I smiled faintly. "I know. And thank you."

She sighed, "So what do we do now?"

I fished my cell phone out of my pocket. "Now we look up an old friend. We're going to need help on this one."

Sugar frowned. "You mean her."

She saw the answer in my eyes before I could utter a word.

"You know how I feel about her."

"Yeah, I know. But we need her. She's the best spell-slinger I know."

She bit her lip as if mulling over a question in her head. "Fine," she said finally.

"You sure?"

She nodded.

I picked up the phone and dialed.