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“Hope you don’t mind.” I gestured to the shirt.
“N-no,” he said. “No problem. It looks good. I mean, it hangs well. I mean, how your chest makes it, um…”
I watched him flounder for a second. “When all this is over, if I’m still alive, I’m going to give you woman lessons.”
“Whu—huh?”
“You just…you really need to learn about women and how to interact with them, all right?”
“Oh,” he said. “That could be really helpful, yeah.”
He took off his lab coat and hung it on the wall. Why did he wear his lab coat home instead of leaving it at the lab? Because men like fashion accessories too. They just don’t admit it.
“Looks like you slept well,” he said. “What are you up to now?”
“Looking into Sanchez Aluminum,” I said. “I have to figure out a way to shut them down. That’s my only hope of survival at this point.”
He sat on the bed behind me. “Are you sure you want to screw with them?”
“What are they going to do? Kill me harder? They’re already after me.”
He looked at the screen. “Ooh. Is that their smelting process?”
“Yeah. It’s called the FFC Cambridge Process.”
He perked up. “Oh, that sounds cool!”
Of course it did. Svoboda’s just that kind of guy. He leaned in to get a better look at the screen. It showed the chemistry at each step of the smelting process. “I’ve heard of the process but I never learned the details.”
“They’re guarding the harvester now,” I said. “So I’ll have to go after the smelter itself.”
“You got a plan?” he asked.
“Yeah. The start of one,” I said. “But it means I have to do something I hate.”
“Oh?”
“I have to get help.”
He held out his arms. “Well, you got me. Whatever you need.”
“Thanks, buddy, I’ll take you up on that.”
“Don’t call me buddy,” he grumbled.
I hesitated. “Okay, I…won’t call you buddy. Why not?”
“Man lessons,” he said. “Someday I’ll give you man lessons.”
—
I rang the doorbell for the fourth time. She was in there; she just didn’t want to answer.
The main entrance to the Landvik Estate stood littered with flowers from well-wishers and mourners. Most of the flowers were synthetic, but a few wilting bouquets revealed how truly wealthy some of Trond’s friends were.
I never thought I’d miss the sight of Irina’s scowling face, but a sadness overwhelmed me when I realized she wouldn’t be the one opening the door.
Then again, maybe no one would answer at all.
