belonged to him.
Yu flicked the show off. “You were supposed to be monitoring the House.”
“The House monitors the House.” Nafti stood like a kid who’d been caught in his parent’s room.
“And we shut that off, remember?”
“Oh, yeah.”
Yu had to remind himself that he had hired Nafti for his muscles, not his brains. “We’re going to wait for the woman outside.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to catch her in here?”
It would have been, if Yu hadn’t already shut down a lot of the House’s systems and installed the holoimages in the kitchen. Rhonda Shindo would know the moment she walked in the house that something was wrong.
“Stop asking questions. Just do what you’re told.”
Nafti must have caught the note of exasperation in Yu’s voice because he nodded. They collected everything they had brought, then Yu stopped and directed a housebot to thoroughly clean every room except the kitchen and the closet part of the girl’s bedroom. It wouldn’t prevent the authorities from figuring out who took the woman— especially since the girl had seen him—but it would slow them down and give them time enough to authenticate the message the Gyonnese had left.
That message would turn the attention from him to the Gyonnese. Then he could continue with his quiet life, finding little objects for people who paid him too much money.
He helped Nafti out of the house, found the man a hiding spot near the back yard—one that would be in the line of site from Yu’s hiding spot—and instructed Nafti to move only when he got the signal.
Then Yu slipped into his own hiding spot, not too far from the side door.
Rhonda Shindo arrived five minutes later. She was slim like her daughter, but not as tall. She had the same bronze skin, but her hair was dark and pulled back. Her eyes were dark too. The girl had apparently gotten her striking looks from the father who believed her dead.
Shindo wore a pants suit and heels, conservative like the rest of this place. She carried a briefcase, which surprised Yu. So far, she didn’t seem to notice anything wrong.
He wanted her to just get inside the door before he grabbed her. Then he and Nafti could drag her to the back yard and their vehicle without catching much attention.
But she touched the door before opening it and drew her hand back, as if she had been shocked.
He could hear her speak—and the House answer—but the words weren’t clear. He cursed silently. He hadn’t expected her to talk to the House from the outside.
He crept forward. The House was reciting an ad for an upgrade and Shindo was looking annoyed.
She set down her briefcase as she said, “Just tell me if Talia put the electronics on the door.”
“Not this time,” House said. “The electronics were placed by a man who deleted his identity from my files. He conducted a thorough scrub but forgot to delete the section in which I monitored his deletion.”
Yu silently cursed. What else had he forgotten? Or just plain missed? Could the House still notify security? Had it?
“Would you like me to bring that up on the wall panel to your left?” the House asked Shindo.
She was frowning, deepening the lines around her nose and mouth. “Yes, I would like to see that.”
The visual would alert her to the problem. The element of surprise was slipping away from him, and he wasn’t in the right place to alert Nafti.
So Yu stepped forward. He stopped right beside her. She was his height and thinner. He could probably subdue her himself.
“There’s no need to see it,” Yu said. “I did it.”
She turned. Her eyes widened ever so slightly, the only sign that she was startled. “I don’t think we’ve met, Mr.—?”
Politeness. He hadn’t expected that. He waved his hand beside him, a small signal for Nafti, but he wasn’t sure if Nafti could see it from this angle.
“We haven’t met, ma’am,” Yu said. He could be as polite as anyone else—more polite, even, if he needed to be. “But I know who you are. You’re Rhonda Shindo. And just so that we remain on an even footing, let me tell you that I’m a Recovery Man.”
Her body stiffened. “I’ve never heard of a Recovery Man.”
“I think it’s pretty self-explanatory.” He was watching her, but out of the corner of his eye, he was hoping to see Nafti. “I recover things. Sometimes I even recover people.”
That last was a lie, at least until today.
He added, “I work for the Gyonnese.”
Her mouth opened. He couldn’t tell if she was surprised or not.
“And don’t play dumb about the Gyonnese,” he said. “It’s all on record.”
That seemed to help her find her voice. She raised her chin, just like her daughter had done. It seemed to be the family gesture of defiance.
“That was settled,” she said, “long ago, under Earth Alliance law.”
She glanced toward the front of the house. She was thinking of running. If she got too far out, she would be able to call for help through her links.
“Actually,” Yu said, staying close to her, “the case would be settled if you’d handed over your daughter to the Gyonnese. But you didn’t. You hid her.”
His words startled him more than they startled her. He wasn’t talking to her just because he was waiting for Nafti. Yu still wasn’t sure he wanted to do this.
He wanted to hear how she answered.
“No,” Shindo said. “I didn’t hide my daughter. Talia’s been with me the whole time.”
Nafti took that moment to show up. He approached silently, stopping half a meter behind her.
“Talia’s not the child the Gyonnese want and you know it. Talia is too young.” Yu took one step toward her.
Shindo took a step back and ran into Nafti. He didn’t touch her—apparently remembering Yu’s instructions this time.
She glanced over her shoulder and had to look up at Nafti’s tattooed face. She looked from Nafti to Yu and then toward the front again. She was trying to figure out a way out of this.
“Talia is the only child I have,” she said.
Her answers weren’t helping. She actually sounded panicked for the girl.
“Technically, she is the only child you have,” Yu said, “but she’s also what the Gyonnese call a false child. Very clever of you to have the number placed inside the skin, behind an ear. The tag itself intrigued me. The number we found was six. There are five others out there.”
She looked trapped for the first time. Trapped and terrified.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“Tell me where the real child is.” If she did that, he could leave without her or the girl. The Gyonnese wouldn’t complain so long as they got the original child.
“Talia is my real child,” Shindo said, and it sounded like she believed it.
Which disappointed Yu. Maybe she had killed the others, so that the remaining clone would be the only child. Or maybe she had just killed the original. Sometimes it took several attempts to get a viable clone. Five attempts wasn’t unheard of.
“Technically,” Yu said, “Talia’s yours. But the Gyonnese want the original. The true child. Remember? I’m sure you do. It’s the heart of the case against you.”
“Please,” she said. “Leave us alone.”
She glanced toward the street.
“You know I can’t do that,” Yu said.
“I don’t know that.” Now she did sound panicked. “I’ve already told you where my child is.”
“Give us the true child,” Yu said, “or we take you.”
Her mouth opened, and the panic became even more visible. She clearly hadn’t thought anyone would take her. The courts only ruled on the children, as a punishment to her.
“You can’t take me.” Her voice shook. “I’m not on the warrant.”
