Infiltrator

John's face smoothed into a neutral expression. He said nothing.

Sarah bit her lower lip. I should have told him yesterday, she thought. But I didn't want to seem like I was overreacting. She told him about the research she'd been able to do so far. 'I don't want to panic or anything, but it might be time we moved on,' she said, and started toward the house. 'Maybe we've been getting too comfortable.'

John trotted to catch up with her and tugged at her arm, stopping her. 'Mom,' he said. 'Let's not overreact here. Right now we don't really know anything about this guy. At least nothing bad. Let's find out who he is first, because if he is trouble and we panic and go running for our lives, that could bring him down on us.'

'I am not in a panic,' she protested. 'I'm saying that—'

'It's not a good idea to get too settled, a rolling stone gathers no moss, we can't afford to get complacent and all that sensible-sounding shit. But I say we can't afford to go off half-cocked. Who is this guy and is he, in fact, any threat to us?

If you don't know your enemy how can you defend yourself against him, right?'

John looked at her, a determined look in his eyes.

Sarah's face turned cold. She took a breath to speak and John held up his hand.

'I'm not saying I won't go. I'm not stupid, Mom, and I would never do anything that might end with you back in an institution. But I am not going to give up everything we've worked so hard for because you're having a bad day.'

'Hey!' Sarah said, taken aback.

John hung his head. 'Sorry,' he mumbled.

'You should be!' She turned away and started back to the house. I've had worse days than this and kept my head! she thought. Then she stopped as an image of von Rossbach came to her. 'He has cop's eyes, John,' she said. 'You're right, I am having a bad day or I would have seen it sooner.'

'Cop's eyes?' John said. The phrase sent a chill through him—he knew exactly what she meant, had known since he was a very little kid. 'So what was he picking up, Mom?'

'Sperm,' she said, and started walking again.

' What?' John screwed up his face into a confused knot. 'Did you say 'sperm'?'

'Cattle sperm, from the U.S.,' Sarah said over her shoulder.

'How old was he?' John asked, catching up to her again. 'Maybe he's retired.'

'A retired cop might be the most dangerous kind,' she said thought-fully. 'He'd have time on his hands, and probably be bored out of his skull, and he'd have contacts to ask for further information.'

'Our cover story's pretty airtight, though, isn't it?' John asked.

He knew it was, he'd worked on it himself at odd moments. And if I do say so myself it's very good. Just enough information, not too much, that was the key.

As for people who used to know them in Ciudad del Este, the city was growing and changing so fast even he had trouble finding people they knew there. And those people had been well paid to remember them and their sad circumstances.

Sarah gave a weary sigh. 'Yes, our background should pass muster.' It should, she'd worked hard enough on it. Most of the work had involved undoing some of John's airier flights of fancy.

'So,' John concluded, 'we should be okay for at least a couple of weeks. Sooo,

we find out about this guy.'

'I'll just check with my extensive social connections,' Sarah said sarcastically.

'Mom, you don't have any social connections.'

'Thanks for reminding me, O fruit of my loins.'

John shuddered dramatically. 'Eeuww! Mom, that's gross. No, I'll check my extensive social contacts; you check your extensive underworld connections. If he's a cop they'll know about him. Working together, we'll come up with something.'

Sarah grinned, feeling better for having spoken to her son. My ally, she thought with a surge of affection. 'Okay,' she said. 'We'll check him out before we act.

But get used to the idea that we might have to go.'

'Don't worry, Mom, I can have my coin collection packed up in five minutes and be ready to roll.'

'Good to know,' she said, and put an arm around him. She blinked in surprise.

It's a little disturbing to put your arm around your son and find yourself reaching up, she thought.

'What?' he asked.

She switched to putting her arm around his waist. 'It's just that you're growing up.'

'Aw, Mom!' John rolled his eyes.

She started up the stairs to the house. 'What do you want for dinner?' she asked.

'Meat!' he rumbled in a deep, deep voice.

'No problemo, pumpkin.'

'Pumpkin? What happened to 'you're growing up'?'

She opened the screen door, then looked at him over her shoulder. 'I had to take the wind out of your sails before your ego flew away with you.'

He came in after her wearing a sappy smile. 'A boy's best friend is his mother,'

he said.

'And don't you forget it, bucko. Go wash up, dinner in half an hour.' John gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and went down the hall. Sarah watched him go with mixed emotions. She didn't want to uproot them; she knew he'd mind it this time. Sarah allowed herself a sigh. Then it was time to stoke up the barbecue.

As long as I don't feel like I'm the one turning on a spit I should be fine, she thought.

CHAPTER SIX

CYBERDYNE SYSTEMS: THE PRESENT

Tricker took his time reading over Serena Burns's resume as she sat across the desk awaiting his attention. For someone her age it was impressive, but then, so was the lady herself. He'd already read it, of course. Not only read it, but

investigated it, assigning one or two underlings to go out and interview the exalted persons who had bestowed such glowing recommendations.

Curiously enough, it seemed that very few people in those companies had ever interacted with Ms. Burns in her capacity as head of security, assistant head of security, acting, associate, trainee, or any other job title in the corporate security name game. Except for the bosses, she was the incredible, invisible woman.

Which must have been a tough stunt for an incredibly sexy, leggy, gorgeous blonde to pull off.

He was rereading her resume now to see how she would react to being ignored.

She was reacting by focusing her attention on him with such aggressive intensity that he felt in serious danger of reacting himself. He hadn't blushed since he was twenty, but he felt one coming on now.

'So,' he said finally, laying down the last page and raising his eyes to meet hers.

'Very impressive, Ms. Burns.'

She looked amused, in a way that implied they shared a secret. Possibly the fact that they both knew she was too good for Cyberdyne to pass up. 'I've been very fortunate in my employment,' she said. 'I had excellent mentors and'—her eyes went distant, as though she were remembering—'we had some interesting times while I was with them.'

Uh-hunh! Tricker thought. Now there's a statement that's open to interpretation.

'Well, oddly enough, not many people seem to remember you at your old jobs,'

he said.