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RHAIM

“ A ll right,” Sable said, after we went through our plan.

This time our late lunch was on me—at one of the cafes embedded into the first floor of a building down the street from Corvo, where the echoing voices of everyone ordering and chatting were as good as a fountain’s worth of white noise.

She finished half her sandwich, then handed over a white shopping bag. “These phones are pristine. So you don’t go open them up and turn them on till you’re good and gloved up—maybe even with a hair bonnet and a face mask on.”

I gave her a look. “What, you think I’ve never done this before?”

She rolled her eyes. “I just don’t want you to get caught.”

“How could I? When everyone on my team is so amazing?” I teased.

“Are they getting paid more than me?” She made a show of looking over her shoulders, and then returned her attention to me. “Those fuckers. Do they have a 401k?”

I laughed. “No. You know you’re the only hacker for me.”

“That’s so old school, Rhaim,” she said, laying a pained hand on her chest. “I’m an asset mobility consultant, who also helps with behavioral finance reallocation,” she said.

I grinned—and she gasped, looking down at the table, where I’d finished one entire coffee with her as she ate, unlike my usual gulp-and-go.

“Oh fuck—is this you saying some sort of weird good-bye?” She saw my face, and then groaned. “It is!”

I took the bag she’d given me, and rolled it into a more manly bundle that I could tuck under one arm. “If I blow it, and I go down, I’m not taking you with me.”

Her eyes narrowed to slits. “If you were really so concerned about that, you’d be giving me all your bank financials right now. Just for safe keeping.”

“You mean you haven’t figured out my mother’s maiden name yet?” I said, standing up and offering her a hand.

She refused to take it. “That Rivian is not paid off. I wasn’t expecting our relationship to evolve—and frankly most of my other clients are boring as fuck.”

“I’m going to take that like the compliment it is—although if this whole thing works,” I said, meaningfully shifting the bag beneath my arm. “Boring sounds pretty fucking good.”

Sable also stood—she was just two inches shorter than me, now back to her casual gear and her typical combat boots. “Come here you stupid fucking man,” she said, and hugged me.

I froze in complete surprise—but recovered in time to briefly hug her back. “Should I check my pockets for vape pens?”

She made a disparaging sound. “I’ve been in your phone for years now. But for you, I hack with love—talk to you this evening,” she said, waving me off, as she turned on her heel to walk away.