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It took a surprisingly sh the security syste a short phrase into a h she was obviously bone-tired; she handed theot extra clothing, too," she said, no doubt because Bryn’s were messily ruined "There’s a wardrobe room on level two Pretty much like a store, sorted by men’s, women’s, and children’s wear, into sizes Plain stuff, but it ought to work Raid it as you need it"

She took a pair of wire cutters out of a drawer and snapped the plastic zip-ties securing Manny where he’d been deposited on a plastic chair, and then walked to the other door Another palm scan to open it "This way to the mansion," she said "Oh, and wear your ID cards at all times You can open the doors with palm scans or eye scans, but you need the ID card on you or the facility goes into lockdown You don’t want to be in the shohen that happens, by the way I speak froestured to Manny, and Patrick picked hih the door Bryn followedand realized that Pansy had been dead-on descriptive in calling this the mansion

Either Manny or Pansy or both had taken a forbidding roo space--the floors were treated, subtly colored concrete, covered with expensive rugs and groupings of lush sofas and chairs It was modern but comfortable, and vast impressionist and abstract canvases--almost certainly all real, and all insanely expensive--were mounted on the walls The plasma screen TV was a vast size, but it looked small in the space, comparatively

And they had books Lots of books, with shelves that stretched up two stories--a library with its own systeuess being a uarantee you he didn’t earn this working at the FBI lab all those years"

Pansy gave her a cool, unreadable look, and said, "Thanks, Patrick, you can put hiet yourselves so either right or left Guest roons You can write your names on the boards on the doors"

"Pansy--" Bryn wanted to hug her, but she kneasn’t the time, and besides, she felt sticky and filthy "Thank you Thank you for doing this for us"

"You’re probably worth the risk," Pansy said, and gave her a fleeting wink "Manny’s going to be a grury, but he’ll couys? Weapons stay here in this rooed looks, especially Joe and Patrick; they didn’t like disar they could shoot their way out of So with a shrug, Joe put down his converted AR-15, unholstered his handgun, and removed a couple of combat knives Patrick added to the pile Each of them did in turn When the last person disaret it all back," she promised "We have an armory on level two It takes a special code, which Manny and I have Once he’s sure you’re all okay, he’ll probably share it with you, but it’s not for ot, oneArm, Bryn You too, Riley"

She produced two syringes Riley frowned and shook her head "We don’t need that The upgrade ave you earlier canceled out the tracking frequencies for your nanites, but these will deactivate the tracking functionality altogether Otherwise, they’ll be colonizing bones andyou the neutralizer shots So be quiet and take your medicine, ladies"

Bryn couldn’t object, and neither did Riley; they knew the risks, and also kne big a gift they’d been given

Although Manny ate just as quickly She supposed that she ought to get a shower, new clothes, and as much rest as possible before he woke up, so after the burn of the shot that Pansy administered had subsided, she joined Patrick as he left the ht "I can’t quite believe this," Bryn said, and ran her fingers over the smooth, cool concrete of the walls as they walked "How the hell does he afford all this?"

"You really want to know?" Patrick asked

"Sure"

"He holds the patent on at least three s developed in the past fifteen years, and he does independent consulting work for dozens of research labs--that’s his clean incoets much more from sources that aren’t quite asaboveboard Insanely rich people wanting a special drug developed for their own use, for instance--a safe, special, legal high Private forensic work for corporations that don’t necessarily want to involve law enforce He holds a lot of secrets, Manny does, and all that just feeds his native paranoid tendencies Add to that a certain agoraphobia, andyou end up here, in a reat amenities"

"Exactly" He smiled, but it eary and suess this is one of the guest rooms"

It was labeled that ith a simple black nameplate, and a write-on/wipe-off board below that Bryn wrote her na the basics--a plain bed, maybe a desk, a simple shower But the roohtstand, work desk, artand a le bit of that with an intensity that made her shake

She looked wordlessly at Patrick, and he read it in her He leaned in and kissed her gently "Go catch a shower and rest," he said "We can talk later"

What he wasn’t saying was that they needed to talk later, but she understood It didn’t matter just now She was far too sore, too exhausted, too dirty to care, and she closed and thumb-locked the door, stripped off her bloody clothes down to the skin, and was in the shower and shao to the wardrobe room Damn