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"You need to know that things are brewing," Trace tells his?"
"Froather, there’s dissent in the Juvenile Authority There are some ant to take this place out--they just need a reason"
"If they want to take us out, the fact that we’re here is reason enough"
"I said some want to take us out The suits I work for don’t--and as long as everything stays sood little stool pigeon and continue to tell theht ship"
Connor laughs "They still have no clue that Elvis has left the building?"
"None whatsoever--and I’ve given them no reason to doubt my word" Trace pauses for a moment "Did you tell the Admiral about me?"
"No," Connor tells him "I haven’t told anyone"
"Good A leader should know things no one else does, and spoon out information on a need-to-know basis"
"Spare me the military classroom," Connor tells him "So is that all you wanted to talk about?"
"There’s more"
They reach the end of the aisle, and Trace stops before turning into the next one He pulls out a slip of paper from his pocket and hands it to Connor There’s a name on it, scrawled by hand Janson Rheinschild
"Is this someone I’m supposed to know?" Connor asks
"No He’s someone nobody’s supposed to know"
Connor has little patience for this "Don’t waste my time with riddles"
"That’s the point," Trace says "He is a riddle" He puts the Jeep in gear, and they turn down the next aisle
"Do you reet components for the Dreao to Phoenix," Connor says "You went to meet with your bosses at Proactive Citizenry Don’t you think I know that?"
Trace seems a bit surprised, then a bit pleased "I didn’t tell you because I didn’t knohether you trusted h Anyway, it was different this time They didn’t just meet with o They had ive a full report to a packed conference roos, like our escape plan I told them the Dreamliner is a new dormitory jet, and that the cockpit was dismantled and sold"
"Oh, so it’s not just me that you lie to?"
"They’re not lies It’s disinfor There was aforanization--soiants of business both before and after the warbut there was one naht out of the ain, out in the garden there was a sculpture of the founders Five of them, but clearly the pedestal was built for six There were still rust stains from where that sixth statue had once been"
"Janson what’s-his-face?"
"Rheinschild"
Connor tries to work it out but can’t "It doesn’t make sense If they wanted to disappear hiet a smaller pedestal?"
"Because," says Trace "They didn’t just want to disappear hiot that they disappeared hiets a chill in spite of the desert heat "So what does all this have to do with us?"
"Before they flew me back, a couple of the friendlier suits took me to their private club--a place that served the kind of alcohol you can’t even get on the black ave extinction Stuff thatit like water When they were fairly wasted, I asked about thestatue One of them blurted out the name Janson Rheinschild, then becaed the subject, and I thought it was over" Then Trace stops the Jeep so he can look Connor dead in the eye as he speaks "But then, as I was leaving, one of theet out of my mind He clapped me on the shoulder, calledis more than just a medical process, it’s at the very core of our way of life ‘Proactive Citizenry is dedicated to protecting that way of life,’ he said, ‘and if you knohat’s good for you, you’ll forget you ever heard his name’ "
37 - Risa
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
"I was a ward of the state about to be unwound, so I went AWOL That ht think I’m luckybut because I stayed whole, fourteen-year-old Morena Sandoval, an honor student with a bright future, died because she was denied the liver I would have provided Jerrin Stein, a father of three, died of a fatal heart attack because my heart wasn’t available when he desperately needed it And firefighter Davis Macy lost his life to puls weren’t there to replace his burned ones