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CHAPTER ONE

"YOU’VE GOTTA SEE this watch, Tommy The inscription says ‘Property of Sanford Bloo before we even had electricity"

Tom slid off his virtual reality visor and blinked as his eyes adjusted to the dihts of the nearby video displays flashed over the sold watch dangling froet why his dad was showing it to hi?"

"Worth a lot? Toenerations It’s a precious faot a lot of sentimental value Not to our family, of course, but definitely to that banker’s" He jabbed his finger over his shoulder toward the bald man he’d beaten at poker a fewto you when I say that I want you to have it Happy fifteenth birthday"

It took To it tohim a present for his birthdaynot on his birthday or anywhere near it, at least He seized the watch eagerly The VR visor slipped froht it before it could clatter to the floor

"This is fantastic, Dad!" Sure, he had absolutely no need for a watch, ith the precise, satellite-tuned chronometer in his brain that measured time down to one two-thousandths of a secondIt was one of thea present was still awesorab some steak"

Steak That was even h the bustling crowd in the casino They brushed past the vanquished banker, who greedily eyed the watch in To it on in front of the guy, but itso brazen about it, because he swore he saw the banker’s face tighten into a e uard or thug

Tolimpse over his shoulder before he and Neil swept around the corner Then they plunged through the door into the enveloping, dry heat of the Nevada evening, the startling neon lights of the Las Vegas strip bo them from all sides

Neil surveyed the casino they’d left "Think the banker’s going to send his esture, too Tom shook his head "I dunno yet"

"Walk fast"

Tom didn’t need Neil to tell him that; Tom did still have some survival instincts fro his dad frootthat est task

The question was, how alert was Neil right now? Tos, and he saw that his dad wasGood Sober Or at least, as close to it as he ever got

Toh the crowd, the glea over its surface The mile-wide screens in near-Earth orbit bombarded ads down at anyone within a hundred-mile radius below them--but their reflections in the watch shrank to tiny slivers of light Then in the shiny surface, he spotted a figure weaving through the crowd behind thelance back confir them

Great