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"Why do they keep going broke?" Toe noise She was ht pucker, her eyes very wide She resembled some sort of fish

Yuri answered in her stead "They purchased s" Then he pointed at the floor, as if Toot that" Toet why they weren’t forced to sell theht a car he couldn’t pay for, he’d have to give it back He wouldn’t get to keep the car and get someone else to pay his debt for him"

"Your dad is not Reuben Lloyd," Yuri said

The next corridor resolved the paradox Reuben Lloyd led them before a vast collection of portraits spread across the wall "Here are Wyndham Harks’s most valuable assets"

Tom read the placards beneath the photos of the executives, then gave a start as his neural processor began identifying theovernment officials There was Sheldon Laffner, the head of the Department of Homeland Security; Kristyl Chertowitz, the chief of staff to the president; and Aubrey Bremmer, the chief justice of the Supreme Court There was Barclay J P Goldman, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve; Vice President Julian Richter; and President Donald Milgram himself All of them were former Wyndham Harks executives or current shareholders

Tom stared at the photos, and it clicked into place

This was the key resource Wyndhaovernment Of course the politicians always said Wyndham Harks was essential to the world econo it It was like solobal scauys had played everyone else in the world for suckers for so long

Reuben Lloyd wasn’t in on his own joke, though, because he ended the tour by turning on the, "I hope you understand no fortunate you’d be to align with our company We at Wyndham Harks do God’s work"

Silence dropped over the roo

Reuben Lloyd’s shocked gaze swung to him

Toood i wasn’t the response Reuben Lloyd wanted He wanted awed respect, silence

But then Toe noise in the back of her throat again, and when his gaze shot to her face, he saw that she was doing the bizarre fish-expression thing again, her eyes huge and her lips pursed

He couldn’t help it He exploded in laughter again It was such an awful ti horror at his uncontrollable laughter nized this This had happened to him before, more than once It was the sa when Blackburn ca that had made hundreds of tense situations in his life much,at hiling helplessly, sained control of himself if he’d had a few ave Tom a discreet thumbs-up and unveiled her hidden forearm keyboard Tom tried to shake his head at her, and he saw Vik and Yuri also shaking their heads, trying to catch her attention It was too late She unleashed a co hysterical laughter in theate Reuben Lloyd’s wrath toward To everyone