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“I have no idea”

A terse answer, she noted And an interesting one Nano was a tight corporate faood read of both Blockman and Malcolm And yet he had zero read on June Morris? That was odd Si she was sure Ethan would

Simone tucked away that factoid to probe later

“Ethan, I see from your profile that you are fluent in Mandarin That’s fascinating Tell me more about it”

“I always had a knack with languages—foreign and computer,” Ethan replied “At Berkeley, I decided to try my hand at Chinese What I didn’t know is that I’d be the only nonnative speaker in the class The rest of them must have taken the class for an easy A to boost their GPAs As for me, I worked unbelievably hard for a B But I loved it and continued for two years” A grin “I guess I was a glutton for punishment”

Simone smiled back “And have you ever traveled to China to put that linguistic skill to good use?”

“Not yet,” Ethan said ruefully “It’s on my bucket list”

“You’re a little young for a bucket list,” Simone said with a chuckle

Ethan nodded, his grin widening “Okay then, h money and vacation time”

Simone chewed that one over Vacation ti topic Ethan h to pay for his choice of “toys,” particularly his lavish car The Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet had a ticket price of well over two hundred thousand dollars Definitely out of Ethan’s price range—unless he was up to his neck in debt or getting income from an outside source

“I’ convertible I saw you drive in with htly “It’s a beauty”

A red flush crept up Ethan’s neck “Yeah, she’s my baby,” he replied uneasily “I ay out on a liood chunk of my salary That’s why trips to the Far East will have to wait”

“I understand” Si to push it If she did, he’d become suspicious She kneas bothered by her question That was good enough for now

Ti she needed out of this interview “So, is there anything else you think I should know that would assistVance improve your department?” she asked calmly

Ethan looked like a man whose prison sentence had just been reduced “I think we’ve covered everything,” he said, already half out of his seat