Zero History

“Blue Ant didn’t send anybody. I work for him. So do you.”
“How do I know you really work for Bigend?”
She tapped the face of a phone like Hollis’s, listened, handed it to him.
“Hello?” said Bigend. “Milgrim?”
“Yes?”
“How are you?”
Milgrim considered. “It’s been a long day.”
“Run it past Fiona after we’ve spoken. She’ll relay it to me.”
“Did you have Sleight tracking me with the Neo?”
“It’s part of what he does. He called from Toronto, said you’d left Paris.”
“I slipped someone the phone.”
“Sleight’s wrong,” Bigend said.
“Not about the phone leaving Paris.”
“That’s not what I mean. He’s wrong.”
“Okay,” said Milgrim. “Who’s right?”
“Pamela,” said Bigend. “Fiona, whom you’ve just met. We’ll be keeping it at that until
the situation sorts itself out.”
“Is Hollis?”
“Hollis is unaware of any of this.”
“Am I?”
There was a silence. “Interesting question,” said Bigend, finally. “What do you think?”
“I don’t like Sleight. Don’t like the man he had following me.”
“You’re doing well. More proactive than I asked for, but that’s interesting.”
“I saw a penguin. Penguin-shaped. Something. I may need to go back to the clinic.”
“That’s our Festo air penguin,” Bigend said, after a pause. “We’re experimenting with it
as an urban video surveillance platform.”
“Festive?”
“Festo. They’re German.”
“What’s going on? Please?”
“Something that happens periodically. It has to do with the kind of talent Blue Ant
requires. If they’re any good at what I hire them for, they tend to have an innate tendency
to go rogue. That or sell out to someone who already has. I expect this to happen. It can
actually be quite productive. Fiona was on the train with you, this morning. She’ll be on
the train back, tomorrow. Put Hollis in a cab to Cabinet.”
“What’s that?”
“Where she’s staying. Then wait near the cab rank. Fiona will bring you to me. Give
her a rundown of your day now, then get some sleep.”
“Okay,” Milgrim said, then realized Bigend was gone. He handed the phone back to
Fiona, noticing that she wore something on her left wrist, about six inches long, that
looked like a doll’s computer keyboard. “What’s that?”